CPL General

[Rheo]

It would only be a one season short season.  Rest of the time would be a spring to fall.  I'm personally indifferent to the start date.  When they're ready, they'll start.  

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

https://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/2017/10/02/mls-appoints-executive-to-promote-growth-of-league-in-canada.html

...Moratorio, who starts Monday, will be based in Toronto and report to the president of the league’s commercial arm, Soccer United Marketing...

Think that hints strongly that Canadian SUM that we hear about from time to time is really an MLS thing.

 

[Ansem]

1 hour ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

https://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/2017/10/02/mls-appoints-executive-to-promote-growth-of-league-in-canada.html

...Moratorio, who starts Monday, will be based in Toronto and report to the president of the league’s commercial arm, Soccer United Marketing...

Think that hints strongly that Canadian SUM that we hear about from time to time is really an MLS thing.

 

Wouldn't the CSA and CPL form their own? Hard to imagine them working tith MLS CAN SUM

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Follow the money. The CSA is working with the USSF and FMF on World Cup 2026 and it will almost certainly be the three MLS cities that will be hosting those games in a Canadian context. There probably was a plan to do something radical in the context of a solo bid, but circumstances changed once Sepp Blatter got ousted and the USSF were no longer going to sit that one out. With no solo hosting in the years ahead, what would a CSA-CanPL media company have to sell? The CMNT is not a big draw by any stretch of the imagination and is unlikely to be any time soon, CanPL does not have a TV deal in its business plan according to Paul Beirne, and there is no obvious cash bonanza to be exploited through an appeal to a recent immigrant fanbase similar to Mexican teams playing their home games in the United States. The answers to how to make a CanPL work do not lie in emulating what MLS did twenty years ago, but in carving out a niche alongside it.

[matty]

Bbtb wait for info actual info. If it was for sure Canada's sum they would say so and not call it mls's sum

[Rheo]

I know some will dismiss this as unreliable  but Rollins has said when talking about the now dead game in Hamilton

• The more complicated story is that this game is a test of the very business model that the CanPL hopes to use to entice more reluctant ownership groups into the fold. If you follow MLS, or have followed CSN's reporting of the CanPL, you'll recognize this model as the "SUM Canada" approach. 
• The idea behind "SUM Canada" is that, like MLS and Soccer United Marketing, owning a franchise in CanPL will also include an ownership stake in a separate soccer marketing company. The primary role of that company will be to bring big name clubs and countries into CanPL stadiums to play "high" profile friendlies. The profits from those friendlies would then be distributed among the CanPL owners to off-set losses from the main product.

 

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Given that game subsequently collapsed and turned into a compete fiasco with Benfica pulling out and Rangers threatening legal action, that business model now lies in tatters if Rollins was correct. Think you can be relaxed about that because there would have been a TV deal in the business plan if "CSUM" was CanPL related. The real cash bonanza of a solo bid would have been the legacy money generated by tournament profits and the CSA could have leveraged access to that through being a host city into having a D1 pro team in a new domestic league in all 10 to 12 that would have been selected in the build up and pressure could even have been exerted on the three MLS teams to jump ship or face a rival in that context. They had a reasonable shot at it until the corruption scandal unfolded.

[dyslexic nam]

I don't read through reams of articles like some of you guys, but the sustained lack of official, headline-grabbing announcements is getting fucking depressing.  I have little faith that a 2018 mini-launch is feasible (or even advisable) at this point, and their really hasn't been much that would openly suggest 2019 is on a lot firmer ground.  

Just me being miserable really, but goddamn it is hard to be a V sometimes.  

[Rheo]

I don't find it hard being a V but I'm patient and generally optimistic.  When they're ready to go they'll announce.  I figure there's no use in getting worked up over something I have no control or say over.  

But we are going to get some news at least this week with PB at the Footy Talks Thursday night.  Might not be much but I'm sure there be at least something new in there.

[Gopherbashi]

36 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

I don't read through reams of articles like some of you guys, but the sustained lack of official, headline-grabbing announcements is getting fucking depressing.  I have little faith that a 2018 mini-launch is feasible (or even advisable) at this point, and their really hasn't been much that would openly suggest 2019 is on a lot firmer ground.  

Just me being miserable really, but goddamn it is hard to be a V sometimes.  

We've now been five months since the first two teams were announced.

[harrycoyster]

2 minutes ago, Gopherbashi said:

We've now been five months since the first two teams were announced.

Crazy. 

[Kent]

I hadn't heard about the Benfica/Rangers friendly cancellation. That, the Hamilton stadium issues, the Halifax stadium issues (even if they are minor, they are still uncertainties). Seems like we are getting more bad news than good in the last couple months.

Sigh.

[Blackjack15]

Is this just me; but I get the feeling that little or no progress is getting done.

[Rheo]

You guys must be horrible waiting for Christmas (or other such occasions you like) to come  

[Complete Homer]

1 hour ago, Blackjack15 said:

Is this just me; but I get the feeling that little or no progress is getting done.

Almost like they said they'll only announce when they are 100% ready

It's a black box, no assumptions should be made based on no news, other than 2018 slowly becoming less and less likely 

[matty]

I'm bored. let's lock this thread and start a new one to fuck up

[Gopherbashi]

7 hours ago, matty said:

I'm bored. let's lock this thread and start a new one to fuck up

Why limit ourselves to one?

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

14 hours ago, matty said:

Bbtb wait for info actual info. If it was for sure Canada's sum they would say so and not call it mls's sum

Not sure what more info would be needed than what was in that story? We are being told that the office doesn't report to Don Garber but to Kathyrn Carter of SUM, so it is really the Canadian SUM office rather than the Canadian MLS office, but only hardcore soccer nerds like us would understand if it was consistently referred to that way.

