CPL General

[Gordon]

34 minutes ago, rob.notenboom said:

Sask is not avoiding being part of the initial six. If they had an agreement on stadium location there would be shovels in the ground already.

Everyone has their filters I guess. The is no question that the Sask group is full steam ahead. 

[rob.notenboom]

28 minutes ago, Gordon said:

Everyone has their filters I guess. The is no question that the Sask group is full steam ahead. 

Yes I think that was very clear from their presentation (as you can attest to) and the subsequent reporting on their presentation. 

Sorry to have missed you later on the weekend. Would've liked a chance to chat more. 

[Symp_Res]

Having been at the Valencia vs Cosmos game Saturday, I have to say I was impressed with the level of play from the Cosmos (same can't be said for Valencia).  If the CPL can reach that level within the first few years, and I believe it can if the salary cap that has been mentioned around here is true, the league will be a success. 

Also, based on the turn out in Regina and the diversity of the crowd itself, the Saskatchewan team will be a huge hit!

[MtlMario]

What was the turn out and who was the crowd cheering for ?

[Symp_Res]

21 minutes ago, MtlMario said:

What was the turn out and who was the crowd cheering for ?

From the estimates I've seen, around 15,000.  Obviously, Valencia was the main draw but the crowd was very appreciative of both teams. Good plays and flashes of skill from both teams were cheered, and players on both teams got ovations when they were subbed off.  There were about 300 people (mainly kids and their parents) that showed up on Friday evening for Valencia's practice at the university.

During the game a young man in the section over from me got the wave going around the stadium...I was told later that he was a former player for 1860 Munich. 

As for the diversity of the crowd, I was sitting with my German Father on one side of me, a really nice gentleman from Chile and his family were sitting on the other side of me.  There was a family behind me where the young lady was explaining the rules of the game to her mother.  A lot of jersey's from all over the world, both club and country...and of course a lot of Riders' gear.  

I have to say, the Regina soccer community came out in droves.

A great experience.

 

[harrycoyster]

9 minutes ago, Symp_Res said:

From the estimates I've seen, around 15,000.

I think 15,000 is a bit high, but perhaps there were more people sitting on the camera side of the stadium. The American Bein Sport announcers said "over 8,000 people in attendance" which leads me to believe attendance was in the 8-10k range. 15k would have required the stadium be half nearly half full, which is hard to believe as attendance was limited to the lower bowl which wasn't close to full itself.

Still ~10,000 is a great showing, and terrific sign for things to come.

[stevensandor]

1 hour ago, Symp_Res said:

Having been at the Valencia vs Cosmos game Saturday, I have to say I was impressed with the level of play from the Cosmos (same can't be said for Valencia).  If the CPL can reach that level within the first few years, and I believe it can if the salary cap that has been mentioned around here is true, the league will be a success. 

Also, based on the turn out in Regina and the diversity of the crowd itself, the Saskatchewan team will be a huge hit!

Should be noted the Cosmos had a bunch of regulars out with injuries... they had to start a skeleton crew against Edmonton last week, as well.

[Symp_Res]

20 minutes ago, harrycoyster said:

I think 15,000 is a bit high, but perhaps there were more people sitting on the camera side of the stadium. The American Bein Sport announcers said "over 8,000 people in attendance" which leads me to believe attendance was in the 8-10k range. 15k would have required the stadium be half nearly half full, which is hard to believe as attendance was limited to the lower bowl which wasn't close to full itself.

Still ~10,000 is a great showing, and terrific sign for things to come.

This was my first time in the stadium, so I really have no idea what 10,000 or 15,000 people look like. The Regina-Leader Post is reporting over 15,000, so that is what I passed along. (for the record, my best estimate based on...well...nothing really, was 12,000)

[Symp_Res]

17 minutes ago, stevensandor said:

Should be noted the Cosmos had a bunch of regulars out with injuries... they had to start a skeleton crew against Edmonton last week, as well.

Wow, good to know. I knew Jakovic wasn't going to be there, but that is all I knew about their roster.

