Canadian Premier League

[MtlMario]

13 hours ago, Gopherbashi said:

Not really anything to talk about without new information.  We can only repeat the same arguments at each other for so long.

That's exactly my point.

[-Hammer-]

While not explicitly pointing at the CPL, may be indicative of something coming down the pipe. Reposted from the Hamilton Supporter's thread.

For those in the Greater Hamilton Area the Ticats put out a survey to find more about local soccer supporters to help shape the team and launch. Survey takes a couple minutes and can be found here:

http://timhortonsfield.com/hamiltonsoccer

[baulderdash77]

Most of the soccer clubs put out the email with a link to the survey.  There's 25,000 club members in the City.  I'm sure they're getting a couple thousand hits right now.

[Complete Homer]

Clearly it's an obvious smokescreen to make it look like they were interested in a soccer team to fulfil their promise to "bring" pro soccer to Hamilton. McGrane has been peddling this for years, nothing will come to fruition. 

Oh sorry, I was channelling crazy. 

[rob.notenboom]

1 hour ago, Complete Homer said:

Clearly it's an obvious smokescreen to make it look like they were interested in a soccer team to fulfil their promise to "bring" pro soccer to Hamilton. McGrane has been peddling this for years, nothing will come to fruition. 

Oh sorry, I was channelling crazy. 

Sarcasm that cuts like a knife!!!!  Very nice!

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

If that's aimed at me, I honestly couldn't care less. As -Hammer- points out above, the survey doesn't explicitly point at the CPL given the next successful soccer club launch in North America wording appears to hint at NASL entry by a single Hamilton based franchise, which is what I have been arguing is the more sensible course of action in a Hamilton context. Why reinvent the wheel with a highly risky pro league launch when there's a D2 league already up and running that is happy to take more Canadian teams? Hamilton should have had a D2 team a long time ago given how long this saga has been dragging on for.

[yothat]

Agreed, When the CPL is ready to launch they can switch leagues.

[TRM]

5 hours ago, yothat said:

Agreed, IF the CPL is EVER ready to launch they MAY switch leagues.

So many fixes so little time

[MtlMario]

I don't know if this means anything but at last weeks Impact vs Roma game I saw a local TV sports reporter for CTV (owned by TSN) and I asked him if he knew anything about the new CPL. He said he didn't know anything about it.

[TRM]

4 hours ago, MtlMario said:

I don't know if this means anything but at last weeks Impact vs Roma game I saw a local TV sports reporter for CTV (owned by TSN) and I asked him if he knew anything about the new CPL. He said he didn't know anything about it.

Well that settles it then. The league is real and about to happen any time now!!!

[GuillermoDelQuarto]

2 hours ago, TRM said:

Well that settles it then. The league is real and about to happen any time now!!

Meh, this could just as easily be some guy who doesn't really follow soccer closely but got thrown on the case.

The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.

[MtlMario]

Actually he did some Impact play by play for a sports radio station last year I think. It could also be that TSN is not involved or they are really keeping a tight lid on this. I hope it's the latter.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

If people are looking for something to discuss, I found this tidbit from Steve Sandor back in February interesting:

http://the11.ca/the-new-canadian-professional-league-needs-to-go-public-asap/

Like many Canadian soccer writers, I’ve been told about plans for the Canadian soccer league in hushed voices.

I’ve heard the stories of the guy who, in fact, wanted to start a rival Canadian league (to the one being rumoured) and was contacting the movers and shakers about his bold plans. It was all so confusing; rumoured league one, and then pie-in-the-sky league two. And the aggressive nature of league two was hurting the credibility of league one...

Is John McGrane the guy who wanted to start a rival Canadian league and which of the two possibilities have we been hearing about from Duane Rollins?

[Complete Homer]

Oh geez, that's perfect. Torpedo a league that could struggle with stability with a second league, all in the name of Canadian soccer. Sounds about right

I'm content to wait for what comes out of the end of the year, but if there isn't much there, I'll expect Hamilton to join NASL and we'll see what happens from there. It might not be dead after that, but it won't really be worth discussing in my opinion

Again, I don't think pessimism is all that warranted - the only things I think are explicit strong evidence is the Spectator article and the release of the Hamilton survey. Both are relatively recent and positive for a potential Canadian league (though the survey is debatable). We get pessimistic because we're obsessive and impatient, not because there is real evidence to the contrary. That said, if it's 2017 without any real announcement, I'm checking out

[rob.notenboom]

3 hours ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

If people are looking for something to discuss, I found this tidbit from Steve Sandor back in February interesting:

http://the11.ca/the-new-canadian-professional-league-needs-to-go-public-asap/

Is John McGrane the guy who wanted to start a rival Canadian league and which of the two possibilities have we been hearing about from Duane Rollins?

