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BREAKING: Could FC Edmonton be joining the CPL sooner than expected?


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I think the only reason it's happening now, is because they know it's the only way for the club to survive long term. It's the only NASL/USL team that could die because an MLS team is going in their market. They know that Beckham and Miami MLS is close so they are trying to survive. 

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9 hours ago, ReedOnTheGrand said:

Seeing as he's got a lot of money invested in NASL I wouldn't hold your breath.

I think FC Ed's time in NASL is limited - just because it will be a relatively unexciting product if/when CPL gets up and running.  The idea of genuine regional rivalries in CPL will fuel excitement in other Canadian markets, while I can see Edmonton struggling to generate any similar kind of excitement about playing somewhat generic US D2 teams. 

Having said that, there won't be a competing CPL team in Edmonton at the outset, so there probably isn't any rush - from an ownership perspective - to get in on the ground floor.  I suspect they will have the option of moving pretty seamlessly into CPL whenever they choose to do so, so I think they will ride NASL for another couple of years since it is the safe route, and then make the jump once they realize that the future of non-MLS Canadian footy teams is pretty much CPL or nothing.

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Here's a thought. If FC Edmonton play in season 1 of CPL, they are likely instant favourites to win it all. Assuming the level of CPL will be at or below NASL level and FC Edmonton doesn't have to undergo drastic player turnover, they would be the only established team (or 1 of 2 established teams if Ottawa plays as well). The other teams would be playing catch up. If FC Edmonton doddles long enough, then other teams could get some cohesion in that time and improve to a point where Edmonton's odds of winning the championship would be reduced.

There's some encouragement for you Edmonton and Ottawa to come over ASAP.

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6 minutes ago, Kent said:

Here's a thought. If FC Edmonton play in season 1 of CPL, they are likely instant favourites to win it all. Assuming the level of CPL will be at or below NASL level and FC Edmonton doesn't have to undergo drastic player turnover, they would be the only established team (or 1 of 2 established teams if Ottawa plays as well). The other teams would be playing catch up. If FC Edmonton doddles long enough, then other teams could get some cohesion in that time and improve to a point where Edmonton's odds of winning the championship would be reduced.

There's some encouragement for you Edmonton and Ottawa to come over ASAP.

It's a fair point...assuming they wouldn't have to change much they'd have a head start/advantage over the newer teams..even if only short lived.

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13 minutes ago, Kent said:

Here's a thought. If FC Edmonton play in season 1 of CPL, they are likely instant favourites to win it all. Assuming the level of CPL will be at or below NASL level and FC Edmonton doesn't have to undergo drastic player turnover, they would be the only established team (or 1 of 2 established teams if Ottawa plays as well). The other teams would be playing catch up. If FC Edmonton doddles long enough, then other teams could get some cohesion in that time and improve to a point where Edmonton's odds of winning the championship would be reduced.

There's some encouragement for you Edmonton and Ottawa to come over ASAP.

Given that the club has not come that close to winning a trophy in it's time in NASL, that could be good motivation.

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There's been overreaction by some on the SF Deltas owner comments and the terrible Four Four Two article on the future of the NASL. NASL has added 2 west coast teams for 2018 with California United FC and San Diego and a third will be announced before the end of the month. This will give the league 11 teams for 2018 and with more being announced for the 2019 season soon the NASL will not lose D2 sanctioning even with 11 teams. SF Deltas will either come back under same or new ownership or be league run next year most likely. NASL is under a couple of waivers only while USL needed over 20 waivers on the other hand for provisional D2 sanctioning this year.

 

The NISA D3 league pro/rel setup with NASL at the top and NPSL at the bottom will boost the NASL and the D3 league will be filling up the NASL with clubs in the future. Nisa's Peter Wilt is a very strong asset for NASL and his company Club 9 sports was a strong driver for the new NASL expansion clubs in California and San Diego.

 

FC Edmonton may eventually move to CPL in a few years IF and when CPL becomes stable and high profile enough but IMO that's at least 3 years away.

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There's always the possibility of another group of investors interested in the Edmonton market. Ditto for Ottawa.

One thing's for sure, business wise, makes no sense for the league to lock themselves out of those 2 cities past a certain point because of 2 existing teams who won't join. 

NY Cosmos didn't stop MLS from putting teams in New York. If there aren't guarantees from those 2 clubs, makes no sense for CPL to deny bids in Ottawa and Edmonton from viable investors.

 

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Suspect you are correct about that after the stuff last week from Paul Dalglish, but we'll only know for sure once the confirmed teams for NASL and USL in 2018 are announced, which may be as soon as another month or so. Won't be easy to put six franchises together for a launch if everybody takes a wait and see posture. What Ottawa and Edmonton bring to the table is two ready to use as is stadia, so those two plus Hamilton, Winnipeg and Halifax leaves just one more domino to fall for an all systems go. If Ottawa and Edmonton steer clear more of the initial six potentially have to spend into seven figures on some type of pop-up or on finding a viable solution to put a dedicated soccer playing surface over permanent football markings and so far only Halifax have been taking that to the point of getting permission for the build and we have seen there how NIMBYism can create unforeseen problems. Barring something completely unexpected like the Stampeders, Eskimos and Alouettes suddenly entering the fray to reset things back towards the initial 2014 rumoured CFL-oriented setup this process could take a while.

