How can the CSL improve in their 2009 season?

[Eric]

I guess this will be directed to the Commissioner and Owners from us the CSL fans.

My personal 10 suggestions are:

1. Change the present schedule system and make it realistic, one game per week.

2. Change the present division's system, it doesn't add anything positive to the league, just make it one division, the other divisions should come from other provinces and they should be call WEST, CENTRAL and EAST.

3. Make the teams play each other only twice during the season, home and away games.

4. Make clubs have a youth system, Reserve or U-21s then U-17s, U-15s and U-13s.

5. Don't allow clubs to hire coaches with out proper certification, A license or equivalent minimum, if you want to be call a professional league.

6. Choose the best 8 or 10 referees in the league and have only those 8 or 10 doing all the games.

7. Start the season early, indoors in March and finish it latter in November.

8. Make the first teams have two U-17 players on the field at all times, which means two more on the bench.

9. Make sure game fields are in proper conditions to play an official game (long grass), if not....fine the home team.

10. Fix the website, make it look like a soccer site NOT a hockey site and remember in soccer, the home team always goes first on the listing and there's a Goal Differential or Goal Average column in the standings list.

If you have any additions or suggestions to this list please don't hesitate to add it, maybe we can enlighten their brains!!

[hamiltonfan]

Great thread. All those ten sound good. A few of yours that NEED some movement on are;

1. Change the present schedule system and make it realistic, one game per week.

6. Choose the best 8 or 10 referees in the league and have only those 8 or 10 doing all the games.

8. Make the first teams have two U-17 players on the field at all times, which means two more on the bench.addded: U17 Canadian born players

9. Make sure game fields are in proper conditions to play an official game (long grass), if not....fine the home team.

We should get Kappy and Stan to get a look at this thread.

[Eric]

I don't know about the "U17 Canadian born players" many players that played and are playing now for our MNT, were not canadian born and they still play for Canada. If they are here, they should be here legally which means sooner or latter they will become citizens and will represent our NTs if they're good enough.

[VPjr]

other ideas

Marketing ideas:

- lower single game ticket prices. I really believe that $10 per ticket at the door is too much. Lower the prices and make it more attractive for people to come out and check out CSL soccer. at this stage, it is more important that the CSL get bums in the seats and expose people to this league and its teams.

- offer customers the ability to buy a leaguewide season pass rather than only offering season tickets for a specific team. I'd pay $150 per year to be able to go any game I wish.

- improve the website. It must look more professional and it must become an even better resource for fans and media. The game reports need to be written in a manner that mimicks a Canadian Press game report. Right now, it simply doesn't look professional enough, in my opinion. If the CSL PR people do the work for the media, they might actually find the newspapers adding the game reports to their online sports sections. Why wouldn't they do a weekly CSL recap if the work has already been done for them?

- Try to get Rogers to show 2 games per week (and have them broadcast across the entire GTA). Also pay Rogers to edit a highlight package that can be submitted to GolTV, FoxSportsworld Canada, RSN Soccer Saturday, etc... so that the league can get some additional mainstream exposure, even if it's only 1 minute per week. I'm sure one of those highlight shows would be willing to show that they support more than just the MLS and USL in Canada. If the content is provided for them, they might be willing to provide the airtime (its cheaper than having to produce their own content)

- do more to promote some of the star players. Work hard to move players from CSL to higher leagues at the end of each season to show that CSL can be a stepping stone league.

- actively reach out to the community club network (again). get the kids to the stadiums...do whatever it takes. offer clinics for kids and coaches in exchange for buying blocks of tickets. it's not a money maker in the short term but long term, you introduce young people to the league.

- offer youth coaches like me special packages to be able bring the team to a game.

On Field ideas:

- I'd like to see a minimum of two Canadian U18s on the field at all times (they don't have to be born in Canada but they must be an official Canadian resident). The CSL needs to become a destination league for the best youth players in Ontario. The best players need to be encouraged to get away from age group soccer.

- a Reserve team and a Youth program for every team is an absolute must.

- a longer season is required but I doubt they would play indoors. Start in mid-April (they play in the winter in England...why can't we play on the Field Turf fields in April). Maybe the CSL should organize an indoor tournament in late March to help the teams ramp up their fitness. Make admission to the tournament free to people who buy season tickets before the tournament or at the tournament. They could do the tournament at BMO or Hershey Sportszone in Mississauga

- No team plays 2 games in a weekend more than 3 times per year and it must be spaced out. Absolutely no Friday and Saturday games for a team. I know travel costs are high but it is impossible to expect a team to be able to perform well if they have to play 2 games on back to back days. Friday and Sunday is bad. Friday and Saturday is totally unacceptable because the on field product is significantly compromised.