[Gopherbashi]

7 hours ago, harrycoyster said:

I think 15,000 is a bit high, but perhaps there were more people sitting on the camera side of the stadium. The American Bein Sport announcers said "over 8,000 people in attendance" which leads me to believe attendance was in the 8-10k range. 15k would have required the stadium be half nearly half full, which is hard to believe as attendance was limited to the lower bowl which wasn't close to full itself.

Still ~10,000 is a great showing, and terrific sign for things to come.

I thought someone was saying early last week that there were already 13,000 tickets sold.

[rob.notenboom]

10 minutes ago, Gopherbashi said:

I thought someone was saying early last week that there were already 13,000 tickets sold.

As of Saturday morning there were 14K+ sold. 

As a gauge, Sec 111-119 holds very close to 5500 people as do Sec 135-142. These sections were very close to sold out. 

Additionally several other smaller sections were sold out that total 2300 seats. Add on the sections that weren't sold out, and 15K is bang on. 

[ironcub14]

Fun article http://www.rednationonline.ca/Articles2016/Top20CanadianPremierLeagueprospectfromPDL.aspx

[ironcub14]

On 2017-07-22 at 2:58 PM, Gopherbashi said:

People keep mentioning Ottawa and Edmonton for 2018.  I realise that Edmonton could potentially have an "out" by only playing in the spring season and then jumping over, but Ottawa would have to abandon the whole 2018 USL season in order to take part in that 2018 CPL half season.  Do people really think they're going to do that?

 

On 2017-07-22 at 3:51 PM, Unnamed Trialist said:

This is exactly what I was going to post, same thoughts. 

The best thing a club can do is keep playing, keep fans in their seats, keep up interest in the team, over and above the league. 

For both, you have to remain 100% loyal to the league you are in, and only when there's a few months max left in the season start to talk about your move to CPL. So the silence would be logical. Then, you canvas all fans, ticket holders, you take that and run with it as a base. You could do that for late 2018, fine, but do leave fans without soccer in your town from April-August, four months or so.  Don't know about that, you miss key summer months when parents bring kids, you miss a good part of the hockey off-season.

But in terms of transitioning, I don't think in either case you would lose fans because the team was going to play in CPL and not NASL, not sure if the latter really boosts paying fans that much. Or is it just Cosmos visits that are notably better for gate? 

Completely agreed. Just taking everything into account, a spring 2019 launch makes so much more sense for CPL than summer 2018.

[rob.notenboom]

I usually try to avoid self-promotion on here but I suspect many will want to here this. We have a full interview with Joe Belan coming up on FTBH. It will be on iTunes soon and available through RNO in the next little while also.

[michaeltfc91]

5 minutes ago, ironcub14 said:

 

Completely agreed. Just taking everything into account, a spring 2019 launch makes so much more sense for CPL than summer 2018.

I think so too... Full season 2019 launch makes the most sense to make sure all teams are ready in terms of stadiums, players coaching staff and fans. I can't see kick off in less than a year from today and I think we will have an 8 team league in 2019.

Calgary Foothills, FC Edmonton, Regina / Saskatoon, Winnipeg = 4 teams West

Hamilton, KW United / Quebec City, Ottawa Fury, Halifax = 4 teams East

[mpg_29]

37 minutes ago, ironcub14 said:

Fun article http://www.rednationonline.ca/Articles2016/Top20CanadianPremierLeagueprospectfromPDL.aspx

I know there are a lot more Canadian players out there but when you think of it these 20 Canadian prospects would only fill one team roster or maybe two if there a decent number of foreign players.

As much as I want a lot of teams in CanPL maybe starting with 6 isn't such a bad idea...otherwise you could have serious drop in quality if you start trying to fill rosters of 8+ teams..

Edited July 24, 2017 by mpg_29

[ironcub14]

7 minutes ago, mpg_29 said:

I know there are a lot more Canadian players out there but when you think of it these 20 Canadian prospects would only fill one team roster or maybe two if there a decent number of foreign players.

As much as I want a lot of teams in CanPL maybe starting with 6 isn't such a bad idea...otherwise you could have serious drop in quality if you start trying to fill rosters of 8+ teams..

Depends on the roster restrictions obviously. I think they're going to have be looser than what PB's been hinting at, but that's just one person's opinion.

