Saskatoon CanPL

[Kingston]

3 hours ago, SoccMan said:

Just goes to show that soccer was never in the equation for the people making decisions on that stadium when you sew permanent football lines into the turf . I guess no one ever thought of maybe one day hosting national team games there of both the women and men’s team ? Moreover, hosting some club friendlies there ? Furthermore, let’s remember you are building a stadium for a team that plays maybe 10 home games on average a year and need other events to make it profitable and you put permanent lines on the turf . Maybe they just assumed they could have soccer at the stadium even with football lines , probably dealing with people who have no clue about the sport at the national team level or pro level .

I can understand how a stadium in Regina that started construction in 2014 (and was therefore planned well before that) would not have given the possibility of national team or pro soccer much weight.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

4 hours ago, SoccMan said:

Just goes to show that soccer was never in the equation for the people making decisions on that stadium when you sew permanent football lines into the turf...

Unless ownership has changed I think it's also a very strong indication of how likely the Roughriders are to get involved with CanPL. Plans for the launch of the league were already in progress by the time the stadium opened in 2017, so they clearly deliberately opted to make the stadium incompatable with having a D1 soccer team as a tenant. Hence why Joe Belan tried to persuade the City of Regina to let him have a downsized Taylor Field as a soccer stadium and shifted his focus to Saskatoon when that scenario was rejected.

Edited September 7, 2023 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[SoccMan]

7 minutes ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Unless ownership has changed I think it's also a very strong indication of how likely the Roughriders are to get involved with CanPL. Plans for the launch of the league were already in progress by the time the stadium opened in 2017, so they clearly deliberately opted to make the stadium incompatable with having a D1 soccer team as a tenant. Hence why Joe Belan tried to persuade the City of Regina to let him have a downsized Taylor Field as a soccer stadium and shifted his focus to Saskatoon when that scenario was rejected.

Hopefully this isn’t a sign that we still have people in decision making positions that would rather not see this sport succeed. I’m probably reading too much into this I know but you still wonder sometimes who knows .

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Would be more surprising if there weren't still some people with that mentality.

As far back as 2015 or so, what was being peddled as the plan for CanPL was the CFL owners getting on board with the now defunct latter day NASL and Traffic Sports with their stadia forming the basis of a solo bid for the 2026 World Cup.

Ultimately, it was only the Ticats and Blue Bombers that signed on the dotted line while rumours had pointed more towards the Winnipeg Jets being the interested party in Manitoba AFAIR with the Stampeders being said to be the other interested CFL owners out west.

Bottom line is that most CFL ownership groups including the Roughriders' decided to steer clear of the plan Victor Montagliani, Bob Young and Scott Mitchell were peddling.

[toontownman]

Joe Belan has re-entered the chat..

WILD.

https://northerntribune.ca/canadian-premier-league-saskatchewan-joe-belan-2023/?fbclid=IwAR2d3f0OjQOn-0SwjTkoQoq_Z4Y5pQnASgRnasuI_8eq2GEJtRKGUTLv6l8

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Are there actually any new quotes in that? The quality of Northern Tribune's output slowly dipped into click bait territory IMO.

 

Edited September 7, 2023 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Aird25]

9 minutes ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Are there actually any new quotes in that? The quality of Northern Tribune's output slowly dipped into click bait territory IMO.

Yes there are. John Jacques is a gift to the sport in this country imo 

[Big_M]

belan has no money...just like bunbury so they have to look for investors...if only we could get more solid foreign investment groups like for atletico...wonder what happened to that group that was looking at york...

[toontownman]

1 hour ago, Big_M said:

belan has no money...just like bunbury so they have to look for investors...if only we could get more solid foreign investment groups like for atletico...wonder what happened to that group that was looking at york...

