CPL Players' Union

[-Hammer-]

On 12/5/2021 at 12:22 AM, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

...unless La Liga is involved because then Atletico Madrid related branding suddenly becomes OK.

Apples and oranges. MLS have regular games in Canada and teams in Canada. They have a vested interest in protecting their MLS investment at the cost of the CanPL at every revenue stream. Atletico Madrid's profits are not remotely effected by anything the CanPL does. If it grows and they see money and fruit great, in fact it serves only to grow the main club's TV revenue.

For MLS if the CanPL grows, it can and will cut directly into their bottom line, especially when the local MLS club is playing like crap, and they see a product that's nearly as good down the road for half the price and is potentially engaging in far less stupid tomfoolery that MLS is engaged in.

Regardless, every indicator seems to say that players want a Union and no major professional league is without a players union.

The players have made it very clear, this isn't about money and no one wants to see the league fail, it's about wanting uniform contracts, it's about wanting a say in scheduling, it's about having a seat at the table and wanting more transparency and respect from the league. These things can't be negotiated between a single player and a club, or even an entire team and a club, they require a relationship between a league and an union.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

3 hours ago, -Hammer- said:

Apples and oranges...

Sure, but look at what I actually responded to. The assertion made was no farm teams etc period. The horse has bolted on this issue where MLS is concerned:

Montreal haven't committed yet but I suspect it's only a matter of time and a case of going through CSA approval procedures next year rather than this year:

It's supposed to be mandatory for all MLS franchises by 2023. End result by 2023 could be up to 50 pro contracts for top Canadian prospects in MLS Next Pro rather than CanPL. Don't think this is the best outcome for any of the parties involved but maybe it will force CanPL to up its game a bit on pay and conditions.

[Unnamed Trialist]

So the Caps are going to run an MLS Next Pro team and a BC League 1 team starting this spring? 

One presumably u-23 and the other maybe a younger set? At least it puts their development structure back in place. 

And apart from that, there will be another L1 team at UBC, 10 minutes from their Training Centre? 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

U-19 for L1BC apparently.

[MM3/MM2/MM]

5 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

 

It's supposed to be mandatory for all MLS franchises by 2023. End result by 2023 could be up to 50 pro contracts for top Canadian prospects in MLS Next Pro rather than CanPL. Don't think this is the best outcome for any of the parties involved but maybe it will force CanPL to up its game a bit on pay and conditions.

I could see a win win from this, (assuming MLS Next Pro provides a decent development environment):

1. More Canadians playing pro soccer. 

2. As a large majority of these players will not make it directly to MLS, this creates a larger pool of players for CPL.

 

[narduch]

5 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Sure, but look at what I actually responded to. The assertion made was no farm teams etc period. The horse has bolted on this issue where MLS is concerned:

Montreal haven't committed yet but I suspect it's only a matter of time and a case of going through CSA approval procedures next year rather than this year:

It's supposed to be mandatory for all MLS franchises by 2023. End result by 2023 could be up to 50 pro contracts for top Canadian prospects in MLS Next Pro rather than CanPL. Don't think this is the best outcome for any of the parties involved but maybe it will force CanPL to up its game a bit on pay and conditions.

Sounds more like Montreal aren't interested because they are the 1 club that realizes what a waste of money this endeavor is going to be. Has nothing to do with CSA.

Also your number of 50 new pro contracts is totally inflated.

TFC is simply moving over their USL team and Vancouver and Montreal already had many players signed at this level just with nowhere to play. So the improvement is marginal.

Edited December 7, 2021 by narduch

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

6 minutes ago, narduch said:

Sounds more like Montreal aren't interested because they are the 1 club that realizes what a waste of money this endeavor is going to be....

What you are losing sight of is that MLS is a single entity. The Saputos only own 49% of CF Montreal. When MLS does something like this it's usually something that applies to the entire single entity.

[narduch]

4 minutes ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

What you are losing sight of is that MLS is a single entity. The Saputos only own 49% of CF Montreal. When MLS does something like this it's usually something that applies to the entire single entity.

And yet somehow Montreal didn't join in and currently aren't scheduled too.

