Canadian Premier League

[Saviola7]

4 hours ago, Duane Rollins said:

-- Most important aspect to me that few talk about is a requirement that all teams have an academy. That is where real development will take place. The CanPL teams themselves will be finishing school. 

-- There will be an emphasis on selling talent up. That's a big part of how investors convinced to lose money for first few (several?) years. 

Do you mean by that second point that they will be developing youth players to sell overseas or to the MLS? That would be amazing if so and would be a huge step in fixing our development framework.

[MtlMario]

Must say Duane I never doubted you on this subject. Good job. Now I can't wait for the league to get started. Go Canada go.

[enbsports]

I was going to write an article on this topic although I didn't want to because the context would of been overall negative.

The planned idea has a number of concerns beyond the most noticeable and that being at the proposed budget teams would have to charge $20 a game ticket and average 8000 fans a game to even think about being profitable.

The other major issue for me is at that budget Canadians will not be benefiting from it because owners would be inclined to higher experienced MLS/USL management who as we are seeing in Ottawa will bring in their own guys to prop up the team so the players getting the most of this money will be current NASL/USL veterans most not Canadian. 

If Canadians are signed to play from example CIS, CCAA, and League One Ontario they will make league minimums which I been told by MLS/NASL/USL agents is around $20K a year since players are not paid for the whole year but just the length of the season. I guess this is still a good thing but a better option would be the money was put in expanding L1O/PLSQ/Western Equivalent as a truly semi-pro league and creating a Canadian version of NSPL. These same players could make a wage playing like for example $300-$500 a game as well as place for Amateur (NCAA) players and it would have the same amount of development with far less the risk. Use Detroit City FC as the model or the success of a Canadian Independent baseball team the Okotoks Dawgs - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okotoks_Dawgs

I'm also not a fan of the Academy because its mainly a plan to milk money from parents as we see in the US with the USSDA and even here in Canada. Also the selling of players is a myth since Europe restricted laws for foreign players and MLS has no history of paying for domestic players. 

If Hamilton feels they are to big for a L1O team and wants a pro team I would join USL and develop the club as a Canadian U-23 side maybe even move the CSA and National Stadium to Hamilton and also invest in a NWSL team which could be achieved with the 1.5M budget being tossed around. I would also suggest to Ottawa and Edmonton to join USL oppose to NASL as it would save them quite a bit of money.

[BrennanFan]

28 minutes ago, enbsports said:

at the proposed budget teams would have to charge $20 a game ticket and average 8000 fans a game to even think about being profitable.

The other major issue for me is at that budget Canadians will not be benefiting from it because owners would be inclined to higher experienced MLS/USL management who as we are seeing in Ottawa will bring in their own guys to prop up the team so the players getting the most of this money will be current NASL/USL veterans most not Canadian. 

If Canadians are signed to play from example CIS, CCAA, and League One Ontario they will make league minimums which I been told by MLS/NASL/USL agents is around $20K a year since players are not paid for the whole year but just the length of the season. I guess this is still a good thing but a better option would be the money was put in expanding L1O/PLSQ/Western Equivalent as a truly semi-pro league and creating a Canadian version of NSPL. These same players could make a wage playing like for example $300-$500 a game as well as place for Amateur (NCAA) players and it would have the same amount of development with far less the risk. Use Detroit City FC as the model or the success of a Canadian Independent baseball team the Okotoks Dawgs - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okotoks_Dawgs

I'm also not a fan of the Academy because its mainly a plan to milk money from parents as we see in the US with the USSDA and even here in Canada. Also the selling of players is a myth since Europe restricted laws for foreign players and MLS has no history of paying for domestic players. 

If Hamilton feels they are to big for a L1O team and wants a pro team I would join USL and develop the club as a Canadian U-23 side maybe even move the CSA and National Stadium to Hamilton and also invest in a NWSL team which could be achieved with the 1.5M budget being tossed around. I would also suggest to Ottawa and Edmonton to join USL oppose to NASL as it would save them quite a bit of money.

