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Blog Post: Expanding the Voyageurs Cup


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Agreed that PDL won't work, as the PDL ends in the late summer. CSL and PCSL? Maybe. But I don't want envious metro league players going in for stupid tackles against professionals just to make a name for themselves.

Uhm, I think you are confused. PDL, CSL and PCSL all play at more or less the same time and I know that in the case of the PCSL they stopped playing in August years ago because all the US college kids are required to return to their schools in August for pre-season training.

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The CSA should have at least flipped games 3-4 to ensure all teams face each other before the repeat fixture (Mon-Tor). Maybe they'll go to round-robin + final next year (1 hosts 2), although with Edmonton that would push games from 4 to 6-7. Fixture congestion?

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According to Montopoli if Edmonton joins the competition then the format will change. So far the tournament's round robin format has made for some great drama, but this year it could be much less so unless Vancouver win their next two matches.

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I wonder if they will go to a knock out competition next year:

Vancouver v Edmonton playing the winner of TFC v Montreal. 2 legs in each round.

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Just to complicate matters, with the inclusion of Vancouver and Portland into MLS, that league may be going to a 34 game schedule. If TFC is adding 4 more games into its schedule just how many games can it play in the Voyageurs Cup as well?

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The format I prefer best is a 4-team round robin with the top 2 meeting in a final. Sure, that would mean 7 games for the top two teams, but I think it should be manageable.

But people need to realize that even in a 4-team round robin you could be left with lots of meaningless matches near the end if 1 or 2 of the teams start running away with it early.

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Keep in mind that Vancouver is in MLS in 2011 and Montreal in 2012. So the league games could count as Voyageur Cup games as well. This would leave extra space for Edmonton and whoever else joins Div2 to play home and home with the 3 top level clubs. This would be moving back to more of the original format for the Voyageurs Cup. We need to be creative as we do have unique problems to overcome.

So in 2011 Vancouver & Toronto use their league matches and each play home & home with Montreal and Edmonton. The 2 Div2 teams also use their league matches as Voyageurs Cup matches. So all 4 teams only play 4 extra matches.

In 2012 Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto play 2 extra games each and Edmonton plays 6 extra. When more teams enter Div2 then you repeat this so the 3 MLS clubs play 2 extra games for each Div2 team that is around.

This has several advantages. First there will not be too many games against the same opponent. Second the quality of play will be higher. With both league and V's Cup points on the line I don't think anyone would field a second string team. Third is that the Div2 teams will get exposure and marketing draws for the games when the "big 3" visit.

I still think they should keep it at Div2 and up but if you limit the number of games you can bring in Div3 and lower teams. if we could get the various regional leagues to work together (dare to dream Arnold, dare to dream) and come up with a champ then they could play against the Div2 teams to attempt qualification for the V's cup.

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Keep in mind that Vancouver is in MLS in 2011 and Montreal in 2012. So the league games could count as Voyageur Cup games as well. This would leave extra space for Edmonton and whoever else joins Div2 to play home and home with the 3 top level clubs. This would be moving back to more of the original format for the Voyageurs Cup. We need to be creative as we do have unique problems to overcome.

So in 2011 Vancouver & Toronto use their league matches and each play home & home with Montreal and Edmonton. The 2 Div2 teams also use their league matches as Voyageurs Cup matches. So all 4 teams only play 4 extra matches.

In 2012 Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto play 2 extra games each and Edmonton plays 6 extra. When more teams enter Div2 then you repeat this so the 3 MLS clubs play 2 extra games for each Div2 team that is around.

This has several advantages. First there will not be too many games against the same opponent. Second the quality of play will be higher. With both league and V's Cup points on the line I don't think anyone would field a second string team. Third is that the Div2 teams will get exposure and marketing draws for the games when the "big 3" visit.

I still think they should keep it at Div2 and up but if you limit the number of games you can bring in Div3 and lower teams. if we could get the various regional leagues to work together (dare to dream Arnold, dare to dream) and come up with a champ then they could play against the Div2 teams to attempt qualification for the V's cup.

I was thinking the same thing... one challenge I can see is that MLS and the Voyageurs Cup have different sponsors...

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Keep in mind that Vancouver is in MLS in 2011 and Montreal in 2012. So the league games could count as Voyageur Cup games as well.

If the powers that be decide to do this it will be the beginning of the end for this competition. The Voyageurs Cup is and should remain a completely seperate competition from MLS or any other league play. Including a Cup match in a league schedule would compromise the fairness of both competitions. the-reds is also right about sponsorship issues... but also dividing up the revenue from TV coverage and tickets sold.

The best way forward as more teams join the competition is either a straight knockout tournament style competition (perhaps 2 legs) or, if we get up to 6 teams, it could be the same home and away round-robin format but with two groups instead of one. The winner of each group would then play in a final. So there would only be one extra match to schedule for 2 of the teams. After Edmonton the other 2 teams could come from a qualifying competition featuring all of the USL D2/PDL and CSL teams. Maybe one from the east and one of the west.

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If the powers that be decide to do this it will be the beginning of the end for this competition. The Voyageurs Cup is and should remain a completely seperate competition from MLS or any other league play. Including a Cup match in a league schedule would compromise the fairness of both competitions. the-reds is also right about sponsorship issues... but also dividing up the revenue from TV coverage and tickets sold.

The best way forward as more teams join the competition is either a straight knockout tournament style competition (perhaps 2 legs) or, if we get up to 6 teams, it could be the same home and away round-robin format but with two groups instead of one. The winner of each group would then play in a final. So there would only be one extra match to schedule for 2 of the teams. After Edmonton the other 2 teams could come from a qualifying competition featuring all of the USL D2/PDL and CSL teams. Maybe one from the east and one of the west.

I think 2leg knockout wouldnt be right for such a small tournament. Not until it's a big thing would it be possible.

Because say in an expanded tournament, Toronto gets drawn against FCE, knocks em out easyas expected, and is then drawn against another Canadian USL side, say Ottawa. Whereas MTL is drawn against Vancouver, another competitive team, and then some other competitive canadian team.

One team can perhaps take a very easy route to the big game, and while that makes sense in a large tournament, since htey have to be consistent winners, it doesn't seem to be right in a small tournament.

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