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Toronto Inferno fold, Lynx aquire rights


Jarrek

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TORONTO LYNX ACQUIRE W-LEAGUE FRANCHISE!

Wednesday, October 20, 2004 (TORONTO, ON) – The Toronto Lynx Soccer Club has acquired the rights to the Toronto W-League franchise. Providing the most complete women’s player pool in the world, the W-League is recognized as North America’s best women’s development organization. The W-League also gives the nation’s best college players the opportunity to play alongside established international players while maintaining their collegiate eligibility. USL determined earlier this month that the Toronto Inferno would not return to the W-League in 2005. While several groups were interested in acquiring the Toronto rights for a W-League club, the League office after some consideration, felt that the Lynx were the best-equipped group to maximize the potential of the W-League and the development of women's soccer in Toronto.

The greater Toronto area is home to some of the finest female soccer talent in Canada having produced exceptional talent such as Kara Lang, Diana Matheson and Amanda Cicchini, all originating from the Oakville Soccer Club. Many of these players honed their skills in the W-League and brought a great sense of pride to our country with their tremendous achievement during the recent 2003 Women's World Cup where they finished in fourth place.

“This is a welcome addition that presents great opportunities for our organization,” says Nicole Hartrell, the owner and COO of the Toronto Lynx. She adds, “We are very excited to have the W-League under the Lynx banner. Since we already have a soccer infrastructure in place through the Toronto Lynx men’s professional team, every department will be extended to deliver the women's side. We are moving forward fast to have a head coach in place in consultation with Even Pellerud, the Canadian Women's National Team head coach.”

In 2004, the Toronto W-League team competed in the North Central Division playing a total of 14 games: seven home and seven away, competing against the likes of Rochester, Sudbury, Ottawa and Montreal.

NAME AND LOGO ALREADY IN PLACE!

The women's team will be known as the “Toronto Lady Lynx” with the logo being an off-shoot of the men’s attractive traditional shield. Representing female energy, the soccer ball within the Lynx logo has been metamorphed into the female symbol of a ball and cross by Lynx photographer, Marielle Di Turi.

The acquisition of the W-League franchise for the Lynx mimics the organizational structure of the Vancouver Whitecaps, which includes the men’s A-League team and boys Super Y-League (SYL) plus the W-League team and girls SYL teams. Peter Kovacs, the Toronto Lynx Director of Business Development is exuberant about the announcement saying, “This is fabulous. Corporate Canada now has a more comprehensive vehicle for reaching the soccer community through the Toronto Lynx with the addition of the women's side and girls SYL. There has already been a lot of interest from businesses and that's a win-win for both soccer fans and the club."

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ladylynx_logo.gif

!

Notice the jagged little cross protruberance coming out of the soccer ball signifying fem power!

"Lady Lynx"? Whatever happened to "Women"? Oh well, a small detail. This is very positive, and kudos to the Hartells for coming in and rescuing the franchise.

Any truth to the rumour that the Keay brothers are trying out for the Lady Lynx's male cheerleaders?;)

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Guest HamiltonSteelers

I'm sorry, but does the fact that "Lady" or "Women" or something-"ettes" bother anyone else. At least the WNBA did something right, by having something similar looking and relative (Sacramento Kings -> Monarchs, Houston Rockets -> Comets) to their parent club without looking overly 'feminine'. I must have missed out on the marketing of the club.

All the same, good on the Hartells on this move... regardless of what the club is called, congrats.

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My initial reaction to this: oh no! Surely I can't be the only person concerned about the Lynx running another team? Even if you don't care about the women's team, you must still consider what effect this would have on the men's team (consider also the existing issues surrounding the manner in which the latter has been run so far).

Hmm, I wonder if this has something to do with the rumours about new Lynx ownership.

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I think the key here is the rights to running the SYL teams. The Lynx can now an offer up a full slate of teams, just like the Ottawa Fury does, without anyone offering up any competition thanks to the OSA.

And do the math. The Fury charges 250 bucks a months per player, 12 months a year. 20 players per team.

So if the Lynx charges the same and run 10 youth squads- that's 600,000 per year.

And add sponsorship that these teams could also generate.

It’s almost double the lynx budget in 2004.

VERY SMART.

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Not if they're bringing in half million a year.

And yes the fury does charge 250 per month per kid. That's 3000 grand for a season. I'm sure the Whitecaps are within the same range.