- mandate that every team must practice a minimum of 3 times per week. The more the teams train together, the better the quality of the soccer. If the league wants to be considered to be a pro league, the training schedule must be of a professional quality.

- make sure that stadiums not only have properly cut grass but also properly functioning scoreboards, adequate lighting for night games and at least one concession where people can get food and drink. My 3 year old was constantly bugging me for a bottle of water on Friday night at Lamport and I couldn't buy one because there was no concession stand. In fact, I was very disappointed by Lamport on Friday night. there are no concessions, the stadium was very dark and the scoreboard was off. the game was outstanding but the stadium experience felt bush league.

that's all I've got for now but I'm sure I'll think of more.

[ray]

I'm not sure about extending the length of the season that much. It could start earlier in May but should still end in October. What the CSL could do is have a separate indoor championship - perhaps just for the GTA based teams. I believe the CPSL did this once early on in their existance. VPjr's idea of a tournament is also good.

I definitely agree about killing the international and national divisions. A 4-team division looks bad. The youth teams are a good idea that could help professionalize soccer in Ontario to a much greater extent.

The league definitely needs to be more widely available on TV across Ontario. The CSL needs to get Rogers to show a "Match of the Week" not only across the GTA but in large communities like Kingston, Ottawa, Hamilton, etc. -wherever the league might think a franchise could exist. The CSL should try to get a sponsor to offset production costs.

Good idea to start the thread!

[RJB]

The CSL should be all over the CSA to get into the Voyageurs Cup. It is shameful that the one attempt we have at a professional league(be it a good or bad attempt, you decide) is so overlooked when it comes to declaring a Canadian Champion.

[winterfan]

Rjb

There would have to be major changes made to the csl for that to happen.

[Eric]

^ winterfan that's what this thread is for ...... any suggestions? please list them here.

[tmcmurph]

Drop the franchise fee entirely. Go with a percent of each team's gate.

This would help get you out of the Ontario/Quebec only league status and help you expand nationally.

Don't try and take over or muscle out existing leagues and structures! Work with them. Even if they don't want to play you during the season extend an invitation to their champions into the CSL playoffs.

When you talk about indoor do you mean arena soccer or futsol?

[Eric]

I mean full size fields cover with a bubble (BMO Stadium) or locations like Soccer Centre and Hershey Centre, all of them in Souther Ontario but I'm sure there's more out there to start earlier and finish latter. Of couse Lamport Stadium with a Dome or Bubble over the stands will be the answer to everything but that will make too much sense so for sure it won't happen.

[Eric]

VPjr is making a very good point about scoreboard and time clock at the fields as a minimum standard requirement for teams to play in the league.

Mississauga IMO is #1 in youth soccer in Ontario but is last place when comes down to supporting senior soccer in the province.

[CSL Commissioner]

Eric,

Firstly, thanks for putting the time in to make these suggestions (and verify that you are concerned about the CSL). I will try and briefly address your top 10 list:

1. We only permit teams to play 2 games per week. In Canada, to maintain a 22 game schedule, one game a week is tough. No team is required to play two games in 2 consecutive days, unless they request it (this change was made in 2007).

2. We like at least 2 divisions. While it has a limited effect on the standings, the international division is a unique concept which we believe is working well.

3. We do not believe in a balanced schedule. This is a soccer vs business question. While every team playing every team the same amount is the most "fair", for both rivalries and geography, we want to have London playing Windsor more times, Portugal playing Serbia more times etc... The NHL, MLB, NBA and NFL do not have balanced schedules. As the league grows, it will likely be more unbalanced.

4. The addition of the Reserve Division this year was a big step. But yes, ultimately the concept of a full youth system is the way to go.

5. We have the most qualified and certified coaches that the league has had in many years. It is a strong group, however a more formalized certification qualification is a good concept, and something we are looking at.

6. Tony Camacho, our new Director of Officials has done a tremendous job. He is adamant to only have the top officials doing CSL games. This is happening as we speak.

7. We have expanded the season from Mid May to Late October. Not sure if enough teams/fans are interested in a longer schedule.

8. We don't like to impose player restrictions on teams. We currently have many young players in the CSL.

9. We have eliminated many fields in the past two years (Bronte, Birchmount, Memorial Park, etc...). Most of the time, the field conditions in the CSL are excellent..but point taken.

10. The website is much better than previous years, but you are correct, it can be better.

Hope this helps somewhat.

