CPL General

[Rheo]

9 minutes ago, matty said:

https://www.tsn.ca/four-clubs-get-professional-membership-from-soccer-canada-expected-to-join-cpl-1.1077215

https://www.tsn.ca/canadian-premier-league-unveils-emblem-league-identity-1.1069719

https://www.tsn.ca/clanachan-named-commissioner-of-canadian-premier-league-1.964154

 

And as I pointed out the other day a lot of local radio hits including the Hamilton one from this morning (recap in a minute)

[Rheo]

34 minutes ago, Rheo said:

This is good 

 

Short (6 minutes) radio hit to plug the new show. 

-Will be CPL centric. 

-Talked about the league and importance of everyone being on the same page.   Lots of general talk of the importance of the league

-One interesting point was host said he talked to Bob Young recently when asked about the financials of the CPL said “it is unbelievable what they’ve been able to accomplish with (SBC)”

[gator]

That's a friend of mine (Gary Munro) who is hosting the show, we have been discussing this league for months before he was confirmed as a host, you can bet he will promote local Canadian soccer, please tune in to hear him once the show goes on a regular schedule, he's quite knowledgeable and it will be a great listen!

[dyslexic nam]

I am def in the camp that views worry over Y9 premature. That is a massive market that doesn't need to have even close to the level f saturation as the smaller markets to be successful. With 1.3M people, it has a vast pool of potential attendees to draw from. Yes it is a competitive sporting market, but 2 of the biggest draws (NBA and NHL) do not overlap. Still challenging for sure, but there are a LOT of people within a reasonable distance of what will be the second biggest live soccer opportunity. It may lack the early bump of Halifax or Calgary but I am pretty sure Y9 will be fine. 

[Rheo]

And Hamilton stadium situation officially settled 

 

[Gian-Luca]

7 hours ago, Keegan said:

Is there enough pride in the York Region? Do people identify with that?

People who live here identify with York Region but there's no real sense of community among the 9 different towns that make up the 9 - people in Markham identify more with Toronto as their home town team than they do with a team in Woodbridge or Newmarket, for example. But at the same time, this is unprecedented - there's never been a team that's tried to unite the entire region as one. So we don't really know how that is going to go until there is a concerted effort to do so & to reach out to the communities in the region in question. There's been no marketing whatsoever that's taken place in Markham (which is technically now a city of its own and is opposite side of the region as Vaughan, effectively, although of the 9 communities both smaller Stouffville and the even smaller town of Georgina are even further away as they are farther north). It will be interesting to see if the local soccer fans in the communities far away from Vaughan feel like this is their local team, but its never been tried before and too early to say what will happen (once they start marketing themselves properly and as a going-concern, if they are still stuck with a low ticket base then).

We just don't know yet.

One other thing to keep in mind - even with my own case I am holding off buying any sort of season tickets until I know what the schedule is like as I'm already a TFC season ticket holder, and I need to see if the schedules conflict too much. I'm not sure how many other York Region area fans are in the same boat but this is an issue that Calgary & Halifax don't have to worry about in the slightest.

[Rheo]

Link to article, not much in it now but they’ll update it http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/ticats-lawsuit-hamilton-tim-hortons-stadium-1.4686267

[Rheo]

And official statement from Bob Young specifically mentioning CPL https://bit.ly/2J4OD5n

Edited May 31, 2018 by Rheo

[Rheo]

Mississauga SG doing Mississauga things. Very well done 

 

[Ansem]

18 minutes ago, Rheo said:

Mississauga SG doing Mississauga things. Very well done 

 

Just need deep pockets and a stadium plan.

End game being part of the Port Credit Revitalization plan?

• Hurontario LRT to Brampton & Lakeshore West GO RER from Oshawa to Hamilton

 

LRT & Cooksville GO for Milton Fans

 

Port Credit Master Plan (a stadium like York 9 FC would fit nicely)

Mississauga is very desirable for CPL and potential investors.

