CPL Stadium Thread

[Rheo]

5 minutes ago, Ansem said:

Then if they insist on running tracks, I wish them good luck for their bids. There's always Division II down the road. I'm sorry but it makes sense for the league to not want running tracks in their stadiums.

And as I said I don't recall Beirne saying tracks are a non-starter.  Every stadium isn't going to be perfect.  There may be tracks, there will be turf, there may porta potties, etc.  If they start eliminating places with suitable stadiums (assuming they're owners willing) because of the odd feature that isn't ideal, then this league is going to fail.  Thankfully I don't think they're that dumb.

[Ansem]

6 minutes ago, HfxCeltic said:

Was checking out a few stadiums in the lower tier English Leagues and came across Adams Park in High Wycombe. Wycombe Wanderers play out of here and it holds about 10,000 with covered stands. Built in 1990 for 3.5 million pounds. Seems like a perfect fit for Halifax once the city moves on from the pop-up stadium idea.

 

 

 

Bang on.

I don't know if it's a Canadian thing to assume that we can't replicate the above. Joe Belan seems to be setting the example of what CPL stadiums should look like. Sure we'll also use CFL stadiums and Halifax having pop up is due to political circumstances.

Ideally, that's how most of the league should look like

[Ansem]

1 minute ago, Rheo said:

And as I said I don't recall Beirne saying tracks are a non-starter.  Every stadium isn't going to be perfect.  There may be tracks, there will be turf, there may porta potties, etc.  If they start eliminating places with suitable stadiums (assuming they're owners willing) because of the odd feature that isn't ideal, then this league is going to fail.  Thankfully I don't think they're that dumb.

Again, can't recall which podcast but he's against running tracks being there. I'm assuming that those stadiums could work if they do like Moncton and hide them or reconfigure. Yes, he did say there would be a lot of turf surface at first and it's understandable but I think the CPL is fully aware that it needs to look D1 to sell itself as D1.

[Kent]

22 minutes ago, Ansem said:

Then if they insist on running tracks, I wish them good luck for their bids. There's always Division II down the road. I'm sorry but it makes sense for the league to not want running tracks in their stadiums.

I may be confused, but aren't you one of the big promotion/relegation boosters? And yet recently you seem to be pegging certain teams for division 2. Would you block teams from promotion if they have a running track, or play in Charlottetown? If not, why would you block them from being a division 1 team from the outset before there are enough teams for 2 divisions?

[Ansem]

9 minutes ago, Kent said:

I may be confused, but aren't you one of the big promotion/relegation boosters? And yet recently you seem to be pegging certain teams for division 2. Would you block teams from promotion if they have a running track, or play in Charlottetown? If not, why would you block them from being a division 1 team from the outset before there are enough teams for 2 divisions?

There's no division 2 at this moment. Only a Division1 and that division needs to succeed before going into pro/rel. It makes sense for the initial D1 teams to fit minimum requirements set by the league.

[Ansem]

Looking good Kitchener-Waterloo with the new LRT line under construction. A stadium along that line would be gold

Edited July 27, 2017 by Ansem

[Rheo]

The minimum requirement at launch will be 1-can you pay for everything 2-do you have a stadium that will hold enough people.  In the beginning everything won't be perfect.

But of course we've been over this a million times on here already lol

[Ansem]

2 minutes ago, Rheo said:

The minimum requirement at launch will be 1-can you pay for everything 2-do you have a stadium that will hold enough people.  In the beginning everything won't be perfect.

But of course we've been over this a million times on here already lol

and stadiums themselves won't have minimum requirements? If you say so

[Rheo]

1 minute ago, Ansem said:

and stadiums themselves won't have minimum requirements? If you say so

They will but not to high expectations/idealist soccer extremes that some expect

[Ansem]

Just now, Rheo said:

They will but not to high expectations/idealist soccer extremes that some expect

In line of what Joe Belan is proposing for Saskatchewan is extreme? Or Empire Field? If you think so.

I wasn't talking about $250M+ SSS, but modular stadiums between $10M to $20M, even less if you have an existing stadiums and all you need to do is to hide the tracks during CPL season like Moncton did for the Women's World Cup

[Alex D]

I don't know why people are stressing about Kitchener. From what I understand stadium talks are pretty advanced already. If KW won the Canada games bid we probably would have seen an announcement by now. 

[Ansem]

4 minutes ago, Alex D said:

I don't know why people are stressing about Kitchener. From what I understand stadium talks are pretty advanced already. If KW won the Canada games bid we probably would have seen an announcement by now. 

Exactly and local support from Canada's Sillicon Valley is the least of their worries

[rob.notenboom]

There are going to be more ideal and less ideal paths to this. There already are and we really only have 4 teams that we can legitimately talk about. 