This will almost certainly be related to having the joint World Cup bid and from what I remember Victor Montagliani made the comment about a Canadian SUM agreement being signed to set it up just as the joint bid was being finalized. Anthony Totera has been droning on for months now about whether the MLS office has actually opened yet, so I don't think it's a surprise given it follows the similar emergence of Canadian Generation Adidas and the new domestic player rules that also involve closer cooperation between MLS and the CSA to ensure that more top national team prospects are funnelled into the MLS development pathway.

SUM already worked closely with the FMF as well as the USSF as its finances are driven to a large extent by Mexican national team games being played in the United States with permission from the USSF. Now the CSA are probably getting a small slice of the action as well for joining the joint bid rather than pursuing a rival solo one that could have drained away support. I suspect the El Salvador game being played in front of a Salvadorean diaspora crowd in an American MLS stadium is the start of that. 

Edited October 4, 2017 by BringBackTheBlizzard

[SuperCanuck]

11 hours ago, Rheo said:

You guys must be horrible waiting for Christmas (or other such occasions you like) to come  

At least we know Christmas is coming.  No, wait a minute, depending on what Orange Hitler and Kim Jong-Doughnut get up to, it might not.

Edited October 4, 2017 by SuperCanuck

[matty]

5 hours ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Not sure what more info would be needed than what was in that story? We are being told that the office doesn't report to Don Garber but to Kathyrn Carter of SUM, so it is really the Canadian SUM office rather than the Canadian MLS office, but only hardcore soccer nerds like us would understand if it was consistently referred to that way.

This will almost certainly be related to having the joint World Cup bid and from what I remember Victor Montagliani made the comment about a Canadian SUM agreement being signed to set it up just as the joint bid was being finalized. Anthony Totera has been droning on for months now about whether the MLS office has actually opened yet, so I don't think it's a surprise given it follows the similar emergence of Canadian Generation Adidas and the new domestic player rules that also involve closer cooperation between MLS and the CSA to ensure that more top national team prospects are funnelled into the MLS development pathway.

SUM already worked closely with the FMF as well as the USSF as its finances are driven to a large extent by Mexican national team games being played in the United States with permission from the USSF. Now the CSA are probably getting a small slice of the action as well for joining the joint bid rather than pursuing a rival solo one that could have drained away support....

This here tells me that this isn't a new SUM but straight up SUM which was already working in Canada regularly. The fact the CSA and CPL are/were setting something up (at least it seemed that way in reports) works against this being the "Canadian SUM" because there was literally nothing to set-up. SUM has been a part of various events that have happened in Canada and involving the MNT already.

Now the set-up is likely related to the World Cup bid but there is little evidence to suggest this is what has been talked about.

There's also the matter of SUM not being involved with the Hamilton game, which is a pretty strong indicator they're not working with the CPL.

5 hours ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

....I suspect the El Salvador game being played in front of a Salvadorean diaspora crowd in an American MLS stadium is the start of that. 

That was SUM but it isn't the start of shit between Canada and SUM. If it was and we were getting the fickle turnout of the Salvadorean crowd this would be the biggest rip off ever, especially since the team is starting to become a decent draw at home.

[Rheo]

14 minutes ago, matty said:

That was SUM but it isn't the start of shit between Canada and SUM. If it was and we were getting the fickle turnout of the Salvadorean crowd this would be the biggest rip off ever, especially since the team is starting to become a decent draw at home.

Agreed.  I seem to recall a few random friendlies in the US in the last few years.  I doubt this game indicates a major shift in CSA tactics/strategy.  My assumption is that the CSA will work with both MLS SUM and and whatever the CPL version of it is (if it exists as speculated) because it's going to benefit our players and that's what's the most important in the end.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Victor Montagliani specifically mentioned an agreement on Canadian SUM being reached during an interview earlier this year. Now we have a SUM office opening in Toronto. Join the dots. Why even use the SUM name in the first place in this context if it isn't linked to the marketing arm of MLS? That's what I always found most dubious about what Rollins was peddling on this.

Back when the solo bid was being pushed a lot harder the plan was for CFL owners to launch a league with the NASL back when Traffic Sports were still firmly in control of USSF D2. Traffic would probably have gone on to handle the marketing side of things for 2026 given they were well connected in FIFA and CONCACAF terms in the Blatter era.

Now that USSF is in the driving seat on a joint bid it will be SUM that will be heavily involved and all the talk of a D1 level CanPL and solo bids post-Blatter may have been about gaining some leverage to carve out a better deal for Canadian soccer from MLS/SUM. If so, well played Victor Montagliani. Definitely in a different league from people like Kevan "no plan B" Pipe.

[Rheo]

So connecting the dots shows we don't know anything for sure and can only speculate at the time as per usual on here  

[matty]

1 hour ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Victor Montagliani specifically mentioned an agreement on Canadian SUM being reached during an interview earlier this year. Now we have a SUM office opening in Toronto. Join the dots. Why even use the SUM name in the first place in this context if it isn't linked to the marketing arm of MLS? That's what I always found most dubious about what Rollins was peddling on this.

For comparison

There's more against this being the "canadian sum" than there is for it. At this point it's to early to say either way.

Like it's interesting but it's hardly a smoking gun especially if they let a high profile friendly atine of their future venues just completely fall to shit

[Initial B]

Just found out about the cancellation of the Eusebio Cup in Hamilton due to low ticket sales. This result has probably given PB some pause. Someone should bring up that question at the "Footy Talks" meeting. Why do I have a feeling that any announcement of the start of the league is now going to be pushed back to May 2018?