Beckham Gives Toronto Fc and Mls Ticket Sales a Leg Up Articles | Soccer

By: Terri Dueck

The addition of David Beckham has had a remarkable effect on ticket sales across Major League Soccer, even up in Canada where tickets to the Toronto FC are quickly dissapearing. According to the official Toronto FC website, the team sold 1,036 season seats in a 24-hour period following the announcement that David Beckham would join the LA Galaxy mid season, elevating the season ticket total to 8,000. The Club capped season ticket sales at 14,000 (which sold out in five months) in order to encourage walk-up sales on game days.

Toronto FC has joined MLS as the 13th team and the first outside of the United States. The team's newly built stadium, BMO Field, is located near downtown Toronto at Exhibition Place, and will hold 20,000 (seated) spectators with stands on the east, west and south sides.

According to the Washington Post, MLS teams averaged 15,504 tickets sold per game last season. With a total of 80 games played so far this season, the current average is already 15,151 pre-Beckham as posted on the MLS Zone. D.C. United has already sold nearly 30,000 tickets in the form of season tickets, ticket plans and group orders and are expecting to fill every seat at RFK Stadium when the Galaxy come to town on August 9th, as quoted by United Executive VP, Stephen Zack. On the West Coast the LA Galaxy sold 5,000 season tickets priced from $380 to $880 a piece in just two days following Beckham’s signing, as reported by The Sports Economist.

With tickets disappearing at the primary box office, preferred seating is still accessible through the secondary event ticket market. Tickets to the August 5th match-up between Toronto FC and LA Galaxy are currently priced from $425 to $1335 CDN, on secondary ticket broker site, ShowTimeTickets.com.