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On 12/29/2023 at 7:49 AM, Unnamed Trialist said:

The point is that if you want to establish clear development paths, official academies of the CPL teams adds 8 pro paths to the three already existing. Giving us 11 pro academies, which is not bad. 

I understand where you're going with this, but is this what we want?  Right now, the CPL teams sort of treat the entire L1 structure as a big farm system.  If they had their own literal academy teams, those teams would become their focal point.  Certainly it's been a criticism of the Canadian MLS clubs that they don't look for players broadly enough outside their own academies.  So maybe we'd be better off without official CPL academies?

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League One clubs for the most part are amateur youth clubs and "academies" that depend primarily on fees paid by youth soccer participants to fund their operations. There is a major difference between that and genuinely professional clubs that operate based on funds received from paying spectators that can run a European style professional youth academy that operates on an all expenses covered meritocratic basis with no pay-to-play component. The main reason CanPL/CSB can't do that at this point is because it's very expensive to do it properly and they have already run up a $125 million collective cumulative loss in the other aspects of their operations.

Edited by Ozzie_the_parrot
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57 minutes ago, Kingston said:

I understand where you're going with this, but is this what we want?  Right now, the CPL teams sort of treat the entire L1 structure as a big farm system.  If they had their own literal academy teams, those teams would become their focal point.  Certainly it's been a criticism of the Canadian MLS clubs that they don't look for players broadly enough outside their own academies.  So maybe we'd be better off without official CPL academies?

Exactly. I was just making this point in the York United 2024 thread.

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44 minutes ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

The main reason CanPL/CSB can't do that at this point is because it's very expensive to do it properly and they have already run up a $125 million collective cumulative loss in the other aspects of their operations.

So perhaps another reason to lean on the L1 structure for now?

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It's the default option given how GTA suburban youth clubs dominate the OSA through control of district associations and sheer weight of registration numbers. Let's not kid on though that L1O is professional soccer and that having the best kids regardless of their parent's ability/willingness to pay receiving genuinely pro level training wouldn't help to improve the overall development pathway if CanPL could actually afford to do it.

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On 1/16/2024 at 6:51 AM, Kingston said:

I understand where you're going with this, but is this what we want?  Right now, the CPL teams sort of treat the entire L1 structure as a big farm system.  If they had their own literal academy teams, those teams would become their focal point.  Certainly it's been a criticism of the Canadian MLS clubs that they don't look for players broadly enough outside their own academies.  So maybe we'd be better off without official CPL academies?

And.... officially or unofficially the CPL opportunities (and beyond from there) that develop through participation in L1 gives those teams some street cred.  Not being married to a parent club can have its benefits.

(A faint hope for some players maybe, but another roadway to bigger and better things for youth players who slip through the cracks or are your text- book late bloomers.  That's what I'm suggesting).

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Forge are going to be playing a midweek school day match vs Halifax May 12th, the supporter's section is being taken over by kids, we have the option to move to club seats or get a credit for another match! I agree with the idea of trying to expand your fanbase by bringing in all of these kids, the Bulldogs did it every season while playing in Hamilton and it was a well attended event however they play somewhere around 40 home games so I don't think it is a big issue for ssh! I think this should have been communicated to the ssh before seasons tickets were purchased, I imagine the vast majority will not be able to make the 11am kick off!

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20 minutes ago, gator said:

Forge are going to be playing a midweek school day match vs Halifax May 12th, the supporter's section is being taken over by kids, we have the option to move to club seats or get a credit for another match! I agree with the idea of trying to expand your fanbase by bringing in all of these kids, the Bulldogs did it every season while playing in Hamilton and it was a well attended event however they play somewhere around 40 home games so I don't think it is a big issue for ssh! I think this should have been communicated to the ssh before seasons tickets were purchased, I imagine the vast majority will not be able to make the 11am kick off!

I don’t know how effective these school games are . I remember the Toronto Lynx used to have these games every season and basically a bunch of kids running around with hardly any of them paying attention to what’s going on . I attended a couple of these games and it was the worst . I think even TFC 2 did a couple of these before . Not effective at all and with CPL only having like what 14 to 16 home games to have a home game dedicated to one of these school day games just takes away a game from the real supporters who may not be able to attend due to work commitments during the day .

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48 minutes ago, SoccMan said:

I don’t know how effective these school games are . I remember the Toronto Lynx used to have these games every season and basically a bunch of kids running around with hardly any of them paying attention to what’s going on . I attended a couple of these games and it was the worst . I think even TFC 2 did a couple of these before . Not effective at all and with CPL only having like what 14 to 16 home games to have a home game dedicated to one of these school day games just takes away a game from the real supporters who may not be able to attend due to work commitments during the day .