8000 attendance is a healthy bar to set.  Not impossible or improbable.  

Of course "budget" Canadians will benefit.  Even if the Canadian quota is at 50%, young Canadians will have to make up the numbers.  

There will still be a place for L1O and equivalents, but what Canadian soccer needs is for more professional player opportunities and a pyramid system where the cream can rise to the top.  

Why do you assume players will have to pay to be part of a CanPL academy?  MLS academies are not pay to play.  Regardless, when an academy has a good financial business plan and financial incentive, good things happen.  Sigma is pay to play, but they develop pros.  There are still plenty of European countries that will buy Canadian players.  It's not a myth, as we on this forum are well aware of many young players who have recently signed contracts in Europe.

Another USL or NASL team will not improve Canadian soccer.  Another team will not make us a regular contender for the World Cup.  Our own league, if done right, can do these things.  We have to stop riding on US Soccer's coat tails.  We need a paradigm shift.  We need to put ourselves first and believe in ourselves.     

[enbsports]

23 minutes ago, BrennanFan said:

8000 attendance is a healthy bar to set.  Not impossible or improbable.  

Of course "budget" Canadians will benefit.  Even if the Canadian quota is at 50%, young Canadians will have to make up the numbers.  

There will still be a place for L1O and equivalents, but what Canadian soccer needs is for more professional player opportunities and a pyramid system where the cream can rise to the top.  

Why do you assume players will have to pay to be part of a CanPL academy?  MLS academies are not pay to play.  Regardless, when an academy has a good financial business plan and financial incentive, good things happen.  Sigma is pay to play, but they develop pros.  There are still plenty of European countries that will buy Canadian players.  It's not a myth, as we on this forum are well aware of many young players who have recently signed contracts in Europe.

Another USL or NASL team will not improve Canadian soccer.  Another team will not make us a regular contender for the World Cup.  Our own league, if done right, can do these things.  We have to stop riding on US Soccer's coat tails.  We need a paradigm shift.  We need to put ourselves first and believe in ourselves.     

Most if not all MLS academies and especially USL/NASL academies have some sort of pay to play feature. In terms of selling players Canadian teams are not making money from players going elsewhere if so the numbers are grossly over exaggerated and laws against foreign players in Europe is a new thing so most if not all players going to Europe have to have some sort of EU passport or other mechanism that would be out of CanPL control.

Canada doesn't have a pro Basketball League, Baseball League and arguably Hockey League in terms of a top pro league domestically so to assume we need a soccer league to be successful I don't agree with it. Anyway L1O is a league and many countries who make the World Cup are a lot closer to L1O then the proposed CanPL (with a set budget designed higher then what the club can make to operate). No country outside of Canada & US and maybe Asia and Australia would have the money from the start and create franchise with it in hopes that it will be successful they would start grassroots and hope something comes from there. Also the only reason the MLS and Asian leagues exist in that fashion is it was part of them hosting the World Cup so they started with a whole bunch of money they could waste.

The 8000 bar has never been achieved. That is FC Edmonton home attendance for three games.

 

 

[Coramoor]

I'm not a fan of the 75% being negotiable at the start, seems like a way they could easily weasel out of it long term. I'd much prefer it being set in stone, although I suppose I could live with a scheduled system that was public. Saying this, I do understand that getting enough quality players for year 1 may be difficult.

[CDNFootballer]

2 hours ago, enbsports said:

The 8000 bar has never been achieved. That is FC Edmonton home attendance for three games.

 

 

The investors in the Cnd Premier League will understand they won't be making money in the early years of the league and drawing around 5K its first year would be a success that they can build on and is attainable.

 

You propose a Canadian version of NPSL, 4th tier in the us, instead which won't fly or draw fans, TV money, Sponsors, etc and has been tried in the past. Been there, done that. Ottawa & Edmonton dropping to the lower tier American D3 USL will kill FC Edmonton and hurt Ottawa Fury - less $ for them as attendance/revenue will drop being in MLS's farm team/affiliate minor league.

