Cblake Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 The next round of NWSL expansion will be $50M US per team. Can see why the argument was made about keeping that money here in Canada. In all honesty, how many NWSL teams would we really have seen in Canada at the price anyways, maybe 2, 3 max. That is a pretty good investment to start with, nothing you would take a flyer on. https://sports.yahoo.com/nwsl-reportedly-expanding-to-san-francisco-boston-and-utah-set-record-50m-franchise-fee-233853796.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9sLmZhY2Vib29rLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAK8iRlDE_dxeWdZmS7wrtrREYdJCPv5qxrS1CMXU1-MvnZinfSDrmOE9VNfa835ivvGRItgkng2SsXsc6BSGNUZgEL20nLG75_gPbPjGJLzOvNQ3O6ZsP2qglfEMKxWZJQ2drgroGdKMi7uDJnDb3rT1a0j7LMo11poMYEzJwyg5 Kent 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_M Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 would she say that if there was ongoing talks with mlse? dont think so..looks like shes definitely feeling the pressure of getting six more teams on board along with everything else needed (media deal, sponsorship...) in a tight two year time frame Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soccerpro2 Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 On 12/27/2022 at 11:22 PM, The Ref said: I think the success of the business plan for this new women league is contingent to Canada being awarded attractive games in the 2026 men's world cup and a fair number of them. How long the effect of the World Cup enthusiasm will last favouring the women league is a big question in my mind. I think people put too much-unbridled optimism over "world cup excitement" in this country and how it will magically translate to insatiable demand for the pro game here. The difficulties in a start-up for North American sports don't disappear just because of an event that comes around once every 4 years. All those casual fans do not become CPL, MLS or whatever fans, as we've seen time and time again. Just look at how tough it was for MLS after the World Cup in the USA in 1994. Kent and scooterlawrence5 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bison44 Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 I think most of us are thinking the bump comes from hosting the WC. Agreed, the difference between a regular Qatar cup, and one where we are there and play a 3 and out isnt all that much to your average TSN hockey fan. But its all slowly moving the needle. The lower end of the pyramid (regional bus leagues) are fleshing out, CPL is surviving and MLS is still the cherry on top in our biggest centers/markets. CDN Sports media cant just write off soccer with a joke about how shitty the team is anymore, they have to give our guys some respect and coverage. And of course the women trail blazed this, and are prob further ahead on all fronts except having the a pro league. Having canadian cities bombarded by tons of INT fans, world wide exposure and exciting games in canada in 2026 might be the straw that breaks the camels back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soccerpro2 Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 On 1/29/2023 at 4:04 PM, Bison44 said: I think most of us are thinking the bump comes from hosting the WC. Agreed, the difference between a regular Qatar cup, and one where we are there and play a 3 and out isnt all that much to your average TSN hockey fan. But its all slowly moving the needle. The lower end of the pyramid (regional bus leagues) are fleshing out, CPL is surviving and MLS is still the cherry on top in our biggest centers/markets. CDN Sports media cant just write off soccer with a joke about how shitty the team is anymore, they have to give our guys some respect and coverage. And of course the women trail blazed this, and are prob further ahead on all fronts except having the a pro league. Having canadian cities bombarded by tons of INT fans, world wide exposure and exciting games in canada in 2026 might be the straw that breaks the camels back. Maybe, but again the World Cup in 1994 in the USA doesn't support that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie_the_parrot Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie_the_parrot Posted March 6, 2023 Share Posted March 6, 2023 Jedi Ram, rkomar and Ivan 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red card Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 Matheson says there is lot of interest from Quebec for a team. Given the pool of talent, it can't be missed. League name will be announced before this year's World Cup. They're working with an agency. https://www.lapresse.ca/sports/soccer/2023-03-06/ligue-feminine-professionnelle/99-de-chances-d-avoir-une-equipe-au-quebec.php Jedi Ram 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SthMelbRed Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 2 hours ago, red card said: Matheson says there is lot of interest from Quebec for a team. Given the pool of talent, it can't be missed. League name will be announced before this year's World Cup. They're working with an agency. https://www.lapresse.ca/sports/soccer/2023-03-06/ligue-feminine-professionnelle/99-de-chances-d-avoir-une-equipe-au-quebec.php Is it from Alex Bunbury? Kent and ray 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ref Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 Victoria's Starlight Stadium being expanded to hold 10,000 fans. Any chance Victoria would enter a team in this new women league! