Canadian Premier League

[GuillermoDelQuarto]

2 hours ago, matty said:

Does anyone else kind of hope they shock us all and reveal that the league will be named the "Canadian Premiership" and not the "Canadian Premier League"?

Shrug.  They're borderline interchangeable anyways.  I've heard the english premier league called the english premiership.  potato potato

[Complete Homer]

28 minutes ago, GuillermoDelQuarto said:

Just saying I would like there to be a monthly donation button.  How much/if you donate at all is up to you.  Personally I just like the idea of skipping lattes for a good cause or something.  

It's mostly out of laziness and not really feeling like doing large sums at once.

lol stupid idea okay okay

Not stupid, it's a good way to keep fundraising even between periods of enthusiasm

And idea could be if @admin was interested in setting up a patreon account (https://www.patreon.com). It gives people a lot of options if they are interested in funding...it allows mixed donation models. If people want to donate $2 a month, they can do that. If they want to give 50¢ every time a TIFO is done by a supporters group, they can do that too. It's really flexibile

Even if you only pull in less than 100 a month, it could still be a worthwhile endeavor. 

That might be overcomplicating things though, a monthly donation option might be easier

[TRM]

4 hours ago, shermanator said:

Looks like John Molinaro is reporting what Duane Rollins reported earlier as well:

Next obvious question is "Does Molinaro have sources or is he just quoting Mr Rollins?".

[Complete Homer]

Just listened to the Two Solitudes podcast. Rollins says it will be a "soft" 6 team launch, with others coming in later.  Not optimal, but good enough for now. Also, he said that an owner hadn't been found for Quebec City... so that blows that out of the water for now. Finally, on Twitter he followed up saying 12-16 teams is the long term goal. With that in mind... 

Prediction for original six:

Toronto 

Hamilton

Ottawa

Winnipeg 

Calgary 

Regina 

Prediction for short term expansion targets:

"BC" (betting Victoria) 

Quebec City 

Edmonton 

Prediction for long term expansion targets/long shots:

Maritimes 

Vancouver/Surrey

KWC

London

St. John's

 

[matty]

1 hour ago, Complete Homer said:

Just listened to the Two Solitudes podcast. Rollins says it will be a "soft" 6 team launch, with others coming in later.  Not optimal, but good enough for now. Also, he said that an owner hadn't been found for Quebec City... so that blows that out of the water for now. Finally, on Twitter he followed up saying 12-16 teams is the long term goal. With that in mind... 

Prediction for original six:

Toronto 

Hamilton

Ottawa

Winnipeg 

Calgary 

Regina 

Prediction for short term expansion targets:

"BC" (betting Victoria) 

Quebec City 

Edmonton 

 

I'm going to hold off on commenting on the long term planning but if they are launching with six teams (I still am holding out hope FCE flipand we see seven in year one) those are the six to start in I'd say. While the lack of Quebec City sucks, the league will benefit from a strong presence out west and a full scale battle for Ontario derby.

I'm guessing with 6 teams we'll see a single table 20 game season with out playoffs and when expansion happens they'll stick with 20 but switch to conferences and playoffs unless single table becomes popular with casual fans or they find there's more football traditionalists in Canada than anyone thought.

Also I'm guessing the 50% CanCon will be viewed as more doable now by most with the player pool now only needing 75 guys.

[Admin]

6 hours ago, Complete Homer said:

Not stupid, it's a good way to keep fundraising even between periods of enthusiasm

And idea could be if @admin was interested in setting up a patreon account (https://www.patreon.com). It gives people a lot of options if they are interested in funding...it allows mixed donation models. If people want to donate $2 a month, they can do that. If they want to give 50¢ every time a TIFO is done by a supporters group, they can do that too. It's really flexibile

Even if you only pull in less than 100 a month, it could still be a worthwhile endeavor. 

That might be overcomplicating things though, a monthly donation option might be easier

Once we are officially incorporated, we will do that.   Everything is feast/famine with the WCQ cycles.  Patreon would allow more steady work to get done, and work that moves us forward rather than just reacting to games that sometimes have literally no notice.

[Copes]

10 hours ago, Complete Homer said:

 

Prediction for long term expansion targets/long shots:

St. John's

 

My man!

[Complete Homer]

14 minutes ago, Copes said:

My man!

Honestly, with the right owner, I think it could work. With a soccer specific stadium in a good location waiting for renovations and the chance to be the only major league sport on the island, it's plausible that the could withstand the high travel costs. Need that owner though

[Copes]

Just now, Complete Homer said:

Honestly, with the right owner, I think it could work. With a soccer specific stadium in a good location waiting for renovations and the chance to be the only major league sport on the island, it's plausible that the could withstand the high travel costs. Need that owner though

I completely agree. KGV is historic, already has decent capacity, and with some renovations could be a pretty great location for games. Newfoundlanders also rally pretty hard behind local teams, I think St. John's consistently had the highest attendance at AHL games the first few years the Ice Caps were here. Soccer culture exists, Challenge Cup draws huge crowds including people who travel into town from ~4 hours away to catch games. The Duke of Duckworth is packed most Sundays with people watching Premier League. Our beer leagues are overflowing with teams and players. 

