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Montagliani in favour of Open Cup


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  • 1 month later...

I just worry that pro-expansion is going to be bottle necked by NASL's plans in the US. I mean, you realistically have around 9 markets in Canada you could put an NASL team and have a go at it.algary, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, London, Hamilton, Quebec City, Halifax and Moncton as each of these markets have stadiums with capacity's over 5,000, which I feel you are doing very well as an NASL franchise if you are consistently pulling in over 5,000.

However, the league has 13 teams already, so someone is going to get left out, and the USSF isn't going to give sanctioning with that many Canadian teams in the league. So where else do you play at the Pro level? I don't think there is an owner with the appetite to buy another MLS franchise in any of these markets, and USL Pro has teams pulling average attendances in the hundreds...kinda tough to get behind a league like that.

Unless NASL opens a division 2, where can new potential Canadian pro teams play and grow to the point where you can have enough team to make a meaningful open tournament?

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I just worry that pro-expansion is going to be bottle necked by NASL's plans in the US. I mean, you realistically have around 9 markets in Canada you could put an NASL team and have a go at it.algary, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, London, Hamilton, Quebec City, Halifax and Moncton as each of these markets have stadiums with capacity's over 5,000, which I feel you are doing very well as an NASL franchise if you are consistently pulling in over 5,000.

One of the benchmarks for the NASL is a metro area of 750,000. Victoria, Regina, Saskatoon, London, Halifax and Moncton are a better fit for PDL or a MLS reserve team in USL Pro and even Winnipeg and Quebec City are borderline.

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One of the benchmarks for the NASL is a metro area of 750,000. Victoria, Regina, Saskatoon, London, Halifax and Moncton are a better fit for PDL or a MLS reserve team in USL Pro and even Winnipeg and Quebec City are borderline.

For a team in the United States? Yes. But for a team in Canada that metro area needs to be reduced, the game is much more popular per capita in Canada as evidenced by TV numbers and you don't need to compete with pro (minor leagues too!), college and high school football, baseball and basketball. Take for example a city like Indianapolis that just got a team and their population is around 840k and the city already has the Colts, Pacers and college sports to compete with.

Many of the Canadian cities don't have pro teams representing them in any sport. Take Brampton for instance, it would be crazy but it just might work, the city is clearly the "hotbed" of Canadian footy in this country in terms of talent. Brampton vs. TFC in the cup, instantly Brampton is on the map facing the big boys. They could develop some future MNTers and that would become huge for the community, similar to junior hockey which would be the major competitor, imagine a story like Hume coming back to play in Brampton.

Brampton's population is 520k but I'd gamble that there are more footy fans in that population than in Indy's. Never gonna happen, I know but just a thought.

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For a team in the United States? Yes. But for a team in Canada that metro area needs to be reduced, the game is much more popular per capita in Canada...

Think they need special waivers from the USSF if the metro area of more than 2 members is less than 750k. Might google for it at some point. On the game is more popular in Canada point, it's popular in Canada where there are a lot of first and second generation immigrants, but the portions of the country where that applies most strongly are already being catered to by MLS and it remains to be seen how well a second tier pro club would do operating in the shadow of an MLS team (hope it works but suspect it won't). Once you start talking about the Maritimes and Prairie provinces, I don't think it's safe to assume that the sport is more popular per capita than in the USA.

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  • 5 weeks later...
A club run very professionally with a 5,000-seat, soccer-specific stadium would work in Calgary, Victoria or even Saskatoon, in my opinion. Where is all the tar sands money going - aren't there a few sugar daddies that the CSA should be selling their vision of club footie in Canada to?

There are no shortage of rich guys in Calgary, including a guy like Brett Wilson who already owns a share of Derby County. And the Flames want to own everything sports related in town and have gobs of money. I guess that shows that even rich folks don't want to make that kind of investment with a limited perceived return.

Jason

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Brampton's population is 520k but I'd gamble that there are more footy fans in that population than in Indy's. Never gonna happen, I know but just a thought.

I actually completely agree with you, but I'm sure MLSE has some type of stipulation that would prevent that from happening. Still, it is this optimism and pursuit of progressive change that is needed to move these ideas from theory to attempt. I've been considering for a while how things in Saskatchewan could happen, and have really come down to believing that nothing here will materialize unless the Canadian Div 3 league is created (and created intelligently for that matter).

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A club run very professionally with a 5,000-seat, soccer-specific stadium would work in Calgary, Victoria or even Saskatoon, in my opinion. Where is all the tar sands money going - aren't there a few sugar daddies that the CSA should be selling their vision of club footie in Canada to?

Devon I thought the same thing at one time, and even approached one of those "sugar daddies", W. Brett Wilson, to ask his opinion on this. He straight up laughed at the idea and told me it would never happen and there was no support for it whatsoever. I'm glad his Derby County is stuck playing like ****, I've never soured towards someone so quickly than after he absolutely shot down even the concept of Canadian soccer expansion.

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  • 1 year later...

For a team in the United States? Yes. But for a team in Canada that metro area needs to be reduced, the game is much more popular per capita in Canada as evidenced by TV numbers and you don't need to compete with pro (minor leagues too!), college and high school football, baseball and basketball. Take for example a city like Indianapolis that just got a team and their population is around 840k and the city already has the Colts, Pacers and college sports to compete with.

Many of the Canadian cities don't have pro teams representing them in any sport. Take Brampton for instance, it would be crazy but it just might work, the city is clearly the "hotbed" of Canadian footy in this country in terms of talent. Brampton vs. TFC in the cup, instantly Brampton is on the map facing the big boys. They could develop some future MNTers and that would become huge for the community, similar to junior hockey which would be the major competitor, imagine a story like Hume coming back to play in Brampton.

Brampton's population is 520k but I'd gamble that there are more footy fans in that population than in Indy's. Never gonna happen, I know but just a thought.

Never say never.  That actually seems pretty reasonable to me.  The reason the recent population requirements bother me is because they don't account for this.  Some markets have much more competition than others, and just putting the cap on it without considering those other factors seems short sighted.  If you're from brampton, start up a supporters group.  I'm not from there but I'll join to help you pad the numbers at first.  

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When we talk about popularity I think thats actually less of an issue than loyalty.  Essentially, the sport IS very popular in Canada.  Tons of people play and tons of people watch.  The problem isn't that.  It's loyalty.  All of these people are fans of european/south american soccer.  We need to try and convince some people that they can at the very least be a fan of both.  I would urge people to read Malcolm Gladwell's tipping point,(about social movements) as that is essentially what we are trying to create.  If we can start showing these people how much better it is to go to a live game and be a hooligan with other soccer fans all cheering for the same team, as opposed to sitting in your basement cheering on some team 2000 miles away, we can make progress.  That is easier said than done though.  

That being said, once Canada has a few more pro teams, it will enter the realm of popular culture(kinda like the CFL) where people are talking about it all over the country and that should help put butts in seats.

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