CPL General

[Dub Narcotic]

The U.S. Open Cup winners get a CCL spot so playing for a USL team gives you a shot at international competition as well. Not that I think 95% of players at these levels will give a shit about that compared to some extra salary and getting paid on time.

[Kent]

OK, finally caught up on the thread. My opinion on the CPL vs USL debate.

First off, it's hard to compare leagues (what are the criteria? Are we talking the 8ish CPL teams vs top 8 USL teams? Just the best vs best? Worst vs worst? Who wins most matches if you randomly draw CPL teams vs USL teams?) but it's hard for me to assume it will be at the same level or higher than USL in year 1. It will probably be in the same ballpark, but if you have to choose a champ I am going to assume it would be USL.

He gets a lot of criticism on here (a lot of the time, rightfully) but I agree with BBTB's point that right now Ottawa has a bit of a monopoly on Can-con at this level and have put together a pretty strong group of domestic players... and are 13th out of 16 teams in the Eastern conference of the USL. Of course one of the teams below them are the only other Canadian team, TFC II.

Now for the argument that the CPL will get better and better each year... I'm not prepared to say that yet either. If what we've been told to expect comes to fruition there could very well be 8 teams in year 1, then 10 teams in year 2, possibly one or two more in year 3. This can dilute the talent further. And of course, we also want the league to sell on the brightest stars to bigger leagues so they can continue to improve. If the league does promote players to better leagues, that will also act as a way to lower the level or keep it from growing, in the short term.

All that being said, do I think any of this is a problem? No. Do I expect CPL to eternally be below USL level of play? No. Things like expansion and selling players on and having lots of job opportunities for Canadian players can hurt the level of play in the short term, but help the level of play in the long term. The important thing in the early years is the acceptance of the league, the support it gets, and the financial viability of the league. If those things are good, in time the league will grow and so will our player pool. As people have said, CPL teams seem to have more ambition than most USL teams (at least everyone that doesn't have an eye on MLS expansion) and I think that CPL probably won't win the year 1 battle, but could very well win the war.

[Rheo]

This is cool https://www.transfermarkt.com/canadian-premier-league/startseite/wettbewerb/CAN1

[Pat Carrasco]

LIVE: Mississauga City Hall Council Chamber will be discussing the motion to hire a consultant to perform the feasibility study for the stadium proposal anytime now. UPDATES will be available by the hour. Keep your fingers cross boys. At this meeting they may also unveil the investors behind the project.

Edited July 4, 2018 by Pat Carrasco

[Keegan]

Has anyone seen this Canadian Elite Basketball League?  They’re hitting almost the exact same markets and pulled Niagara away.. actually the league is apparently based out of niagara but I’ve never heard of it up until today.

Hamilton Honey Badgers.. Saskatchewan Rattlers.. Niagara River Lions.  Comes off almost comical.

[deschamp86]

Honey Badger don't care, honey badger doesn't give a shit, it just takes what it wants

[LAK]

There are so many Rattlesnakes around Saskatoon...sarcasm...there are none.

 

[Copes]

19 hours ago, Keegan said:

Has anyone seen this Canadian Elite Basketball League?  They’re hitting almost the exact same markets and pulled Niagara away.. actually the league is apparently based out of niagara but I’ve never heard of it up until today.

Hamilton Honey Badgers.. Saskatchewan Rattlers.. Niagara River Lions.  Comes off almost comical.

Wait, is this a product that is going to compete with the already existing NBL? I don't follow basketball much, although we do have an NBL team in St. John's. Why would a competing league set up shop when one is already establishing itself?

[Keegan]

7 minutes ago, Copes said:

Wait, is this a product that is going to compete with the already existing NBL? I don't follow basketball much, although we do have an NBL team in St. John's. Why would a competing league set up shop when one is already establishing itself?

It would appear so.  Maybe with CPL in the mix they decided to step it up to something more professional and teams such as St. John’s just haven’t been announced yet. I agree with you that it does seem odd 7 years into a new league for another one to emerge. 

[Copes]

Discussing it now in the York 9 thread, but for those who aren't following it looks like York 9's season ticket pricing was shown in this instagram post. 
 

Starting at $399 according to the top left frame.

[Unnamed Trialist]

I am posting a price of season tickets for a Spanish team in 2nd division, Reus, who are one of the more modest ones. Compare prices, which in their case is for 21 league games, any Cup games, the preseason matches, and the B team's games in 4th tier.

So this is how you do it. Ignore "Soc del Reus" on the right column for club members, they are families of kids in the club's youth academies, plus retired people and those who are unemployed. Then you have standard prices for above  age 21, a 14 to 21 price, and then a 8-14 price. 

Behind the goals you could go for a season for 180 euros, say 270 Canadian dollars or so. 

