CPL General

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

1 hour ago, yellowsweatygorilla said:

...The players are being philanthropic by subsidizing and mitigating those risks by taking on poverty level contracts...

The mitigating risk part I can just about accept, but the subsidizing part is absurd. Until CanPL is a viable business the only people doing any subsidizing are the investors and Mediapro. The players are getting a shot at being fully pro and can use that as a stepping stone to bigger and better things like Tristan Borges and Joel Waterman did last season. They are not doing anything philanthropically out of the goodness of their heart. The old phrase about not looking a gift horse in the mouth comes to mind given many of them would not have been playing fully pro level soccer otherwise.

Edited April 16, 2020 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Bison44]

2 hours ago, MM3/MM2/MM said:

First, I am a supporter of unions.   Second, the union sector today is screwed up, unions were started to protect the rights and safety of the working class, miners, factory workers etc.      Today a lot (most)of the working  class have no unions, especially in the USA, who has unions? Government workers, doctors, nurses, teachers and the least deserving of all, multi-millionaire professional athletes, who if they invested in a company would probably be adverse to giving union rights to their employees.    Rant over, i favor the CanPL players establishing a union and working with the owners to make it a better league for all.

I've been eating weiners???  IBEW, never heard of it??  

[Ansem]

1 hour ago, yellowsweatygorilla said:

The players are being philanthropic by subsidizing and mitigating those risks by taking on poverty level contracts.

To fair, they are taking on "entry-level" contracts because lots of them comes from either semi-pro or lower tier leagues. Would they make that much more elsewhere with this amount of minutes with eyes on them?

Got to show it on the pitch first like Waterman and Borges.

The union is a good thing for guys that performs and deserve to be paid at their just value like Campbell, Abzi or Ongaro etc... I hope the clubs pays good players well but if we're talking new players fresh out of university, USL or L10, than some of the concerns from management is somewhat justify is we're talking salaries.

As for the players having a voice at the table, 1000000% agree with this.

I just feel that some of the reaction is disproportionate.

[Ansem]

2 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

The mitigating risk part I can just about accept, but the subsidizing part is absurd. Until CanPL is a viable business the only people doing any subsidizing are the investors and Mediapro. The players are getting a shot at being fully pro and can use that as a stepping stone to bigger and better things like Tristan Borges and Joel Waterman did last season. They are not doing anything philanthropically out of the goodness of their heart. The old phrase about not looking a gift horse in the mouth comes to mind given many of them would not have been playing fully pro level soccer otherwise.

Did I just agree with his post?

😄

[MM3/MM2/MM]

27 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

I've been eating weiners???  IBEW, never heard of it??  

I would put electrical workers in the same group😎   I'm referring more to low income workers who have no union, especially those who have to work 2 jobs or more with no benefits.

[Bison44]

Tradesmen arent part of the working class??  😎  I guess we have heard of many CPL players having second jobs and if they are only getting 30-40g a year they definately arent on the high end of the income scale.  I still think this would be more about fair,even treatment from the teams and having a say on future decisions that effect them.  

[yellowsweatygorilla]

34 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

Tradesmen arent part of the working class??  😎  I guess we have heard of many CPL players having second jobs and if they are only getting 30-40g a year they definately arent on the high end of the income scale.  I still think this would be more about fair,even treatment from the teams and having a say on future decisions that effect them.  

Average wage is 30k, and I know many earning closer to 15-20

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

At least they are getting paid. That didn't always happen in the original CSL given the teams that were in dire financial straits were sometimes unable to provide any more than expenses. The economics of pro soccer in a coast-to-coast Canadian league have never been easy and nobody is being forced to play against their will 

[johnyb]

It is possible to have a Players Association without it being tied to a Union. Might have been worth a try before bringing a third party in. I do agree in League transparency and players having a voice but it will come at a cost this way. A Union is going to want to get paid for their work. 

[BrennanFan]

Too soon. Terrible timing. 

[Macksam]

19 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

Younger generation do not understand the value of unions. They're more interested in other types of activism. They dont really get it. Just look how easily cab unions got rolled over in favor of an app. 100 people holding hammers having to provide for a family doesn't resignate with people anymore. It's a different world with different values

They didn't get rolled over by their own employers or regulatory body so not the same situation. They got rolled over by big government, or lack thereof. 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Macksam

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Pushing the D1 angle so hard to the deliberate exclusion of working closely with MLS on player development and talking up a $200 million deal with Mediapro with no transparency on how that figure was arrived at was always going to leave some of the players being paid $25k feeling hard done by rather than grateful. It's usually better to keep things grounded in reality. 

[BCM]

Fact is the league depends on philanthropy and sponsorship - let's ask, will sponsorship be at the same level that is was in the past year? Industry is hurting so I doubt it. Ultimately, this hit will be shared between the owners and the players. I expect reduced operating budgets and (if conditions persist) a lower salary cap. If the players can't accept that, most may have to soon return to semi-pro or USports soccer.

I hope to see increased fan support (when it's possible!) to help the league and the players.

[Unnamed Trialist]

19 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

At least they are getting paid. That didn't always happen in the original CSL given the teams that were in dire financial straits were sometimes unable to provide any more than expenses. The economics of pro soccer in a coast-to-coast Canadian league have never been easy and nobody is being forced to play against their will 

But are they getting paid? I really don't know. You'd suppose if you signed a contract you are, and we have not heard of any club asking for a temporary salary reduction. Not all clubs have full rosters to pay either.

