Canada's Octo Schedule

[An Observer]

11 hours ago, Alex said:

November only has 2 games and both are at home. I’m willing to bet these games are at the same location. We want to avoid travel as much as possible. 

Hamilton could be an option for November.  Similar sized stadium to Ottawa and Winnipeg and better weather (plus close to Toronto).  They host the Grey Cup in December so I wonder if they would have the extra seats in by then which could make for quite the atmosphere (or the venue may not be available for this reason).

[Cblake]

Montreal makes sense for both games in September if Toronto is not in the cards. Easy to get the players into from Europe, the US match will most likely be in the south since it's the middle match for them with matches in Central America on both sides. The Quebec government has already increased the capacity for Habs playoff games once and would expect to see another if they make the final. Plus the match will be played outdoors, even 50% capacity is a possibility. We shall see. 

[CanadianSoccerFan]

8 minutes ago, Cblake said:

Montreal makes sense for both games in September if Toronto is not in the cards. Easy to get the players into from Europe, the US match will most likely be in the south since it's the middle match for them with matches in Central America on both sides. The Quebec government has already increased the capacity for Habs playoff games once and would expect to see another if they make the final. Plus the match will be played outdoors, even 50% capacity is a possibility. We shall see. 

I still have PTSD from the Honduras game at Saputo in 2008.  I swear our section behind the goal were the only Canadians in the stadium.  That game was a Saturday with an open border so maybe it won't be so bad this time.

[nfitz]

23 hours ago, RS said:

Yeah, I figured this was obvious. Why play at Langford (or Swangard, I guess) when you can get a much bigger crowd at BC Place? They can even open the roof if people insist on it being outdoors. 

I thought this was all about what's best for the team. Do they want to play on plastic?

[Cheeta]

More of a Tales from the Crypt kinda guy myself but meh....to each their own.

[JohnnyFranchise]

1 hour ago, nfitz said:

I thought this was all about what's best for the team. Do they want to play on plastic?

this is a valid point, and why i think january will be the only game at bc place.

conversely, in january if their options are a frozen grass field in the snow with -15 weather or fieldturf inside a cozy dome stadium with 50,000 fans, i bet i know which one they'd prefer.

[SkuseisLoose]

2 hours ago, nfitz said:

I thought this was all about what's best for the team. Do they want to play on plastic?

Do you think they care. Almost all of them grew up in Canada and turf is pretty common here.

[Yohan]

7 hours ago, SkuseisLoose said:

Do you think they care. Almost all of them grew up in Canada and turf is pretty common here.

Just because they played on it, it doesn't mean they like it.

There just seems to be a natural aversion to the turf. Then again, playing on cow patch dirt of 'grass' pitch any better than turf?

[narduch]

There have been media reports that the players prefer grass. Not sure why this is even a debate at this point.

Edited June 22, 2021 by narduch

[TGAA_Star]

10 hours ago, Cblake said:

Montreal makes sense for both games in September if Toronto is not in the cards. Easy to get the players into from Europe, the US match will most likely be in the south since it's the middle match for them with matches in Central America on both sides. The Quebec government has already increased the capacity for Habs playoff games once and would expect to see another if they make the final. Plus the match will be played outdoors, even 50% capacity is a possibility. We shall see. 

Which is why I suggested Montréal for the 2nd against Honduras and the 8th against El Salvador 

[SpursFlu]

I'm only going to look at 1 window at a time. I'm curious to get a perspective from around the country because I am in favor of moving games around. CSA desperately needs revenue.

What do people think the attendance would be for these games in their markets. Ill assume El Salvador and Honduras will have similar appeal. Here's my opinion from the BC perspective 

Victoria - easy sell out, 7000 ish

Vancouver - 30k - 40k

[narduch]

I'm a bit confused why people are not guessing Toronto for the September window.

I expect both games to be there.

[BearcatSA]

3 hours ago, narduch said:

There have been media reports that the players prefer grass. Not sure why this is even a debate at this point.

Which leaves only the January 30th fixture as the synthetic pitch option.

 

[SpursFlu]

14 minutes ago, narduch said:

I'm a bit confused why people are not guessing Toronto for the September window.

I expect both games to be there.

I think its mostly related to all the restrictions that are still in place there. If there are no restrictions I would say great but I also dont think they should play back to back games in the same place. If possible 

Edited June 22, 2021 by SpursFlu

[archer21]

37 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

I think its mostly related to all the restrictions that are still in place there. If there are no restrictions I would say great but I also dont think they should play back to back games in the same place. If possible 

Ontario should be in “phase 3” by mid-late July so I don’t see why there would be too many restrictions by September. I know someone said there are no festivals/large public gatherings or something until labour day, which would affect the first match. If they have common sense though, they’d allow these games to be played in Toronto, since large proportion of the population is vaccinated and infection rates are well under control already.