Some of them will be tomorrow's season ticket holders

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1 hour ago, gator said:

Forge are going to be playing a midweek school day match vs Halifax May 12th, the supporter's section is being taken over by kids, we have the option to move to club seats or get a credit for another match! I agree with the idea of trying to expand your fanbase by bringing in all of these kids, the Bulldogs did it every season while playing in Hamilton and it was a well attended event however they play somewhere around 40 home games so I don't think it is a big issue for ssh! I think this should have been communicated to the ssh before seasons tickets were purchased, I imagine the vast majority will not be able to make the 11am kick off!

WTF?

Whatever huckster sold that idea to the board, man have they found their calling.

Seriously.  I salute you.

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51 minutes ago, Ansem said:

Some of them will be tomorrow's season ticket holders

School group games are pretty common in minor league sports. It's less about creating future STHs, and more about a guaranteed gate with a captive audience that needs to buy lunch and other concessions with mommy and daddy's money. Source: teacher that accompanies his students to a minor league baseball game every year. The team makes bank on these days.

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1 hour ago, SoccMan said:

I don’t know how effective these school games are...

Something that struggling minor league pro teams do to pad their attendance stats if they don't have many hardcore fans to upset, so I would have expected it from York United rather than the Forge. Would the Ticats ever consider doing this is a useful rule of thumb for what the optics look like. It will be interesting to see whether they find some CFL angle to push with the soccer game used as the excuse to get the kids into the stadium.

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10 minutes ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Something that struggling minor league pro teams do to pad their attendance stats if they don't have many hardcore fans to upset, so I would have expected it from York United rather than the Forge. Would the Ticats ever consider doing this is a useful rule of thumb for what the optics look like. It will be interesting to see whether they find some CFL angle to push with the soccer game used as the excuse to get the kids into the stadium.

The Ticats are very close to sold out every game.  (Average attendance 23 000 in a 24 000 seat stadium.)

Forge has room to grow their average attendance by about 18 000 per game before the stadium is full.

Irrespective of whether I think the school day game is the way to go or not, it's clear to me why Forge might try this but not the Ticats.

 

Edited by Kingston
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1 hour ago, jonovision said:

School group games are pretty common in minor league sports. It's less about creating future STHs, and more about a guaranteed gate with a captive audience that needs to buy lunch and other concessions with mommy and daddy's money. Source: teacher that accompanies his students to a minor league baseball game every year. The team makes bank on these days.

What about all the beer and concession buying regular fans that won't be there to do so, I usually spend more at the game on beer and food than what I pay for my ticket and I am not alone! I am a little skeptical about this but willing to see how it plays out, pre game beer sales are huge at Forge matches and we won't legally be able to buy any so there's that, I will sit in the club seats on the opposite side of the stadium from the screaming kids who are taking over our Battalion section! Judging by reaction on social media some ssh's are not happy about this, I don't like how it has been presented but will attend, the risk you run with this is losing hardcore fans to gain a few new ones, Bob Young is an astute business man so I will give him the benefit of the doubt for now, this is going to be very interesting to see how it all unfolds!

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1 hour ago, Kingston said:

The Ticats are very close to sold out every game...

...if you believe official attendance numbers. Most pro leagues in Norrh America accentuate the positive on that. Worth bearing in mind that the CFL isn't as popular with the younger generation as it was back when the CBC got to set the cultural agenda rather than Netflix or Tiktok. Here's Rex Murphy to provide a cure for insomnia while telling us why that's a bad thing...

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28 minutes ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

...if you believe official attendance numbers. Most pro leagues in Norrh America accentuate the positive on that. Worth bearing in mind that the CFL isn't as popular with the younger generation as it was back when the CBC got to set the cultural agenda rather than Netflix or Tiktok. Here's Rex Murphy to provide a cure for insomnia while telling us why that's a bad thing...

Bro what are you on about? Lol

Sometimes I worry that you're me in 20 years

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41 minutes ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

...if you believe official attendance numbers. Most pro leagues in Norrh America accentuate the positive on that. Worth bearing in mind that the CFL isn't as popular with the younger generation as it was back when the CBC got to set the cultural agenda rather than Netflix or Tiktok. Here's Rex Murphy to provide a cure for insomnia while telling us why that's a bad thing...

Have you been to a Ticats game at all since they built the new stadium? I used to have season tickets and still go to several games a year. There are plenty of young people and people of every age group at the games. Fantastic atmosphere every single game. Get your fucking head out of your ass you fucking troll. You don't have a clue. 

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