 

We need our own top tier league to build on for the benefit of the game in Canada not continue to rely on the USA's league's who aren't interested at all in advancing the game in Canada. The CPL is coming in at a opportune time when the game is on an upswing in NA and the time is now to go this route and the level they're targeting is on point and realistic. The window for this to get off the ground is in these next few years.

[CDNFootballer]

15 hours ago, Duane Rollins said:

Having read this through a couple clarifications/thoughts.

- The figure of $1.5m has been suggested to me from start, but I've had conflicting suggestions on whether that's a salary budget, or TOTAL budget (including coaches, administration, etc). Goal is to be about NASL level as quickly as possible and salaries will reflect that (I was told NASL salaries are about $1m-$1.5m per team, with Cosmos much higher). Personally, I think it will launch at an upper USL level, which is fine.

-They may agree to launch at lower than 75% domestic, but they will work towards that. Realistically the 25% international spots will have a lot of young CONCACAF players.

- I don't believe there will be a college draft. Like NASL/stand alone USL teams un-drafted/cut players from MLS camps will be free to negotiate with individual teams. 

- Structure will likely be a hybrid between MLS single entity and a total free market approach -- think revenue sharing, but not central control over contracts. 

-- Most important aspect to me that few talk about is a requirement that all teams have an academy. That is where real development will take place. The CanPL teams themselves will be finishing school. 

-- There will be an emphasis on selling talent up. That's a big part of how investors convinced to lose money for first few (several?) years. 

- They still say 2017. I think 2018 more realistic. Better to delay a year than start before ready.

The Cnd Premier League group should contact Francesco Aquilini, NHL Canucks owner, with regards to a metro Vancouver CPL club. He's been interested in the past in having a pro soccer club of his own before the Caps set up their WCFCII farm team.

 

[mtlsab]

Any admin to change the name of the topic?

PS: I don't think Molson would be involved!

[Coramoor]

4 hours ago, enbsports said:

Most if not all MLS academies and especially USL/NASL academies have some sort of pay to play feature. In terms of selling players Canadian teams are not making money from players going elsewhere if so the numbers are grossly over exaggerated and laws against foreign players in Europe is a new thing so most if not all players going to Europe have to have some sort of EU passport or other mechanism that would be out of CanPL control.

Canada doesn't have a pro Basketball League, Baseball League and arguably Hockey League in terms of a top pro league domestically so to assume we need a soccer league to be successful I don't agree with it. Anyway L1O is a league and many countries who make the World Cup are a lot closer to L1O then the proposed CanPL (with a set budget designed higher then what the club can make to operate). No country outside of Canada & US and maybe Asia and Australia would have the money from the start and create franchise with it in hopes that it will be successful they would start grassroots and hope something comes from there. Also the only reason the MLS and Asian leagues exist in that fashion is it was part of them hosting the World Cup so they started with a whole bunch of money they could waste.

The 8000 bar has never been achieved. That is FC Edmonton home attendance for three games.

 

 

That is not true, I believe DC united might still have some P2P elements but that's the only one

Calling the NHL not Canada's pro hockey league is absurd.

The NBL exists.

[SuperCanuck]

On 2 December, 2015 at 6:19 PM, Soccerpro said:

Do fat people not exist in Hamilton? Or will fat people just not be allowed to attend soccer at TH Field? Because I didn't see any in the video!

Apparently most people who would go to a game of footie in Hamilton are poorly dressed white women who look any direction other than where the game is.  A very informative video indeed.  

[SuperCanuck]

On 3 February, 2016 at 0:13 PM, DigzTFC said:

I'm a big proponent for a Canadian League.  What I never see mentioned in this debate is that when a Canadian Team plays in an American League it has to pay it's players in USD.  With a Canadian League, with high Canadian content quotas, a large amount of unnecessary overhead can be avoided on the exchange rate.  It helps a great deal in budgeting and forecasts to have revenues in the same currency as your expenses.  I think that would provide more financial stability to clubs.

Even Canadian NHL teams pay their Canadian players to play Canada's sport* in US dollars.