The biggest challenge, as with everything in Newfoundland, is travel. Particularly in winter months, if the season starts before April or ends after December. Costs will be high to get here for other teams, and notably high for a local team that plays here when it comes time to fly to Away games. Still, I think that it is worth pursuing in this city once the league is established. 

[Gopherbashi]

11 hours ago, Complete Homer said:

Just listened to the Two Solitudes podcast. Rollins says it will be a "soft" 6 team launch, with others coming in later.  Not optimal, but good enough for now. Also, he said that an owner hadn't been found for Quebec City... so that blows that out of the water for now. Finally, on Twitter he followed up saying 12-16 teams is the long term goal. With that in mind... 

Prediction for original six:

Toronto 

Hamilton

Ottawa

Winnipeg 

Calgary 

Regina 

Prediction for short term expansion targets:

"BC" (betting Victoria) 

Quebec City 

Edmonton 

Prediction for long term expansion targets/long shots:

Maritimes 

Vancouver/Surrey

KWC

London

St. John's

 

Those initial 6 could make for a nice 12-team Voyageurs Cup with the 3 MLS, FCE, L1O & PLSQ champs.

[Ansem]

24 minutes ago, Copes said:

I completely agree. KGV is historic, already has decent capacity, and with some renovations could be a pretty great location for games. Newfoundlanders also rally pretty hard behind local teams, I think St. John's consistently had the highest attendance at AHL games the first few years the Ice Caps were here. Soccer culture exists, Challenge Cup draws huge crowds including people who travel into town from ~4 hours away to catch games. The Duke of Duckworth is packed most Sundays with people watching Premier League. Our beer leagues are overflowing with teams and players. 

The biggest challenge, as with everything in Newfoundland, is travel. Particularly in winter months, if the season starts before April or ends after December. Costs will be high to get here for other teams, and notably high for a local team that plays here when it comes time to fly to Away games. Still, I think that it is worth pursuing in this city once the league is established. 

St John's Nlfd

• Metro population was: 196k + in 2011 and 214k in 2015
• Ethnic origin (can be more than one): 45% English origin, 41% Canadian, 31% Irish, 4.6% French, 2.1% German
• Economy: ExxonMobil Canada is headquartered in St. John's and companies such as Chevron, Husky Energy, Suncor Energy and Statoil have major regional operations in the city.  The economy has been growing quickly in recent years. In both 2010 and 2011, the metro area's gross domestic product (GDP) led 27 other metropolitan areas in the country, according to the Conference Board of Canada, recording growth of 6.6 per cent and 5.8 per cent respectively. At $52,000 the city's per capita GDP is the second highest out of all major Canadian cities. Economic forecasts suggest that the city will continue its strong economic growth in the coming years not only in the "oceanic" industries mentioned above, but also in tourism and new home construction as the population continues to grow. In May 2011, the city's unemployment rate fell to 5.6 per cent, the second lowest unemployment rate for a major city in Canada. The civil service which is supported by the federal, provincial and municipal governments has been the key to the expansion of the city's labour force and to the stability of its economy, which supports a sizable retail, service and business sector. The provincial government is the largest employer in the city, followed by Memorial University.
• Sport Scene: There's nothing in the summer, CPL would be unopposed and could thrive with rivalries with Halifax and Moncton.

 

[matty]

2 hours ago, Copes said:

My man!

every time i see or hear my man i think of this....also east coast lighthouse fc

 

[lazlo_80]

If NASL is in fact folding I wonder if Edmonton at least considers the proposition. With that said, I think that franchise has issues it needs to figure out in it's own market. It's not like CPL would suddenly make it viable.

And yes, I know what Steve Sandor said about them never joining. This is just more baseless speculation on a thread that has essentially been nothing but baseless speculation.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

There have been some spectacularly good crowds when the amateur National Championship has been held in Newfoundland. 8000 comes to mind on that.

[matty]

24 minutes ago, lazlo_80 said:

If NASL is in fact folding I wonder if Edmonton at least considers the proposition. With that said, I think that franchise has issues it needs to figure out in it's own market. It's not like CPL would suddenly make it viable.

And yes, I know what Steve Sandor said about them never joining. This is just more baseless speculation on a thread that has essentially been nothing but baseless speculation.

 

[Gopherbashi]

Where do people think NASL went wrong, and what can the CPL do to avoid the same fate?

More directly, if a 12-team league at NASL level couldn't survive in America, how can we get a 6-team league at NASL level to survive in Canada?

Is it worthwhile to examine the quality or salary expectations of the CPL, if those were supposed to be relative to NASL?

Does anyone think the BOG will get cold feet because of this?

[PJSweet]

3 minutes ago, Gopherbashi said:

Where do people think NASL went wrong, and what can the CPL do to avoid the same fate?

More directly, if a 12-team league at NASL level couldn't survive in America, how can we get a 6-team league at NASL level to survive in Canada?

Is it worthwhile to examine the quality or salary expectations of the CPL, if those were supposed to be relative to NASL?

Does anyone think the BOG will get cold feet because of this?

