Metro Vancouver CPL Club

[Watchmen]

31 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

So who takes over for Pacific?

I would assume Simpson.  He did talk about how they were conscious of owning two teams and how that looks for the league, and that that the plan was to eventually sell one of them.

[Watchmen]

Just now, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

What you say publicly and what actually happened can be two very different things.

There is nothing to be gained by lying about it, and the process of getting a stadium constructed (even before the pandemic) is time consuming.  In 2020 Ottawa was ready to go, Fraser Valley was very definitely not.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Just now, Watchmen said:

... Fraser Valley was very definitely not.

There were very strong rumours that the Langley Events Centre was ready for a Halifax style popup as far back as 2019.

[Watchmen]

Just now, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

There were very strong rumours that the Langley Events Centre was ready for a Halifax style popup as far back as 2019.

Yes. However, that would still require the stadium to be built.  At the start of 2020 (when Ottawa Fury folded and Atletico took over and joined CPL), no work had been done on the stadium at the LEC. To this day, no work has been done there.  If that was the preferred destination for the Friend and co in 2019, then yes they could have been there by 2020.  Hell, they could probably have been there in 2019. And it still might be there now, because there's only so many locations to go and municipalities willing to build it.  But Ottawa didn't "pip" the Fraser Valley for 8th beyond any reason that they were ready and Friend and co hadn't lined what they wanted to do (while also getting Pacific up and running).  

[Aird25]

58 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

I would assume Simpson.  He did talk about how they were conscious of owning two teams and how that looks for the league, and that that the plan was to eventually sell one of them.

I don’t even think Simpson has been living in Canada since launch

[Watchmen]

21 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

I don’t even think Simpson has been living in Canada since launch

In that case, I have no idea. But Friend was pretty clear he would be moving to the FV team.

[nolando]

6 hours ago, Watchmen said:

Interview with Rob Friend here, at the 129:52 mark:

https://aftn.ca/episode-500-the-aftn-soccer-show/

 

2) Did not reveal the location, but did let slip that "we probably won't be doing any marketing north of the river", so look for it in either Langley or Surrey. Not really a surprise there.

 

This makes me wonder if it's NOT actually  Langley as the Gold Ears Bridge over the Fraser links part of Langley that includes the LES very conveniently with Pitt Meadows, just east of Coquitlam.  It's less than a 10 minute drive without traffic. Could they be in fact be setting up really far south, like White Rock, even?

[Watchmen]

29 minutes ago, nolando said:

This makes me wonder if it's NOT actually  Langley as the Gold Ears Bridge over the Fraser links part of Langley that includes the LES very conveniently with Pitt Meadows, just east of Coquitlam.  It's less than a 10 minute drive without traffic. Could they be in fact be setting up really far south, like White Rock, even?

If they put it in White Rock, fold the team now.  That's just so far out of the way of everything.

There was discussion at one point of the Cloverdale fairgrounds.  No idea if that's being revived.  My guess though is that it's in Langley somewhere.  That's always been the municipality that's been the most eager for them.

[SthMelbRed]

44 minutes ago, nolando said:

This makes me wonder if it's NOT actually  Langley as the Gold Ears Bridge over the Fraser links part of Langley that includes the LES very conveniently with Pitt Meadows, just east of Coquitlam.  It's less than a 10 minute drive without traffic. Could they be in fact be setting up really far south, like White Rock, even?

I wouldn't read too much into that remark. For all intents and purposes, "north of the river" refers to Vancouver, the North Shore, Burnaby, New Westminster, and the Tri-cities. Possibly, you might even throw Richmond into that group. Essentially, he's saying that it's going to be a team for the Fraser Valley.

[nolando]

3 hours ago, Watchmen said:

If they put it in White Rock, fold the team now.  That's just so far out of the way of everything.

There was discussion at one point of the Cloverdale fairgrounds.  No idea if that's being revived.  My guess though is that it's in Langley somewhere.  That's always been the municipality that's been the most eager for them.

To be clear, I don't want it there either, but there is a massive soccer/sports complex down there that already hosts mostbof Western Canada's biggest tournament series, the SX Cup.

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

This arguably covers old ground but provides a decent summary:

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

 

[narduch]

I'm assuming their plan is a similar stadium to Halifax.

No way you could build a permanent structure by 2023 if you haven't broken ground yet 

Edited February 22, 2022 by narduch

[toontownman]

20 minutes ago, narduch said:

I'm assuming their plan is a similar stadium to Halifax.

