Once Canada’s MLS team, Toronto FC is going red, white and — wait for it — blue in its away kit this season.

That sound you hear is the collective echo of supporters’ heads exploding.

OK, fine. Enough with the sarcastic humour.

Adding a third colour is serious stuff.

And the club’s top brass is hoping you’ll take pause and consider the explanation.

“When Toronto FC first started, everything was red. Everything was Canada, Canada, Canada,” said David Freeman, MLSE’s head of brand marketing.

“There were Canadian flags everywhere. Right now, we don’t have the permission to say, ‘We’re Canada’s club.’ ”

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Not with Vancouver and Montreal joining the MLS fold.

Not with Ottawa and Edmonton in the conversation.

“If you want to make an association with a colour in Toronto, it’s going to be blue — it’s Argos, Jays, Leafs, University of Toronto,” Freeman added.

“It’s the City of Toronto flag, too. Blue makes a lot of sense here.”

Hold up, Freeman.

This isn’t a slow transition toward painting BMO Field blue, is it?

“Never,” he responded. “We’re the Reds.”

Go on ...

“In the storied 10 years of Toronto FC, there’s not a ton to celebrate.”

Uh, not a ton? How about next to nothing, other than a few Canadian Cups?

“All we’re trying to say is there was some soccer history before Toronto FC,” Freeman explained. “They had some blue. We’re going to bring that in.”

Introducing Toronto Metros-Croatia, the former NASL side that eventually turned into the Toronto Blizzard.

Metros-Croatia wore predominately red and white kits with subtle hints of blue.

The club’s star player, Portuguese soccer legend Eusebio, scored the game-winning goal in the 1976 Soccer Bowl.

To honour Toronto’s largely ignored soccer history, the Reds plan to pay tribute to the aforementioned NASL sides multiple times this season.

“Can we focus ourselves on being Toronto’s club first and foremost? What does that mean?” Freeman asked in a one-on-one with the Sun.

“Let’s look back at the history in this city and garner some inspiration from that.”

The Reds will wear their new whites on the road and four times at home this season. They’ll be red every other weekend of the year.

“Outside of these throwback historical nights, we’re still Toronto FC. We’re the Reds,” Freeman insisted. “We’re red at home.

“We’ve already landed on our red jersey for the 2017 season. That’s pretty much done. In 2018, we’ll change this one.

“Hopefully, the plan will be to keep blue in it a little bit, but make it fresh and clean.”

Emphasis on “a little bit.”

But who knows? There’s certainly nothing wrong with adding in a new colour scheme.

World-class clubs do it all the time. Who can forget those audacious lime-green Barcelona jerseys?

And for all you CFL conspiracy theorists, there’s pretty strong evidence to suggest the Argonauts had nothing to do with this.

Keep in mind Adidas requires kits to be designed two years in advance.

“The Argos weren’t in the discussion when this got finalized,” Freeman responded when pressed.

“What we’re going to do is honour Metros-Croatia and honour guys from the Blizzard and talk about the history of professional soccer in this city.”

That’s not to say MLSE isn’t aware of the risks.

The Columbus Crew learned the hard way recently that adding a third colour — sky blue — can have ramifications.

The Eastern Conference champions were mocked and ridiculed when they released their new kits earlier this month.

“Lot s of people said that looked crazy, but it’s rooted in something,” Freeman said. “That’s what the City of Columbus’ flag looks like.”

It’s about taking measured risks.

“If TFC rolls out wearing pink uniforms with no authenticity and no history, we’re going to get destroyed,” Freeman said.

“The south end is going to destroy us.”

To which I replied: “You might get destroyed regardless.”

There’s also a chance, though, that TFC fans will appreciate what Freeman called a “hat tip” to Toronto’s soccer past.

While the game plays a massive role in shaping portions of this city, Toronto’s soccer landscape remains splintered.

Efforts to highlight tradition are a step in the right direction to show it’s OK to support the game at every level in this city.

And one more thing: You’ll notice the tiny blue strip is much smaller than the block of red beneath it.

“It’s not 50-50,” Freeman added. “That’s not how blue and red exist in our colour scheme. We didn’t want blue and red to exist in the same proportion.

“Red is a more important colour for us. Red is predominant.”