2011 WCQ: Pick the venues

[CanadianSoccerFan]

Hard to believe, but world cup qualifying is only 7 months away. We've got three home games this fall. Simply put, where do you want to see the team play? There's the obvious candidates but what about Moncton and St. John's?

How do we feel about playing on artificial surfaces?

Vote in the poll for the venues you want to see^^^

[Keegan]

Not being biased here but I think BMO is the ideal choice, its located pretty centrally in terms of our players travelling to get to the match, the one WCQ we've had there was a success support wise, it is the highest capacity SSS in the country...

I'd love to go to Montreal but are we going to get the support there? Moncton and St. John's may be cool but what capacities are we talking? I think the sport is at the point in this country where 12000 is a minimum capacity for a WCQ (from the CSA's eyes at least)

[nsslfan]

Moncton is a grass field, not plastic or FieldTurf.

Moncton's seating is at least 10,000- http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictures/north_america/canada/new_brunswick/moncton_stadium.shtml

The sold out CFL Game there had 20,725 fans.

[Juby]

Good thread idea, I voted for the two out east locations cause I was thinking it would lead to a pretty strong home crowd. But it might not be terribly realistic cause the games in the big markets are probably pretty decent money makers...

[beachesl]

The choice of venues for WCQ by the CSA has always been a big bugbear for me. It is almost like the opposition has picked them.

I volunteered as a gopher for the CSA bigwigs during the Honduras WCQ match in 2004 in Edmonton on labour day weekend, and the match venue for the mid-October home match against Costa Rica had not yet been set. Over beers, I timidly raised the suggestion that it could be held in Edmonton, and everybody shook their head, saying "climate issues". Hello. Climate issues is exactly what we gotta create. Some countries create altitude issues, some create hot&humid issues, some create major transportation issues, and you bet they use them to their advantage in choosing WCQ venues to qualify. We should too.

Principles:

1. We try to get freezing venues to create an advantage playing against tropical opponents, unless the opponent should be a walkover and the chaos would actully work against us.

2. If the matchdate is a single match date break or the first date in a two match calendar gap for club play, we should play in the east to minimize travel for our Euro players ( a bigger proportion of our players play in Europe or eastern North America time zones), as well as to fit into their daily rythym and screw the rythym of our opponents. If we were really concerned about winning, we would play at 6 am in St John's, Newfoundland. The foggy early morning pitch would not be as foggy as our opponent's brains.

3. On the second date of a two date calendar week, we can have the match out west, preferably in a colder place. Vancouver and Victoria are too much of a gift to the opposition, unless we are talking about the mid-summer when the continental climates of the prairies would help the opposition. We have tended to do the opposite.

4. Screw attendance goals, the noisiest and biggest fan contingents for the more competitive matches will be those of our opponents. Friendlies should be to make money, WCQ's should be all about creating environments to win and screw the opposition.

5. Plastic versus grass? Well, this is where the player's preferences should hold sway. But other considerations should be how comfortable our opposition is on what surface. At one time, plastic would have been to our advantage. Now there is so much plastic in the Carribean and Central America, it could hardly be an advantage except in special circumstances. Costa Rica prefers to play most it's home matches on plastic, and it's domestic league has many plastic stadiums, so playing them, for example, on plastic would be a definite gift to them. A chewed-up grass surface a few days after a CFL match could be used to our advantage against a finesse ball-control opponent, if we used it wisely (I still shake my head when I remember Jamie Peters in 2004 trying to continually dribble the ball up a muddy righthand side of a Commonwealth pitch which was used as the bench area for the Eskimos and continuously tripping over himself).

6. Be more diabolical than imaginable in the choice of venues and time of year, and kick-off times. Push the envelope.

[Jeremy]

I'd love to go out West to watch a game, but it's really far for the players coming from Europe. But if distance is not an issue, I'd like to see something else than MTL/TO (Maritimes or the Prairies).

[killgod]

Everything @ BMO so I can attend them all. Muwahaha.

I could tolerate a road trip to Montreal if I had to I guess.

[theaub]

I also picked just Toronto for purely biased reasons.

That being said, if I have to pick 3

Highest ranked opponent - Toronto

2nd highest - Vancouver

scrub team - Moncton/St. John's

I'm not really a fan on Montreal at this point but I'm sure they'll get one. While I think Toronto is the logical choice when it comes down to the final two groups where every opponent you play has some name recognition, playing against St. Vincent again isn't exactly going to sell out BMO so I have no problem getting some national exposure for the program.

[jpg75]

The choice of venues for WCQ by the CSA has always been a big bugbear for me. It is almost like the opposition has picked them.