Edited June 22, 2021 by archer21

[SpursFlu]

29 minutes ago, archer21 said:

Ontario should be in “phase 3” by mid-late July so I don’t see why there would be too many restrictions by September. I know someone said there are no festivals/large public gatherings or something until labour day, which would affect the first match. If they have common sense though, they’d allow these games to be played in Toronto, since large proportion of the population is vaccinated and infection rates are well under control already.

The only restriction I think that matters is amount of fans and no masks. So in otherwords no restrictions. That will make for the best environment. All anyone has to do is go back and watch that Denmark game yesterday to see why

Edited June 22, 2021 by SpursFlu

[SkuseisLoose]

1 hour ago, narduch said:

I'm a bit confused why people are not guessing Toronto for the September window.

I expect both games to be there.

Isn’t there a large population of El Salvadorians in the Toronto area. Don’t want a large away fan presence at the game. 

[Kent]

14 minutes ago, SkuseisLoose said:

Isn’t there a large population of El Salvadorians in the Toronto area. Don’t want a large away fan presence at the game. 

If I remember correctly they were involved in the Gold Cup double header that was hosted in Toronto a few years back. They had pretty good support then.

[archer21]

1 hour ago, SpursFlu said:

The only restriction I think that matters is amount of fans and no masks. So in otherwords no restrictions. That will make for the best environment. All anyone has to do is go back and watch that Denmark game yesterday to see why

I agree, I think we definitely need to prioritize getting as many people into the game as possible. My point is, I don’t see why Toronto would necessarily allow less that any other city. They’ve been pretty strict on a lot of their policies so far, but now with so many vaccinations and very manageable amount of infections, there’s no reason to believe they won’t be able to open. This might just be me being optimistic and biased (I’m from Ontario), but that’s the way I see it anyways.

[nfitz]

1 hour ago, archer21 said:

Ontario should be in “phase 3” by mid-late July so I don’t see why there would be too many restrictions by September. I know someone said there are no festivals/large public gatherings or something until labour day, which would affect the first match. If they have common sense though, they’d allow these games to be played in Toronto, since large proportion of the population is vaccinated and infection rates are well under control already.

Toronto has already cancelled everything else at the Exhibition site, and anything the City permits through September 6. So that would have to change if they want fans.

[archer21]

Just now, nfitz said:

Toronto has already cancelled everything else at the Exhibition site, and anything the City permits through September 6. So that would have to change if they want fans.

Yeah I touched on that on my prior post. I don’t live in Toronto so I don’t really know how likely the city is to allow it. Hopefully they’re able to allow it. In the article I read about it, they said the main reason they cancelled so early was the event organizers were very clear that they needed enough notice ahead of time whether they’d be able to go ahead with the event or not. At the time, case rates were very high, so they understandably said that they couldn’t. My hope is that they’ll reconsider now that things look a little brighter on the horizon.

[JohnnyFranchise]

3 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

I'm only going to look at 1 window at a time. I'm curious to get a perspective from around the country because I am in favor of moving games around. CSA desperately needs revenue.

What do people think the attendance would be for these games in their markets. Ill assume El Salvador and Honduras will have similar appeal. Here's my opinion from the BC perspective 

Victoria - easy sell out, 7000 ish

Vancouver - 30k - 40k

if they're only getting 7,000 to play on turf in at westhills they may as well play on the grass at swangard.

and i don't see us getting more than 20-25,000 at bc place, MAYBE as much as 30 but there's no way we're pushing 40 for anyone other than mexico or the states.

Edited June 22, 2021 by JohnnyFranchise

[apbsmith]

4 hours ago, SkuseisLoose said:

Isn’t there a large population of El Salvadorians in the Toronto area. Don’t want a large away fan presence at the game. 

If you can't pack the stadium because restriction #'s, I would think and hope the CSA ( tickets direct to families) & V's(tickets direct to supporters) would  be in control of a significant portion of the tickets? Ensuring significant home support. 

Side note, does anyone know how they distribute the 3,500 tickets for Habs games? Are they even available to the public for general admission purchases? 

Edited June 22, 2021 by apbsmith

[-Hammer-]

19 hours ago, nfitz said:

I thought this was all about what's best for the team. Do they want to play on plastic?

I think the other question that should be asked, does the opposition want to play on plastic? Especially since we likely have a leg up on it.

[narduch]

5 hours ago, SkuseisLoose said:

Isn’t there a large population of El Salvadorians in the Toronto area. Don’t want a large away fan presence at the game. 

Wouldn't a lot have come from the US? Which might not be possible this time.