With the conclusion of the MLS is Back tournament, Impact President Kevin Gilmore expects his team to play a home game at Stade Saputo as opposed to a Canadian opponent at the end of next week. And, as decreed through the fitness officers, no more than 250 spectators will be allowed.
“From the beginning, our stated purpose was to play a full season,” Gilmore said. “Then it has become to play as many games as you can imagine. That’s still the plan. The subset is to play as many of our house games as you can imagine here. Right now, we can’t.”
Last Saturday, Major League Soccer announced that their normal season would continue with the groups betting 18 more games starting Wednesday, when Nashville SC reunited with FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium in Texas. Both groups did not participate in the recent tournament at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex near Orlando, after COVID-19 cases emerged.
While American groups will play six games played exclusively in their own country, Montreal is expected to have its own six-game series, three unlike the Reds and Whitecaps, until mid-September.
The federal government recently rejected the Blue Jays’ request to play regular-season games in Toronto, fearing that having American groups in the country for several days would not adequately protect the physical condition and protection of Canadians. The team was then forced to move to Buffalo, the site of one of its minor league affiliates.
Unless radical adjustments are made, the 3 Canadian MLS clubs will be forced to play the remaining 12 games in the time stage of the calendar somewhere in the United States.
Toronto has been reported to play their home games at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. The Reds would share this facility with the New York Red Bulls and New York City FC. The Whitecaps can presumably play in Seattle.
Although there is an empty stadium in Rochester, New York, used through the Rhinos, a USL team that ceased operations in 2018, Gilmore said it did not meet the needs of MLS on the fronts.
Instead, he said, the Impact would have to share a stadium in the northeast U.S. with another MLS team. That would limit Montreal to becoming co-tenants with New England, D.C. United or Philadelphia.
MLS groups that take charter flights or buses and, for most games, arrive on game day and depart later, there is a small chance that Saputo Stadium can still be used.
“We are aware of the situation that exists,” Gilmore said. “We perceive that there will possibly be things out of our reach and we want to have contingency plans in place. It’s inevitable, if we play outdoor games, it’ll be in an MLS stadium.”
The league controls the process, Gilmore admitted. “There’s a massive aspect of making plans,” he says. “In some stadiums, the professional team is playing,” he added, no doubt referring to the NFL’s New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
What’s known, for now, is the playoffs are scheduled to begin Nov. 20. As well, 18 teams, an increase of four, will qualify for post-season play. The Impact, which has missed the playoffs three consecutive seasons, sits fifth in the Eastern Conference, with a 2-2-1 record. It went 1-3 in the Florida competition,eliminated by Orlando City SC in the round of 16. Only the group stage matches counted in the standings.
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