CPL General

[Macksam]

Well at least FC Edmonton has a strong social media presence....😐

[CanadaFan123]

13 minutes ago, BuzzAndSting said:

Not sure where he goes from here. As much as I didn’t want him involved in the new Ottawa CPL club I hope he lands a good opportunity.

That’s disappointing. He dug his own grave which is the craziest thing.  Money makes people do crazy things. 

[BuzzAndSting]

7 minutes ago, CanadaFan123 said:

That’s disappointing. He dug his own grave which is the craziest thing.  Money makes people do crazy things. 

Interesting comment. I’ve wondered if Julian was actually part of the Fury ownership. I believe they were a limited partnership and he came in around when Jeff Hunt divested so I always thought he may have actually bought Hunts shares. That would explain the devout faith to the Fury and all of the bizarre comments behind the scenes.

[CanadaFan123]

I just can’t believe that he wouldn’t be bright enough to see the writing on the wall and keep his mouth shut. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

9 hours ago, Macksam said:

Well at least FC Edmonton has a strong social media presence....😐

Where must that come from, was it partially left over from the NASL days?

[Ansem]

 

[BuzzAndSting]

 

[shamrock]

Yeah well, I still have my doubts about the viability of the league. But I sure as hell appreciate them trying!

[ted]

2 hours ago, shamrock said:

Yeah well, I still have my doubts about the viability of the league. 

I'm curious of that is simply pessimism or you see some flaw?

From my perspective things look a lot better than they did at the end of the first season, which was already a resounding success IMO.

• All teams from year one have returned
• attendance average across the league was reasonable in year one
• expansion has happened and looks to continue for next year
• ongoing revenue stream via multi-year Media Pro deal
• rumours of One Soccer being added to cable systems

I don't see anything in particular that is sending warning signals. What am I missing in my optimism?

 

[Cblake]

I have been reading the Fury folded buy did they not move to Miami, pretty sure they did. 

[narduch]

Just now, Cblake said:

I have been reading the Fury folded buy did they not move to Miami, pretty sure they did. 

I wouldn't say they moved.

They folded, then sold their USL franchise rights to the dude who owns Miami FC

[Rintaran]

2 minutes ago, Cblake said:

I have been reading the Fury folded buy did they not move to Miami, pretty sure they did. 

Fury closed up operations in Ottawa & sold the franchise rights to The Miami FC.

 

Edit: And it seems I was beaten to the reply. To expand a little further, only the USL franchise rights were sold, nothing else. The trademark rights for "Ottawa Fury FC" remain with OSEG, as far as we know. For all useful purposes, Fury are gone. Atletico Ottawa is a completely new venture, hosting their matches at the same place and with 1 of the OSEG partners involved in local management.

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, Rintaran said:

Fury closed up operations in Ottawa & sold the franchise rights to The Miami FC.

 

Edit: And it seems I was beaten to the reply. To expand a little further, only the USL franchise rights were sold, nothing else. The trademark rights for "Ottawa Fury FC" remain with OSEG, as far as we know. For all useful purposes, Fury are gone. Atletico Ottawa is a completely new venture, hosting their matches at the same place and with 1 of the OSEG partners involved in local management.

How much were the USL franchise rights sold for, anyone know?

I am really curious to know how much of what happened was fortuitous, and how much brokered from the start. 

It would make more sense, if Hunt is still involved with OSEG, that they did a business deal that was being worked on from the time Mediapro came into the league. They cut their losses and sold the franchise. But perhaps they were paid or received some incentive to step aside, via the CSB entity, Mediapro or Atlético?

A deal was made not to disband the club structure and keep it intact (we'll see how many re-hires there are in their administration). 

It does not seem logical the way the sequence is being explained, as if one group closed shop and another bought in, one step after another. Fury felt they could not join CPL, due to bad blood or other motives, or some part of the ownership did not want to. But they still were encouraged to show restraint on the aggressive line taken in late 2018, and looked at the numbers (the paying tenant at TD Place) and their local reputation (not be blamed for liquidating soccer in Ottawa).

If what I am suggesting is at all valid, one of the people who was most screwed by the deal was Julian de Guzman.

 

[Initial B]

1 hour ago, ted said:

I'm curious of that is simply pessimism or you see some flaw?

From my perspective things look a lot better than they did at the end of the first season, which was already a resounding success IMO.

• All teams from year one have returned
• attendance average across the league was reasonable in year one
• expansion has happened and looks to continue for next year
• ongoing revenue stream via multi-year Media Pro deal
• rumours of One Soccer being added to cable systems

I don't see anything in particular that is sending warning signals. What am I missing in my optimism?

I think a lot of what you see as pessimism is simply PTSD wariness of the Canadian Soccer Fan in general. We've been conditioned to expect to be disappointed that we don't know how to properly react when things are going well as we're just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I know personally that my unease won't dissipate until the CanPL makes it to it's 10th anniversary.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

1 hour ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

How much were the USL franchise rights sold for, anyone know?

I am really curious to know how much of what happened was fortuitous, and how much brokered from the start. 

It would make more sense, if Hunt is still involved with OSEG, that they did a business deal that was being worked on from the time Mediapro came into the league. They cut their losses and sold the franchise. But perhaps they were paid or received some incentive to step aside, via the CSB entity, Mediapro or Atlético? ...