*I'm assuming the lacrosse teams in whatever that league's called do the same thing.

[enbsports]

4 hours ago, Coramoor said:

That is not true, I believe DC united might still have some P2P elements but that's the only one

Calling the NHL not Canada's pro hockey league is absurd.

The NBL exists.

I've done interviews with players who were force to quit MLS USSDA academies because of costs. Most teams have some sort of administration fee but also expect the players family to cover costs like Travel and the player in question says his family was paying more then $3000 a year for his soccer costs. Even the Whitecaps have an upcoming trail/showcase and are asking players to pay $1000 to participate.

Bottom line with CanPL is if it was your money would you invest in this league and what Canadian players need to be in this 1.5M budgeted league who wouldn't get the same out of a league with budgets 1/4th the costs. In terms of the idea we will take our losses and build the league, attendance historically been strong at the beginning of a sports league and gone down from there or remained consistent. Last year Ottawa only showed a 200 person increase per game from 2014 at TD Place despite an amazing season in 2015 and will most likely to go down this season well FC Edmonton attendance have gone down consistently each season since joining the NASL. If anything if CanPL was to happen the best attendance will be its first season because of the new car smell and be lucky if they can maintain that attendance going forward.

In terms of ranking a league on one hand you say you don't want to be part of the American system and then on the other hand you say NASL 2nd Tier and NPSL is 4th Tier. What ever the CanPL is, it will always be second tier to the MLS and in terms of below that why should budget make a difference. I think the better question is what players would attract you to go to a CanPL game that is keeping you away from a L1O game. This is also taking into account that you are a knowledgeable soccer fan 95% of Canadians wouldn't know the difference if a L1O or a USL game was played at BMO as long as the presentation was the same.

I'm not disagreeing development needs to be done at the club level in Canada although the plan should be realistic long term development then a league that is most likely to fold soon after it comes in existence. If Ottawa, FC Edmonton and now Hamilton want to remain in NASL on their own dime that is fine but also give smaller clubs a chance by allowing them to participate in the Voyageurs Cup and be part of a viable Canadian system/league. A grassroots club in Calgary, Winnipeg, Regina, Halifax and Quebec City have a much better chance growing if you reduce their starting costs then forcing them to invest heavily and have unrealistic expectations like the CanPL proposal suggests. 

 

 

[BrennanFan]

6 hours ago, enbsports said:

I've done interviews with players who were force to quit MLS USSDA academies because of costs. Most teams have some sort of administration fee but also expect the players family to cover costs like Travel and the player in question says his family was paying more then $3000 a year for his soccer costs. Even the Whitecaps have an upcoming trail/showcase and are asking players to pay $1000 to participate.

Bottom line with CanPL is if it was your money would you invest in this league and what Canadian players need to be in this 1.5M budgeted league who wouldn't get the same out of a league with budgets 1/4th the costs. In terms of the idea we will take our losses and build the league, attendance historically been strong at the beginning of a sports league and gone down from there or remained consistent. Last year Ottawa only showed a 200 person increase per game from 2014 at TD Place despite an amazing season in 2015 and will most likely to go down this season well FC Edmonton attendance have gone down consistently each season since joining the NASL. If anything if CanPL was to happen the best attendance will be its first season because of the new car smell and be lucky if they can maintain that attendance going forward.

In terms of ranking a league on one hand you say you don't want to be part of the American system and then on the other hand you say NASL 2nd Tier and NPSL is 4th Tier. What ever the CanPL is, it will always be second tier to the MLS and in terms of below that why should budget make a difference. I think the better question is what players would attract you to go to a CanPL game that is keeping you away from a L1O game. This is also taking into account that you are a knowledgeable soccer fan 95% of Canadians wouldn't know the difference if a L1O or a USL game was played at BMO as long as the presentation was the same.

