TORONTO – Toronto FC announced Thursday that radio station The Fan 590 will return for a third year as the official Toronto-area radio partner of the Reds.
Play-by-play voice Dan Dunleavy will once again be calling the games, and all 34 regular season matches will be aired on the radio station or over the Web at fan590.com.
Dunleavy is well known in Canada as the radio voice of the World Junior Hockey Championships, but he says that soccer has always been a big part of his life.
“Soccer was the first game I ever played when I was 5 years old – I can still see the purple jerseys we wore – and it’s a game I still play today,” he told MLSsoccer.com. “I absolutely love the game of soccer. It’s my job, but it’s also my passion.”
According to Dunleavy, The Fan is ecstatic to be a partner with TFC at a time when the sport is gaining traction in the city.
“Initially [in 2007] we took a wait-and-see approach to see if it would take off,” he said. “As soon as we saw the excitement in the city – there is no experience in Toronto that is like a TFC game – we know we had to be a part of it.”
Dunleavy says it’s his job to help educate Toronto fans about not only TFC, but also the rest of the league’s stars. He says that he approaches each broadcast with that in mind.
In addition to the game broadcasts, The Fan will also continue to cover TFC through its weekly The Soccer Show broadcast. However, Dunleavy says fans can expect that the station will continue to feature regular coverage on a day-to-day basis.
The Fan 590’s coverage begins on March 19, when Toronto FC open the season on the road against the expansion Vancouver Whitecaps FC, in the first-ever league match between Canadian clubs.
MLSsoccer.com's unprecedented preseason coverage rolls on with live streams from the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic. Check out the semifinal matches on Thursday when FC Dallas take on Orlando City (6 pm ET) and the Houston Dynamo take on Toronto FC (8 pm). Only on MLSsoccer.com!
