OK, I am stuck in a cab, in heavy traffic. I left work an hour before the start of Wednesday's D.C. United/TFC tilt at BMO.
Traffic is absolute hell on Lake Shore Boulevard, and, 10 minutes before the game is set to kick off, the cab is only inching past Spadina, nowhere close to the Princes' Gates.
It is at that point where a group of three girls knock frantically at the window. They are soaking from the rain. They are walking to the Kanye West show at the Molson Amphiteatre, but they want to abandon that plan because, well, a long walk on the Lake Shore in the rain may seem like a good a idea at the time, but... Being the nice guy I am — and feeling generally sorry for these kids (I may be showing my age by calling them "kids." They talk about spending too much time drinking before making their attempt to walk to the Amphitheatre, so who knows?) I agree to help them out. They could tag along to BMO Field and walk from there.
So, with three girls in tow, all aghast at the fact they'd already missed opener Lupe Fiasco (numerous cell phone calls to friends gives them the skinny on that) the cab finally arrives at BMO Field well after the scheduled kick-off time. As I get out of the cab, there is a roar from the field, and I can tell by looking at the video screen, which is visible from outside the stadium, that Danny Dichio has opened the scoring.
There is a point here. TFC have a few weekday games scheduled this season, and most of them start at 7 p.m. Anyone who has tried to take the crowded 509, 510 or 511 streetcars or use Lake Shore Boulevard during the tail end of rush hour knows that BMO Field is nowhere near as accessible as the Rogers Centre or the Air Canada Centre. And, for people leaving work and having to make it down to the stadium, 7 p.m. is a big ask.
A regular-season game takes less than two hours to play. If TFC had 8 p.m. start times, fans would still be leaving the field before 10 p.m. It makes sense. In Europe, weeknight games regularly start as late as 9 p.m., and the Champions League final started at 10:45 p.m. Moscow time to accommodate Western European prime-time TV. Yes, the Moscow example is pushing it, but the truth is, most European fans would see a 7 p.m. weeknight start time, or even 7:30 p.m., as awfully early for a sporting event such as a soccer match. It's not baseball; there are no such things as four-hour marathon games in our sport, so there's no need to start so early. Going later than 8 p.m. would be a culture shock to most fans, but 8 is a nice number. And very lucky in Chinese culture. I know that because my wife told me.
As it stands, we are getting used to seeing a half-empty BMO Field at 7 p.m. kickoff, simply because it's asking too much of fans who work during the day to manage the terrible traffic around the Exhibition Grounds —either on transit or by car.
By the way, Dichio's early effort was the only goal of the game. TFC, undefeated in six.

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