CPL General

[Mikmacdo]

6 hours ago, Rocket Robin said:

York 9 FC is also squeezed from the other side with no home games at York Lions Stadium after Labour Day because of stadium renovations.  (unless plans have changed).  

 

I wonder if they would just play on the other field  at York where the football team plays. 

[Ams1984]

3 hours ago, Mikmacdo said:

I wonder if they would just play on the other field  at York where the football team plays. 

That was one of the original options, wasn’t it? 

[Mikmacdo]

15 hours ago, Ams1984 said:

That was one of the original options, wasn’t it? 

Yes. There are a few empty grass fields around too. I guess they could setup the temporary stands on one of them too. 

[Ams1984]

10 hours ago, Mikmacdo said:

Yes. There are a few empty grass fields around too. I guess they could setup the temporary stands on one of them too. 

Also, if I’m not mistaken, it has no running track! I hate running tracks...

[SpursFlu]

Get ready for an influx of players. Teams and according to the FA entire leagues will disappear post all this. Lots of professional footballers, coaches, administrators will be looking for work. As it stands I don't see how many lower division teams thru parts of Europe will be able to survive this

Edited April 7, 2020 by SpursFlu

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Clubs can bounce back quickly over in Europe after going bankrupt by reforming under a new holding company and lower level leagues over there can always turn semi-pro or amateur for a few years to cut costs until the business climate picks up agsin, if needs be. Life will go on.

Bear in mind also that this pandemic happened relatively late in the season in most European countries, so a lot of revenue had already been generated. The leagues that potentially face the most hardship going forward are those that were just starting their preseason and have no summer break and unfortunately CanPL falls into that category.

Think the league is low budget enough and the pandemic happened early enough that the owners will be able to handle it. I'd only start to worry if the CFL season is a complete write off given the ownership links involved.

[SpursFlu]

Bear in mind when the leagues start back up and they lost a lot of money people who they depend on for revenue (fans) will be out of work and in some sad cases dead. So theres that. All these potential investors are loosing money left and right at the moment. Everyone's loosing money. Teams might maybe come back eventually but in the meantime everyone at best will be taking a wage cut. The ripple effect thru Europe will be immense

How many professional soccer teams are in Spain, Italy, UK, France, Germany? Maybe 1500

24×1500

Where's Kent the numbers guy when you need him?

Edited April 7, 2020 by SpursFlu

[Unnamed Trialist]

2 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

Bear in mind when the leagues start back up and they lost a lot of money people who they depend on for revenue (fans) will be out of work and in some sad cases dead. So theres that. All these potential investors are loosing money left and right at the moment. Everyone's loosing money. Teams might maybe come back eventually but in the meantime everyone at best will be taking a wage cut. The ripple effect thru Europe will be immense

How many professional soccer teams are in Spain, Italy, UK, France, Germany? Maybe 1500

24×1500

Where's Kent the numbers guy when you need him?

Technically there are 122 pro teams in Spain. Fourth tier is semi pro. In England if you consider Conference level (National League), 5th tier, also pro, there are a few more, maybe it is 130 teams.

I really do not think that there will be that many teams going under. And if they do, contrary to what Ozzie is arguing, you cannot refound financially, in terms of capital, and keep your licence, normally that means losing it and dropping divisions. True, you could sell your licence, but that is another story.

If not that many go under, I don't see how many players will jump ship. Maybe if there is no league in September or they are still finishing up, or in off-season, but that is too late for CPL:

Still, I doubt it affects any more than a dozen or two teams.

Since a large % of lower tier teams lose money anyways, those not paying salary now are cutting their losses. Then, gate is important but do the numbers: so far we've missed 3 weekends of football in Spain. That is either one or 2 home games for each club. And saving the cost of travel, lodging if you were away.

The teams really hurting, I think, are the sides in a third or 2nd tier with the history and stadiums to justify them being in a higher tier. They've spent to promote, they get lots of fans out and the revenue stream from gate is strong, they are amongst the teams in their divisions with the highest budgets. They've probably seriously indebted themselves regardless of revenue just to ensure promotion. 

[SpursFlu]

1 or maybe 2 dozen teams in all of Europe. I'll take that bet. 

Plus wage cuts, staff cuts. Big teams with players out on loan will look to sell off players. Reserve side players, youth players etc etc. With no or reduced inputs your gonna cut cut cut outputs 

Owning a soccer team big or small isn't about making money, it's about cash flow. No essential services in football. The cash flow has been almost completely halted. Its unheard of since ww2

[Winnipeg Fury]

1 hour ago, SpursFlu said:

1 or maybe 2 dozen teams in all of Europe. I'll take that bet. 