No McGrane is not the guy. It was a different guy. I forget his name. If I can remember and find the link to his website, I'll post it. Busy at work though, and I'll have to do a bit of a search because it's buried somewhere. But if I can find it, I'll post for sure. 

[Complete Homer]

33 minutes ago, rob.notenboom said:

No McGrane is not the guy. It was a different guy. I forget his name. If I can remember and find the link to his website, I'll post it. Busy at work though, and I'll have to do a bit of a search because it's buried somewhere. But if I can find it, I'll post for sure. 

Good to hear, considering McGrane is tied to Hamilton's operation in at least some fashiom

[Shway]

This has been the longest time between the launch of a new Canadian pro team. I feel like we had the right momentum in growing the game within our nation from the launch of TFC, to VWFC & MTL upping their game to the pro ranks, FC Edmonton soldering it out in the lone wild west in D2 but still producing Canadians, and to the latest team - the Fury. 

 

Just drop the current referendum of joining the D2/D3 American league rule, and work on a "PERFECT CPL" in the background. In the meantime I want to see pro teams with mandatory pro academies - that's where the real fruits come from as a Canadian soccer fan.

Starting with Hamilton - NASL, Calagry - NASL, Winnipeg - NASL, Regina/Sask - USL, Surrey - USL, Quebec City - USL, Regina/Sask - USL, London - USL. 

 

It's time we pimp the hell out of the American leagues for our gain. 

[rob.notenboom]

4 minutes ago, Jahinho Guerro said:

Starting with Hamilton - NASL, Calagry - NASL, Winnipeg - NASL, Regina/Sask - USL, Surrey - USL, Quebec City - USL, Regina/Sask - USL, London - USL. 

SK gets two teams!! YES!!!!

[rob.notenboom]

8 hours ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

If people are looking for something to discuss, I found this tidbit from Steve Sandor back in February interesting:

http://the11.ca/the-new-canadian-professional-league-needs-to-go-public-asap/

Like many Canadian soccer writers, I’ve been told about plans for the Canadian soccer league in hushed voices.

I’ve heard the stories of the guy who, in fact, wanted to start a rival Canadian league (to the one being rumoured) and was contacting the movers and shakers about his bold plans. It was all so confusing; rumoured league one, and then pie-in-the-sky league two. And the aggressive nature of league two was hurting the credibility of league one...

Is John McGrane the guy who wanted to start a rival Canadian league and which of the two possibilities have we been hearing about from Duane Rollins?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-palmer-ba535830?authType=NAME_SEARCH&authToken=X_iD&locale=en_US&srchid=466673641470944790093&srchindex=1&srchtotal=2&trk=vsrp_people_res_name&trkInfo=VSRPsearchId%3A466673641470944790093%2CVSRPtargetId%3A108361133%2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary%2CVSRPnm%3Atrue%2CauthType%3ANAME_SEARCH

[Complete Homer]

3 hours ago, Jahinho Guerro said:

This has been the longest time between the launch of a new Canadian pro team. I feel like we had the right momentum in growing the game within our nation from the launch of TFC, to VWFC & MTL upping their game to the pro ranks, FC Edmonton soldering it out in the lone wild west in D2 but still producing Canadians, and to the latest team - the Fury. 

 

Just drop the current referendum of joining the D2/D3 American league rule, and work on a "PERFECT CPL" in the background. In the meantime I want to see pro teams with mandatory pro academies - that's where the real fruits come from as a Canadian soccer fan.

Starting with Hamilton - NASL, Calagry - NASL, Winnipeg - NASL, Regina/Sask - USL, Surrey - USL, Quebec City - USL, Regina/Sask - USL, London - USL. 

 

It's time we pimp the hell out of the American leagues for our gain. 

That's so heavily dependent on the USSF playing nice and letting us have teams in their leagues - something they really have no motivation to do other than appease league leadership if they think a particular Canadian market would be good for league stability. We are already getting blocked out of NASL expansion (75% American league, 25% anything else including Peurto Rico and proposed carribean teams). I doubt USL restrictions would be far behind if anyone other than the MLS teams entered, especially if USL gets D2 status.  

I bet we'd be very lucky to get three more pro teams & academies out of the US system if we fully committed to it, and we'd fully kill off any chance at a domestic league. 

It's definitely possible that there could have been a better outcome if there had never been a moratorium - maybe we would have been incredibly lucky and gotten NASL in two or three more market - but at this point I honestly think CPL is our best chance at having the most pro academies as possible. 