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

If they were foregoing a U-23 setup completely next season I think there would be a stronger case that they see loans to CanPL as the way ahead long term. We'll see what happens basically but suspect it's mainly just protocol related to not announcing something until the CSA have signed off on it. I'd prefer to see all the best young Canadians that come through the three MLS academies developing in CanPL at the U-23 sort of phase on their way to MLS but that doesn't appear to be something CanPL is hugely comfortable with. 

[gator]

On 12/6/2021 at 5:58 AM, SthMelbRed said:

Worse than that, they did it in a way that absolutely nobody outside of their small group noticed. What's the use of a protest that doesn't get anybody's attention?

I had no idea the group was going to do this and I completely am behind a union to represent the players, the white cards were held up by most people in the Battalion section just as the rain and sleet were starting to piss down on us! I held mine up for a minute but my hands were getting cold and I was glued to the match! It is easy to fault these actions from afar, I think the intentions were good even if the execution was not ideal!

[ted]

1 hour ago, gator said:

I had no idea the group was going to do this and I completely am behind a union to represent the players, the white cards were held up by most people in the Battalion section just as the rain and sleet were starting to piss down on us! I held mine up for a minute but my hands were getting cold and I was glued to the match! It is easy to fault these actions from afar, I think the intentions were good even if the execution was not ideal!

Yeah, totally appreciated the intention and good for doing it - now that I know what it was. We only found this out last night when Mike came home and told us.

At the time, watching the game and the play on the field, we assumed that Forge fans were saying our player should have been carded and were rather salty in our language at the pub. Sorry.

[gator]

5 minutes ago, ted said:

At the time, watching the game and the play on the field, we assumed that Forge fans were saying our player should have been carded and were rather salty in our language at the pub. Sorry.

As I mentioned many of us in the section didn't know about it, we have yellow and red cards to display to the ref when we think it is warranted btw!😀

[-Hammer-]

10 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Sure, but look at what I actually responded to. The assertion made was no farm teams etc period. The horse has bolted on this issue where MLS is concerned:

Montreal haven't committed yet but I suspect it's only a matter of time and a case of going through CSA approval procedures next year rather than this year:

It's supposed to be mandatory for all MLS franchises by 2023. End result by 2023 could be up to 50 pro contracts for top Canadian prospects in MLS Next Pro rather than CanPL. Don't think this is the best outcome for any of the parties involved but maybe it will force CanPL to up its game a bit on pay and conditions.

Of course it's not the best outcome, but it's further example of MLS being fearful of the CanPL cutting into it's bottom line and people supporting independent USL and NISA teams instead of them. It's MLS doing what MLS does, trying to monopolize the player stream of potential competitors and squat on players.

Regardless, we are getting a bit away from the topic and that being the Union, which again, needs to happen, so you may as well do it sooner on good terms then later on someone elses.

Edited December 7, 2021 by -Hammer-

[yellowsweatygorilla]

Canadian Union of Skilled Workers partnering with PFACan to offer players with apprenticeships and off-season employment. CUSW also calling on its members to pick up season tickets.

This partnership emerged out of a CUSW member learning about the players' union drive and the labour conditions with the league, and wanting to help.

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

11 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

U-19 for L1BC apparently.

Could be, or U20-21, or a mix. It's what many B teams end up being in Spain for example. And gets good development results. 

[Big_M]

^ issue is whitecaps train 4-5x per week while l1 teams only 2-3...so the older the whitecaps team, the higher the chances of destroying others

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

 

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

 

[Kent]

That's crazy how that Martin Bauman guy was shut out from asking questions for asking about the union shirts. I am really rooting for this league, but they need to be better than that.

[Watchmen]

9 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

 

If the league was actively preventing teams from signing free agents, that's a rather major collusion issue.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Clanachan, he's a nasty fellow. I'd love to see the owners push him out, he's a poor professional. 

You can't aspire to create a league at par with pro leagues everywhere and ignore the basic principles of equity and transparency pro leagues thrive from. 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

13 hours ago, Watchmen said:

If the league was actively preventing teams from signing free agents, that's a rather major collusion issue.

Assuming of course that it isn't a single entity. How could the league successfully stop independent clubs from signing specific players if they don't have some sort of role on approving player signings? Don't think we have had the full story on how CanPL is structured yet.

8 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Clanachan, he's a nasty fellow...

He's just the organ grinder's monkey in all of this. Bob Young is probably the key driving force behind it.

Edited December 18, 2021 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]