Nor do I know how Mediapro injects money into the league, nor how it filters to the clubs. Have clubs already received sponsorship money from other patrons? 

Regardless, union or player's association, it is a good move and strengthens the CPL in all respects, internationally, socially. It raises its attractiveness for potential players as well.

 

[Macksam]

There he is.... there's the BBTB we all know and love. Scrounging up any evidence he can to circle back to arguments and talking points from almost three years ago, about this being an actual D1 and not working more with MLS. 

[SpursFlu]

I found it fun that I went on the Province website yesterday and there on their front page was an article about the CPL.

Isn't that nice.. I guess a 25% wage deferral in a global pandemic is bigger news than. A first game of a new professional league or the crowning of the first Champion or one of the biggest clubs in the world invest in a team in our nation's capital. Better late than never hopefully all news is good news

Edited April 17, 2020 by SpursFlu

[MtlMario]

PM Trudeau just announced $500 mil for arts and sports. Wonder how (if) it can help CPL and CFL?

[SpursFlu]

7 minutes ago, MtlMario said:

PM Trudeau just announced $500 mil for arts and sports. Wonder how (if) it can help CPL and CFL?

Oh oh.. dont tell the rednecks their tax dollars are going to a socialist soccer league and dont tell the intellectuals that their tax dollars are going to a league that causes concussions 

[Tigers]

On 4/17/2020 at 12:42 PM, SpursFlu said:

Oh oh.. dont tell the rednecks their tax dollars are going to a socialist soccer league and dont tell the intellectuals that their tax dollars are going to a league that causes concussions 

Hey if nobody's happy it must be pretty close to the mark.

[Watchmen]

I feel like that commissioner discussion still hasn't been discussed enough, considering how much information was in it.

On 4/10/2020 at 12:07 PM, Ansem said:

-Pacific : Hydro Pole - They asked the city, province and BC Hydro to move the Hydro Pole to fix the camera angle for the stadium which proved problematic. Otherwise, the league might draw a line and moving the club might be on the table.

I'm not familiar enough with the situation, but I thought the pole situation was resolved?  Clanachan not only feeling the need to come out to bring it up again but to mention "moving the club" seems like it's very much not resolved.

On 4/10/2020 at 12:07 PM, Ansem said:

-FC Edmonton : The stadium is subpar - Not all cities are stepping up like Langford BC. Says the stadium needs work and the foundation is good to expand upon but seems like attendance will have to go up first before seeing big infrastructure improvements 

This seems like a catch-22.  I feel like I've heard people say attendance won't improve until the stadium is improved, with this saying the stadium won't be upgraded until attendance improves.

[yothat2]

Edmonton is a city that primarily cares about the Oilers. FC Edmonton under colin miller didn't do very much winning . Not much to write about for the local media 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

12 hours ago, Watchmen said:

I feel like that commissioner discussion still hasn't been discussed enough, considering how much information was in it.

I'm not familiar enough with the situation, but I thought the pole situation was resolved?  Clanachan not only feeling the need to come out to bring it up again but to mention "moving the club" seems like it's very much not resolved...

It definitely appeared to be a condition for "Port City" moving to Langford just before the team was announced, so maybe they have some leverage based on what was agreed legally at that time. Although the camera angle does make the games feel a bit like Rogers Cable coverage of a Toronto Italia game circa 1990, I doubt there would be much concern being expressed about that if the stadium was regularly filled to capacity. On the flip side, the City of Langford would probably also be a lot more gung ho about moving the pole and further stadium expansion under that scenario.

[Stouffvillain]

19 hours ago, Watchmen said:

I feel like that commissioner discussion still hasn't been discussed enough, considering how much information was in it.

I'm not familiar enough with the situation, but I thought the pole situation was resolved?  Clanachan not only feeling the need to come out to bring it up again but to mention "moving the club" seems like it's very much not resolved.

This seems like a catch-22.  I feel like I've heard people say attendance won't improve until the stadium is improved, with this saying the stadium won't be upgraded until attendance improves.

FC Edmonton got a similar answer to Y9, which I was disappointed with, but I understand where the owners are coming.  They are the ones that have already heavily invested in getting their clubs off of the ground.  Both clubs averaged under 3k/game in attendance.  If the attendance grows over the next few years and you get those numbers closer to the 5k/game I think you will see the owners look at infrastructure.  

It is easy for us to say spend more get a nicer place to call your own but we're shelling out what 1k/year on tickets and merch?  Owners have taken a much bigger risk in getting this league off the ground, at this time they need our patience and support.

[SpursFlu]

Please dont hope shame me or try to get me to be frightened but.. really good news coming out of German research last week understanding the true effects of the virus. I know New York State is conducting a similar study and I'm thinking they'll find similar results. Hopefully this data can be more widely verified and we can get CPL back in a likely a modified version sooner rather than later 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Is this about antibody tests taken at random in the community to see how widespread the virus has been? There have been suggestions that those sorts of studies are showing the real number of infections can be a couple of orders of magnitude higher than the reported numbers based on tests which brings the mortality rate way down, if true.

Think politicians will be petrified of being blamed for the deaths associated with a second peak, if they are accused of loosening restrictions too quickly, so I wouldn't get too excited on leagues starting up again just yet. Still a long way to go before we get back to normality. The main focus initially will probably be on getting most people back to work again with some sort of ongoing social distancing regime in place.