Could the CPL help Canada become a football power in CONCACAF?

[TGAA_Star]

Now that we Canadians have our own domestic league, will it help us to become a football nation in terms of becoming a power in the CONCACAF region?

My answer then in that case is yes but only in the sense that it could help Canada get to more World Cups in the future being a perennial World Cup nation especially with the World Cup being expanded to 48 countries, but not necessarily a power. The league is already developing players which is what the purpose of the CPL is at least for now. However, they could always strive for more.

There were probably journalists who in the 90s specifically in 1996 wondered when the MLS would turn the USA into a soccer power after its first games and when it would be as good as the English Premier League. Obviously it took years for all of that to happen. Before the US had the MLS, they were qualifying for World Cups perennially pre MLS but didn't have a domestic league per se yeah they had like the NASL until the MLS came along. As soon as the MLS did come along, at first the MLS was a developmental league well for American born players. Then you had an influx of foreign players from other countries coming to play in the MLS. I am talking all sorts of quality players like Valderrama, Donadoni, Cienfuegos, Campos, Etcheverry, etc, and the returning USMNT players.

However, CPL is a league just starting out. Just a year in and for the most part has been successful. But I would say yes for now it is a domestic league but also a league for developing Canadian born players. But could it have more influx of foreign players coming in from other countries from here on out? I mean it already is, considering you have certain players already, from other countries playing there plus Canadian players.

So back to the question, yes it could help us ultimately to become more of a footballing power but that probably won't be for decades at least but perennial World Cup nation then most definitely at least within our own region of CONCACAF. 

[longlugan]

Just exactly how often did you get dropped on your head as a baby? Do you talk to yourself a lot? Is Peggy your imaginary friend? I have so many questions...

[RS]

16 hours ago, longlugan said:

Is Peggy your imaginary friend?

So I was curious about this and I decided to look into it. Peggy has the same IP address as Robert/neuker/Binky etc. and actually has nothing to do with TGAA.

 

Do with that info what you will.

[Bison44]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, the plot thickens.  Who is the sock puppet and who is the puppet master?  Is this some sort of SYBIL situation going on here??  TG11/TGAA/PEGGY/ROBERT/BINKY etc are all the same person??  

 

[BuzzAndSting]

5 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, the plot thickens.  Who is the sock puppet and who is the puppet master?  Is this some sort of SYBIL situation going on here??  TG11/TGAA/PEGGY/ROBERT/BINKY etc are all the same person??  

 

Hahahaha! Amazing!

[Kyle_The_Hill]

33 minutes ago, RS said:

So I was curious about this and I decided to look into it. Peggy has the same IP address as Robert/neuker/Binky etc. and actually has nothing to do with TGAA.

 

Do with that info what you will.

I thought admins couldn't track IP addresses? Why hasn't neuker been banned yet if it's confirmed to be Robert?

[gigi riva]

It should help us improve as a Soccer nation frist and foremost

[baulderdash77]

Based on population, wealth  and participation rates Canada *should* be the 3rd best team in CONCACAF.  Obviously the lack of professional development pathway from 1992 to 2097 basically slowed to a crawl our ability to field World Cup quality teams.  
 

Even when we were close we had no depth beyond say 16 or 18 players so anyone getting injured, suspended or not participating was devastating to our hopes.

What MLS (post say 2012) has done is give us a critical mass to at least have a 2nd line of players who can step in.

What the CPL will do is give us that consistent base of never less than 120-150 professional players to broaden the base and raise the floor of the team.  It also increases the likelihood that less high talent players slip through the cracks.  

[Alex]

1 hour ago, RS said:

So I was curious about this and I decided to look into it. Peggy has the same IP address as Robert/neuker/Binky etc. and actually has nothing to do with TGAA.

 

Do with that info what you will.

I fuckin knew it! 

[RS]

38 minutes ago, Kyle_The_Hill said:

I thought admins couldn't track IP addresses? Why hasn't neuker been banned yet if it's confirmed to be Robert?

I'm not an admin. I've got limited mod access. I can see everyone's IP addresses, but from what I can remember it's not possible to do an IP address ban on this board.

To answer your second question, I've only ever banned one person (Rintarin) and he asked me to do so. I'm not an active moderator on here and never have been.

[gigi riva]

The idea of the CPL is to develop Canadian talent , who knows maybe there is a youngster playing in Canadian University who might be a late bloomer that's were the CPL comes in , I wish more Canadian Youngsters  who are at MLS Acadimies  will transfer to the CPL  just to get that professional playing experience 

[gigi riva]

My hope for CPL is too to develop young Canadian talent ,the more depth we can add the better for our National teams.And to be very competitive amongst the CONCACAF region .Forge set the tone with a decent Run in CL, While Calvary beat Vancouver in the CCL.Wouldn't it be cool to see HFX Hosting either a TFC or a Club America in a CL  SEMI FINAL OR FINAL. IT would be huge at least in the Halifax / Eastern Canada region

[Bison44]

I think what Halifax has already accomplished is huge.  For every "expert" trying to create a Football manager canadian league from scratch a few years ago, did any of them pick Halifax as making the biggest breakthrough?  They put a small pop up in a good spot, created the buzz, brought in the crowds and atmosphere in a perfect storm kind of way...and they didnt even have a very good team.  Doesnt this give a lot of hope to Blaineville or Saskatoon?? Under the right circumstances it is possible to tap into the underlying current of soccer support and have a successful team in a modest CPL??  It took awhile for MLS to move the needle, but with all the new CDN coaches/front offices, solid base of young pros and teams from COAST TO COAST, CPL should have an impact on the CMNT ASAP.  