For one thing, the CPL needs to establish a single-entity system that monitors the finances of the league. Independent ownerships (that was well known with the NASL) don't seem to work well in North America. Hey I could be wrong.

[matty]

3 minutes ago, Gopherbashi said:

Where do people think NASL went wrong, and what can the CPL do to avoid the same fate?

More directly, if a 12-team league at NASL level couldn't survive in America, how can we get a 6-team league at NASL level to survive in Canada?

Is it worthwhile to examine the quality or salary expectations of the CPL, if those were supposed to be relative to NASL?

Does anyone think the BOG will get cold feet because of this?

Vet owners and make sure they have the money needed, don't alienate MLS fans, expand conservatively

[PJSweet]

1 minute ago, matty said:

Vet owners and make sure they have the money needed, don't alienate MLS fans, expand conservatively

Also, a single entity system is required here in order to monitor the state of the finances of the league.

[matty]

Just now, PJSweet said:

Also, a single entity system is required here in order to monitor the state of the finances of the league.

that too

[lazlo_80]

3 minutes ago, Gopherbashi said:

Where do people think NASL went wrong, and what can the CPL do to avoid the same fate?

More directly, if a 12-team league at NASL level couldn't survive in America, how can we get a 6-team league at NASL level to survive in Canada?

Is it worthwhile to examine the quality or salary expectations of the CPL, if those were supposed to be relative to NASL?

Does anyone think the BOG will get cold feet because of this?

Oh boy, this is a can of worms that is being opened. I foresee at least 6 pages of back and forth over this but here we go...

Off the top of my head a few things that went wrong with NASL:

- Lack of ownership of their own facilities limited their revenue streams. This is a big reason a lot of leagues fail.

- It marketed itself too much on being the anti MLS, both to fans and to the type of owners it attracted. This was a big one.

- Most of their best markets were easily poached by MLS and USL

Based on their behaviour I could hypothesize about a few other issues that seemed apparent, but the ones above were definite.

 

 

[Gopherbashi]

11 minutes ago, matty said:

Vet owners and make sure they have the money needed, don't alienate MLS fans, expand conservatively

So that's a no to Rayo Victoria then?

[Complete Homer]

To echo some things for CPL not repeating NASL's failures

- Avoiding markets getting poached. Not nearly the same threat in the Canadian market, but I worry about Calgary if MLS expands past 30. Losing a single 1M+ market could really hurt.

- Single entity. Doesn't solve all problems, but it keeps struggling markets in the game long enough to help the league figure out what is and isn't working, instead of folding after a couple bad seasons. 

- High net worth requirements for owners. There were a few billionaires in NASL, but the disparity between some owners caused a lot of issues, and contributed to half the league struggling to compete while the other half felt held back. This is a concern in my mind if Edmonton considers coming over. 

- Not positioning yourself as a competitor to MLS. Obviously they will compete for fans to an extent, but marketing themselves as antagonistic in any way to MLS is just asking for trouble

- Own your own stadiums whenever possible

- Expand slowly, and never just to add teams. Look to unexploited markets and areas to add TV viewership (say the few million on the east coast that are entirely ignored) 

[Ansem]

1 hour ago, Complete Homer said:

- Avoiding markets getting poached. Not nearly the same threat in the Canadian market, but I worry about Calgary if MLS expands past 30. Losing a single 1M+ market could really hurt.

Expect CSA to shield CPL from further USSF league expanding in Canada

1 hour ago, Complete Homer said:

- Single entity. Doesn't solve all problems, but it keeps struggling markets in the game long enough to help the league figure out what is and isn't working, instead of folding after a couple bad seasons.

That's seems to be the plan

1 hour ago, Complete Homer said:

High net worth requirements for owners. There were a few billionaires in NASL, but the disparity between some owners caused a lot of issues, and contributed to half the league struggling to compete while the other half felt held back. This is a concern in my mind if Edmonton considers coming over. 

Seems to be the plan. As for Edmonton FC, if a local billionaire was ever interested in operating a CPL team in Edmonton, I could see CPL awarding a franchise to that owner instead as they clearly want an Edmonton team.

2 hours ago, Complete Homer said:

Not positioning yourself as a competitor to MLS. Obviously they will compete for fans to an extent, but marketing themselves as antagonistic in any way to MLS is just asking for trouble

They'd be competing in the big 3 markets only at the beginning. There's wouldn't be that much competition for the rest of the country.

2 hours ago, Complete Homer said:

Own your own stadiums whenever possible

I could only see that happening by the construction of soccer specific stadiums for expansion cities that don't have a CFL stadium or a 2026 winning World Cup bid including funding to build more stadiums.

2 hours ago, Complete Homer said:

Expand slowly, and never just to add teams. Look to unexploited markets and areas to add TV viewership (say the few million on the east coast that are entirely ignored) 

Somewhat agree. They need to reach 8 teams ASAP. 10 would be ideal.

[matty]

7 minutes ago, Ansem said:

.....Somewhat agree. They need to reach 8 teams ASAP. 10 would be ideal.

I have a good feeling they'll reach 8 teams within 3 years and 10 in 5 to 10.