Canadian Premier League

[ray]

5 minutes ago, DannyFromToronto23 said:

if the 3 mls teams want to be involved in CPL then there b or affiliated teams should be rebranded 

WFC II= move it to Burnaby 

TFC II  = move It to some city in Ontario 

MTL = they have the fury so it's ok 

I'd like to see that.  Would be good to get one or more of MLSE, Saputo Group or Whitecaps ownership investing in the league.  There would need to be a minimum consistency in the roster, however.  You would not want to see a huge player turnover, year over year in the TFC affiliate, for instance.

[Admin]

No MLS 'B' teams.   None. 

 

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

4 hours ago, Rheo said:

...And the million dollar question, relationship with MLS and I quote, "the MLS teams will be invited in and allowed to contribute somehow to the CPL  but there's no way in hell they'll be allowed to brand the teams as TFC II"  He speculates affiliate model with loans to regional teams but repeated a couple of more times "No way in Hell" any II designation...

Much as I think having rebranded MLS II teams involved would be a good idea and would give the new league some much needed stability, how does it square with John McGrane saying as recently as a couple of days ago on the local Hamilton TV news that they want to be on par with TFC in seven years complete with a $20 million budget?

[Admin]

2 minutes ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Much as I think having rebranded MLS II teams involved would be a good idea and would give the new league some much needed stability, how does it square with John McGrane saying as recently as a couple of days ago on the local Hamilton TV news that they want to be on par with TFC in seven years complete with a $20 million budget?

Note, he said TFC, but he didn't say which year.

[dyslexic nam]

2 minutes ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Much as I think having rebranded MLS II teams involved would be a good idea and would give the new league some much needed stability, how does it square with John McGrane saying as recently as a couple of days ago on the local Hamilton TV news that they want to be on par with TFC in seven years complete with a $20 million budget?

Seems pretty straightforward.  It doesn't square, because they won't be allowed into the league.  The folks explicitly involved in CPL clearly have a different vision for the league than the MLS farm team holding place that you have advocated.  They want the ceiling to be higher than MLS II.  No further reconciling is required.

[lazlo_80]

For one reason or another everyone now has a rather strong opinion on the MLS involvement thing. So much so that it seems like people are only discussing it in black or white terms. I imagine the resolution is going to be somewhere in the grey. Something that doesn't hurt their ability to portray themselves as division 1, but still leverages some of the strengths of the MLS teams.

[Gian-Luca]

5 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

Seems pretty straightforward.  It doesn't square, because they won't be allowed into the league.  The folks explicitly involved in CPL clearly have a different vision for the league than the MLS farm team holding place that you have advocated.  They want the ceiling to be higher than MLS II.  No further reconciling is required.

This doesn't seem straightforward at all to me unless you are suggesting that the guys doing the podcast who made the opposite claim - that they will be invited to field a team in the league - either are lying through their teeth or are completely misinformed and as such don't know what they are talking about.

There are in fact times when I get the impression that the various people explicitly involved are talking about two different leagues being started up.

[dyslexic nam]

2 minutes ago, lazlo_80 said:

For one reason or another everyone now has a rather strong opinion on the MLS involvement thing. So much so that it seems like people are only discussing it in black or white terms. I imagine the resolution is going to be somewhere in the grey. Something that doesn't hurt their ability to portray themselves as division 1, but still leverages some of the strengths of the MLS teams.

I see it a bit different.  Black would be total exclusion.  White would be including MLS2 farm teams.  What is advocated by most (IMO) is precisely a well-defined grey: structured loan arrangements, minority ownerships, etc.  The devil will always be in the details, but to me those suggestions are a far cry from an all-or-nothing approach.

[lazlo_80]

Just now, dyslexic nam said:

I see it a bit different.  Black would be total exclusion.  White would be including MLS2 farm teams.  What is advocated by most (IMO) is precisely a well-defined grey: structured loan arrangements, minority ownerships, etc.  The devil will always be in the details, but to me those suggestions are a far cry from an all-or-nothing approach.

then grey it is! Huzzah!

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

13 minutes ago, admin said:

Note, he said TFC, but he didn't say which year.

Think he does at around the 0:40 mark in the video in this link:

http://www.chch.com/professional-soccer-comes-hamilton/

[Admin]

Just now, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Think he does at around the 0:40 mark in the video in this link:

http://www.chch.com/professional-soccer-comes-hamilton/

Jeez... it's just a joke. 

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

5 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

I see it a bit different.  Black would be total exclusion.  White would be including MLS2 farm teams...

Even if it's an affiliate playing in a nearby city under alternative branding Reno 1868 or Bethlehem Steel style it becomes crystal clear at that point what the pecking order is in terms of MLS and CPL. I don't think there's much of a gray area available on this.