[shermanator]

The owner of a new NBL Canada team in St. John's mentioned that they've talked about CPL there.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/basketball-franchise-stjohns-new-yorker-irwin-simon-1.4210608

Quote

May expand into hockey, soccer

Graham said Simon may be interested in bringing a hockey team, or other sports, to St. John's in the future.

"I don't think there is any dispute that it would make sense to do that. The focus is on the basketball at the moment and that's what we want to do," he said.

"I've been involved in three Quebec Major Junior franchises in the Maritimes and a couple of AHL franchises. We've also talked about soccer because there is a new Canadian premier soccer league."

Edited July 24, 2017 by shermanator

[Complete Homer]

55 minutes ago, rob.notenboom said:

I usually try to avoid self-promotion on here but I suspect many will want to here this. We have a full interview with Joe Belan coming up on FTBH. It will be on iTunes soon and available through RNO in the next little while also.

It's not really self promotion when you're just letting us know about an interview we all want to hear

[mpg_29]

15 minutes ago, shermanator said:

The owner of a new NBL Canada team in St. John's mentioned that they've talked about CPL there.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/basketball-franchise-stjohns-new-yorker-irwin-simon-1.4210608

http://www.thevoyageurs.org/forums/topic/31783-cpl-new-teams-speculation/?do=findComment&comment=615230

 

[mpg_29]

40 minutes ago, ironcub14 said:

Depends on the roster restrictions obviously. I think they're going to have be looser than what PB's been hinting at, but that's just one person's opinion.

Even with just 10 Canadian players on each team that would be a absolute min of 60 Canadian players to find..if there are 8 teams and ~15 Canadians on each team then you are looking at upwards of 120 Canadian players...where exactly are they going to come from?...I guess they could poach a lot of the players out of League 1/PLSQ...

Edited July 24, 2017 by mpg_29

[Fussball_eh]

11 minutes ago, mpg_29 said:

Even with just 10 Canadian players on each team that would be a absolute min of 60 Canadian players to find..if there are 8 teams and ~15 Canadians on each team then you are looking at upwards of 120 Canadian players...where exactly are they going to come from?...I guess they could poach a lot of the players out of League 1/PLSQ...

To that argument, I say, have a look at www.canucks-abroad.ca and you will see we'll have no trouble finding those players.

[Complete Homer]

50 minutes ago, shermanator said:

The owner of a new NBL Canada team in St. John's mentioned that they've talked about CPL there.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/basketball-franchise-stjohns-new-yorker-irwin-simon-1.4210608

Even though this article refers to the group as "On Ice Productions", it appears they are actually the same "On Ice Management" that has previously tried to bring an NHL team to Saskatchewan (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/nbl-canada-st-johns-sports-entertainment-1.4209125), an AHL team to Belleville, and was the organizer of the Valencia vs Cosmos friendly in Regina (http://www.620ckrm.com/2017/05/08/international-soccer-coming-to-mosaic-stadium/)

Given their involvement with Valencia vs Cosmos, I wouldn't be very surprised if they had been involved with the league in a larger way other than a brief side comment. Probably some legitimate money behind them too if they had made even a half-hearted attempt to bring the NHL to town.

Edit:

And apparently their president was involved in the creation of the Mooseheads and consulted for a few atlantic minor hockey teams...maybe some old business connections with S.E.A got them involved http://www.intelligencer.ca/2016/09/26/exclusive-graham-feels-jilted-by-city-deal

Edited July 24, 2017 by Complete Homer

[Bison44]

There are roughly 50 CDN in the USL.  I'm sure they could snag a dozen or so there.  And the US colleges always spit out 3-4 CDN a year who dont make the MLS draft (DIdic,Irving etc), that might make a CPL roster.    Depending on the initial quality of the league there are a lot more guys out there than you think.  

Edited July 24, 2017 by Bison44

[mpg_29]

15 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

There are roughly 50 CDN in the USL.  I'm sure they could snag a dozen or so there.  And the US colleges always spit out 3-4 CDN a year who dont make the MLS draft (DIdic,Irving etc), that might make a CPL roster.    Depending on the initial quality of the league there are a lot more guys out there than you think.  

Well that's just it...I'm sure you could grab 200 Canadians from various leagues but what would the quality of the league be like..?