USSF Looking To Keep Canada on the Bench

[powerof11]

Jeremy Loome discusses the USSF's released mandatory regulations for second division soccer in 2011...and that several Canadian cities are bound to be left out.

http://www.rednationonline.ca/USSF_Looking_To_Keep_Canada_On_The_Bench_august_19_10_column.shtml

[hamiltonfan]

A coast-to-coast domestic league would only survive a few years in Canada. The CFL has enough problems with its hundred plus year history...travel cost alone kill this idea. The NASL must refuse this and become "D3" while the "D2" league of six failing teams fold, giving the NASL D2 status by default. The only way D2 soccer will work is a partnership between the CSA and American Federation.

[coppercanuck]

Another discussion of a Canadian league? Not yet. It's been done. The interesting thing that I found in my research (I'm not an expert ex-patriot, I need research) is that in England National League System teams still need to apply to move up a level. I had always assumed that the Champion of a lower league moved up, but they still need to meet the criteria to move up to that league. Now that the USSF is laying down criteria for a D2, some are throwing there hands up. The USL, specifically should have seen this coming. They have had piles of teams taking the path of voluntary relegation for years. From El Paso to Charleston. Maybe the USL should be suggesting that D3 is the answer, right now. Regional D3. Keep it smallish, tight and grow and build. The standards are set, build your club up to that standard, at a lower league then apply to move up.

The same could be said in Canada. Correct me if I'm wrong, the CSL clubs now have to pay 9 players on their roster. Asking its clubs to become, gradually more professional. Add minimum field standards, owner and front office structures as well as reserve and youth teams. Now we are getting close. Build some relationships with other senior leagues whose members might want to make the jump up and you've got the makings of a Canadian League System. The gap between TFC, Whitecaps, Impact and the next best Canadian teams is big. Not impossible, just big. If the CSA truly wanted to prove something ... get all the PDL, Super Y League, etc out of American Leagues; build a structure within Canada that meets the needs of Canadian player development. I mean really, what are the Toronto Lynx trying to prove playing against Dayton, Indiana, Cincinnati and Kalamazoo? I'm guessing the could easily join the current CSL. Toronto Lynx vs. Chicago Fire Premier = 823 km. The longest game in the CSL 2010? London City v. Montreal Impact = 732 km. save on travel, invest in players, stay local.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

....The only way D2 soccer will work is a partnership between the CSA and American Federation.

Agreed and beyond that the importance of the Canadian angle in the decision making process is probably being overstated by Jeremy Loome. I suspect that's not the USSF's main concern and that their real agenda revolves around making sure that they only have to sanction a single division 2 level league. They are setting the bar so high at this stage so the USL and NASL are forced to compromise. The missing factor in all of this is whether/how MLS gets involved when it starts up its reserve league again.

Correct me if I'm wrong, the CSL clubs now have to pay 9 players on their roster.

The following words, "Although I'm not sure what the CSA finally approved", prefaced that list of standards in the post by Bill Spiers. It is far from clear, therefore, that the set of standards he listed were actually what was eventually implemented.

http://www.cansoc.org/showthread.php?40467-Expansion-in-CSL-is-ever-coming&p=364549&viewfull=1#post364549

It seems highly improbable to me, for example, that the 9 players on pro contracts could apply to TFC Academy this season.

Beyond that the travel demands of PDL and the CSL can't be directly compared because the economic model used are very different. Long distance travel is much more viable in a short season league participated in by university team players during their summer break than it is in open-age elite amateur/semi-pro leagues where the players have to hold down regular 9 to 5 jobs in addition to playing soccer. Although the Lynx ownership obviously could try something else it would not be so easy to get anything other than PDL to work in a Thunder Bay context.

[Alex D]

This is going to be a rough transition. Sure we have too many (potential) teams for the USSF, but nowhere near enough for our own league. It's clear that a Canadian League will have to happen at some point, but I cannot picture how.

[ted]

[uSSF's] real agenda revolves around making sure that they only have to sanction a single division 2 level league. They are setting the bar so high at this stage so the USL and NASL are forced to compromise.

If these do in fact become the standards (still not set in stone BTW) they will have set them so high that they will keep out not just Canadian teams but Puerto Rico and a number of American clubs as well.

I am all for higher standards but within reason.

[jloome]

With all due respect to the three of you ruling this out, I've read many of your opinions before and respect them. But this is pure nonsense.

It's mathematically very easy to get around the travel question. You play three times as many game against regional opposition as those from the east. And you group long-distance away games in twos where possible, on short match weeks.

You have a single-table format, but keep the scheduling regional:

Victoria, Vancouver 2, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon, in the west

Hamilton, Ottawa, London, Quebec City, Laval/Montreal 2, Halifax in the east.

You run a single-entity, salary capped league, in which a pool fund helps with air travel costs -- keeping in mind that with regionalized loops, a lot of bussing is possible. Halifax would need the most help, then victoria. But on the whole, you could minimize travel costs with judicious planning (such as not having a Winnipeg franchise.)

The stumbling block to the whole thing isn't travel, it's a combination of the fact that we have insufficient infrastructure in Canada and an appalling lack of vision.

EDIT: And you shoot for a working deal as a farm league for MLS, since other DIv. 2 level owners seem to think that's beneath them.

[brettinhalifax]

If these do in fact become the standards (still not set in stone BTW) they will have set them so high that they will keep out not just Canadian teams but Puerto Rico and a number of American clubs as well.

IMO if the D2 standards are too high, we'll end up seeing no D2 and the same 75% failure rate at the D3 level (which without a D2 will become the de facto D2)