Hamilton & Winnipeg - Beautiful new facilities that look great when decked out for soccer. Ideal? No because the atmosphere might get swallowed up in their large size (unless they both fill the place, but I don't anticipate that).

Halifax? Great location and appropriate size. Ideal? Well it's a pop-up so might have a more minor league feel. 

Sask? They are talking about a lot of great things, but there is no location yet and along with the location might be compromise. 

If Edmonton & Ottawa join, ideal stadium situations? No in both cases. Ottawa's stadium is beautiful like Ham/Wpg but also oversized. Edmonton has pretty good atmosphere when full but also has a minor league feel (they've done well with a tough situation however).

Calgary? Maybe their situation will be yet another variation on the theme. Maybe they'll play out of McMahon for two years while securing a land deal and building a stadium. 

There are lots of ways that teams are securing their stadium situations. Ideal is all fine and dandy as a goal to work towards, but I suspect at kickoff it will be a hodgepodge of stadium situations. 

[Kent]

Someone should let Italy know they shouldn't let Lazio and Roma play in this terrible stadium that has a running track, let alone the Coppa Italia final. Not sure how FIFA allowed the stadium to be used for the World Cup final too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadio_Olimpico

[harrycoyster]

4 minutes ago, Kent said:

Someone should let Italy know they shouldn't let Lazio and Roma play in this terrible stadium that has a running track, let alone the Coppa Italia final. Not sure how FIFA allowed the stadium to be used for the World Cup final too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadio_Olimpico

I don't think stadiums with a track should be out of the running on that basis, but there is clearly a difference between a 5,000-10,000 seat stadium having a track and the 70,000+ Stadio Olimpico.

[Ansem]

20 minutes ago, Kent said:

Someone should let Italy know they shouldn't let Lazio and Roma play in this terrible stadium that has a running track, let alone the Coppa Italia final. Not sure how FIFA allowed the stadium to be used for the World Cup final too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadio_Olimpico

See above

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

1 hour ago, Ansem said:

There's no division 2 at this moment. Only a Division1 and that division needs to succeed before going into pro/rel. It makes sense for the initial D1 teams to fit minimum requirements set by the league.

The League of Wales is a D1 in terms of the FA of Wales's pyramid of play and Victor Montagliani has used it to describe what CPL's role would be with the idea clearly being that the MLS teams will be the equivalent of Swansea and Cardiff in a Welsh context. You really do need to move beyond this idea that a "D1" in terms of the CSA's domestic pyramid of play means competing head-to-head with MLS in some way rather than what Paul Beirne has actually been describing i.e. providing a structure for smaller markets wth 200,000 plus like Moncton or Kelowna and Penticton at the lower end of the range up to the Hamiltons and Winnipegs at the other end that MLS is never going to be interested in.

[Ansem]

1 minute ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

The League of Wales is a D1 in terms of the FA of Wales's pyramid of play and Victor Montagliani has used it to describe what CPL's role would be with the idea clearly being that the MLS teams will be the equivalent of Swansea and Cardiff in a Welsh context. You really do need to move beyond this idea that a "D1" in terms of the CSA's domestic pyramid of play means competing head-to-head with MLS in some way rather than what Paul Beirne has actually been describing i.e. providing a structure for smaller markets wth 200,000 plus like Moncton or Kelowna and Penticton at the lower end of the range up to the Hamiltons and Winnipegs at the other end that MLS is never going to be interested in.

I don't care about WALES
 

We're the richest country on this planet without a D1 league and several times richer than Wales. So far, stadiums looks D1 and Halifax situation is more than understandable. Joe Belan seems to show a blueprint of how the league should look like beyond CFL stadiums. Just like Paul Beirne said, the importance of Downtown is crucial and the overall look of the place.

Must be a reason why they didn't even entertain the stadium of the University of Saskatchewan

Can we not half-ass this and if it takes more time to do it right than CPL should start in 2019 or even 2020.

People here keep forgetting that WE (die hard fans) aren't what's going to make it or break it for the league nor elevate it to the next level, it's winning over everyone else (Casuals fans, none-fans) and presenting them with second rate infrastructure is making things difficult for yourself.

Modular stadiums downtown or adequate facilities is more than reasonable for this league. No one is expecting Stamford Bridge across Canada

[Complete Homer]

To repeat @rob.notenboom's earlier post, is it really a league focusing on small markets if only one launch city has a population under 750 000? I think that's twisting words a bit

I do agree with you @Ansem regarding not half-assing it, everything we've heard from owners has sounded like they are well aware that stadium setup will have a large effect on perception of the league. But I think it's worth considering that some ownership groups may not be able to do what Sask is doing off the bat (though if 6/10 bids involve building a stadium, maybe they are) and a reconfiguring of an existing stadium might be the way they have to go

[Rheo]

1 hour ago, Ansem said:

In line of what Joe Belan is proposing for Saskatchewan is extreme? Or Empire Field? If you think so.

