Gopherbashi Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 34 minutes ago, lazlo_80 said: It's amazing how if there's a lack of news for about a week or so this thread goes completely back to the same back and forth time and time again. We need news every week or we implode. I swear it's been at least 60-90 days since they announced the Tim Hortons guy last week. BradMack and lazlo_80 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 Just now, toontownman said: ...The participation numbers over the past two decades show a different story.... I am well aware of the growth of youth participation numbers but a lot if it can be viewed as a glorified babysitting service rather than a high performance pathway to the pros, unfortunately, because the best athletes at least on the male side of things still tend to be steered towards hockey and football. That's why the huge registration numbers haven't resulted in a national team that is any better than that of 30 years ago when there may have been fewer playing, but there were leagues like the NSL around with a strong European style soccer culture. Playing the sport recreationally as a child makes people less negative about soccer than earlier generations were but doesn't necessarily translate into wanting to pay to watch it professionally as an adult. That's the part that is still in the realm of wishful thinking from what I can see. I think the extent to which MLS crowds in Canada are made up of people born overseas and their children has been underplayed, because a lot of people badly want the sport to be viewed as having finally been embraced by the mainstream to a greater extent than it really has been. TV ratings at least until deep into the playoffs suggest more of a localized niche appeal and although leagues like the Premiership have built up a following to merit plenty of airtime it doesn't seriously challenge hockey or even the CFL in mainstream terms. Not being negative in any way about fans who have embraced soccer as their favourite late spring/summer/fall sport after having been part of the youth soccer registration boom and are gung ho about supporting a pro team live in a stadium. Just not convinced there are enough of you around yet to support pro teams in cities like Halifax and Saskatoon to the extent that appears to be envisaged by Bob Young and the Ticats. toontownman and mpg_29 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazlo_80 Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 1 hour ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said: I think the extent to which MLS crowds in Canada are made up of people born overseas and their children has been underplayed, because a lot of people badly want the sport to be viewed as having finally been embraced by the mainstream to a greater extent than it really has been. I'd respectfully disagree with this point. Going to a Steelers game at Bernie arbor if you didn't have an accent chances are the person who brought you there did. I think there's a rose colored glasses thing people view the old canadian league with, but from my experience with it, at least in hamilton it was very, very, very ethnic. And frankly soccer as a whole was viewed as a very ethnic sport back then. That's the biggest part thats changed. Soccer was closer to cricket in familarity level to the average person. These days everyone knows who messi and ronaldo are. nowadays I have hockey dads ask me how "the FC" is doing. I have friends who never played soccer or really knew it existed growing up jumping on board the Toronto FC bandwagon in a SERIOUS way. From my experience I've been very positively impressed with the makeup of the Toronto FC crowd to go beyond the niche. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rheo Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 (edited) CPL appearance for anyone in Hamilton Edited January 23, 2018 by Rheo Rintaran, Complete Homer and johnyb 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toontownman Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 1 hour ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said: I am well aware of the growth of youth participation numbers but a lot if it can be viewed as a glorified babysitting service rather than a high performance pathway to the pros, unfortunately, because the best athletes at least on the male side of things still tend to be steered towards hockey and football. That's why the huge registration numbers haven't resulted in a national team that is any better than that of 30 years ago when there may have been fewer playing, but there were leagues like the NSL around with a strong European style soccer culture. Playing the sport recreationally as a child makes people less negative about soccer than earlier generations were but doesn't necessarily translate into wanting to pay to watch it professionally as an adult. That's the part that is still in the realm of wishful thinking from what I can see. I think the extent to which MLS crowds in Canada are made up of people born overseas and their children has been underplayed, because a lot of people badly want the sport to be viewed as having finally been embraced by the mainstream to a greater extent than it really has been. TV ratings at least until deep into the playoffs suggest more of a localized niche appeal and although leagues like the Premiership have built up a following to merit plenty of airtime it doesn't seriously challenge hockey or even the CFL in mainstream terms. Not being negative in any way about fans who have embraced soccer as their favourite late spring/summer/fall sport after having been part of the youth soccer registration boom and are gung ho about supporting a pro team live in a stadium. Just not convinced there are enough of you around yet to support pro teams in cities like Halifax and Saskatoon to the extent that appears to be envisaged by Bob Young and the Ticats. Steered towards hockey or football because, yes as you say it has been the traditional norm but more prudently because of lack options or pathways for a career in soccer. This is a great chance to plug that gap especially in smaller centres where countless interested players never had a chance previously. I think without doubt you get more engagement pursuing a career when there is a team in your area because its success is plainly visible and becomes a tangible and more achievable goal. That is however really an off topic side point as we are talking attendance and engagement. We know there are an overwhelming amount of kids that enjoy playing, parents that support there kids doing it and increasingly more that have grown up with it and watch it. The key point there is enjoy, regardless of a "babysitting" level of coaching or standard. Obviously a better education of the game will only improve engagement in players and consumers but we have thousands of kids enjoying playing. Everyone of those and their parents are there to be engaged by a pro club in their area. It's has to be a hugely important part of the clubs mandate. It is like learning the guitar and starting a band and hearing Queen are moving to your city to perform and set up some lessons with local young players. What kid wouldn't want to see up close what a professional level looks like, to be inspired and learn from it, which coach wouldn't push that, which parent wouldn't support their kids interests in doing that? Probably half but the opportunity is there more so than practically any sport to get an audience. I agree that doesn't necessarily guarantee people will want to pay to watch it. That is down to the club again and the city who the CPL have said have to be involved in supporting the club. However I guarantee not one of the above, kids, coaches or parents would dismiss going to watch as absolutely not interested. As for viewing figures I think that absolutely depends on the TV backer and platform. You may be right about the foreign background support but it seems like you are fighting against the fact you admit the other is constantly increasing. Random stat: At the last world cup 3.1 million Canadians tuned in to CBC’s English-language broadcast of the