CPL new teams speculation

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Somebody was claiming on Reddit at the end of July that the Langley location would probably be the site for a future CanPL team that was further along in closing the deal than even Joe Belan's efforts in Saskatoon.

Which appears to have been accurate on the pitch and footings bit:

This is his latest take on Fraser valley:

 

Edited September 7, 2019 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[baulderdash77]

I think everyone’s ideal setup is to get to 8 teams next year and then expand in groups of 2 after that.  Having odd teams scheduled is such a pain.

 

[Big_M]

Some talk on Claude-Robillard and Laval in the comments

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Never understood why this hasn't been mentioned as the starting point for a Laval team given it's at the right end of Montreal:

Alex Bunbury This could very well be our home for the CPL club. Great venue!

 

Alex Bunbury David Ribeiro this is what I am working on!

 

Maxime Brouillard Alex Bunbury there’s already a team in MTL and it didn’t really work when FC Montreal was around.
Bring it to Laval and turn the Bois-de-Boulogne into a proper mini-stadium.

 

Alex Bunbury Maxime Brouillard we like Laval as well. The commissioner loves Laval.

 

Maxime Brouillard Alex Bunbury that’s great news. It makes more sense than Montreal if we’re honest and Bois-de-Boulogne can be expanded with a proper investment. There’s already load of parking and is not too far from metro stations so that’s good IMO.

 

Marc Tougas Maxime Brouillard I've been told expanding Bois de Boulogne maybe could only be feasible for the 2021 season (because the stadium will be needed in 2020 for Jeux du Québec to be held in Laval), which means the CPL team might need to play elsewhere in the meantime in 2020 - i.e. Robillard. That's a possible scenario, dunno how it will really pan out yet.

 

Edited September 7, 2019 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Gopherbashi]

Wow, that's a great NDA he signed.

[Scottie]

I think "Bridge & Tunnel FC" has a nice ring to it.

[DrFitzpatrick]

8 hours ago, Scottie said:

I think "Bridge & Tunnel FC" has a nice ring to it.

With the sad attendance numbers in bigger centres, they might as well start throwing teams in these little hick towns .

[Kent]

On 9/7/2019 at 7:57 PM, Gopherbashi said:

Wow, that's a great NDA he signed.

I might be wrong, but I think he said those things before the NDA.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Sandro Grande's post is from Aug 30th of this year, so think it's well after. If you go into the comments they appear to be from 1 week ago.

[Macksam]

23 hours ago, DrFitzpatrick said:

With the sad attendance numbers in bigger centres, they might as well start throwing teams in these little hick towns .

[Stryker911]

How is London not getting talked about as a top candidate for expansion? Especially after seeing Halifax's success London is probably the most similar situation as them. 

- both cities have a population of around 400000

- neither city is close to any other major sports team (Toronto and Detroit are both about 3 hours away)

- lots of students in both cities

- most major reason is the support that both show for their junior teams. The London Knights draw nearly 10000 fans/game (Mooseheads are similar with about 8000). Being that there is no other option close by junior hockey becomes the biggest draw in town and similarly CPL becomes the big summertime draw

Just like Halifax there shouldn't be a problem getting 5000+/game.

A few more points on London:

3M, Labatt, Libro, Canada Trust, Imperial Oil are all headquartered or founded in London. Both Toyota and and GM also have a plant close by.

FC London plays at the Canadian German club which has a 1000 seat stadium that looks easily expandable. It is a 30 minute walk or 5 minute drive from downtown.

An added bonus that they actually have on Halifax is that it is a simple bus ride to 29% of the other teams in the league.

If I was an investor and looking for a location where you could possibly actually break even London is the top of my list.

Quebec City and Kitchener would also be close behind for much of the same reasons.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Stryker911

[KW519]

3 hours ago, Stryker911 said:

How is London not getting talked about as a top candidate for expansion? Especially after seeing Halifax's success London is probably the most similar situation as them. 

- both cities have a population of around 400000

- neither city is close to any other major sports team (Toronto and Detroit are both about 3 hours away)

Hamilton is 1.1 hr drive from London but that's actually a good thing for attendance purposes. Toronto and Windsor are both 2 hours drive, also good things imo. If there was no fee on top of stadium upgrade costs we would probably see FC London in the CPL 

[Gopherbashi]

7 hours ago, KW519 said:

Hamilton is 1.1 hr drive from London but that's actually a good thing for attendance purposes. Toronto and Windsor are both 2 hours drive, also good things imo. If there was no fee on top of stadium upgrade costs we would probably see FC London in the CPL 

Not to mention that London is its own distinct media market, which would definitely help with notoriety/publicity.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

^^^That might get matty out of hibernation.

The main problem is the stadium. The German Club looks like an option at first glance but has only one steep two lane access road and is on the flood plain of an old ox-bow of the Thames, so not sure it works for getting the necessary building permissions. It's also quite tight in terms of space available at the two ends, although I guess there is a second practice field hidden away at the far side that might help if the pitch was reoriented.

[KW519]

2 hours ago, Gopherbashi said:

Not to mention that London is its own distinct media market, which would definitely help with notoriety/publicity.

Good point! No TFC Argos or Tiger Cats to share coverage with. 