Thanks

Cary Kaplan

[CSL Commissioner]

VPJr,

Again, thanks for the input, and excellent suggestions. Here are our thoughts:

1. We have the lowest ticket prices for any pro sporting event in Southern Ontario. I like the idea of keeping prices around $10, but gate receipts are the only/best chance for our owners to cover costs. Free tickets, decrease the value of your product. We need to increase the value of the experience, not decrease the ticket price.

2. League Wide Passes are a great idea. We plan to have something like you talk of next season!

3. Yes, the website has improved a lot, but I agree the overall quality can be better.

4. Rogers doing one game of the week to 800,000 homes every Friday is a huge step. The league has never had this before! The more TV coverage would be great, I don't anticipate they will do a second game of the week.

5. Great point. The league needs to do a better job promoting our star players. Absolutely, this is/will be a priority.

6. We have had more kids to game this year, than any time in recent memory. In partiular, North York, Serbia, Portugal FC, Italia, Brampton, Trois Rivieres are among the teams that have done the best job in years reaching out to minor soccer. Ever more important, kids coming to games are having a great time.

7. We do have special packages for coaches. If you are not aware of them, call the CSL next week.

8. There are lots of youth players throughtout the CSL, but we are relucant to require teams to play certain players in certain situations.

9. The Reserve Division is a big step. It took 10 years plus to establish the current relationship that we have with the OSA. We are moving towards greater reserve/youth prgorams for every team. We are coming far, but it will take time.

10. I like the idea of a pre-season tournament/and or practicing earlier, but starting the season earlier is questionable. We need to focus on maximizing fans. I would like to get 1000 people a game for teams' 11 home games, before we expand the schedule in games, or dates, let alone moving games indoors.

11. We moved all games to the weekends. This was a vital decision, and I credit the owners for doing so. As a result, some Friday-Sunday's are essential. No teams currently play two days in a row unless they request it.

Soccer always to support good business sense. Extra travel costs, and weekday games have led to the demise of many teams. While two games in a weekend is not ideal from a soccer standpoint, it is ideal from a 'soccer business' stanpoint. This has to be the driving force for a growing successul long term national league.

12. More practices are good, most teams do practice multiple times per week, but I do not see this as something that the league should mandate.

13. Our stadiums are greatly improved from previous years...and very few games have field issues, but we still need to work on a few items (as you mentioned).

Again, I hope these comments are helpful, and thanks for keeping this discussion active.

Sincrerely,

Cary Kaplan

Commissioner

CSL

[FutureStarCSL]

i agree with the prices if the gate keep them at 10$ its not the price you need to switch to get fans out its that the teams aint really known and that The csl aint really known and the best way to do this is have every team in the league have soccer camps and clinics were the teams players can come to the clinic and give pointers to youths growing up also teams need to get more out in the community like how the toronto fc does like charity events special days like that have players have autograph signins leave the shedule how it is to with east and west division

[Artoo]

One way to improve the CSL is to expand out west! Without omitting Winnipeg of course :-))).

[Artoo]

I guess it's worth mentioning that a Manitoba team was a part of the league previously. I understand that the Winnipeg Fury (the CSL champ from 1992) was a part of the National Soccer League in 1993.

[Eric]

Mr Commissioner,

I read some of the reason you give us for not doing certain adjustments in the league and they seam to be pretty lame excuses IMO.

1. "One game a week is tough in Canada" why? all you need is to play for three more weeks!!

2. "We like at least 2 divisions" why? and who is we? two divisions is unnecessary and ridiculous. There is no need for it, even if you call it "a unique concept" it looks lame and amateur. I heard that some of the owners also think that two divisions is a bit ridiculous and so do most of the players and fans.

3. "We do not believe in a balanced schedule" you have to be kidding me Mr Commissioner, you have to once and for all stop comparing a SOCCER league to NHL, MLB, NBA and NFL, who cares what they do!!! this is SOCCER and has nothing to do with those other sports, even from the business stand point, you have to start thinking more about the sport the CSL represents and stay away from other sports concepts. Soccer has tradition and ways of operations that fans don't like to see replaced by unbalanced schedules and nonsense that favored certain clubs in the league, Windsor playing London four times and getting 12 sure points in a very tight season is unacceptable. If instead of Windsor you would have give that opportunity to TFCA, maybe the kids would be better placed in the standings right now.

4. Well, we agree on this one at least

5. I think you should impose the A license or equivalent to any coach that wants to coach in the CSL next season. Maybe the CSA should set up a course for CSL coaches (with a foreigner coach with international credentials please) not the jokers that run courses in Canada that never coach anywhere, or better yet why doesn't the CSL organize a course with a prestigious coach and call it CSL Certification License for senior professional coaches.

6. But he doesn't have the top officials doing all the games yet, cause I had seen some ridiculous refereeing in many of the games I attended.

