Idea. League v League

[SpursFlu]

After seeing Inbeom score like 5 mins in to his debut for Rubin Kazan I got to thinking. How would the Russian league stack up against MLS? Wouldn't it be great to find out? So I thought instead of an All Star weekend or game do a League Challenge. Invite an entire league to Canada or in this current case 8 teams from the League. Take the table or last season and play 1 v 1, 2 v 2, 3 v 3 etc etc. It could happen over a weekend with the final game being the 1 v 1. League with the most wins, wins. Im thinking the leagues I'd like to see are endless. But thinking realistically for CPL, league of Ireland or something like that would be cool to start

Edited August 28, 2020 by SpursFlu

[Ruffian]

That would be an awesome idea. It likely would create some pride in our leagues if they won. I assume there would be a lot of push back from many parties with financial interest in maintaining the status quo in many of those leagues in Europe.

[T_Bison]

I would want to talk about USL vs CPL - especially with pre-season friendlies

[SpursFlu]

1 hour ago, Ruffian said:

That would be an awesome idea. It likely would create some pride in our leagues if they won. I assume there would be a lot of push back from many parties with financial interest in maintaining the status quo in many of those leagues in Europe.

You would us it as a friendly summer tour type thing. Plus your talking lower leagues so hopefully its not perceived that way. Even maybe CPL vs League 1 or something. Would be cool

Edited August 28, 2020 by SpursFlu

[Kent]

I have had the same competition idea in the past as well (not sure if I read someone else’s idea or if I came up with it independently. In MLS a lot of fans are pretty obsessed with what league is equivalent, is our league better than that league, etc. You often hear claims like “Sure we always lose to Liga MX but we’ve got all the parity so our league is better.” Couldn’t help but think this is the way to measure that.

I am likely atypical, but if CPL were to do such a thing, I would prefer to do it against a Central American league. CPL vs El Salvador, or Panama, or Guatemala. Heck, even Nicaragua.

Maybe you could even get CONCACAF to set up some sort of a ladder tournament! Leagues move up the ranks if they beat the team ahead of them! If you were doing that instead of just friendlies, then maybe the higher ranked league gets home field advantage for 1 v 1, 3 v 3, etc, and the lower ranked league gets home field for 2 v 2, 4 v 4, etc.

[SpursFlu]

I would love a MLS v Championship

[Terry_Canuck]

That would be a great idea; wouldn't mind a CPL vs USL Championship event.  Would be some interesting road trips.

Out of curiosity if we took the top 8 teams in that league based on points against our league's current standings then the match-ups would be as follows:

Cavalry vs San Antonio

Forge vs Tampa Bay Rowdies 

York 9 vs Phoenix

Wanderers vs Pittsburgh Riverhounds

Pacific vs Indy 11

Atletico Ottawa vs New Mexico

Valour vs Reno

Edmonton vs Birmingham

One can dream eh?

[toontownman]

More likely a league "all star world cup" would happen first. Simply for logistics.

It would be cool to do something like a league vs league competition with all club in pre season rather than meaningless friendlies and tournament invites with nothing really to play for. I guess it would quickly get competitive, probably too much for pre season! 

[Trois Reds]

CPL vs. A-League in Australia. After watching the A-League for years on Youtube I'm convinced these two leagues are pretty close. Their top teams, like Sydney FC, are probably  better than, say Forge or Cavalry, but our bottom table teams (even FC Edmonton) are definitely better than Central Coast, Newcastle or Western Sydney Wanderers.

[T_Bison]

7 hours ago, Trois Reds said:

CPL vs. A-League in Australia. After watching the A-League for years on Youtube I'm convinced these two leagues are pretty close. Their top teams, like Sydney FC, are probably  better than, say Forge or Cavalry, but our bottom table teams (even FC Edmonton) are definitely better than Central Coast, Newcastle or Western Sydney Wanderers.

If this gets me a Valour v Perth Glory road trip I am so in!

