2021 CPL Season General News

[SpursFlu]

17 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

The same ESPN article you posted here also said it would be incredibly damaging to the league if they did sit out, and would set them back considerably. I think the owners will see how much the can squeeze from the players, but they'll still play. 

Damaging maybe but when you talk "brand" or whatever MLS doesn't really have much. So much so Chicago was willing to change its name and logo 3 times in 3 years. Lets be real... big picture, MLS could go away for 1 year and it wouldn't matter 1 bit

Edited February 2, 2021 by SpursFlu

[nfitz]

2 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

NHL, NBA, March Madness looks set to go

100% sure that neither NBA nor NHL started on time. Weeks and weeks of delays and then announcing a start date at the last second, doesn't count.

As for March Madness ... I don't really follow college sports or basketball. Checking the news ... doesn't look they've played last season yet, let alone this season. And last season they didn't cancel until March! I'm not seeing much news about either season recently. Perhaps it's like March WC qualifiers - hasn't been cancelled yet ... but the lack of city and game information, make it unlikely it will go ahead.

Anyway my point is ... expect the unexpected. Schedules barely count at this stage.

Edited February 2, 2021 by nfitz

[SpursFlu]

Yes.. expect what you don't expect 

[Ansem]

53 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

Damaging maybe but when you talk "brand" or whatever MLS doesn't really have much.

By damaging I see the difference between

the other Big 4 leagues (Best in the world at what they do)

vs.

MLS (Far from being the best league)

Meaning if you have a lockout, you lose the best players and they are very likely to find work elsewhere. Contrarily to the other big 4 where it's a given that everyone comes back at the end of such conflicts, far from a given that this happens for MLS.

Damaging because you'll see a noticeable drop in quality in the short term

[MM3/MM2/MM]

26 minutes ago, Ansem said:

By damaging I see the difference between

the other Big 4 leagues (Best in the world at what they do)

vs.

MLS (Far from being the best league)

Meaning if you have a lockout, you lose the best players and they are very likely to find work elsewhere. Contrarily to the other big 4 where it's a given that everyone comes back at the end of such conflicts, far from a given that this happens for MLS.

Damaging because you'll see a noticeable drop in quality in the short term

I agree, MLS would actually lose more by locking the players out for a season then any of the big four, who have close to a world wide monopoly, while MLS has major competition worldwide for players.  They will be all in for an agreement and a season.

[Watchmen]

1 hour ago, nfitz said:

100% sure that neither NBA nor NHL started on time. Weeks and weeks of delays and then announcing a start date at the last second, doesn't count.

Pandemic or not, that's what MLS already does every year. They're schedule is horribly delayed being released. And since the "delays" for the NHL's schedule release involved additional negotiations with the NHLPA, I don't think you can say it doesn't count. They set the date when they were comfortably setting the date and then got it done. And even then, it was less than 2 weeks later than the rumored start date.

[SpursFlu]

1 hour ago, Watchmen said:

Pandemic or not, that's what MLS already does every year. They're schedule is horribly delayed being released. And since the "delays" for the NHL's schedule release involved additional negotiations with the NHLPA, I don't think you can say it doesn't count. They set the date when they were comfortably setting the date and then got it done. And even then, it was less than 2 weeks later than the rumored start date.

I would encourage people to read the concessions that the players offered that it seems the owners have rejected. To me it seemed like a lot and the owners didn't blink. I personally don't buy the damaging to the brand thing. Im a 10 yr season ticket holder of the Whitecaps and I can honestly say if the MLS starts the season similar to what I saw last year I kinda could care less anyways. I barely watched. Even if they called me and ask to return to BC Place(Which is likely to not happen) if they can't promise me the type of environment I think is appropriate to enjoying live football and supporting my club i might tell them to shove it. My newly formed chess club is funner than watching that patchwork league they slammed together last season and I think they realize that

CPL on the other hand ill continue to support anyway I will because its so fragile and it can't really afford to take a hiatus. Even if its also a terrible product ill support it in the meantime 

Edited February 3, 2021 by SpursFlu

[Aird25]

1 hour ago, MM3/MM2/MM said:

I agree, MLS would actually lose more by locking the players out for a season then any of the big four, who have close to a world wide monopoly, while MLS has major competition worldwide for players.  They will be all in for an agreement and a season.

