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York 9 2019 launch/offseason thread


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I hate to say it, but it's looking like York9 will be the first to fail. Only 160 members when the rest are at least 3 times that amount? Translating memberships to be worth 4 additional walk-up tickets, I don't see how that is going to be sustainable in the GTA. I know the CPL is expecting losses at the start, but can they prop up an entire team if it starts to hemorrhage money?

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As I've said before, the GTA is the toughest market with the most competition for the entertainment dollar.  They were first out of the gate and haven't had the run up and media attention that the other markets have enjoyed.  In the meantime they're meeting with local clubs and building relationships and deals.  Don't get me wrong, this won't be easy and they have a lot that they have to do.  But when you add in the the owner is a billionaire it is foolish to predict disaster for the team in my opinion.

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1 hour ago, Initial B said:

I hate to say it, but it's looking like York9 will be the first to fail. Only 160 members when the rest are at least 3 times that amount? Translating memberships to be worth 4 additional walk-up tickets, I don't see how that is going to be sustainable in the GTA. I know the CPL is expecting losses at the start, but can they prop up an entire team if it starts to hemorrhage money?

Wow, the league hasn't even got a full list of teams, have barely begun their marketing efforts, and play will not begin for what eight or nine months, and it is already a failure?!?!

If they have not improved significantly by the end of the Christmas season then I'd start to worry. Until then, enjoy the footie on TV. :)

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2 hours ago, Initial B said:

I hate to say it, but it's looking like York9 will be the first to fail. Only 160 members when the rest are at least 3 times that amount? Translating memberships to be worth 4 additional walk-up tickets, I don't see how that is going to be sustainable in the GTA. I know the CPL is expecting losses at the start, but can they prop up an entire team if it starts to hemorrhage money?

Being last place  failure. They've got a lot of work to do, but 160 comittmemts probably puts them somewhere in the 300-400 STH range. If sustainability comes at 4500 average attendees that's not a terrible start

Again, clearly lots of work to do, but really what we are seeing is most CPL clubs being resounding successes and York being a moderate but not exceedingly surprising disappointment.

While I think they can recover, I think the way they went about engaging only select fans was a mistake. Centre of the Universe SG was chomping at the bit to spread the word for them, and only found out about the launch event by Twitter leak. Silly to waste that enthusiasm even if you don't want your core support being downtown folk. But even more, I think traditional media is necessary since much of the oxygen for a grassroots rising is taken up by TFC. 

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5 hours ago, Initial B said:

I hate to say it, but it's looking like York9 will be the first to fail. Only 160 members when the rest are at least 3 times that amount? Translating memberships to be worth 4 additional walk-up tickets, I don't see how that is going to be sustainable in the GTA. I know the CPL is expecting losses at the start, but can they prop up an entire team if it starts to hemorrhage money?

The fact that they are working through the local youth clubs suggests  presales of standard season packages is not the only way to perceive advanced success. If they've laid down the groundwork with the clubs, that may be as valuable as a few hundred more committments from the mainstream enthusiastic fans.

I would say that where they intend to play in the first seasons is also a factor, it does not feed well into the overall spirit of what York9 is projecting. They have to work more on location identity and enhancing the branding message.

And as I have said before: they need to go for the specific interest of the "participating" municipalities in the 9, and even create a rivalry between them or contest as they come together to support the team.

 

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13 hours ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

 

Not sure why Keegan would put a sad reaction on this. Nice to see people that are temporarily away from their home town getting in on the fun with the team they are able to support now.

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On June 13, 2018 at 3:02 PM, Keegan said:

On every team? No definitey not but if it will drum up interest why not?

Like it or not, if MLS didn’t employ the strategy the league would never be where it is now.  There’s no denying that from 2007-2012 the league doubled in size due to guys like Beckham, Keane, Henry etc. And even today some of the best players ie Zlatan and Villa are European has beens who destroy MLS. 

Agree for the most part but Zlatan hasn't destroyed anything. He's had one good game. The rest he's been dreck.

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Problem is that there's lack of civic pride in York region.  In fact, Vaughan's old city moto was "the city above Toronto".  So I am not surprised to see low ticket sales.  

If you want to put a team in GTA, then you need go to Mississauga or even Brampton where there's more people who take pride in their cities and have sort of identity.  

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Given they plan to play in Toronto initially right next to a TTC subway line and York is a name that resonates in a wider Toronto context given York, East York and North York were still municipalities until reasonably recently and there is the old Fort York close to downtown it arguably calls into question the depth of interest in more than just York Region. This is arguably a camouflaged Toronto team in branding terms without being completely blatant about it. Would be interesting to see what portion of the 160 memberships are from Toronto addresses rather than York Region ones.

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18 hours ago, Prune_55 said:

Agree for the most part but Zlatan hasn't destroyed anything. He's had one good game. The rest he's been dreck.

Zlatan has 7 goals and 3 assists in 11 matches (722 minutes) so far. Not destroying the league, but certainly not dreck either.

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Considering that they won't be playing in York Region until 2022, that complicates the marketing. Seems like they are prepared to absorb the losses until their new stadium is built.

Once that thing is built, it will draw way more people and marketing will be easier 

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15 minutes ago, Ansem said:

...Once that thing is built, it will draw way more people and marketing will be easier 

Despite not being so easily accessible from across the GTA by mass transit? Where York 9 plan to play at the moment was going to be the location of the U-20 World Cup stadium at one point until the Argos pulled the plug on their involvement in the project, so York 9 are going to be playing at a location that was seen as acceptable for Toronto branded teams in the CFL and MLS.

http://news.yorku.ca/2004/10/18/the-new-stadium-at-york-university/

15n6q1y.jpg

 

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32 minutes ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Despite not being so easily accessible from across the GTA by mass transit?

Assuming you mean the York Stadium, it will be very accessible for people within York Region... They all drive anyways. Pretty sure he GO station and Vaughan subway will shuttle people to and from the stadium. No need to exaggerate as you always do.

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40 minutes ago, Ansem said:

Assuming you mean the York Stadium, it will be very accessible for people within York Region... They all drive anyways. Pretty sure he GO station and Vaughan subway will shuttle people to and from the stadium. No need to exaggerate as you always do.

What am I supposed to be exaggerating? It's a lot easier to take transit from across the GTA to a stadium that is right next to a TTC subway station than it is to take a long shuttle bus ride to a stadium out into the boonies from the last station on a subway line. Beyond that York U is probably as readily accessible by car for most of the people living in York Region given how close it is to Highways 400 and 407 as the proposed stadium location would be, so the location should not be in any way off-putting to people that will drive in both instances. The numbers for York 9 are not looking promising so far and moving even further away from downtown TO is unlikely to help, so I strongly suspect this stadium will never get built if close to break even crowds don't show up at York U first. That's in no way fatal for CanPL, because the numbers for the Winnipeg Valour are very good and there are reasonable enough looking numbers for three more franchises so far. It just puts a question mark over this particular franchise.

Edited by BringBackTheBlizzard
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That's why I don't make the mistake of calling them "dead" prematurely.

They obviously have a business plan and a road map to make it there.

Making York 9 a success requires a lot of work and patience but the potential return is massive if everything goes according to plan.

Those already writing obituaries are plain wrong. If it was this easy to build a successful business, we'd all have our own businesses. 

Edited by Ansem
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