I'm not disagreeing development needs to be done at the club level in Canada although the plan should be realistic long term development then a league that is most likely to fold soon after it comes in existence. If Ottawa, FC Edmonton and now Hamilton want to remain in NASL on their own dime that is fine but also give smaller clubs a chance by allowing them to participate in the Voyageurs Cup and be part of a viable Canadian system/league. A grassroots club in Calgary, Winnipeg, Regina, Halifax and Quebec City have a much better chance growing if you reduce their starting costs then forcing them to invest heavily and have unrealistic expectations like the CanPL proposal suggests. 

 

 

No guts, no glory.  The CSA is thinking big and aiming high.  By all accounts the league is happening, so keep your alternate small potato scenarious to yourself.  I believe Canadians will support an all Canadian product.  The time is right, and investors will make millions.  MLS has exploited Canada.  Taking millions of dollars away from the Canadian soccer community's pockets and have not given anything back.  Canadians will support an organization that is trying to do the right thing for our game, and is ready to invest in the Canadian player.  

[rob.notenboom]

1 hour ago, BrennanFan said:

By all accounts the league is happening, so keep your alternate small potato scenarious to yourself. 

Cmon man. Dissenting opinions should always be welcome. 

[rob.notenboom]

[Futballer]

1 hour ago, BrennanFan said:

No guts, no glory.  The CSA is thinking big and aiming high.  By all accounts the league is happening, so keep your alternate small potato scenarious to yourself.  I believe Canadians will support an all Canadian product.  The time is right, and investors will make millions.  MLS has exploited Canada.  Taking millions of dollars away from the Canadian soccer community's pockets and have not given anything back.  Canadians will support an organization that is trying to do the right thing for our game, and is ready to invest in the Canadian player.  

Let me expand on Brennan fan Comments: 

We are Canadians, we are CAN Do Type people and we Can Operate our Own League Successfully and Compete in the Concacaff Champions League Against the Champions of the Other regions of the U.S, Mexico,Caribbean Central America.

On the Subject of the League name it`s called C-League for short and Canadian Premier League/CPL, any of that reference and we all know what we are talking about the same Canadian League. Its all the same apple!!!

For Investors: There is not another North American Soccer League other than the MLS that will show a better investment profile than the C-League/CPL. In the 1st 2 years of operation. 

With the Marketing initiative that is planned and the marketing company that we have hired, Canadian Premier  League soccer is projected to close the Gap rapidly with Major League Soccer and will do so in the 3rd year of operation.

We did not sit and talk about developing a Business plan, we actually went out and find the Best soccer industry Knowledgeable Businessman and get their valuable information on the Canadian Professional Soccer League Project.

In Final we have the services of the First Major League Soccer Commissioner whom will be the C-League Commissioner..   

[mmd]

12 hours ago, enbsports said:

also give smaller clubs a chance by allowing them to participate in the Voyageurs Cup and be part of a viable Canadian system/league

This is how you will increase the awareness and the growth of a Canadian League, by allowing lower Division teams, L1O & the Quebec D3 teams and hopefully other Provincial Teams a chance to beat the MLS/NASL. You will create Dreams, Rivalries, and NATURAL growth and creation of a Canadian League, coast to coast.

[ted]

On 2016-02-09 at 1:55 AM, Duane Rollins said:

Having read this through a couple clarifications/thoughts.

- The figure of $1.5m

-They may agree to launch at lower than 75% domestic,

- Structure will likely be a hybrid between MLS single entity and a total free market approach

-- There will be an emphasis on selling talent up. That's a big part of how investors convinced to lose money for first few (several?) years.

So pretty much simply an update to the first draft that became the CUSL proposal.

I like CanPL and for the record I never doubted your word, only the competence and commitment of your sources to actually moving this thing forward.

[Unnamed Trialist]

On 9/2/2016 at 10:41 PM, enbsports said:

I was going to write an article on this topic although I didn't want to because the context would of been overall negative.

The planned idea has a number of concerns beyond the most noticeable and that being at the proposed budget teams would have to charge $20 a game ticket and average 8000 fans a game to even think about being profitable.

