Toronto FC wants to know if fans can love them again after failed past

TORONTO – Toronto FC wants to know if you can love them again.

After eight losing seasons, it might be a tough ask. But the MLS team is going all in, with a hefty investment in new players like Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore and a new theme song.

The theme music in 2015 is “Love Me Again” by English soul singer John Newman.

“We bought the song,” said Tim Leiweke, president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.

“We think this is very appropriate as to the message we’re trying to create with our fans, which is ‘OK, we get it. We screwed it up and we’ve gone eight years (losing). But can you find within yourself to love us one more time because we think we have it right.’”

The refrain to the catchy song, which debuted at No. 1 in Britain in 2013, is “I need to know now, know now. Can you love me again?”

So far so good. Toronto has 2,000 new season ticket-holders with the total now around 18,000. Another 2,000-plus are expected.

That’s more than the Maple Leafs or Raptors.

The renewal rate on season tickets is expected to exceed 90 per cent, said Dave Hopkinson, MLSE’s chief commercial officer.