There is probably a difference between having no money and how much money he is willing to invest. I don't believe Mr. Belan is hurting for money and assets. Businessmen don't generally accrue it from going it alone with big projects. I think it's a non starter for him and the CPL at this point but I am more than happy to be pleasantly surprised. 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Sounds about right on the financial angle. He appears to have been skeptical about the viability of the league's financial model rather than outright unable to invest. What makes a Joe Belan backed CanPL team appear unlikely is the way that the league's social media pretty much ignored his Saskatchewan Summer Soccer Series and the way that the premature provisional franchise award to LSSE and Prairieland appeared to be part of the process of torpedoing the national D2 initiative he was reported to be heavily involved in. Think some people are still going through the five stages of grief where this LSSE and Prairieland announcement is concerned basically.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Kent]

One thing that has changed since Belan was last involved is the commissioner. Perhaps Clanachan and Noonan have different stances on Belan. And also, perhaps with expansion seemingly going slower than the CPL had envisioned they will be more flexible with Belan this time around. Only time will tell, but that article made it sound like if Belan does anything, it would be years away, nothing imminent.

[Bison44]

18 hours ago, toontownman said:

There is probably a difference between having no money and how much money he is willing to invest.

HAHA, you got that right, no money to you and I...... and no money when travelling in the "i own sports teams" circles are universes apart.  

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Now the dust has settled a bit, it's worth noting that the guy who provided most of the details about what was happening with the national D2 league initiative has this to say about Joe Belan's possible future involvement:

Not what some people will want to hear but think they need to let go of the idea that a fully pro soccer team is happening in Saskatchewan any time soon.

[Ansem]

There's still Regina 🙄

[Aird25]

26 minutes ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Now the dust has settled a bit, it's worth noting that the guy who provided most of the details about what was happening with the national D2 league initiative has this to say about Joe Belan's possible future involvement:

Not what some people will want to hear but think they need to let go of the idea that a fully pro soccer team is happening in Saskatchewan any time soon.

It’s worth asking if Simon Fudge is a better source on Joe Belan than Joe Belan himself, who has been quoted more recently than the 5th as saying he’s still interested in pro soccer in the province 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

^^^probably should know better than to engage but if it's the Northern Tribune click bait article these were the quotes:

https://northerntribune.ca/canadian-premier-league-saskatchewan-joe-belan-2023/?fbclid=IwAR0KPMJ85eU56cqFE8BBhNbu40GNKwyIsW4oLmgKd8uuo1wlZNDBkews93o

“I would ultimately like to see a pro team in Saskatchewan,” Belan told us just this week. “I strongly believe the province needs the structure that a professional club can bring to help progress player development and grow the game.”

“Let’s see where things go from here,”

Neither of those imply he is directly involved in any way at this point. The "just this week" phrasing implies these are repeddled quotes that are from before rather than after the LSSE and Prairieland announcement. All he is quoted as saying is what he would ultimately like to see happen. Would actually love to be proven wrong on this because from all that I have read he appears to have had a better vision of how to make CanPL work sustainably long term than Bob Young and Scott Mitchell did. 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Aird25]

1 hour ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

^^^probably should know better than to engage but if it's the Northern Tribune click bait article these were the quotes:

https://northerntribune.ca/canadian-premier-league-saskatchewan-joe-belan-2023/?fbclid=IwAR0KPMJ85eU56cqFE8BBhNbu40GNKwyIsW4oLmgKd8uuo1wlZNDBkews93o

“I would ultimately like to see a pro team in Saskatchewan,” Belan told us just this week. “I strongly believe the province needs the structure that a professional club can bring to help progress player development and grow the game.”

“Let’s see where things go from here,”

Neither of those imply he is directly involved in any way at this point. The "just this week" phrasing implies these are repeddled quotes that are from before rather than after the LSSE and Prairieland announcement. All he is quoted as saying is what he would ultimately like to see happen. Would actually love to be proven wrong on this because from all that I have read he appears to have had a better vision of how to make CanPL work sustainably long term than Bob Young and Scott Mitchell did. 

You’re the one telling people they should give up on the idea because Simon Fudge says Joe Belan lost interest. Belan himself is saying he hasn’t lost interest. I’ll listen to the man himself, and see where things go from here, rather than a notorious poster for spinning every piece of CPL news in a negative way

Edited September 10, 2023 by Aird25

[Big_M]

simpson bows out