The other major issue for me is at that budget Canadians will not be benefiting from it because owners would be inclined to higher experienced MLS/USL management who as we are seeing in Ottawa will bring in their own guys to prop up the team so the players getting the most of this money will be current NASL/USL veterans most not Canadian. 

If Canadians are signed to play from example CIS, CCAA, and League One Ontario they will make league minimums which I been told by MLS/NASL/USL agents is around $20K a year since players are not paid for the whole year but just the length of the season. I guess this is still a good thing but a better option would be the money was put in expanding L1O/PLSQ/Western Equivalent as a truly semi-pro league and creating a Canadian version of NSPL. These same players could make a wage playing like for example $300-$500 a game as well as place for Amateur (NCAA) players and it would have the same amount of development with far less the risk. Use Detroit City FC as the model or the success of a Canadian Independent baseball team the Okotoks Dawgs - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okotoks_Dawgs

I'm also not a fan of the Academy because its mainly a plan to milk money from parents as we see in the US with the USSDA and even here in Canada. Also the selling of players is a myth since Europe restricted laws for foreign players and MLS has no history of paying for domestic players. 

If Hamilton feels they are to big for a L1O team and wants a pro team I would join USL and develop the club as a Canadian U-23 side maybe even move the CSA and National Stadium to Hamilton and also invest in a NWSL team which could be achieved with the 1.5M budget being tossed around. I would also suggest to Ottawa and Edmonton to join USL oppose to NASL as it would save them quite a bit of money.

I basically disagree with every thing you are saying. Some reasons why.

1-Your numbers are wrong. Say 14 home matches (play every rival twice in a league of 8) your calculation is to draw $2,400,000 just from the gate. Or almost a million more than what is being called the salary cap, and well over what you need to cover basic costs. Anyone who thinks gate has to represent over 100% of a club's budget from day one is immediately discredited in my eyes.

This does not even include gate from pre-season friendlies or Voyageurs Cup.

You do not mention merchandising, as you don't understand it. You ignore TV revenue, however modest. You forget about sponsorship, team and individual clubs. You are basically using manipulated figures to undercut the proposal's credibility. 

2-You wrote "higher" instead of "hire", which is pretty scary. That helped lose me right there.

3-You ignore clear indications that there will be Canadian minimums on clubs. Then proceed to argue we will be giving jobs to veterans of other leagues from other countries. While MLS and NASL clubs could do a lot better, this proposal establishes a rule where such questions are dealt with in statutes. Even having half of rosters, or 13 a club, upwards of 90 more Canadians being paid to play, is a major step forward. 

4-You make up a salary minimum and then suggest the "money" go elsewhere, to set up a semi-pro league in Ontario, which is clearly the centre of the universe, agree with you there. Basically, what "money" are you talking about? The money for the CanPL put up by ownership groups for their team, or the magic money picked from trees and arbitrarily allotted on footie forum fantasies? In any case, suggesting players can get paid a few hundred bucks a game, or basically, something like 9000 a year, is pretty insulting. Why don't you take that semi-pro money you have made up and let us put it into CanPL salaries, since it can be moved around so easily? 

20,000 as a minimum is better than 9,000, and if the salary cap was a million for 25 on a roster, your average would be 40 thousand, some at the base, youth, lower, with others higher.

5-You have to distinguish between academies developing players for a club, to benefit it, and those making money with that in mind. The former exist and work well, the latter, which I agree are less preferable, make money---another income source you forgot to add to the budget provisions. In any case, instead of ranting about low salaries and then proposing even lower ones, why not recognize that younger academy players are developed in part to avoid higher salaries and get more quality at a lower price. 

6-Because Hamilton may think it is too big and important for your semi-pro proposal, just to be nice, so you say, we are going to oficialize the national stadium there and move the CSA there too. Wow, that sounds like Hamilton selling itself pretty cheap. It IS Hamilton after all. Let's move Parliament there too, just to make them happy about having to play in the shitty league you are proposing that they'll rightfully hate being involved with.

7-You are proposing that Edmonton, for example, move to USL to play against the Whitecaps reserves instead of Cosmos, to save money? 