Not to mention it's during a time when US/Canadian internationals and MLS graduates are actually performing in top European competitions. 

Edited February 3, 2021 by Aird25
Can't forget our Canadian boys performing too!

[nfitz]

In many ways they aren't far apart. Push come to shove, players won't lose much with this deal.

MLS are no where near strike/lock out territory.

Heck, I don't think MLS has ever been close to that territory - not since coming to this country at least.

Edited February 3, 2021 by nfitz

[Cheeta]

You know....it just occurred to me that if you swapped Pacific for the Canucks, Forge for the Senators and Wanderers for the Canadiens the 2021 NHL season would kinda look like the 2019 CanPL season.

If the CanPL teams had played each other twice as often.

For some reason I find that similarity interesting.  

[Kent]

10 hours ago, Cheeta said:

You know....it just occurred to me that if you swapped Pacific for the Canucks, Forge for the Senators and Wanderers for the Canadiens the 2021 NHL season would kinda look like the 2019 CanPL season.

If the CanPL teams had played each other twice as often.

For some reason I find that similarity interesting.  

I have had similar thoughts. I have actually been a lot more interested in the NHL this year, although some of that is due to being essentially locked up in my house for 11 months and going crazy.

Clarification: I've been a lot more interested in the NHL this year, but exclusively the Canadian division, and Ovechkin's goal chase.

Edited February 10, 2021 by Kent

[Mikmacdo]

New York just approved for ten percent of capacity. You would think we should be able to have 20-30 percent by the end of May?

[nfitz]

I doubt it, unless there's a vaccine miracle.

New York is 10%, but only in stadiums over 10,000. And need a negative Covid test before entering. A PCR test ... how many hundreds do they cost?

Edited February 11, 2021 by nfitz

[Dominic94]

We’ll see more players retire after a few years or leave for greener pastures if they can. Some top domestic players calling it a day this year isn’t a co-incidence. 

[youllneverwalkalone]

Welp, can only go up from here -right?

[Unnamed Trialist]

8 hours ago, Dominic94 said:

We’ll see more players retire after a few years or leave for greener pastures if they can. Some top domestic players calling it a day this year isn’t a co-incidence. 

Let's analyse this in terms of salary cap. 

If every player on a 24-man roster was in the category of "Star Domestic Player", that would give us 800,000 in salary. Which is what many have cited as being near or around the cap, or even under it. 

Now of course we known that is not the case, that category could be good for 3-4 players on a roster. Every other player is under that status.

Let's say a team has three international, three domestic stars, 12 between established pro and some experience, 5 rookies and two U-Sports players. I calculate on that chart a salary expenditure of just over half a million. The salaries he is citing are bracketed and we are approximating. 

First, I agree it is too low and we need a minimum salary. Second, from what we have seen in the first year, clubs could probably be paying more. Third, why are we making it mandatory to bring in foreign players, to justify the deal signed with a private scouting agency, while starving our own?

What I would really like to know: what are FOs, managers, and management making? And coaches? Is this a league that pays all coaches well above what players make? If we are underpaying players and being "fair" to the rest in each club, we are doing this wrongly.

[Stryker911]

I looked up what other leagues across the world pay and found this. I took a screenshot and for comparison sake Slovenia was #45 on the list and CPL would slide in probably between them and Finland. I imagine the cost of living and quality of life is similar between us and Iceland and they do well with a domestic league paying less than we do. The idea has never been to have a world dominating league. It has been to develop players and give them an option before moving abroad.

A couple other things to note from the article. They have Canada listed at #10 overall just using the 3 MLS teams. Ahead of Mexico, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands etc...This is obviously attributed a major part to TFC 3 DPs, as the article is from 2018. However, using the 3 MLS teams number plus an approximation from the 8 CPL teams you get an average Canada salary of around 160,000 US, right in between Denmark and Greece and #24 overall. I know we are talking about CPL, but it is pretty clear that playing well in CPL can lead to a MLS contract.

Article also goes through several league. One of which is the Scottish premiership. Livingston is the bottom of the list at an average of 45,000 US. So we aren't crazily far off from that in the CPL.

Edited February 13, 2021 by Stryker911

[Dominic94]

I know it’s Rollins, but he’s touched on this before and has reported that the CPL is granting a bit too much power to the CFL guys (staff). I wonder who the investment is, I forsure don’t like the mandatory internationals quotas and the requirements quite frankly, I think 7 should be a maximum heck even 6 and no minimum. We should focus on selling our players, you can tell that after 2 seasons there’s a very large shift to be profitable faster and less of the patient approach that was expected.

