The Impact host Toronto FC on Nov. 22 in the first game of the MLS Eastern Conference Finals, and they sold "nearly 20,000 tickets on the first day of sales" for the game, according to the CP. The Impact elected to "move the match indoors" from the 20,801-seat Saputo Stadium to Olympic Stadium, which "normally seats 55,000 but can be expanded" to more than 60,000. Impact Exec VP/Strategic Development Communications Richard Legendre said, "There's a buzz, for sure. Now we'll see if it maintains itself." The club "feared it may be too cold to play outside" at Saputo Stadium and also "saw a chance to draw a huge crowd." TFC hosts the second leg of the conference finals on Nov. 30 at BMO Field (CP, 11/7). In DC, Steven Goff writes the MLS postseason calendar is "impeding the league's growth." After 12 matches over 12 days, the schedule will "screech to a halt and then take odd turns before drawing to a close the second weekend of December, the latest in MLS’s 21 seasons." That is all of "five games in almost five weeks." In fairness, the FIFA international window, "stocked with World Cup qualifiers, is forcing a pause between the conference semifinals and finals this coming weekend." But instead of picking up where it left off the following weekend of Nov. 19, MLS has "pegged the first legs of the conference finals for a Tuesday night, the start of the Thanksgiving getaway" (WASHINGTON POST, 11/8).