Might be spoiled for choice if a London based club joins the league. Hamilton London and Toronto are all an hour away

[Gopherbashi]

2 hours ago, KW519 said:

Good point! No TFC Argos or Tiger Cats to share coverage with. 

Might be spoiled for choice if a London based club joins the league. Hamilton London and Toronto are all an hour away

I want them to call themselves United Western Ontario just to piss everyone off.

[CDNFootballer]

23 hours ago, Stryker911 said:

FC London plays at the Canadian German club which has a 1000 seat stadium that looks easily expandable.

Any idea on how well the team does attendance wise?

[Kent]

14 hours ago, CDNFootballer said:

Any idea on how well the team does attendance wise?

Attendance numbers from their PDL days can be found in here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_London

I don't know numbers for their League1 Ontario days, but my impression (which might be a year or 2 out of date) is that they are getting similarly good crowds in L1O.

• 2009: 1632
• 2010: 1246
• 2011: 841
• 2012: 507
• 2013: 1146
• 2014: 777
• 2015: 944

[nighttrain]

This is just me spitballing. 

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?hl=en&mid=1SEWr-uN9NMcESTig7n20QNGfosgFwQ5Q&ll=19.386722535993187%2C-97.78153438941314&z=416

Eventual teams in D1 = 16 - no prom/reg

18 D2 teams split into 3 regions (for travel purposes), for an eventual D2 Champion (like Memorial Cup)

Edited September 13, 2019 by nighttrain
update link

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

How to structure two tiers is a long way off as an issue. In the past week or so we have had some disheartening things happen including, (i) the Forge appearing to cut back active capacity in 2020 to less than their announced average in 2019 basically confirming that said average probably involved a generous portion of freebies, (ii) an announced crowd of 1200 in Victoria that if anything looked smaller, (iii) a well-connected Y9 fan posting on here about rumours circulating concerning their short term future, and (iv) a dismal looking barely into four figures actual as opposed to announced crowd in Edmonton for the Al Classico fixture that was supposed to make things so different from the NASL era there.

Hopefully the season ticket renewal rates are going to be healthy (especially with the league's poster child on viable levels of attendance in Halifax) and this is just a small temporary wobble due to the self-inflicted problem of having no playoff race to keep fans excited when the weather gets colder and wetter, or interest in expansion from credible as opposed to Walter Mitty type would be investors is likely to cool considerably. They really need to get team #8 announced for 2021 at the CSA's AGM next May at a minimum to keep the momentum going from their launch and the Cavalry beating the Whitecaps.

Edited September 14, 2019 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[SoccMan]

First of all if any owner went into this process of owning a team and thinking that this was going to be an overnight success then they are idiots! I’m hoping every owner understands that they need to give this League time to grow . Owners should only be let into the league only if they are going to invest a minimum of 10 years. The attendances have been exactly what I expected, so seeing crowds of 1200 at Pacific the other night is not surprising or Edmonton attendance being more or less what they were getting in the NASL. I remember people on these boards stating that Edmonton would get much higher attendances because in the CPL Edmonton would be playing Canadian teams representing Canadian cities instead of American teams representing American cities that Edmonton had no relationship with. Point is it doesn’t matter who you are playing a lot of the times your just not going to open the doors and a full stadium will appear, it’s going to take time to get to a point where the stands are mainly full you need to show the paying public that the team and League are here for the long haul. Moreover, I think in terms of playing a traditional North American League structure I think it’s the best way to go for now. Let’s be honest with still games to play in the fall season 5 of the 7 teams are basically out of it with nothing to play for . In a start up League you want to keep fans interested to keep coming to watch games,   if your team is basically out of it already there really is no purpose to come out and go watch a live game with nothing on the line unless your a hard core supporter. If in the future relegation comes into play with a lower league below then the present system can be revisited, but with no relagation threat to play for  these 5 teams are basically playing exhibition games . Go to a traditional playoff league for now as the league grows and in the future you could go back to the present system.

Edited September 14, 2019 by SoccMan

[Aird25]

Sometimes a ‘dislike’ option would be really useful

[Macksam]

Ozzie's list of disheartening things:

• conclusions based off rumours 
• numerous conjectures 

 

Edited September 14, 2019 by Macksam

[Bison44]

Some guys wont be happy until no one comes to the site.

[CDNFootballer]

10 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

 In the past week or so we have had some disheartening things happen including, (i) the Forge appearing to cut back active capacity in 2020 to less than their announced average in 2019 basically confirming that said average probably involved a generous portion of freebies, (ii) an announced crowd of 1200 in Victoria that if anything looked smaller,

Which crowd are you refering to as " announced crowd of 1200 in Victoria"?

Last two (not including today which has no # yet) were :

Sept 4th.....2124

Sept 11th...2384

As for Forge FC, we don't know what the new config will be capacity wise, the club has averaged about 6K without the inaugural match. New Capacity will likely be 6-7K and they can open sections as needed easily for more demand. Makes sense to conscentrate the fans on one side for the atmosphere and broadcast optics so tweaking the stadium config is a good move imho and theres still flexibility. Your freebies comment is conjecture not fact.

All leagues have games where attendances look very sparse because of weather, weekday scheduling, etc. and I've posted pics of some examples this summer from USL and MLS.

Edited September 14, 2019 by CDNFootballer