Plus wage cuts, staff cuts. Big teams with players out on loan will look to sell off players. Reserve side players, youth players etc etc. With no or reduced inputs your gonna cut cut cut outputs 

Owning a soccer team big or small isn't about making money, it's about cash flow. No essential services in football. The cash flow has been almost completely halted. Its unheard of since ww2

 

I imagine many similar stories to this one

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52179890?at_custom1=[post+type]&at_custom3=%40BBCWalesNews&at_medium=custom7&at_custom4=D8A9A0A6-78BD-11EA-8778-36EF39982C1E&at_campaign=64&at_custom2=twitter

 

https://www.nottinghampost.com/sport/football/football-news/blow-nottingham-forest-fa-statement-4028164

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Winnipeg Fury

[Cheeta]

I'm tempted to make the argument that removing some of the money from certain levels of professional football is exactly the medicine which has been long called for.  However, there's that law of unforseen consiquences over there, lurking in the shadows getting ready to pounce so I'll keep that suggestion on the passive level.

But I don't know.  No one has a real idea what will happen next, in the summer.  By that I mean what ever passes for the recovery of day-to-day life and the economy.   And whatever happens here may not be whats happening over there.  The world is a big place.

Wow.  That's all sort of cryptic isn't it? 

Am missing my football thought.  Doesn't get any more black & white than that.  🙁  

    

[Kent]

I don’t know much about soccer history. Did many teams fold during either world wars?

[SpursFlu]

There weren't as many teams back then, outside of England. It was also a hand to mouth situation as far as the financial operations were concerned. Now all the teams are so leveraged against other assets and it's far more complicated. But I do recall reading in Soccernomics them referencing that a few teams stumbled to regain their footing in England after the War and a few dissapeared but shockingly not many. It a lot of countries in Europe and in some cases still they were considered public institutions so it's a different model. Eastern Europe, Spain etc. I'm just thinking out loud so I stand to be corrected

All you have to do is go back a few months and look at Bury. Sure there are ways to get around the debt load but if there are no prospects for sufficient revenue on the horizon it's just a charity case at that point and a lost cause

Edited April 8, 2020 by SpursFlu

[Winnipeg Fury]

"Doomsday scenario"

 

https://www.nottinghampost.com/sport/football/football-news/doomsday-scenario-fascinate-nottingham-forest-4029970

 

 

[Cheeta]

LOL.  They're going all tabloid with that one.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

17 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

...contrary to what Ozzie is arguing, you cannot refound financially, in terms of capital, and keep your licence, normally that means losing it and dropping divisions. True, you could sell your licence, but that is another story...

I never mentioned anything about licences. You refound, usually have to drop a few divisions and start to work your way back under the new holding company. Any number of clubs have done it over the years. Wimbledon, Fiorentina, Rangers, Lok Leipzig, Bohemians Prague, Rapid Bucharest, Torpedo Moscow... Any club in Europe that goes bankrupt over the next few months is unlikely to fully disappear. Those that don't will soon be able to adjust their budgets to fit the new reality. Overall I doubt anything too drastic will happen.

[SpursFlu]

So if all the teams drop at the same time do they really drop? Or maybe the quality just drops and coupled with less buying power by the customer. A period of time where some people aren't comfortable going to games or allowed for the foreseeable future. There are many things to consider. How much revenue does 1 epl game generate? 1 2 3 million dollars? How many games have been lost? How many will be lost? Add that out. Champions League? FA Cup etc etc. Travel restrictions, away support, football is a big tourist attraction in Europe. During the Catalonia unrest a few years ago Barcelona really struggled with massive drop in tourism. This isn't a utopia, there are real factors to consider

Edited April 8, 2020 by SpursFlu

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

In Scotland where I'm from originally the number of fully professional clubs has fluctuated between 8 and 23 over the last 50 years with dips and peaks in spectator and corporate interest in the sport. Over that period the number of national league teams has consistently been in the 38 to 42 range, because clubs will cut their cloth according to the prevailing circumstances and can get anywhere they need to go in 3 hours or so by bus usually less. The smallest clubs involved have core supports of 200 or so and always find a way to keep going even if it means paying players only $20 a game as has happened in the most extreme circumstances.