 

Edited February 13, 2021 by Dominic94

[Big_M]

have heard of 2-5k salaries in the league so those numbers by rollins might even be high

[Ansem]

2 hours ago, Dominic94 said:

I know it’s Rollins, but he’s touched on this before and has reported that the CPL is granting a bit too much power to the CFL guys (staff). I wonder who the investment is, I forsure don’t like the mandatory internationals quotas and the requirements quite frankly, I think 7 should be a maximum heck even 6 and no minimum. We should focus on selling our players, you can tell that after 2 seasons there’s a very large shift to be profitable faster and less of the patient approach that was expected.

 

He has an agenda and has grown unreliable over time. I mean Sissoko agent called him out on twitter to say that his take on his move to USL being due to salary was bullshit and that HFX actually made a good offer.

About CFL -

higher attendance average than MLS

higher TV ratings than MLS

with a 1/10 of the population with over a $5M cap

They aren't perfect but for a league that's in the shadow of the NFL they might not be 100% incompetent fools.

Maybe there's a chance they kind of know what they are doing?

 

The truth is somewhere in the middle...I caution in believing 100% what he's saying.

[SthMelbRed]

3 hours ago, Stryker911 said:

I looked up what other leagues across the world pay and found this. I took a screenshot and for comparison sake Slovenia was #45 on the list and CPL would slide in probably between them and Finland. I imagine the cost of living and quality of life is similar between us and Iceland and they do well with a domestic league paying less than we do. The idea has never been to have a world dominating league. It has been to develop players and give them an option before moving abroad.

A couple other things to note from the article. They have Canada listed at #10 overall just using the 3 MLS teams. Ahead of Mexico, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands etc...This is obviously attributed a major part to TFC 3 DPs, as the article is from 2018. However, using the 3 MLS teams number plus an approximation from the 8 CPL teams you get an average Canada salary of around 160,000 US, right in between Denmark and Greece and #24 overall. I know we are talking about CPL, but it is pretty clear that playing well in CPL can lead to a MLS contract.

Article also goes through several league. One of which is the Scottish premiership. Livingston is the bottom of the list at an average of 45,000 US. So we aren't crazily far off from that in the CPL.

I think we can safely assume that you've never been to Iceland! 😄 

[Bison44]

^^^ Very expense in Iceland.  

[Aird25]

The same conversation seems to be happening in every single CPL related conversation I can find. I feel like everyone’s become so sanctimonious all of a sudden. Can’t we please preserve one place to talk about soccer.

I think Petrasso will be the next sale for the league. He’s doing well on his loan and he has a history at a higher level. He just needs to stay healthy. 

A month and a half of soccer is not a long enough season

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

6 hours ago, Dominic94 said:

I know it’s Rollins, but he’s touched on this before and has reported that the CPL is granting a bit too much power to the CFL guys (staff). I wonder who the investment is,....

Joe Belan is a prime suspect. Was clearly interested pre-launch but did not partake in it despite Prairieland in Saskatoon looking like a viable venue (albeit with quite a bit of work) and subsequently seemed to receive suprisingly little encouragement from #CanPL on SkSSS in social media and exhibition game terms.

If the rumours (mainly on Reddit) of an $8 million expansion fee being quoted are accurate, the original investors are not facilitating organic club-oriented growth but are trying to profit franchise style. That is also likely to scare off some possible investors.

[narduch]

I'm not sure what people were expecting. It's been widely reported that the cap is $750k. That means an average salary of about $32,600.

Have to figure that the Media Pro deal isn't very lucrative. The attendances aren't that big and are bad in a few markets.

On the question of leadership I'm trying to think of things that they have done that I hated:

-The trophy sucks

-The way the first Concacaf League rep was decided was stupid.

-2019 summer/winter seasons weren't balanced.

I'm struggling to think of moves that were so egregious by the league to warrant this slander from Rollins.

My theory is that some of Rollins sources that have left the league are bitter and are spilling the beans now. I'm thinking possibly Paul Beirne. I'm not really a fan of Beirne anyway considering how things soured at TFC.

Edited February 13, 2021 by narduch