List of potential Canadian Premier League Players

[harrycoyster]

Just now, Ansem said:

But hey, I'll take 1.5M/30k if that's what it ends up being. Just saying the higher, the better.

I don't think anybody disagrees. It's just that the economics don't really line up for a $2 million plus salary budget at the scale the league is launching at.

[Kent]

Sure, CMNT players aren't high profile enough to create a buzz and get people to buy tickets just to see a Ricketts, De Jong, Osorio, Jackson-Hamel, etc. But I still think they would add a bit of credibility, even if people don't know them. They can be cross marketed. Slap De Jong on a poster and have it say Canadian National Team and Winnipeg Pooh's player Marcel De Jong. In promotional interviews or whatever you could say he's played for Vancouver Whitecaps, and he's played in the Bundesliga. Getting players like this might make the consensus feeling for the league "not too bad... for Canada" instead of "some garbage amateur league".

As for the Jordan Hamilton talk, he's the number 1 guy I have been hoping for in this league. The guy scores in the rare occurrences when he gets on the field for TFC, but last game against LA he doesn't even make the bench despite Giovinco and Altidore both not making the trip. And it's not like if/when one of those guys leave the team Hamilton will move up a rung, they'll be replaced with another high priced DP most likely. He could be a very good signing for CPL in my opinion. Now watch him start tonight and get a hat-trick, cementing his spot in the game day 18 the rest of the season (I wish).

[Ansem]

5 minutes ago, harrycoyster said:

I don't think anybody disagrees. It's just that the economics don't really line up for a $2 million plus salary budget at the scale the league is launching at.

To be fair, we still don't know enough about it. We'll have to be patient until we know more

[harrycoyster]

24 minutes ago, Complete Homer said:

The league can't lose money at a precipitous rate, if the model calls for a hard cap at 1.5M than so be it IMO

You'd still get plenty of quality. A breakdown of 1 200k player, 3 100k players, 5 75k players, 7 50k players, and 9 30k players seems like it would attract pretty good quality and would work out to 1.495 million in spending across a 25 man roster.

So 1 MLS starter, 3 MLS fringe players, 5 above average USL/NASL players, 7 average USL/NASL player, and 9 young players who haven't yet gotten significant pro minutes. That could be some very watchable soccer. 

[Complete Homer]

5 minutes ago, harrycoyster said:

So 1 MLS starter, 3 MLS fringe players, 5 above average USL/NASL players, 7 average USL/NASL player, and 9 young players who haven't yet gotten significant pro minutes. That could be some very watchable soccer. 

I wouldn't call 100k fringe MLS, more like bench guys, but yeah I agree 

[BradMack]

Doesn't MLS have some strange salary cap rules regarding the last 5 or so roster spots not being counted on the cap? That could be something we're missing here.... But in reality with the numbers being spoken about as far as break even point for attendance, I can't see a 50k min salary. Most of the starting keepers people have been projecting for CPL teams wouldn't have had a 50k contract in their whole careers, are we really expecting the 3rd stringer to be on 50k? I'd say 30-35k would be a fair minumum for the league. Remember that most of the guys on these contracts will be PDL/L10 players who will be getting quite the raise on 30k. This will also allow for some higher quality players to be signed.

Also, I think people are going to be surprised with the amount of quality you can get on the cheap from carribean and latin american players. For example, last year in MLS Joevin Jones made 76k, Michall Barrios made 70k, philly has multiple starters under 150k. Not to mention every year theres going to be a few surprise guys on small CPL money who make a big impact. 

[Obinna]

1 hour ago, Jith12 said:

That is true. I read a Q&A from FIFA.com with Atiba last year. He said that in Istanbul he does his best to go incognito on the streets but is still mobbed by fans all the time. He went on to say that here in Toronto, his own hometown, he can walk downtown in plain clothes and is rarely (if ever) recognized. It is the sad reality of the popularity of succesful Canadian soccer players in their own nation.

He's probably not sad about it considering what he goes thru in Turkey lol

[Jason]

2 hours ago, Ansem said:

With the minimum salary being discussed, the $1-1.5M seems too low if you take into account a possible high number of internationals.

That figure is also incongruent with the scope and vision of the league.

I'm thinking it will most likely higher than that

A few high priced internationals will make some good $, but the majority of them will not be expensive.  Pretty sure we will be seeing players from Central and South America who will be regular starters for their clubs that won't be making that much.  I expect the general salary structure to be similar to the CFL

1) Most money to very top players and established QB's (mostly Americans)

2) Best Canadian players - especially those who can play positions where few Canadians can play

3) Dependable Canadian players

4) Good foreign starters that aren't stars

5) Young players, projects, etc

 

[Jason]

11 minutes ago, BradMack said:

Doesn't MLS have some strange salary cap rules regarding the last 5 or so roster spots not being counted on the cap? That could be something we're missing here.... But in reality with the numbers being spoken about as far as break even point for attendance, I can't see a 50k min salary. Most of the starting keepers people have been projecting for CPL teams wouldn't have had a 50k contract in their whole careers, are we really expecting the 3rd stringer to be on 50k? I'd say 30-35k would be a fair minumum for the league. Remember that most of the guys on these contracts will be PDL/L10 players who will be getting quite the raise on 30k. This will also allow for some higher quality players to be signed.

Also, I think people are going to be surprised with the amount of quality you can get on the cheap from carribean and latin american players. For example, last year in MLS Joevin Jones made 76k, Michall Barrios made 70k, philly has multiple starters under 150k. Not to mention every year theres going to be a few surprise guys on small CPL money who make a big impact. 