No way you could build a permanent structure by 2023 if.you haven't broken ground yet 

They were cautiously optimistic of pushing for 2023 in Saskatoon if they broke ground in the first quarter of 2022. It's possible but they need ducks in a row and a log going in their favour for construction.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

This link basically provides the transcript of what Rob Friend said:

 

[ted]

22 hours ago, Watchmen said:

No, Friend specifically said that it's just taken a while for everything to work out.  Ottawa is irrelevant to it.

Of course Ottawa was irrelevant, nobody said anything different. The comment was simply that Ottawa got up and running before Port City (or whatever they will be called) could do so, and THAT was entirely due to the fact that Ottawa had a pre-existing stadium ready to go. 

Anyway, back to watching for for more info on the Langley Losers.

[Aird25]

3 hours ago, narduch said:

I'm assuming their plan is a similar stadium to Halifax.

No way you could build a permanent structure by 2023 if you haven't broken ground yet 

I'm pretty sure Pacific started construction less than a year out. It killed attendance though, as construction continued throughout the season which was a huge pain, and we also had extended road trips in the middle of the season as a result.

[RJB]

I think the LEC is a great location.  Close to Hwy 1, Golden Ears Bridge, soon to be skytrain at around Willowbrook Mall, and very accessible otherwise.  Plus, it's a superb facility already.  My fingers are crossed that this is where they go, although that's for selfish reasons.  

And frankly, with the garbage the Whitecaps keep putting out there, this club can't come soon enough.  

[Watchmen]

On 3/22/2022 at 1:22 PM, RJB said:

I think the LEC is a great location.  Close to Hwy 1, Golden Ears Bridge, soon to be skytrain at around Willowbrook Mall, and very accessible otherwise.  Plus, it's a superb facility already.  My fingers are crossed that this is where they go, although that's for selfish reasons.  

And frankly, with the garbage the Whitecaps keep putting out there, this club can't come soon enough.  

I don't know why people keep discussing the skytrain as being a factor for the LEC location. They're no where close to each other.

Edited March 24, 2022 by Watchmen

[ted]

1 hour ago, Watchmen said:

I don't know why people keep discouraged the skytrain as being a factor for the LEC location. They're no where close to each other.

You aren't kidding. Google says 4 km and almost 1hr to walk. At that point Skytrain is totally irrelevant to the discussion.

[SpursFlu]

It's the Valley.. people own cars

[Watchmen]

3 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

It's the Valley.. people own cars

Certainly. But the topic of "it's near the skytrain" comes up as a reason it's a good location, and that's just false.

[SpursFlu]

18 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

Certainly. But the topic of "it's near the skytrain" comes up as a reason it's a good location, and that's just false.

I know I'm with you. Its not near a skytrain. The skytrain won't be built for a long time and it's not so relevant to the culture in that area. Most of the people I'm sure this team will draw from would have to drive past the stadium to get to a skytrain that only goes in to the opposite direction of where the stadium is. Anyone who understands the way the lower mainland works knows outside of the biggest outliers possible, this team will have zero fan base west of Surrey. To go back to the skytrain thing, I haven't seen any official info yet but I would think to get from DT Vancouver to the end of the proposed skytrain line in Langley which would be closest to the LEC your probably looking at around an hour and a half on the skytrain alone.

Edited March 24, 2022 by SpursFlu

[RJB]

8 hours ago, Watchmen said:

I don't know why people keep discussing the skytrain as being a factor for the LEC location. They're no where close to each other.

I think they're plenty close. Not walking distance, sure, but close enough that a shuttle could move people to and from the stadium. The idea is that the skytrain efficiently moves people from north of the Fraser who don't want to drive; it's far more appealing to skytrain from burnaby followed by a shuttle, as opposed to bussing the whole way.

And for me, it's just one factor that makes LEC a reasonable choice. 

Edited March 24, 2022 by RJB

[Watchmen]

12 minutes ago, RJB said:

I think they're plenty close. Not walking distance, sure, but close enough that a shuttle could move people to and from the stadium. The idea is that the skytrain efficiently moves people from north of the Fraser who don't want to drive; it's far more appealing to skytrain from burnaby followed by a shuttle, as opposed to bussing the whole way.

And for me, it's just one factor that makes LEC a reasonable choice. 

I do not at all think they are trying to attract the market north of the river. I think they are going to focus on the Langley/Surrey area, and I would not count on a shuttle running from the skytrain to the LEC.