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Expansion: Ottawa is still a contender


Luis_Rancagua

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I would love to see all sports writers in Canada or for that matter all media state their feelings and foremost detailed opinions about soccer in Canada.Judging from these guys it won't be pretty at all and once and for all we will know were we and they stand.

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Randall Denely in todays Citizen had a good column talking about how the city can spend a hundred million on a bridge that may or not be needed and no one blinks and eye.. or how they are spending thirty million to upgrade a bus stop at Algonquin college, so students dont walk outside.

The basic issue in Ottawa is bureacrats in the city administration dont want to take any action to build a world class city.

It is in fact a Canada wide disease.

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The ignorance of the standard bred sportscaster when it comes to soccer is absolutely mind-boggling. The quote from 'GARRIOCH' regarding standard of play shows how pitiful it is that these guys actually earn a living 'writing about sports'.

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As a curious outsider I find this whole conversation very interesting, particularly Joe's comments, which I think are well-informed and balanced. And it isn't surprising that some of the established mainstream sports reporters have the opinions they do. It might be slightly disappointing but hardly surprising or upsetting. These guys have all come up through papers/radio stations etc. that have focused almost exclusively on the big 4 North American sports for generations. Why would/should they know/care about soccer? Despite's TFC's success MLS is still relatively new to Canada and barely into season three I still think it's far too soon to proclaim that TFC will always be as strong (off the pitch) as it is now.

What does trouble me is the anti-CFL flavour to many of the posts here. It's one thing to not like Canadian football and everyone's entitled not to but to take cheap shots at it to the point basic facts are being ignored is ridiculous. And as someone pointed out it's also as dumb as the anti-soccer nonsense all of us have spent our lives listening to. The CFL is in fact Canada's second most popular sports league (after the NHL) and despite some pretty big mistakes in the 1990s in very strong shape right now. The Grey Cup is the most watched sports event on Canadian television and all the teams go back decades (some to the 1870s). The CFL isn't still around because no one cares about it, in Ottawa or anywhere else. In fact instead of seeing the CFL as a rival or a threat Canadian soccer should be looking at ways to learn from the successes (and yes failures) of the CFL.

Also I have to agree I find the standard of play in MLS compared to the EPL pretty low. The horrible CBC packaging doesn't help (contrast their camera work to the general coverage of EPL games for example). I still watch but I can understand why others wouldn't (remember how interested people were in Sportsnet's coverage of Swedish Elite League hockey during the NHL lockout?).

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^^Amen and amen re CFL.

That league is doing a whole lotta things right with the resources they have at their disposal.

Not that it has much to do with what we're talking about but the bloom seems to be going off the Bills' rose in T.O. Just read where ticket prices were dropped and the death of Ted Rogers couldn't have helped. Can't say this saddens me (the Bills fortunes that is)

Coming from a TV background I also noticed that the TFC broadcast last Saturday was somewhat spartan. Couldn't help but notice the large shadow and the play being lost in it. Didn't seem to be many mid/tight shots where the guy riding video could boost the white levels a tad.

Having said that, I only watched about five minutes so I could be wrong.

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Massive city planning should be driven by the City, not developers. And if the city and taxpayers are going to pay for the majority of this, then they/we should be the ones calling the shots. If you build it they will come. And I'd much rather see a dedicated soccer group run any soccer franchise in this city.

The reason you never heard the words USL from Minto before is because they didn't even know what it was.

We learned from the CFL that owners with no long-term interest fold-up overnight.

Run screaming.

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quote:Originally posted by El Hombre

New Ottawa Sun article today.

Lansdowne Live is considering bringing in a USL team. Unless this is just lip service, I'm starting to lean towards their bid. At least they've shown a little flexibility whereas Melnyk and co. said yesterday that they "have no Plan B".

Sounds like lip service indeed. They have no real interest in soccer beyond what it can do to assist their bid. However, you are right, Lansdowne Live is showing flexibility. If Melnyck doesn't get his way on the location, he may drop out and the Lansdowne bid will be the only one standing.

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The Lansdowne Live proposal has always been about doing condo development and selling the condos on the Rideau Canal, the Greenburg offer to give Melnyck the football team clarifys the desire by the Minto group to do the land development.

So the city needs to built a stadium on its own, and let whoever wants to lease it and run it bid on a open and transparent deal. The stadium should really be on the Flats all the city knows that .. lets hope it gets closer to the proper solution.

Lansdowne as redeveloped public space with no Condos or commercial emphasis.

A 25K plus stadium in the flats, with natural turf or combined natural and synthetic to allow Canadian football and MLS/USL/International soccer.

A new 7,500 seat Junior Hockey stadium in the flats by 2014.

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As an Eskimos fan, I can promise you that combining Canadian football and USL-1/MLS soccer on natural grass is a bad idea (if any of you want to track down an Edmonton Aviator and hear them scream in horror, be my guest). Any CFL/USL-1 proposal would pretty much mandate a synthetic surface.

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Anyone ever hear of a European company that got around the lines issue for multiple sports? I don't remember the technology but I remember hearing about a way they came up with to make certain lines visible for certain events.

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