It's more Canada we should be worried about because a coast-to-coast league from Halifax to Victoria has higher built in costs that can't be avoided and soccer is not the main sporting passion like it is in most of Europe. There's pretty much always another mug willing to buy a struggling football club in the UK, because that's something a lot of businessmen have always wanted to do as a hobby. Finding investors for a league like CanPL is more challenging. Hopefully the recent stock market optimism is a sign of better days ahead and things are genuinely passing the peak in a lot of the worst affected countries. We won't know for sure for a few more weeks though.

[SpursFlu]

CPL by dumb luck have likely saved money up until now. I think games were scheduled to start next week. Who knows where we go from here but BC & Alberta started to do well. I personally bought a 2nd onesoccer subscription last week. A passionate Canadian soccer supporter just trying to do his part

Edited April 8, 2020 by SpursFlu

[SpursFlu]

20 minutes ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

In Scotland where I'm from originally the number of fully professional clubs has fluctuated between 8 and 23 over the last 50 years with dips and peaks in spectator and corporate interest in the sport. Over that period the number of national league teams has consistently been in the 38 to 42 range, because clubs will cut their cloth according to the prevailing circumstances and can get anywhere they need to go in 3 hours or so by bus usually less. The smallest clubs involved have core supports of 200 or so and always find a way to keep going even if it means paying players only $20 a game as has happened in the most extreme circumstances.

It's more Canada we should be worried about because a coast-to-coast league from Halifax to Victoria has higher built in costs that can't be avoided and soccer is not the main sporting passion like it is in most of Europe. There's pretty much always another mug willing to buy a struggling football club in the UK, because that's something a lot of businessmen have always wanted to do as a hobby. Finding investors for a league like CanPL is more challenging. Hopefully the recent stock market optimism is a sign of better days ahead and things are genuinely passing the peak in a lot of the worst affected countries. We won't know for sure for a few more weeks though.

Ozzie your Scottish? That explains so much,

[red card]

Some glimmer in the horizon - Bundesliga is looking for May return.

This week, all the clubs in the top two divisions — 1. Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga — returned to the practice field. Plans were being put in place for games to return at all 36 stadiums by the beginning of May, with the remaining nine games of the schedule to be completed by the end of June. 

So-called ghost games are to be played out in cavernous arenas devoid of the usual carnival-like match-day atmosphere. Soccer will be a TV-only entertainment, and is likely to remain so until the end of the year. 

Germany’s testing regimen, by far the best in Europe, means that supplies needed for medical staff will not be diverted so soccer stars can get on the field.

For the moment, we are all fighting to survive,” said Bundesliga chief Seifert, predicting that 50 percent of the second-division teams were “very much in danger to file for bankruptcy,” if the season were canceled, while as many as five top-division teams would face serious problems, too.

“In the short term, I would say the transfer market this summer will not exist, it will collapse,” he said. “Some agents will suddenly understand that they will have to work hard, or at least work; some leagues will understand that money is nothing that is coming automatically every month from heaven.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/sports/germany-soccer-coronavirus.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_200409&instance_id=17426&nl=todaysheadlines&regi_id=77026768&segment_id=24411&user_id=2d668403a0aef4a8ff3c4a74a221176c

 

[SpursFlu]

Sounds like just about like everything somebody has been saying on this forum for the past 3 weeks. Right on. BC Place or maybe a remote part of British Columbia would be a great place to play Voyageurs Cup in May. Hopefully MLS doesn't stand in the way

[Rocket Robin]

On 4/4/2020 at 7:17 PM, Mikmacdo said:

I wonder if they would just play on the other field  at York where the football team plays. 

Wow how times have changed in just a few months.  Where are all those posters who would NEVER watch a game played with football lines?  Probably all trying to hot wire games from Belarus.  

It doesn't look good on television.....until it's not on television!   

[JamboAl]

13 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

Sounds like just about like everything somebody has been saying on this forum for the past 3 weeks. Right on. BC Place or maybe a remote part of British Columbia would be a great place to play Voyageurs Cup in May. Hopefully MLS doesn't stand in the way

No chance.  The CSA wouldn’t allow it.  Municipal, provincial and federal authorities wouldn’t allow it.  The majority of the players and their families won’t want to do it.  The MLS wouldn’t have to stand in the way.

[gator]

I think it's ridiculous that many of these sports leagues are even considering resuming or beginning their schedules any time soon, I'm not a health specialist, although I did work at a hospital, this is going to take some time to clear up enough for sports leagues, with or without fans to safely start playing their games!