[SthMelbRed]

On 5/19/2020 at 4:03 AM, Bison44 said:

I think what Halifax has already accomplished is huge.  For every "expert" trying to create a Football manager canadian league from scratch a few years ago, did any of them pick Halifax as making the biggest breakthrough?  They put a small pop up in a good spot, created the buzz, brought in the crowds and atmosphere in a perfect storm kind of way...and they didnt even have a very good team.  Doesnt this give a lot of hope to Blaineville or Saskatoon?? Under the right circumstances it is possible to tap into the underlying current of soccer support and have a successful team in a modest CPL??  It took awhile for MLS to move the needle, but with all the new CDN coaches/front offices, solid base of young pros and teams from COAST TO COAST, CPL should have an impact on the CMNT ASAP.  

Not specifically in regards to either of the potential expansion sites you've mentioned, but CanPL needs to be mindful of where they want their clubs to be in 5, 10, and 20 years when choosing new markets. You might think that smaller markets can possibly get gates of 3k, or even 5k, to compete with the current clubs' attendances. However, if you're hoping to have attendances approaching 5 figures, on average, going forward, you run the risk of sticking an anchor on your vision for the future if you saddle the league with such clubs with a hard ceiling on their growth. For that reason, I favour a future league with 12 stable teams all in the 5k to 10k attendance range, rather than the myriad pipe dreams of a multi-level pyramid of fantasy clubs.

[Bison44]

I get what your saying, but Halifax is right up there at the top of attendance, selling out 6000+.  Who saw that coming?  Who can say which market will have the growth potential to hit 5 figures??  I dont think most of us are worrying about putting an anchor in growth 5-10-20 years from now, when teams in big markets are sucking the hind tit now, I'm looking at you Y9, Edmonton, Pacific.   A future league with 12 team pulling 5-10 starts with a 8 team league with all of them pulling 5g eh??   

[Kent]

In MLS the line of thinking that SthMelbRed described makes some sense. When you are adamantly against pro/rel, and you have enough big cities to fill a league with big crowds, then it might bite you in the behind when you've got Columbus (for example) in the league but don't have Phoenix (for example), and you have no more room for expansion. In that case you might have to get rid of one to bring in the other.

But for a league based in a country with only 6 cities with 1 million population, and we are talking about whether it can get to 12 or 16 teams, there will always be room for another team if a city is still looking to get in. The worst case scenario when you let in a club from a smaller city, is that the club eventually folds. If the best case scenario happens and we have a full top tier and a big city wants to get in, we can look at a D2 league and whichever teams are good enough can be in D1, and whichever teams aren't good enough can drop down to D2, whether they are in a big city or small.

P.S. A "full" D1 can mean whatever we want it to mean. Say our ideal is a 16 team D1, and we get a 17th team interested, we can probably over expand on a semi temporary basis to 17 teams, then 18, then 19, then 20, where we are really maxed out, and if a 21st team wants in we can get back to our ideal 16 team D1 with a 5 team D2, or maybe make it a 14 team D1 and 7 team D2 if we know there is more expansion interest coming. It's all playing with numbers, but I don't see a scenario where we have to turn a team away because we have too many.

[gigi riva]

16 hours ago, Bison44 said:

I get what your saying, but Halifax is right up there at the top of attendance, selling out 6000+.  Who saw that coming?  Who can say which market will have the growth potential to hit 5 figures??  I dont think most of us are worrying about putting an anchor in growth 5-10-20 years from now, when teams in big markets are sucking the hind tit now, I'm looking at you Y9, Edmonton, Pacific.   A future league with 12 team pulling 5-10 starts with a 8 team league with all of them pulling 5g eh??   

im not surprised by Halifax getting 5 k . Halifax has always  been a decent sports town even the Mooseheads draw huge numbers

[Bison44]

They got over 6, and second highest in the league.  I guess maybe Y9 and Edmonton not drawing better were more of a surprise.  Its not always the market size that dictates the attendance.  Give Saskatoon and Quebec city/Laval/Blainville etc the next 2, and once the league is country wide and stable, double up in GTA, Montreal or BC if warranted.  

[Kent]

20 hours ago, Bison44 said:

They got over 6, and second highest in the league.  I guess maybe Y9 and Edmonton not drawing better were more of a surprise.  Its not always the market size that dictates the attendance.  Give Saskatoon and Quebec city/Laval/Blainville etc the next 2, and once the league is country wide and stable, double up in GTA, Montreal or BC if warranted.  

Edmonton wasn’t that big a surprise in my opinion. I was hoping being in the CPL rather than NASL would pump up their numbers more, but their attendance average was better than 5 of their 7 NASL yearly averages, and within about 500 of their best NASL average.

[Bison44]

I thought that with the history of support and close ugly smelly hated rivals (looking at you Calgary) that they would easily beat the NASL numbers.  Maybe next year when things are calmed down and back to normal.  

[gigi riva]

I am hoping the CPL will study  the way the Germans are Running the Bundesliga and try to take some ideas from them 

[TGAA_Star]

5 hours ago, gigi riva said:

I am hoping the CPL will study  the way the Germans are Running the Bundesliga and try to take some ideas from them 

That is an interesting example to use