Edited June 1, 2018 by Ansem

[Rheo]

Scott Mitchell on Raw Mike Edwards ep 233-starts around 40 minutes https://www.rawmikerichards.com/podcast-feed/2018/6/1/episode-233-the-raw-mike-richards-show

-talked about the ownership groups that are public

-York 9 looking at 2-3 sites, in Vaughn/Markham area

-2 more launches before  World Cup and a couple after

-mentioned BC would be announced today

-once again a league official said a minimum of 8 at launch, with a possibility of 9

-could be 12 teams for 2020

-talked schedule plans, said mostly a “traditional soccer schedule”  mostly weekend games with some mid-week

-talked about how they plan to be a more traditional FIFA soccer league, rather than MLS

 

 

 

[BuzzAndSting]

2 minutes ago, Rheo said:

Scott Mitchell on Raw Mike Edwards ep 233-starts around 40 minutes https://www.rawmikerichards.com/podcast-feed/2018/6/1/episode-233-the-raw-mike-richards-show

-talked about the ownership groups that are public

-York 9 looking at 2-3 sites, in Vaughn/Markham area

-2 more launches before  World Cup and a couple after

-mentioned BC would be announced today

-once again a league official said a minimum of 8 at launch, with a possibility of 9

-could be 12 teams for 2020

-talked schedule plans, said mostly a “traditional soccer schedule”  mostly weekend games with some mid-week

-talked about how they plan to be a more traditional FIFA soccer league, rather than MLS

 

 

 

So there's still some secrets out there! With the Fraser Valley team all but dead who is the possible 9th for next year?! 

For my own organization;

2019 for sure: Hamilton, Winnipeg, York 9, Cavalry FC, HFX Wanderers

2019 probably: Victoria

2019 maybe: FC Edmonton, Ottawa Fury

2019 unknown: Saskatchewan? Southern Ontario? Quebec? There's one more group that is theoretically possible for 2019 and we don't have a clue who it is! Crazy!

As for 2020 there would be another 3-4 groups with the Saskatchewan group being one of them. 

This has the potential to become the largest professional sports league in Canada in 2 years, crazy!

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

It's not exactly a secret that Saskatoon (or Regina) and K/W have groups that want in but have no viable stadium solution at the moment. 

[coppercanuck]

"No viable stadium solution"? 

I thought the "pop-up" style stadium was helping that situation.

[maccaliam]

I admit I’ve had a few jars tonight, but is anyone else feeling a little giddy that an actual professional Canadian league is coming? It almost doesn’t feel real as this is something I assumed would never happen, yet the past month or so news just keeps coming proving it is happening. I can’t believe my son will grow up with a Canadian professional soccer league to support and dream of playing in. 

Happy days my friends. 

[Keegan]

I think we all don’t really believe it still.  A North American League run in a traditional way? Heck, we might get some American fans wanting to watch.. I think this is a dream for a ton of people over here who haven’t wanted to watch MLS.

[Rheo]

I’ve believed it was real the whole time  but I’m naive, stupid, eternal optimist  

[BuzzAndSting]

4 hours ago, maccaliam said:

I admit I’ve had a few jars tonight, but is anyone else feeling a little giddy that an actual professional Canadian league is coming? It almost doesn’t feel real as this is something I assumed would never happen, yet the past month or so news just keeps coming proving it is happening. I can’t believe my son will grow up with a Canadian professional soccer league to support and dream of playing in. 

Happy days my friends. 

Until my local club, the Ottawa Fury, are on board I’m not exactly doing back flips. I’ll follow and watch the occasional broadcast but if the Fury are in I’m buying season tickets and screaming down the scum from Hamilton and York. I’m exactly the kind of supporter who the Fury want to capitalize on if they move from the USL to the CPL.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

6 hours ago, maccaliam said:

I admit I’ve had a few jars tonight, but is anyone else feeling a little giddy that an actual professional Canadian league is coming?