I volunteered as a gopher for the CSA bigwigs during the Honduras WCQ match in 2004 in Edmonton on labour day weekend, and the match venue for the mid-October home match against Costa Rica had not yet been set. Over beers, I timidly raised the suggestion that it could be held in Edmonton, and everybody shook their head, saying "climate issues". Hello. Climate issues is exactly what we gotta create. Some countries create altitude issues, some create hot&humid issues, some create major transportation issues, and you bet they use them to their advantage in choosing WCQ venues to qualify. We should too.

Be more diabolical than imaginable in the choice of venues and time of year, and kick-off times. Push the envelope.

Lots of fans and even some players have been raising this issue in the past. The CSA "bigwigs" aka clueless idiots have no idea what the hell they're doing in this regard (and many other regards). These are the same people that ordered a Soca band to play at half time of a game against T&T in 2000 and got a Jamaican ex-pat to sing the Jamaican national anthem at BMO in 2008.

[Sébastien]

My votes:

Toronto: They should be rewarded for the organization of the supporters for the match against Jamaica. Sure, the Peru friendly didn't go as we would have wanted, but then again, Montreal was not muhc better against Honduras (and was a disaster in WCQ).

Vancouver: In BC Place. There will be an upswing in soccer support in that city because of the WCFC's jump to MLS. Also, with BC Place just opening, we might be able to get more people in who would just like to see the newly renovated place.

Moncton: For something different, and because I want to see my little area show the people in bigger cities that they can very succesfully pull this off. If not, no doubt about it: Montréal.

[redhat]

These are the same people that ordered a Soca band to play at half time of a game against T&T in 2000 and got a Jamaican ex-pat to sing the Jamaican national anthem at BMO in 2008.

That Jamaican national anthem went several verses into overtime. It was a defiant posture (if not unclassy) against the hosts, similar to the T&T incident in 2000. It became a bad omen, in my mind.

Time for the CSA to make it difficult for the visitors, not our team and our supporters. They should play Canadian music (if they want hip-hop, they should play Canadian hip-hop) and ban singers and dancers from the other country. It`s a HOME match for crying out loud.

[Keegan]

We should have someone who absolutely butchers the oppositions anthem and deflates their fans and players.... I'll do it. Just imagine some drunk idiot saying "Jam-may-kah" over and over.

As for venues, I think BC Place should be chosen only if Kerfoot and the Whitecaps help out with the marketing... lets face it the CSA isn't going to sell out BC Place but the Whitecaps with their support could definitely if they got on it right away

[JamboAl]

I'd love something out on the east coast, Moncton or St. John's would work, just to make it bloody difficult for the opposition to get to.

BTW, can we put a pitch on an ice flow near Iqaluit? :-)

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Should be kept in the east to minimize jet lag issues for European based players. High profile friendlies could always be played in the west later to compensate. Mainly BMO Field and Stade Saputo obviously to generate gate receipt revenues and build the fan base amongst MLS fans but head to Newfoundland with critical games ideally at cold times of year if there is a perceived need to generate a strong home field advantage.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

Keep in mind that this first group stage is likely to be a bit of a joke. It'll likely be three caribbean cupcakes so I wouldn't be overly concerned about gaining an advantage through climate. For the 2nd group stage next year it'll be all hands on deck.

Can any Newfoundland posters comment on the state of the King George V pitch? Is it the 2-star grade Fieldturf? How extensive was the flooding damage?

[jonovision]

Should be kept in the east to minimize jet lag issues for European based players. High profile friendlies could always be played in the west later to compensate. Mainly BMO Field and Stade Saputo obviously to generate gate receipt revenues and build the fan base amongst MLS fans but head to Newfoundland with critical games ideally at cold times of year if there is a perceived need to generate a strong home field advantage.

I agree for the most part about playing in the east. However, there is little disadvantage to our Euro players to playing a game in the west as the second half of a two-game window if the first match was played in somewhere like Mexico or Costa Rica or Honduras (same time zones as Winnipeg).

[loyola]

I agree for the most part about playing in the east. However, there is little disadvantage to our Euro players to playing a game in the west as the second half of a two-game window if the first match was played in somewhere like Mexico or Costa Rica or Honduras (same time zones as Winnipeg).

It might make their return to their club more difficult, something we should avoid for their own benefit.

I think games on the west coast should be kept for friendliesplayed at the end of the season (May-June-July).

[Redcoatsforever]

My votes:

Toronto: BMO Field is the national soccer stadium, it has very nice grass, and it's in a highly populus region.

Montreal: Stade Saputo is a nice field, would get a good turnout, again, great grass, and it's only going to be grass for another year.