[matty]

I got bored so I decided to check the Google trends of the league of the last 90 days. I search "Canadian Premier League" vs. "MLS" (specified it was the soccer league) and "United Soccer League"

Here the results of that. Provincial data was also interesting (ignoring Quebec cause I didn't use French in the search). Manitoba seemed the strongest (originally it scored 30%~ but on a refresh that jumped to 58% for CPL). Nova Scotia also looked strong but there was a large drop (27% to MLS's 71%). After that no province was over 20% (with Alberta at 18% and Saskatchewan at 14% for CPL).

Ontario saw CPL score 6% to MLS's 90% while USL scored 4% while BC has 5-93-2. I would also say Alberta's numbers against MLS are a little disappointing given there are two teams there in 1m+ markets.

NFLD, New Brunswick, PEI and the Territories scored 100% for MLS.

Overall a little disappointing (especially against USL) but good to see the booms are happening and the numbers are mostly steady. The Winnipeg and Halifax groups are doing a very good job I would say for a league that isn't there yet.

I think we'll see more booms over the coming weeks before it begins scoring steady numbers once the picture of what the league is becomes more clear.

Edited July 6, 2018 by matty

[Complete Homer]

https://mobile.twitter.com/CPLsoccer/status/1015264395490988032/video/1

Interesting colour scheme, not black/gold

[Rheo]

Vocal Minority Pod has a recap of the last few weeks of CPL news, nothing news worthy just the usual analysis with the good jokes http://vocalminority.ca/episode-238-18-07-05-queek-panic/

[shorty]

10 hours ago, Complete Homer said:

https://mobile.twitter.com/CPLsoccer/status/1015264395490988032/video/1

Interesting colour scheme, not black/gold

There is what looks like a deliberate flash of gold in one scene though -- the headlights looking down the out-of-focus street.  About 5 seconds in.

[shamrock]

Nice colors (loving the black-on-black?). Anyway I still hope they won't go for Founders FC. How can they be Founders when it's one of the last teams to be revealed? Steelers would be sooo much better...

[Keegan]

Just go Hamilton City and let the nickname work itself out.. hammers, Steelers, founders whatever.

[shamrock]

On 7/7/2018 at 2:39 PM, Keegan said:

Just go Hamilton City and let the nickname work itself out.. hammers, Steelers, founders whatever.

Anything but Founders...I kinda like the simple names like FC Edmonton or Hamilton City. 

[RSE23]

3 hours ago, shamrock said:

Anything but Founders...I kinda like the simple names like FC Edmonton or Hamilton City. 

I would love for Hamilton to use a name like that Although if rumours are true. They don’t want to have Hamilton in their team name.  Don’t ask me why.  

[red card]

On 7/7/2018 at 2:53 AM, shamrock said:

Nice colors (loving the black-on-black?). Anyway I still hope they won't go for Founders FC. How can they be Founders when it's one of the last teams to be revealed? Steelers would be sooo much better...

Hamilton & Winnipeg were the first clubs approved by the CSA. When the history of the CPL is written, the Hamilton backers will be considered as one if not the founding members of the CPL. So Hamilton coming in last for the detailed reveal is quite a propos.

[Shortdutchcanuck]

Founder also refers to someone who works with metal (ie in a foundry) so there is that double meaning with the steel industry still getting a nod.

Names are funny things.  Plenty of existing team names that are now accepted or even considered classics had an element of ridiculousness originally.  Look at the Raptors and the Barney references.  Now a very successful brand.  Or the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Look at LA keeping the name Lakers or Utah keeping Jazz.  

I've been against Founders from day 1 but I'm coming around.  If they brand it well and design some smart kits I can see the name working out just fine.

And as someone else on here has already mentioned, Founders vs Sounders will be a classic Champion's League matchup!

[Macksam]

On 7/4/2018 at 12:25 PM, deschamp86 said:

Honey Badger don't care, honey badger doesn't give a shit, it just takes what it wants

Do North American sports teams have that much of an obsession with first letter (sounding) alliterations that Honey Badgers, an animal mainly found in Africa, was chosen when the Canadian animal equivalent, Wolverine exists? 

Edited July 9, 2018 by Macksam

[deschamp86]

1 hour ago, Macksam said:

Do North American sports teams have that much of an obsession with first letter (sounding) alliterations that Honey Badgers, an animal mainly found in Africa, was chosen when the Canadian animal equivalent, Wolverine exists? 

In fairness I don't think there are any wolverines in Hamilton either. Maybe Hamilton Raccoons, or even Hamilton Trash Pandas would work better?

[Ansem]

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

10 minutes ago, Ansem said:

Could you cut and paste story, it's behind a paywall. 

Now, to the point: these regional rivalries, just on the level of soccer passionate people in power or with money, are going to be great. The intelligence of the whole thing is to talk in terms of 6000 fans in a stadium, 14 times a year, which so many markets see as feasible.