Behind the MLS Ambition Rankings: Toronto FC

• How much money has your team spent in the past five years on youth development? How much in the past year?  

Close to $6 million investment to youth development and TFC Academy, not including Kia Training Ground Facilities.

• How many homegrown players have you signed? How many have played in MLS league games for your first team?

TFC has signed 11 Academy players, TFC II has signed nine Academy players–combined 20 players have signed pro contracts from our academy. Homegrown Players have made a combined 263 appearances for Toronto FC in MLS.

• Who pays to play on your youth teams? And how much do they pay?

None of the players on our Academy teams pay anything to play for Toronto FC. Training, coaches, education, travel, uniforms, international competition, competition fees are all covered by the club.

• How many season-ticket holders do you have? How many did you have in 2015?

17,600 for 2016 and same for 2015. 

• Where does your first team train? Did you build the training facility yourself? If so, how much did it cost?

Kia Training Ground & Academy, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (ownership), cost $17.3 million. 

• Do you have a model for integrating your academy with the first team? How closely do your academy teams resemble the way the first team trains and plays? 

Yes we have an integrated model. We employ a similar formation and we use the same principles of play designed specifically for TFC. Our development model is assisted by the fact that our head coach was our former Academy Director and our current Academy Director was an instructor in the EFCL French course for all MLS Academy Directors. We have a player progression process that moves players up and down between our TFC Academy Pod 1, TFC PDL, TFC II teams and the first team.

• What’s your philosophy on the use of technology in your training and preparation for matches?

We use a variety of IT resources for training and game prep. From employing a video analyst to gps/catapult and opta, it's used on a daily basis.

• Who is your jersey sponsor? What’s your total income on sponsorships this season?

 BMO is the jersey sponsor; sponsorship revenue undisclosed. 

• Local TV deal: How many of your games this season are shown on local television? How much is your local TV deal worth per season?

13 matches on national television, 21 matches on local television. 

• Local radio deal: How many of your games this season are broadcast on local radio? In English? In other languages?

All matches are scheduled for English radio. 

• How many front-office employees does your team have? How many have you added or subtracted in the past year?  

50 for Toronto FC, 40-50 with parent company. 

• Have you hired any additional technical staff over the past year to reduce doubling-up roles? Are you planning on expanding your technical staff in the near future?

We hired a video analyst and a strength and conditioning coach for the first team and an assistant coach and goalkeeping coach for TFC II