Vancouver: BC Place. Simply put: the people of BC went out to support the CMNT at Swangard for such a long time, let's reward them by playing in their new stadium where it's worthwhile to do so.

Moncton: (first round only)Stade de Moncton: Soccer in New Brunswick could use a boost, and we should all take stock of the fact that there are major Maritime cities outside of Halifax, and major French cities outside of Quebec.

St. John's: (first round only) King George V park is actually really nice, I was there in 2008. Also, maybe we could capture some of the residual magic from the '86 qualifier v. Honduras...

Edmonton: Commonwealth Stadium is Canada's largest stadium, and we know that the Mexicans and other tropical opponents will absolutely abhor playing on turf in cold weather. Additionally, with FC Edmonton's fledgling professional season coming up, it's important that soccer get any boosts in publicity and public conciousness that it can in Edmonton over the next few years.

[squizz1402635577]

Since these are going to be early-round matches against Caribbean minnows, there are two trains of thought I'm having, and I'm not sure which side I've come down on yet.

- Putting the games in a place like Toronto, where you can hopefully pack the house, create buzz for the team and start momentum for the campaign -- while ideally minimizing the away support (how many folks from St. Kitts or Guadeloupe could there be, really?)

- Putting them in the under-served locations such as Moncton, in order to build a buzz in that area, and definitely minimize away support.

Both have their pratfalls. But I think just saying it's a World Cup qualification match (as opposed to a friendly) will put plenty of asses in seats.

Oh, in case anyone's wondering, Mission Moncton is still going strong. If you like Moncton, add your name to the petition and I will fire it over to the CSA:

http://www.petitiononline.com/nbsoccer/petition.html

[mtlfan]

My votes:

Montreal: Stade Saputo is a nice field, would get a good turnout, again, great grass, and it's only going to be grass for another year.

Are you saying Montreal is going to rip up the grass and replace it with plastic?

[Redcoatsforever]

Are you saying Montreal is going to rip up the grass and replace it with plastic?

I just went to the montreal mls 2012 website and re-read the Stadium section, the synthetic field is going to be for practice only, my mistake.

So, it was Edmonton in the west (grass pitch, good Canada support)

They replaced the grass at Commonwealth with fieldturf for the 2010 CFL season.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

Great thread squizz!

I voted for BMO, Moncton, and Edmonton. I think of BMO field as basically being our home so I would always choose it, for now, but I also believe that our games should be spread across the country to give everybody a chance to see the team live. So, it was Edmonton in the west (grass pitch, good Canada support) and Moncton in the far east, just to see how viable it is. Next time round, I'll choose Vancouver.

Unfortunately, Edmonton has gone to fieldturf

[jasonm]

Vancouver, Toronto and Edmonton would be my choices. I think it would depend on the teams in our pool. We would not have huge crowds for Pueto Rico, Nicaragua or Antigua as examples. If the CSA want to make some money then accept bids from pro and soccer association. Pure profit for them and no worries. The bid would include airfare, hotels and stadium costs. If we get the WWC 2015, put games in those cities to start gauging interest for the WWC schedule.

[masster]

My votes:

Toronto: BMO Field is the national soccer stadium, it has very nice grass, and it's in a highly populus region.

Montreal: Stade Saputo is a nice field, would get a good turnout, again, great grass, and it's only going to be grass for another year.

Vancouver: BC Place. Simply put: the people of BC went out to support the CMNT at Swangard for such a long time, let's reward them by playing in their new stadium where it's worthwhile to do so.

Moncton: (first round only)Stade de Moncton: Soccer in New Brunswick could use a boost, and we should all take stock of the fact that there are major Maritime cities outside of Halifax, and major French cities outside of Quebec.

St. John's: (first round only) King George V park is actually really nice, I was there in 2008. Also, maybe we could capture some of the residual magic from the '86 qualifier v. Honduras...

Edmonton: Commonwealth Stadium is Canada's largest stadium, and we know that the Mexicans and other tropical opponents will absolutely abhor playing on turf in cold weather. Additionally, with FC Edmonton's fledgling professional season coming up, it's important that soccer get any boosts in publicity and public conciousness that it can in Edmonton over the next few years.

.

Maybe they did in the past, but the crowds at the last 2 qualifiers against Guatamala and Costa Rica in 2004 were awful!

[Keegan]

I haven't been impressed with Edmonton crowds the past few times our teams have played there and now that there is fieldturf I'd definitely steer clear of there. If we are still playing games in 2012 and there is a new Edmonton SSS (or something that resembles it) with 10,000+ and grass then by all means.