In conclusion, you would prefer to see this league fail, for some reason you don't seem to want to tell us.

 

[baulderdash77]

I don't really see why the naysayers are so against the league.  Do they want to have Canada remain beholden to the US to set the soccer agenda for us?  

The league is happening so either get on board or get out of the way.

[nolbertos]

18 minutes ago, baulderdash77 said:

I don't really see why the naysayers are so against the league.  Do they want to have Canada remain beholden to the US to set the soccer agenda for us?  

The league is happening so either get on board or get out of the way.

I'm not anti C-league, but am not convinced that the plan they have is financially sound like they make it to be.  For the record, one of the posters above, who stated that the 1st MLS commissioner was asked for his input on the C-league proposal. You do realize that Doug Logan almost bankrupted MLS with his ideas and it wasn't till Garber came aboard that he had great insight on how MLS can survive and he turned the ship around to where it is now. I like that CSA is trying to think big.  Problem is that the CFL owners, who seems to be the C-league investors barely make a lot of revenue in each cities.  Some of the CFL franchises barely break even each season.  I have no idea how based on the scenarios they stated that they can make money and be in the black so quickly.  They made a lot of assumptions and some of those assumptions seem unrealistic like getting big crowds to the game.  Whether we like it or not, we are a small country population wise compared to our big neighbour south, so it makes sense to partner up with them on sports leagues.  I think the investors should make a realistic scenario rather than one that's theoretically driven.  I'll take a wait and see approach, but as I crunch numbers for a living on various industries, I'm not as optimistic with this current plan.  If they make it work, I'll eat crow and be happy that Canada has a domestic league.  If this doesn't work, well, I would hope they re-try the USL/ NASL route again.

[CDNFootballer]

17 hours ago, enbsports said:

 In terms of the idea we will take our losses and build the league, attendance historically been strong at the beginning of a sports league and gone down from there or remained consistent. Last year Ottawa only showed a 200 person increase per game from 2014 at TD Place despite an amazing season in 2015 and will most likely to go down this season well FC Edmonton attendance have gone down consistently each season since joining the NASL. If anything if CanPL was to happen the best attendance will be its first season because of the new car smell and be lucky if they can maintain that attendance going forward.

You're incorrect to generalize like this - NASL for instance has increased its attendance every year :

 

2011 average 3700

2012 average 3800

2013 average 4600

2014 average 5500

2015 average 5900

 

FC Edmonton attendance has also not "gone down consistently each season since joining NASL" :

 

2011 average approx 1800 (Foote Field Stadium)

2012 average 1492 (added seating was not cleared to be installed in 2012-capacity was 1300 seats at Clarke)

2013 average 2437

2014 average 3385

2015 average roughly 3100 (at Clarke without the 2 fort mac matches)

 

 

[rob.notenboom]

14 hours ago, nolbertos said:

 I'm not anti C-league, but am not convinced that the plan they have is financially sound like they make it to be.

I find it odd that people are debating the financial plan of a league that has not been officially announced and whose financial plan has not been released. We do not know who the investors will be, how much free capital they are willing to put in, how long they are willing to keep in the game if profits are not immediately there, what other sources of revenue have or will be secured, how much might be budgeted for merchandising, concessions, sponsorships, or other revenue streams, or anything else official. Duane, who has been our main source of information has said straight out that there are numbers being thrown around ($3mil and $1.5mil) but admits that he does not know if that is full budget or salaries only. We can't possibly criticize a financial plan without seeing it, can we?

Admittedly this is not the same as criticizing the viability of the league based on past history, projections, and inference, but I think we need to be careful in saying whether or not this league is well financially grounded or not when we have yet to hear the barest of details.

[coppercanuck]

Not that Japan is the best comparison for Canada but greater Tokyo has 13 teams across the 3 J.Leagues.  Can Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver support more than one team? I say they already do.

When looking at the Eastern Canada scene with L1O, PLSQ, PDL* and CSL*, there seems to be plenty of ownership out there.  Regardless of the support, the ownership feel that their team is a "big deal".