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Fifteen years back a lot of people on here were adamant that a Canadian team would never be allowed in MLS. Now we have three. A lot of this stuff about the USSF having an anti-Canadian agenda on pro soccer is urban myth more than anything else. They don't have to accept any Canadian teams and if they were out to hurt Canadian soccer would never have let any in. We have a tenth of their population, so are not viewed as a significant threat. Beyond that Puerto Rico legally counts as American and my understanding is that the USSF have given waivers in the past when D2 leagues have had more than 25% Canadian content.

 

[Complete Homer]

2 hours ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Fifteen years back a lot of people on here were adamant that a Canadian team would never be allowed in MLS. Now we have three. A lot of this stuff about the USSF having an anti-Canadian agenda on pro soccer is urban myth more than anything else. They don't have to accept any Canadian teams and if they were out to hurt Canadian soccer would never have let any in. We have a tenth of their population, so are not viewed as a significant threat. Beyond that Puerto Rico legally counts as American and my understanding is that the USSF have given waivers in the past when D2 leagues have had more than 25% Canadian content.

 

Their 75% rule was a clear response to Canadian expansion. I'm not saying that USSF is vindictively anti-Canadian, but they clearly want to maintain spots for American markets and will always push prioritization of American development in things such as domestic rules, which is completely within their interests and rights with their own leagues. Buying into the American system completely is letting the USSF hold the cards for Canadian development, I think we are better off with a few "superclubs" in the MLS with youth squads in USL, and staying away from the rest. 

NASL already has 2 Canadian teams and Puerto Rico (which is not considered part of the American sides from what I've read because they operate outside of USSF). They currently have 12 teams, and will soon be at 11 when Rayo OKC folds, Minnesota moves up, and San Francisco is added. That means NASL will require a waiver for the 75% rule already, without any Canadian expansion. If Hamilton is already set, I can imagine USSF waiving that too. But a fourth? Fifth? I can't imagine USSF ignoring their own rules for the years and years it would take for NASL to accumulate enough teams to comply with the 75% rule with a substantial amount of Canadian teams, assuming that the league survives at all. Besides that, any argument that NASL would offer stability over CPL is pretty questionable, considering their volatility (added 8 teams over their six season history but lost 5) and salary inflation pushed by the handful of wealthy teams.

With limited expansion into Canada, no control over domestic status, D2 status, salary inflation, and high volatility I don't know why you think that NASL is guaranteed to be a better than CPL, especially without knowing what the real proposal is. If the CPL proposal is garbage, fine, take what scraps you can get from the Americans, but believing NASL will be the deliverance of Canadian soccer seems just as pie in the sky to me as people who think that we can have a two tier CPL. 

The USL itself is a wild card, with its rapid expansion, partnership with MLS, plans for D2 status, etc. It could be attractive to let smaller markets go for USL teams. 

[GuillermoDelQuarto]

^Nailed it.

Also, off topic, but thought of this last night.  

In our fairy tale Canadian Premier League, could the trophy be a Golden Rack of Moose Antlers?  That would be glorious.  I'm even tempted to try antlers as a potential league logo.

 

To address a bit of the realism/pessimism/whatever your point of view is.  Even if the CPL thing doesn't get announced, it is cool to see people getting excited about it, and I don't really see the harm of talking it up in real life to people who have no clue of the current "reality".  Will it launch in 2018?  Oh probably not.  But if we keep the hype train going and don't get discouraged... 2020?  I don't think anyone has a good enough crystal ball to say that definitely won't happen.  I'm not saying it definitely will, I'm just saying that would still be enough to get me pretty fucking pumped/motivated to do anything I can to make it happen.

 

[Complete Homer]

44 minutes ago, GuillermoDelQuarto said:

^Nailed it.

Also, off topic, but thought of this last night.  

In our fairy tale Canadian Premier League, could the trophy be a Golden Rack of Moose Antlers?  That would be glorious.  I'm even tempted to try antlers as a potential league logo.

 

To address a bit of the realism/pessimism/whatever your point of view is.  Even if the CPL thing doesn't get announced, it is cool to see people getting excited about it, and I don't really see the harm of talking it up in real life to people who have no clue of the current "reality".  Will it launch in 2018?  Oh probably not.  But if we keep the hype train going and don't get discouraged... 2020?  I don't think anyone has a good enough crystal ball to say that definitely won't happen.  I'm not saying it definitely will, I'm just saying that would still be enough to get me pretty fucking pumped/motivated to do anything I can to make it happen.

 

CSA needs to hire you as the resident creative genius

[Gopherbashi]

3 hours ago, GuillermoDelQuarto said:

In our fairy tale Canadian Premier League, could the trophy be a Golden Rack of Moose Antlers?

I, for one, will not rest until Canadian soccer players can hold the Golden Rack.