How can adding a w-league team with a budget of less than 70K while you add a revenue stream of a pontential half million hurt?

The only crime is that the OSA has given exclusive rights to USL teams to run these cash cows.

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I wasn't even talking about money. The problem is that the people running the Lynx seem incapable of doing so successfully (ie. beyond just surviving). Add another team to the mix, or even several more teams based on what Kelly's suggesting, and it will get worse. More money won't solve these problems.

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Well, hopefully they aren't thinking about doubleheaders. I was positive to the idea when the Avs started up, but two matches are tough to sit through and it doesn't really add to the financial return. Many of the potential customers for each team would not be interested in the other. Maybe once or twice on a Sunday afternoon as something special, but it's not the way to go.

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quote:Originally posted by G-Man

crap the inferno drew 100 people per game. they can't do worse.

Take a look at our website, and the league website for that matter...we didn't draw less than 200 this season. Our high is 420. Compare that with other teams league wide, and you will find that our average very comparable with others.

I'll throw out a challenge to the toronto based yoyageurs...How many of you have attended an inferno game? I've been to most of the games the past 4 years, about 90%, I've only seen Rocket Robin, and Elaine on a regular basis...

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I heard a quote from an interview on 590The Fan at 5:50am (Yeah my day starts early) with Nicole Hartrell saying this will help attract a higher calibre of player to the team ie Kara Lang, Diane Matheson [actually Diane played for the Inferno until moving to the Ottawa Fury in 2004].

The rest of the story the newscaster mentioned the Lynx were looking with some investors in the next few months to build a 6 to 9 thousand seat facility. [Oh boy. Don't know how to understand this. So they could own their own facilities? Because they expect MSL would be in the new York University stadium and shut them out? Another long term plan like they have every year?]

The Inferno could never get Birchmount Stadium before some time in July but had to play home games somewhere. They were nomads for some years and got hit with the city workers strike then the SARS crisis (had an American team forfeit the game rather than come up here). The attendance has hit rock bottom. Just family and whatever girls teams and family they could corral into being ball girls.

Double headers? Well how many people ever went to both Lynx and Inferno games even when they were on different days? Me and one old guy I'd sometimes see. It wouldn't matter if people stayed for both games but the overlap might create some interest.

My problem with the Inferno last year is they played their first few games with NO bench strength and things only got better after some of the local ladies teams finished their season. Maybe this is a preemptive strike against a proposed Women's CPSL.

Does 590 archive their broadcasts on the internet?

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The OSA had first choice a few years ago to field teams in the SYL,but turned the offer down. I don't think the Lynx are involved in the budget of the junior boys teams as they are run seperately by private academy people.As for the cost this season the players in the U15 team payed about$1,000, the program started in Jan and finished in Oct.10. This included twice a week training, with quality trainors, 10 Super Y league games, couple of exhibition games home and away, transportation and accomodations. If one compares it with the OSA program and what players have to pay there it is very reasonable, and definitely very comparable to what it would cost some players to play in the OYSL.So I don't think

the Lynx could charge the money the Fury is charging and get any good players, I don't think so. Ialso don't think the Junior teams will generate any major income for the Lynx, not from what I heard and saw this season anyways. In many ways it is a good thing the Lynx and Whitecaps have started these junior programs, for elite development as the OSA does not have the resources to cover a large volume, and their program is not always the most liked by many players.

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sudcan, I suppose that last summer's "agreement" between the Lynx and Canadians is now dead?

Actually, what was that agreement about, anyway? I mean, did anything tangible actually come out of it, or was it just more typical Lynx fluff?

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Our primary focus has always been Northern Ontario. When it comes to the W league we will reach out beyond the North hence there will be an element of competition – but competition for players will only strengthen Ontario and will ensure that more female players in Ontario are playing at the highest level than any other province. In the long term this will elevate Ontario when it comes to female soccer and the Ontario female pyramid of play, culminating at the USL level will strengthen all of the Ontario clubs across the province. Ontario has a great pool of female athletes and we can easily handle four teams - 72 players

When it comes to the north we have long learned that Northern Ontario’s ability to compete is heavily dependent on our youth player development plans and opportunities hence having Toronto in the Super Y is one major step in helping us get to were we need to go. We sincerely hope that London will move in this direction as well.

We do have a youth training agreement with the Lynx and we will carry it through.

Despite the competition which has always been there (south) we think that this is a very good move.

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