[Kent]

6 hours ago, dyslexic nam said:

I think the whole Osorio discussion is a microcosm of some of the hand-wringing that will come in the next year.  Do some of our solid squad guys commit to CPL for both a solid paycheck and the chance to establish the foundation of a high quality league?  Or do we hope that they avoid CPL to seek competitive opportunities, recognizing that this will leave a quality gap in the pool of CPL-available Canadian players and result in a level of play that may leave many disappointed in CPL and create sustainability problems right out of the gate?  It will be hard (if not impossible) to have it both ways.  Either some high level Canadian players may need to sacrifice some degree of immediate opportunity to help found a quality league, or they will avoid CPL resulting in any domestic quotas being filled by guys clearly not good enough to make MLS squads.  

There may be a few guys like Bekker (playing NASL but can arguably compete in MLS) that may be ideal candidates for movement into CPL, but it will be difficult to find enough guys like that to fill out 8-12 teams with 4-5 quality Canucks each (32-60 CanCon players).

I am a couple pages behind, but every quality player, like Osorio, that we get in CPL is good for the league. And what's good for the league is good for Canadian soccer in my opinion. Especially when you consider where our national team is at right now, it's not like we will be missing much if the CMNT dips in quality for a while. We need CPL to survive and thrive, so the more players at this level, especially relatively known players, the better.

[Rheo]

For the record the pod said MLS would be invited to contribute and he assumed it was affiliated teams. Not the USL B squads jumping over under new names. Lots of grey everywhere folks although I'm sure they'll be lots of jumping to conclusions anyways

[lazlo_80]

5 minutes ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Even if it's an affiliate playing in a nearby city under alternative branding Reno 1868 or Bethlehem Steel style it becomes crystal clear at that point what the pecking order is in terms of MLS and CPL. I don't think there's much of a gray area available on this.

Oh man now the argument over the amount of grey area is becoming a black/white discussion. We're doomed!

[Rheo]

6 minutes ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Even if it's an affiliate playing in a nearby city under alternative branding Reno 1868 or Bethlehem Steel style it becomes crystal clear at that point what the pecking order is in terms of MLS and CPL. I don't think there's much of a gray area available on this.

And once again, anyone who thinks the CPL will be at a level close to MLS in the foreseeable future is either ignorant or fooling themselves. The pecking order is clear

There is also a big difference between owned b teams and affiliates with a handful of loan players but independently owned and run which was the impression I had 

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

^^^Agree on the first part, but on the second here is what Peter Montopoli is tweeted as saying on what appears to be an official CPL twitter feed:

 

[m-g-williams]

2 minutes ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

^^^Agree on the first part, but on the second here is what Peter Montopoli is tweeted as saying on what appears to be an official CPL twitter feed:

 

I can't speak to the accuracy of the quote, but that's not the correct Twitter account. The real one is @CPLSoccer.

[Rheo]

2 minutes ago, m-g-williams said:

I can't speak to the accuracy of the quote, but that's not the correct Twitter account. The real one is @CPLSoccer.

Assume that was from the interview he did on radio Monday but I haven't listened to it.

it on the website though

[matty]

1 hour ago, Ansem said:

CBC could be a main front runner. It's within their mandate to show Canadian content and cash is hardly an issue (won't get into the complex feud of private TV vs CBC)

CBC is better if you ask me in the beginning. Everyone can access it for free and you know they will pay you something for it. If you're thinking long term and growing your base, CBC is the best choice.

I think CBC is a long shot. They seem to be getting out of sports.

Honestly I'd bet on something like beIN or a multicultural/lifestyle network (like TLN) with decent reach to be the TV carrier.

[Admin]

Are there not some more interesting options than TV? 

 

[matty]

5 minutes ago, admin said:

Are there not some more interesting options than TV? 

 

TV is literally the best way to get attention from fans and advertisers. Like nothing else comes close atm

[Diamondium]

1 minute ago, matty said:

TV is literally the best way to get attention from fans and advertisers. Like nothing else comes close atm

The only other potential reach comparable would be once the hypothetical Netflix sports streaming becomes a thing, but no way in hell would it even be an option for CPL until one or more of the 'big 4' leagues does it first.

After that, you have independent internet streams, and I'll agree, that never actually draws anyone in, just makes it accesible for someone actively seeking it out.

[Rheo]

11 minutes ago, matty said:

TV is literally the best way to get attention from fans and advertisers. Like nothing else comes close atm

Traditionally yes but who know for how long. I do believe it is important to a degree but it might be overrated in the current media market 

[Levi Oakey]

4 minutes ago, Diamondium said:

The only other potential reach comparable would be once the hypothetical Netflix sports streaming becomes a thing, but no way in hell would it even be an option for CPL until one or more of the 'big 4' leagues does it first.

After that, you have independent internet streams, and I'll agree, that never actually draws anyone in, just makes it accesible for someone actively seeking it out.

Twitter live streams actually do extremely well. The Inaugration had 6.8 million viewers. The NFL live streams drew more than average MLS games. http://marketingland.com/twitters-nfl-streams-averaged-265800-per-minute-viewers-across-10-games-204824

Landscape is changing. Would be interesting if we could sell the rights to Twitter and then they could flip them to traditional TV. Right now it goes the other way around.