 

[SpursFlu]

I think that's a great example 

I remember watching a friendly between Beckham Galaxy and an A League team. It was designed to be a come see Becks walk around a field but there were crazy challenges flying around from the A League guys They clearly felt like they had a point to prove and it turned in to a good game 

[T_Bison]

1 hour ago, SpursFlu said:

I think that's a great example 

I remember watching a friendly between Beckham Galaxy and an A League team. It was designed to be a come see Becks walk around a field but there were crazy challenges flying around from the A League guys They clearly felt like they had a point to prove and it turned in to a good game 

That would be amazing! Imagine having a 'Commonwealth Club Cup'! Obviously England would steamroll everyone but Canada, Australia, India, South Africa and all the African & Caribbean championship clubs would be a complete blast.

[SthMelbRed]

8 hours ago, T_Bison said:

If this gets me a Valour v Perth Glory road trip I am so in!

 

I suspect that a WPG to Perth flight routing would be a ball-ache of epic proportions. 😄 

There are 3 A League teams based in Melbourne and 3 in Greater Sydney. Both cities have excellent sporting facilities. A savvy CanPL front office could look at either city as a fertile ground for a pre-season tour, requiring only a single base for multiple matches. It wouldn't necessarily be cheap, though.

[SpursFlu]

Here's a legit question. As I laugh as people pretend to not understand why LAFC aren't playing well

If you plunked Carlos Vela on to a CPL team. Would that CPL team beat a majority of MLS teams?

[T_Bison]

16 hours ago, SthMelbRed said:

I suspect that a WPG to Perth flight routing would be a ball-ache of epic proportions. 😄 

There are 3 A League teams based in Melbourne and 3 in Greater Sydney. Both cities have excellent sporting facilities. A savvy CanPL front office could look at either city as a fertile ground for a pre-season tour, requiring only a single base for multiple matches. It wouldn't necessarily be cheap, though.

I looked into Perth and the cheapest is in May for $2200 round-trip (assuming non-covid pricing). So at 30 players & coaches we'll call it $60K (group discount) for flights. Food, lodging & such. $100K?

[CDNFootballer]

On 8/28/2020 at 6:29 PM, Terry_Canuck said:

That would be a great idea; wouldn't mind a CPL vs USL Championship event.  Would be some interesting road trips.

 

Don't think Division 1 CPL would ever be interested in a Championship event with a US Division 2 league that's partly a minor league of MLS. Would be a step down and of no value for them. Would be like the NHL vs AHL.

[SthMelbRed]

2 minutes ago, CDNFootballer said:

Don't think Division 1 CPL would ever be interested in a Championship event with a US Division 2 league that's partly a minor league of MLS. Would be a step down and of no value for them. Would be like the NHL vs AHL.

More like the Swedish Elite League vs the ECHL, but less than...

[Ruffian]

15 hours ago, CDNFootballer said:

Don't think Division 1 CPL would ever be interested in a Championship event with a US Division 2 league that's partly a minor league of MLS. Would be a step down and of no value for them. Would be like the NHL vs AHL.

I see what you are saying but respect isn't just given because of what title you give it, respect generally has to be earned. Most people would still claim that US Division 2 is better than CPL division 1. That claim may stick around longer unless something significant like beating them in a competition like this occurs. CPL not having respect could cause players they want to go to USL rather than CPL. It also could harm the value of players they are looking to sell to other leagues.

[Kent]

3 hours ago, Ruffian said:

I see what you are saying but respect isn't just given because of what title you give it, respect generally has to be earned. Most people would still claim that US Division 2 is better than CPL division 1. That claim may stick around longer unless something significant like beating them in a competition like this occurs. CPL not having respect could cause players they want to go to USL rather than CPL. It also could harm the value of players they are looking to sell to other leagues.

I just think CPL would only stand to lose. We saw it with MLS friendlies against European teams. If CPL wins people will say “lol, it’s a friendly against a div 2 team” and if CPL loses people will say “lol, can’t even beat a div 2 team”.

[Mikmacdo]

I think cpl vs costa rican league or panama would be realistic. 

[narduch]

23 minutes ago, Mikmacdo said:

I think cpl vs costa rican league or panama would be realistic. 