I'd like to think to start with the CPL could pay comparably to a USL club, with maybe a few higher priced players sprinkled in.  I'd like to think if a Canadian player has contract offers from Winnipeg and Louisville City in USL that the Winnipeg offer would be at least a bit better than that.

One other issue raised by Steven Sandor today on Soccer Today was that players will not wait for a league starting in summer 2018.  Players will commit to other clubs in the spring for no other reason than they can't afford to just around unpaid waiting for the CPL to start.

[Ansem]

17 minutes ago, Jason said:

1) Most money to very top players and established QB's (mostly Americans)

I disagree with this one big time. It's going to be MLS in reverse where most team will prefer to pay a cheaper player from the Americas than an American who can't make an MLS squad

[Jason]

Just now, Ansem said:

I disagree with this one big time. It's going to be MLS in reverse where most team will prefer to pay a cheaper player from the Americas than an American who can't make an MLS squad

Now that I read this again I don't think I explained my thoughts clearly.  I meant marquee type players from whatever foreign country - not just Americans.  Sorry about that.

 

[harrycoyster]

18 minutes ago, Ansem said:

I disagree with this one big time. It's going to be MLS in reverse where most team will prefer to pay a cheaper player from the Americas than an American who can't make an MLS squad

Well, I'd disagree with the notion that American players aren't cheap. You can get a USL level American player for 40k. A South or Central Americans of the same quality can require nearly that much money just for player/scout travel costs and aren't all that much cheaper on the back end.

Americans are only really overpriced once you start talking MLS starters. 

[jpg75]

When TFC started in 2007 the MLS Sr. roster min. was 31K. The 10-man Development roster slots were 11.8K, 17.1K and 29K (might be a little off on those)...

I would go with an 18-man roster and set the min. at 30K. and then have a 5-man taxi squad for Canadian U23's only at 20K per. At the bottom of the roster you're not increasing quality by raising the min., unless you have no quota - which is a no-go.

[ReedOnTheGrand]

5 hours ago, Complete Homer said:

I'm still a bit concerned that he's part of the group fighting USSF to keep NASL alive. Attending the CPL meetings is a great step though

Steven Goff of the Washington Post had put above average USL salaries at 12000 to 18000 per year (so under 500k for a 25 man roster), with players working jobs in the offseason to make ends meet. It's a rough estimate but it's the best I've found for USL (though Cincinnati apparently was talking about a "couple million" dollar salary and Tampa reportedly had fairly high salaries too) since the league doesn't release any official numbers as policy. 

That was 2015 though, and I suspect they've upped their salaries to put their best foot forward for D2 status, but I'd be surprised if they had doubled or tripled their salaries in two years

Already pretty much confirmed they aren't 

 

[Mike Thompson]

On September 20, 2017 at 11:26 AM, DannyFromToronto23 said:

hopefully CanPL can sign Neymar 

Oh come on now? Try and be realistic mate

[jpg75]

3 minutes ago, Mike Thompson said:

Oh come on now? Try and be realistic mate

Oh come on now, try and get a sense of humour.

[Blackjack15]

@jpg75 

 

[jpg75]

[Bison44]

Its like looking in a mirror.

 

[matty]

42 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

Its like looking in a mirror.

 

 

[A_Gagne]

 

On 9/20/2017 at 2:06 PM, Complete Homer said:

I'm still a bit concerned that he's part of the group fighting USSF to keep NASL alive. Attending the CPL meetings is a great step though

Steven Goff of the Washington Post had put above average USL salaries at 12000 to 18000 per year (so under 500k for a 25 man roster), with players working jobs in the offseason to make ends meet. It's a rough estimate but it's the best I've found for USL (though Cincinnati apparently was talking about a "couple million" dollar salary and Tampa reportedly had fairly high salaries too) since the league doesn't release any official numbers as policy. 

That was 2015 though, and I suspect they've upped their salaries to put their best foot forward for D2 status, but I'd be surprised if they had doubled or tripled their salaries in two years

The CSA wants to grant the CanPL D1 status, so I can't see the minimum salary being under 30K. If they call it a "D1" league, i.e. equivalent to MLS on the Canadian soccer pyramid, and players are seen working at Sport Chek to pay the bills, fans/media are going to call bullshit.

[Complete Homer]

33 minutes ago, A_Gagne said:

 

The CSA wants to grant the CanPL D1 status, so I can't see the minimum salary being under 30K. If they call it a "D1" league, i.e. equivalent to MLS on the Canadian soccer pyramid, and players are seen working at Sport Chek to pay the bills, fans/media are going to call bullshit.

When TFC joined MLS the minimum salary was a whopping 12,900 USD, about 20,400 CAD adjusted for inflation. I don't remember people calling bullshit on that

Though I agree 30k isn't a living wage in all markets, maybe there could be some sort of cost of living adjustment depending on market, with an equal relaxation of the cap

[matty]

56 minutes ago, Complete Homer said:

When TFC joined MLS the minimum salary was a whopping 12,900 USD, about 20,400 CAD adjusted for inflation. I don't remember people calling bullshit on that

Though I agree 30k isn't a living wage in all markets, maybe there could be some sort of cost of living adjustment depending on market, with an equal relaxation of the cap

I won't be shocked if the minimum is under $30k but involves giving players apartments and living expenses. Be cool if they had scholarships with local universities for young players.

[Bison44]

30 grand...yipes.  Thats a tough one to swallow.  Would the young USL, L1O and PQ league guys move to Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Halifax etc for a chance to be the 20th guy on a roster for 30 G's?  

[Ansem]

30k in 2019 is a joke for a minimum salary. By that I mean how incongruent it is with Montagliani saying that Canada needs a league where players can make a living and have a pro career strictly on soccer.

This "Canadian need to underestimate ourselves" is really depressing.