More a feeling of trepidation and hoping it will work, but fearing it won't based on a strong sense of deja vu. Getting this to the very brink of a launch was difficult enough for them, but the even more difficult part now is getting a minimum of eight franchises to have a solid fanbase and be financially stable, so the league doesn't lurch from one existential crisis to the next. Two out of three launches have been promising so far, but they will need to get York 9 sorted out and can't afford any more strugglers like that. Having Victoria rather than Surrey should help in that regard.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

14 hours ago, coppercanuck said:

"No viable stadium solution"? 

I thought the "pop-up" style stadium was helping that situation.

Finding a suitable piece of land to place the "pop-up" on is the difficult part if local municipalities and other landowners aren't able or willing to help. At this point K/W, Regina, Saskatoon and Surrey are examples of where something along those lines has been tried but hasn't been achieved do far, and there may be others we don't know about where it didn't even get far enough along to be visible in media terms.

Edited June 2, 2018 by BringBackTheBlizzard

[C2SKI]

6 hours ago, BuzzAndSting said:

Until my local club, the Ottawa Fury, are on board I’m not exactly doing back flips. I’ll follow and watch the occasional broadcast but if the Fury are in I’m buying season tickets and screaming down the scum from Hamilton and York. I’m exactly the kind of supporter who the Fury want to capitalize on if they move from the USL to the CPL.

There's absolutely no way Ottawa doesn't end up here, if the league has any success. You might as well get on board now

[C2SKI]

10 hours ago, maccaliam said:

I admit I’ve had a few jars tonight, but is anyone else feeling a little giddy that an actual professional Canadian league is coming? It almost doesn’t feel real as this is something I assumed would never happen, yet the past month or so news just keeps coming proving it is happening. I can’t believe my son will grow up with a Canadian professional soccer league to support and dream of playing in. 

Happy days my friends. 

It's been very encouraging recently. I think the league is saying all the right things. I really hope people support this.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

13 minutes ago, C2SKI said:

There's absolutely no way Ottawa doesn't end up here, if the league has any success. You might as well get on board now

Just saw this on twitter. An article online about how the Fury's move to having a larger domestic component on its roster has met with mixed reviews so far:

http://www.ottawasports.ca/proof-of-concept-how-ottawa-fury-fc-is-answering-those-who-would-doubt-canada/

...Creating an environment where young Canadian soccer talent can thrive in a professional environment is one of the rallying cries behind the upcoming launch of the Canadian Premier League. The Fury’s relationship with the league remains murky, with club officials taking a “wait-and-see” approach on whether or not to join. When it’s suggested that the CPL is instantly creating eight to 10 competitors to the Fury for Canadian talent, Popovic is succinct: “Fantastic,” he says...

I think Mimglow posts on here sometimes.

[SpecialK]

4 hours ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Finding a suitable piece of land to place the "pop-up" on is the difficult part if local municipalities and other landowners aren't able or willing to help. At this point K/W, Regina, Saskatoon and Surrey are examples of where something along those lines has been tried but hasn't been achieved do far, and there may be others we don't know about where it didn't even get far enough along to be visible in media terms.

Oh look I found a  stadium in  Regina Saskatchewan ! And  it’s owned by the city. It’s a beauty too! 

 Oh look they’re playing soccer In it !! It’s looks like  they got a good crowd there 

Edited June 2, 2018 by SpecialK

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

I have no idea what you think you are proving with that post? Two obvious problems from a CanPL standpoint are that the Roughriders are not the would be investors in Saskatchewan and it has permanently marked fieldturf unlike the CFL stadia in Winnipeg, Hamilton and Ottawa. My understanding is that the preferred option for Joe Belan in a Regina context was to use one of the grandstands of the old Taylor Field to create a new soccer specific stadium. Unfortunately, the City of Regina decided that it was better to send in the bulldozers and level the place completely instead.