We kinda already have that. We should lobby for a 2nd CONCACAF League spot 

[m-g-williams]

On 9/1/2020 at 4:53 AM, Trois Reds said:

CPL vs. A-League in Australia. After watching the A-League for years on Youtube I'm convinced these two leagues are pretty close. Their top teams, like Sydney FC, are probably  better than, say Forge or Cavalry, but our bottom table teams (even FC Edmonton) are definitely better than Central Coast, Newcastle or Western Sydney Wanderers.

I've been pondering this for a while, and I'd love to see the CPL and the A-League establish some sort of professional relationship. Having the champion of each league fly to the other country (alternating years) for a friendly would be spectacular, and hopefully something that could be done for a reasonable price via their airline partners. More than that though, I'd love to see One Soccer and MyFootball (their One Soccer equivalent, so near as I can tell) enter into some kind of reciprocity agreement whereby they show each other's league matches. It seems like it would be an easy way for each to build their content base and international exposure. Being able to watch live matches for Sydney FC, Wellington Phoenix or Brisbane Roar would make my day! 

(Of course, having One Soccer add other leagues like the Scottish Premiership, Ligue 1 and the Argentine Primera División wouldn't be so bad either )

[SpursFlu]

I think the key would be to take it outside the Concacaf federation 

[SthMelbRed]

8 hours ago, m-g-williams said:

I've been pondering this for a while, and I'd love to see the CPL and the A-League establish some sort of professional relationship. Having the champion of each league fly to the other country (alternating years) for a friendly would be spectacular, and hopefully something that could be done for a reasonable price via their airline partners. More than that though, I'd love to see One Soccer and MyFootball (their One Soccer equivalent, so near as I can tell) enter into some kind of reciprocity agreement whereby they show each other's league matches. It seems like it would be an easy way for each to build their content base and international exposure. Being able to watch live matches for Sydney FC, Wellington Phoenix or Brisbane Roar would make my day! 

(Of course, having One Soccer add other leagues like the Scottish Premiership, Ligue 1 and the Argentine Primera División wouldn't be so bad either )

The A League has been broadcast on Fox Sports since its inception, with occasional forays on free-to-air SBS (one match per week). Their is an impending schism between the league and the broadcaster, which is on its ass financially. Fox lost the Premier League rights to Optus Sport, which is an online platform. Optus is currently the closest to what many hope One Soccer will become in Canada. They have the Premier League, Champions League, and Europa League rights, and have added J-League and K-League this year. They also have the UEFA Nations League. Bundesliga, Ligue Un, La Liga, and SPFL are all on BeIn Sports.

The Optus platform is fantastic. Every PL, CL, and EL match is live, as well as select K- and J-League matches. If you turn a match on while it's in progress, you have the option to watch from the start or live. Every match is available on demand within an hour of finishing, and shortly after that, you can get 2-, 12-, or 24-minute highlight packages. They also have overnight goals, if you just want to see the goals from all games.

For perspective, it's now 8:30 am and I'm watching extended highlights from every UEFA Nations League match played overnight, most of which only finished 90 minutes ago. Because we use Optus for our home broadband and my mobile phone, I get all of that for no additional cost and can watch it on my TV using the same remote that I use for all my TV viewing. Those writing complaint emails to One Soccer about the quality of their offering could do worse than suggesting that they look at what Optus is doing in Australia to see what they should be aiming to match.

Optus, and their in-studio commentators, absolutely love the Phonz, by the way...

 

[xcalibre]

On 8/28/2020 at 6:29 PM, Terry_Canuck said:

That would be a great idea; wouldn't mind a CPL vs USL Championship event.  Would be some interesting road trips.

Out of curiosity if we took the top 8 teams in that league based on points against our league's current standings then the match-ups would be as follows:

Cavalry vs San Antonio

Forge vs Tampa Bay Rowdies 

York 9 vs Phoenix

Wanderers vs Pittsburgh Riverhounds

Pacific vs Indy 11

Atletico Ottawa vs New Mexico

Valour vs Reno

Edmonton vs Birmingham

One can dream eh?

USL teams have big rosters, I think we need a couple years to get on their level.

At one point though they were talking about inviting Canadian teams to an "Interleague Cup" they were planning pre-Covid, it would be cool to see local rivalries like Pacific vs. Tacoma, York9 vs. TFC-II, Forge vs. Rochester, HFX vs. a New England team, etc