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7 hours ago, shamrock said:

Financially it would be a huge guess. What if the league collapses after two years? Then you'd have paid the exit-fee and have to pay a new fee to enter NASL/USL again. Honestly I think both Edmonton and Ottawa will join, but not immediately. 

The exit fee is miniscule (IIRC only 10s of thousands) if the league does not hit certain criteria (X number of teams, D2 status, etc), so Edmonton may get out without much issue if the league continues down this path

 

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On 8/1/2017 at 8:26 PM, Pat Carrasco said:

What really has me shaking my head is why the Faths continue to stay in this NASL sinking ship. At least, Riccardo Silva sees the light and knows that the NASL is about to hit the iceberg. For this reason he's bailing out. What really annoys me is the stubbornness of the Faths. Why? BTW...Steven Sandor just fired me a tweet going back 2 weeks ago. He mentions that the Faths hate the idea that the CPL want to establish a single entity system. They prefer the independent-individual ownership system. Is there anyway they can be convinced.

I think the main reason is that the Faths own Class B shares in NASL proper, and if the league goes down, they're going to lose a lot of money.

As for FC Miami, they're putting all the brands in the fire at this point. They're trying to make a case to get into MLS, whether through Pro/Rel or by joining Beckham's group (though I think Silva want's to be top dog, and he's not going to be that at Beckham United).

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I don't think we really know what OTT and EDM are thinking at this point. I think though it would make sense for both clubs to wait and see if  1) the CPL can secure enough owners to actually start a league 2) the league can operate at a reasonable level to make switching league reasonable. 

In Ottawas case the USL seems to be on solid footing for the short/mid term. If the USL actually is able to drop their MLS2 clubs to division 3 they may even be stronger. The Fury are also able to operate at a lower cost which may give them a chance to actually break even or make money.

Edmonton and NASL is a bit different. Edmonton is no where even in the ball park of making money and likely will not be for the foreseeable future. The league is on shaky ground but with the Fath's owning shares in the league it would take something solid for them to think about switching over.

I started following the CPL discussion last year and am actually very surprised by the lack of progress they have made over the past 9 months. Im sure that both ownership groups in Edmonton and Ottawa have been watching and this make make them a little wary as well until things really start progressing.

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54 minutes ago, grasshopper1917 said:

I don't think we really know what OTT and EDM are thinking at this point. I think though it would make sense for both clubs to wait and see if  1) the CPL can secure enough owners to actually start a league 2) the league can operate at a reasonable level to make switching league reasonable. 

In Ottawas case the USL seems to be on solid footing for the short/mid term. If the USL actually is able to drop their MLS2 clubs to division 3 they may even be stronger. The Fury are also able to operate at a lower cost which may give them a chance to actually break even or make money.

Edmonton and NASL is a bit different. Edmonton is no where even in the ball park of making money and likely will not be for the foreseeable future. The league is on shaky ground but with the Fath's owning shares in the league it would take something solid for them to think about switching over.

I started following the CPL discussion last year and am actually very surprised by the lack of progress they have made over the past 9 months. Im sure that both ownership groups in Edmonton and Ottawa have been watching and this make make them a little wary as well until things really start progressing.

CPL has added 2 teams so far plus halifax and Sask which are almost for sure. They have stated that Sask wants to be the 7th team so obviiously there is more in the works. That is great progress. Just take the NASL for example. They have added 2 maybe 3 teams for next year. How many has the CPL added? I know that you have been following this so you know all this already. But remember, Edmonton and Ottawa know a lot more about it then we do. So we can't count them out. teams 4-6 might be something that will encourage them. I could see Edmonton coming over as soon as 2019. It won't take long for the CPL to get ticket sales in the same level as Edmonton currently (3,500-4,000). Once they see that the ticket sales are the same in other markets, assuming the business plan is solid, they will probably move over. It will be much cheaper in the long run.

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10 hours ago, BenFisk'sBiggestFan said:

....It won't take long for the CPL to get ticket sales in the same level as Edmonton currently (3,500-4,000)....

Arguably FC Edmonton and the Ottawa Fury have a much better handle on that sort of thing than anybody else does at this point given they have first hand experience. If you go back a decade or so on this forum I think you will find that Bob Young was talking about a pro soccer team as a legacy for the PanAm games soccer stadium in Hamilton before either of those franchises even launched and is still basically doing only that (i.e. talking). The attitude of Ottawa in particular (no issue with shares in the league to profit from expansion fees there) looks like a key litmus test to me on how likely this thing is to actually fly based on the strategy for future expansion that Paul Beirne has been describing in podcasts. Won't be more than a few months now until we have a much clearer picture on where things are headed and whether scenarios for a NASL death spiral like the one that launched this particular thread will be required to get this league off the ground.

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