Argentina-Netherlands semifinal just 200,000 less than the 3.3 million who watched the Stanley cup final. Maybe more with French TV numbers. It is definitely not clean cut and definitely changing. Back to my initial question to why 6-8k isn't achievable in Saskatoon when the Rush draws pretty much double. We have been back and forth on the huge upside, albeit sometimes raw potential of drawing crowds and the participation, interest and following of soccer across Canada. All are far superior arguments and positive stats that would show live soccer working better than a sport like Lacrosse. So why is drawing half the rush crowd (80% of which a least that had no prior knowledge or interest in the sport) not achievable? It is the off field product, marketing and community engagement just as much as the on pitch product that makes or breaks any team. That's the challenge. The audience is there. Time will tell. Macksam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtlMario Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 (edited) On 1/21/2018 at 10:21 AM, MtlMario said: I might have some more news on this subject next week. Brennan works for CPL and he was in Quebec City talking to interested people there. Edited January 23, 2018 by MtlMario m-g-williams and masster 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuzzAndSting Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 3 minutes ago, MtlMario said: Brennan works for CPL and he was in Quebec City talking to interested people there. Wow. After all the seemingly excellent hires the league has made I can’t understand what kind of position JB would have and why it would require him to talk to potential investors?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtlMario Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 (edited) On 1/22/2018 at 4:23 PM, mpg_29 said: Yeah that's my concern...because I don't think they are going to get those numbers. I guess I am just pessimistic than others but I am going on other real world attendance examples we have such as Ottawa Fury, FC Edmonton and NBL Canada. I think an average attendance of 3500 to be a realistic best case scenario. I don't think the CPL and the owners are going thru all this work to see 3500 people in the stands. Those are 80's #s. Let's think positive. This will work Edited January 24, 2018 by MtlMario Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Carrasco Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 (edited) I was wondering as to why Anthony Totera has said absolutely nothing on the CPL in over a month. In fact, he never congratulated the new CPL commissioner David Clanachan, nor has mentioned his name on his show. Has he fallen out of favour with the CPL executive? Edited January 24, 2018 by Pat Carrasco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rheo Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 Yep this sure seems like the actions of a group desperately trying to stay afloat after lying to Canada that they were ready to go johnyb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrennanFan Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 4 hours ago, MtlMario said: Brennan works for CPL and he was in Quebec City talking to interested people there. Is it the league he works for or the York Region ownership group? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 Looks like the league if MtlMario is correct on this and those two concepts may not be mutually exclusive. Leagues launch with league owned franchises sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuzzAndSting Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 4 hours ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said: Looks like the league if MtlMario is correct on this and those two concepts may not be mutually exclusive. Leagues launch with league owned franchises sometimes. Except in this case they’re not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopherbashi Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 19 minutes ago, BuzzAndSting said: Except in this case they’re not. How do we know that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 10 hours ago, Pat Carrasco said: I was wondering as to why Anthony Totera has said absolutely nothing on the CPL in over a month... His enthusiam level and that of Duane Rollins definitely seemed to decline a bit after no soft launch was announced back in October. Maybe they feel they were misled last year as to how far along things were? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpg_29 Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 10 hours ago, MtlMario said: I don't the CPL and the owners are going thru all this work to see 3500 people in the stands. Those are 80's #s. Let's think positive. This will work I'm not going by the intentions of the league. I'm going by other real-world attendance figures of other leagues and teams we have seen. I am also not insinuating that 3500 is bad nor that it means it isn't financially viable. I'm saying that they seem to be basing their operating expenses around significantly optimistic attendances numbers (in my view) and that it is a mistake. BringBackTheBlizzard and Gopherbashi 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greatest Cockney Rip Off Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 There was a good interview with the Technical Director of Sigma on the East Side Stand Up pod. He talked about how he has been working with the CPL looking at youth development. Rheo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rheo Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 23 minutes ago, Greatest Cockney Rip Off said: There was a good interview with the Technical Director of Sigma on the East Side Stand Up pod. He talked about how he has been working with the CPL looking at youth development. Here's a link for it, thanks for the heads up https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/east-side-stand-up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rheo Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 And the official news keeps coming Red and White, Gopherbashi, Kent and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopherbashi Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 "The CPL has intentions to partner with strong community-led ownership groups to bring professional soccer to Canadian communities from coast to coast." Alright, let's hyper-analyse this sentence. johnyb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 Apparently that's how they describe themselves in press releases: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/canadian-business-leader-david-clanachan-named-first-commissioner-of-the-canadian-premier-league-668621033.html Not sure there is much to read into that beyond the way it implies that they are still in the process of trying to find these ownership groups in Canadian commmunities from coast to coast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuzzAndSting Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 24 minutes ago, Gopherbashi said: "The CPL has intentions to partner with strong community-led ownership groups to bring professional soccer to Canadian communities from coast to coast." Alright, let's hyper-analyse this sentence. 2 hours ago, Gopherbashi said: How do we know that? Because of the sentence you quoted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtlMario Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 12 hours ago, BrennanFan said: Is it the league he works for or the York Region ownership group? I was told it's the league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rheo Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 (edited) Or it could be read "that beyond the way it implies" that they have 8-10 to launch now and are looking for others as they have stated numerous times. We just won't know until the full details emerge. Edited January 24, 2018 by Rheo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 Does anybody understand the difference between the President and the Commissioner roles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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