We'll probably never know for sure how the mechanics of it unfolded but it does look like the Fury owners were compensated financially for undergoing the change of leagues. Another interesting question is how they can sign players when they are not a member of the CSA yet given that normally happens at the AGM in early May.

[PaulV]

8 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Where must that come from, was it partially left over from the NASL days?

I think that's a safe assumption. The Ottawa Fury have over 18000 followers on Twitter, so simply being around for a long time seems to push up those numbers.

[Aird25]

4 hours ago, ted said:

I'm curious of that is simply pessimism or you see some flaw?

From my perspective things look a lot better than they did at the end of the first season, which was already a resounding success IMO.

• All teams from year one have returned
• attendance average across the league was reasonable in year one
• expansion has happened and looks to continue for next year
• ongoing revenue stream via multi-year Media Pro deal
• rumours of One Soccer being added to cable systems

I don't see anything in particular that is sending warning signals. What am I missing in my optimism?

 

I'm not the OP, but where I was wary last season, I'm still only cautiously optimistic about the league at this point. With the MediaPro deal, I think we're safe until the World Cup, but we're not where we need to be in terms of viewership, attendance, salaries, media coverage etc. for this to be sustainable yet. This league is still extremely niche in my opinion, and even the butts in the seats have only a very vague awareness of what they're watching. 

[JamboAl]

2 hours ago, Initial B said:

I think a lot of what you see as pessimism is simply PTSD wariness of the Canadian Soccer Fan in general. We've been conditioned to expect to be disappointed that we don't know how to properly react when things are going well as we're just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I know personally that my unease won't dissipate until the CanPL makes it to it's 10th anniversary.

Good point.  Don’t know if it’s pessimism or realism.  Professional soccer is still a niche sport in this country and where awareness of the MLS is decent but nowhere near the four other major leagues, the CPL is still a small footnote in most people’s minds if that at all.  This is also a huge country; I travel a lot for work (and vacation) and it’s not cheap.  Grateful as we are for Westjet subsidizing travel (??), the second that ends and there is no replacement, the concerns go up three notches unless there is a hike in revenues.

[MtlMario]

I for one can't wait for the new kits to come out to see if we got new sponsors.

[Cblake]

31 minutes ago, JamboAl said:

Good point.  Don’t know if it’s pessimism or realism.  Professional soccer is still a niche sport in this country and where awareness of the MLS is decent but nowhere near the four other major leagues, the CPL is still a small footnote in most people’s minds if that at all.  This is also a huge country; I travel a lot for work (and vacation) and it’s not cheap.  Grateful as we are for Westjet subsidizing travel (??), the second that ends and there is no replacement, the concerns go up three notches unless there is a hike in revenues.

To cut down on travel you have to grow the league as I think they will have to because if they do not see see an decent uptick in attendance a solution will have to be found. In the long term a a 8-12 team league will not survive in my eyes at 5-6K a game. You have to get to certain level on a few front to really peak the interest of corporate Canada. The Mediapro deal is the saving grace here because without they would have likely been stuck with buying airtime via TSN, Sportsnet etc. Was the media pro deal even a make or break thing for the league to even kickoff. The CPL would have been the perfect programming for The Score back in the day. 

[youllneverwalkalone]

I can't say it for a fact but I know it's true: the importance of travel expenses in Canadian sport is vastly exaggerated.

I just booked 25 tickets on West Jet for Friday April 17th departure from Victoria to Halifax (via Calgary) for $15,200 and return to Victoria on Sunday, April 19.  We have 13 rooms at the Prince George hotel for two nights for $4,300. Everyone gets a $100 per diem for $7,500. I did this 14 times and it cost $378,000. I need to sell 756 season tickets at 500 a piece to cover this cost.

Edited February 13, 2020 by youllneverwalkalone

[dyslexic nam]

15 minutes ago, youllneverwalkalone said:

I can't say it for a fact but I know it's true: the importance of travel expenses in Canadian sport is vastly exaggerated.

I just booked 25 tickets on West Jet for Friday April 17th departure from Victoria to Halifax (via Calgary) for $15,200 and return to Victoria on Sunday, April 19.  We have 13 rooms at the Prince George hotel for two nights for $4,300. Everyone gets a $100 per diem for $7,500. I did this 14 times and it cost $378,000. I need to sell 756 season tickets at 500 a piece to cover this cost.

That seems like an amount that matters thought.  It is roughly half of total player salaries (as rumoured). 

Edited February 13, 2020 by dyslexic nam

[youllneverwalkalone]

Did the math for you my friend. (15200+4300+7500) x 14 = $378,000.

Also, in non-mathematical terms, no big deal.

[ted]

4 hours ago, Initial B said:

I think a lot of what you see as pessimism is simply PTSD wariness of the Canadian Soccer Fan in general. 

Oh I get that. Despite my general optimism, there is still something lurking deep in my gut that worries it will all collapse.

That's why I am asking if there was anything to base it on. Glad to hear there isn't.

[youllneverwalkalone]

1 hour ago, dyslexic nam said:

That seems like an amount that matters thought.  It is roughly half of total player salaries (as rumoured). 

I would argue that it doesn't matter enough to have conferences.

Just because you go to Edmonton from Victoria, instead of Halifax, doesn't mean you save that much. You still need hotels, per diems and pay something for your flight. (Just checked, you save about half on the flight on the same dates).

Also, the salary cap is way too low.