7. I assure you there're enough teams/fans interested in a longer schedule. Do your homework and you'll be surprise.

8. Yes, many young players playing for TFCA and that's about it. I don't agree at all on this one.

9. Thank you for taking the point.

10. And hopefully the website will be better next season, at least make it look more like a soccer website.

Mr Commissioner, I am a diehard soccer fan and I really wish the CSL all the best and hope that in the next few years this league will be the true representative of professional canadian soccer in the world.

Good luck and please keep an open mind.

thank you

Eric

[Rocket Robin]

Attendance drops off like like a table edge after the kids go back to school in September. (it's similar in pro baseball too except for teams still in the pennant race).

I think the season should end and that includes playoffs by the Thanksgiving weekend.

[Rocket Robin]

Attendance drops off like like a table edge after the kids go back to school in September. (it's similar in pro baseball too except for teams still in the pennant race).

I think the season should end and that includes playoffs by the Thanksgiving weekend.

[FutureStarCSL]

it is tru the season should not end later as school has begins it should styll end exaclty how it is cuz once schools starts it will drop the fans interest because school is back and the kids parents want them to be paying attention to school soo the csl ending in oct begining nov means thats a good thinking yuh the thing about windors playing london 4 times is total wrong cuz the will most likely win those games each team should only play each other 2 times and maybe a third time in the season no more then that soo as you progress your league with more teams your season will look better like that you need a schedule that you stick to so the fans know when they can find csl games yuh the website could be better as the description of the players and there photos should be by there roster has fans need to know exaclty who there star is and who which player is better refreein is tru 2 divisions is okay because it will lower the cost of travel when teams very rearly have to travel far like say if next year you happen to have a BC team they should only play montreal once cuz the travel soo 2 divison is ok

[Eric]

^ anybody has any commas or periods that are not using? send some upstairs please.

[VPjr]

quote:Originally posted by FutureStarCSL

it is tru the season should not end later as school has begins it should styll end exaclty how it is cuz once schools starts it will drop the fans interest because school is back and the kids parents want them to be paying attention to school soo the csl ending in oct begining nov means thats a good thinking yuh the thing about windors playing london 4 times is total wrong cuz the will most likely win those games each team should only play each other 2 times and maybe a third time in the season no more then that soo as you progress your league with more teams your season will look better like that you need a schedule that you stick to so the fans know when they can find csl games yuh the website could be better as the description of the players and there photos should be by there roster has fans need to know exaclty who there star is and who which player is better refreein is tru 2 divisions is okay because it will lower the cost of travel when teams very rearly have to travel far like say if next year you happen to have a BC team they should only play montreal once cuz the travel soo 2 divison is ok

I welcome you to the forum and I hope you continue to post but I urge you to try to use punctuation to make your posts easier to follow.

[Eric]

Hey guys........that's it!!! no more suggestions?

C'me on now, they are reading this thread, this is our chance to put in our 2 cents.

I think that people's thoughts are easier to remember when they're in writing!! [^]

[Eric]

Hey guys........that's it!!! no more suggestions?

C'me on now, they are reading this thread, this is our chance to put in our 2 cents.

I think that people's thoughts are easier to remember when they're in writing!! [^]

[Marco07]

Figure out a way to merge with the PCSL, forcing the PCSL to provide a higher quality league in the West for the summer. IMO there is no reason this should not be the #1 item to be attained...especially from the PCSL who should look at this option with an open mind.

I would love to see a well-organized professional PCSL (please bear in mind I think the volunteers do an excellent job).

The only problem is that...they are volunteers. Paid staff with valid experience in their respective industry will help the PCSL grow to a point they would have never been able to achieve without them. Budget is not an excuse as you can always bring on a Sponsorship Coordinator to bring in corporate sponsors to help achieve your goals (remember they make a small base + commission).

Volunteers should be the Board of Directors. They should be the one providing the vision for the future, not the day to day operations and management of the league. What I believe is that we need to have paid staff ensuring the policies & goals of the organization are achieved.

Merging with the CSL would aid both leagues. Firstly, it would help the CSL in their expansion plans. Secondly, it would allow the PCSL to grow into a more professional and productive development league (therefore changing the status quo).

If clubs are unwilling to see the vision...find a new club that is. Hire only licensed coaches, hire general managers and other professional staff, improve facilities, and more importantly demand the best from everything you touch.

I know this is a CSL thread, but if the CSL are reading this...and I know Richard is ...please continue to consider this option as I believe it would be a great step for the PCSL, CSL and BC Soccer.

I would be more than willing to chat to anybody on this subject via PM.