I wasn't talking about $250M+ SSS, but modular stadiums between $10M to $20M, even less if you have an existing stadiums and all you need to do is to hide the tracks during CPL season like Moncton did for the Women's World Cup

Different owners will have different plans and strategies. What is good for Saskatchewan may not be good for Moncton.  If someone wants to put a team in Moncton but wants to keep the track in place to put the money to other uses they should be accepted.

No offense but you make it sound like there's an infinite amount of money. A running track while not ideal is not the be all and end all in the success or failure of a team. In reality it's very far down the list in factors in my opinion. 

I know you're going to disagree and we've been over this in some degree an hundred times on here probably so I'm going to stop now.  Just think people should temper their expectations especially when it comes to he first few years. Cheers

[Ansem]

1 minute ago, Complete Homer said:

I do agree with you @Ansem regarding not half-assing it, everything we've heard from owners has sounded like they are well aware that stadium setup will have a large effect on perception of the league. But I think it's worth considering that some ownership groups may not be able to do what Sask is doing off the bat (though if 6/10 bids involve building a stadium, maybe they are) and a reconfiguring of an existing stadium might be the way they have to go

All this arguing started because I said that Moncton should configure like they did during the world cup. I don't6 think that's too much to ask a Moncton ownership.

People in this board needs to get over themselves on this forum. We (die hard fans) are going regardless of what stadiums ends up looking. But there needs to be an understanding that if casual fans and none-fans are turned off by the look of the league and it look second rate to them, good luck making them pay 1st rate ticket fees and all the products surrounding the league (merchandise, streaming, TV, tickets, beer etc...)

I want the league to be a resounding success and I think owners are competent enough and have a track record at understanding that you need to win the media and none-die hard fans over. So I applaud Joe Belan has he obviously gets it. No one is talking Emirates Stadium, but I don't think not showing running tracks in a 8500 stadium is that much of an ask by the league to potential ownerships.

[Kent]

17 minutes ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Paul Beirne has actually been describing i.e. providing a structure for smaller markets wth 200,000 plus like Moncton or Kelowna and Penticton at the lower end of the range

Has Paul Beirne mentioned those cities? If he has, fine. If he hasn't, I'm not sure why you would bring them up in the context of markets with 200,000 plus populations. Kelowna is close (194,882) but Moncton, while possibly viable, is 144,810, and Penticton seems way off the mark at 43,432.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

4 minutes ago, Kent said:

Has Paul Beirne mentioned those cities? If he has, fine....

Yes he has and that is why I am mentioning them specifically as examples of the lower end of the range.

Edit: something I should add is that I think he meant Kelowna and Penticton combined as a  wider Okanagan (my BC geography knowledge isn't that good?) market and that's what gets things up to 200,000 or so, which it should be remembered is not too far behind Regina in population terms that is one of two possibilities that may be getting team #7.

Edited July 27, 2017 by BringBackTheBlizzard

[Rheo]

"People on this board need to get over themselves" does go both ways. Especially when you're so dogmatic and inflexible insisting that the league can only succeed if they follow what you believe is the only blueprint.

[Ansem]

5 minutes ago, Rheo said:

Different owners will have different plans and strategies. What is good for Saskatchewan may not be good for Moncton.  If someone wants to put a team in Moncton but wants to keep the track in place to put the money to other uses they should be accepted.

You're talking in extremes here. Moncton already reconfigured the stadium for the World Cup, Why couldn't they do it again? Why are you assuming the league wouldn't ask a Moncton team to look exactly like they did in the World Cup. Correct me if I'm wrong but you talk like covering the running tracks/re-configuring costs millions, that couldn't be farther from the truth.

If they can't afford to do that, then I question their ability to operate the club and handle the traveling period. But this is speculation as Moncton has no investors so far.

6 minutes ago, Rheo said:

No offense but you make it sound like there's an infinite amount of money. A running track while not ideal is not the be all and end all in the success or failure of a team. In reality it's very far down the list in factors in my opinion. 

Re-configuring doesn't cost millions, you're exaggerating

6 minutes ago, Rheo said:

I know you're going to disagree and we've been over this in some degree an hundred times on here probably so I'm going to stop now.  Just think people should temper their expectations especially when it comes to he first few years. Cheers

These expectation aren't for me. I'll take this league any shape or form it's being presented, however, casuals and none-fans won't automatically do that and any serious league & investors have to take that under consideration. (I'm sure they already did). We're already won over, but the rest (overwhelming majority) aren't and you got to get them buy into it so they can justify spending on the product