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unnamed Trialist Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 9 hours ago, The Ref said: Victoria's Starlight Stadium being expanded to hold 10,000 fans. Any chance Victoria would enter a team in this new women league! It makes financial sense to have two teams, as your staff can be optimized, you don't have to hire x2 of everything. Then since most stadiums have some sort of municipal participation, you are getting more fixtures for your venues, and the % of concessions you take. You are also establishing an equity spending principle that many governments will be concerned about. Your fans won't cross over entirely but partially, so you don't have to create a fanbase from nothing. Sponsors may find they want to support the women's team. Others may be interested in the men but if the men's shirt is taken they may accept the women's, this is happening with sponsors of bigger European teams with women's teams too. Jedi Ram 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_M Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 sixfive doesnt have the money to lose more millions...would need new investors or a partnership with southerns for example Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colonel Green Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 The third team in the league is announced as AFC Toronto City (continuing the North American trend of pillaging naming conventions from English teams). https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/canada-pro-soccer-league-matheson-toronto-1.6821841 Kent and narduch 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie_the_parrot Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 Think they should drop the AFC bit. The Toronto City name was used before in the 1960s by Harold Ballard and Steve Stavro in the ECPSL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_City Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie_the_parrot Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 (edited) Edited April 26, 2023 by Ozzie_the_parrot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 I think Diana is going about this all wrong. I think it should be a bus league like the 20 year old Easton report says it should. narduch and Shway 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie_the_parrot Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 ^^^doesn't even know when the Easton report was published. They have actually talked about regional conferences for this league AFAIR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 Good news but enthusiasm is tempered a bit until a stadium location is announced. A bit surprised that wasn't included in the initial release, it does give a slight "cart before the horse" feel to it. Kent and Shway 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 Just now, Gian-Luca said: Good news but enthusiasm is tempered a bit until a stadium location is announced. A bit surprised that wasn't included in the initial release, it does give a slight "cart before the horse" feel to it. Yeah, the CBC article doesn't even mention that a stadium hasn't been mentioned! Also not clear who the money is on this? Is it the North Toronto Soccer Club? Is it the CEO, Helena Ruken? I am only slightly encouraged by this announcement since it lacks the 2 things that are the biggest hurdles to having a team. Stadium and ownership. Hopefully the ownership is actually known and committed but they just haven't announced it from what I can tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 https://www.tsn.ca/soccer/afc-toronto-city-becomes-third-team-to-sign-on-to-canadian-women-s-pro-soccer-league-1.1951687 TSN article has more info on stadium (none yet) and ownership. Kent 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 I guess the concern is - it's great to announce teams and owners, but what is the business model? To attract 2000 fans a game in a 2000 seat stadium, 5000 fans a game in a 10,000 seat stadium, to get crowds worthy of BMO field, etc. It feels a bit like "well, let's see what we can get". I'm assuming they are aiming for the low end of the scale given the ownership group doesn't seem like they have (on the face of it, unless I missed something) especially deep pockets, but it's difficult to get any sense of this from the articles, some of which (as Kent noticed) don't even particularly care about a venue not being announced. Its also a bit curious that MLSE didn't step up to the plate here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shway Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 AFC....Toronto....City Atheltic Football Club Toronto City🤯 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narduch Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 10 minutes ago, Shway said: AFC....Toronto....City Atheltic Football Club Toronto City🤯 Is that what it stands for for the Toronto team? Usually when a team uses AFC it means A Fans Club and it has fan ownership Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red card Posted April 27, 2023 Share Posted April 27, 2023 All with links to North Toronto SC, there are 6 owners mentioned so far. Seems to be following model of the newer NWSL teams who have an endless ownership list. Though, all six will have job titles. CEO is Helena Ruken, Brenda Ha will serve as COO and Jill Burgin is CMO are the ones most mentioned. The other three not as often noted are are Mike Ruthard as CFO, Billy Wilson is technical adviser and Shamez Mangalji as sales & fundraising. They're following CSB model as owners are buying a piece of the league as well as their own franchise for the $1 million. Given the federal government has stated it is going for equity in sport by 2035, Matheson is relying on them in part to fund the league's infrastructure. Money is there to build smallish stadiums for the CPL & the women's league. But soccer hasn't been a Canadian political, societal & corporate priority. Note that yesterday, the city of Calgary committed to spending $537 million and the Alberta government will put in $330 million for a new hockey arena. $30 million from Alberta is going towards a community hockey rink. And they're getting a land swap with the Calgary Stampede. City of Edmonton put in $313 million for Rogers Place via higher property taxes and a ticket surcharge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Posted April 27, 2023 Share Posted April 27, 2023 4 hours ago, narduch said: Is that what it stands for for the Toronto team? Usually when a team uses AFC it means A Fans Club and it has fan ownership Do you have examples of that? I thought AFC typically means Athletic Football Club or Association Football Club. I'm having a hard time finding examples though. Sunderland I believe is Association Football Club. I found one source saying Bournemouth is Association Football Club but another saying it's a riff off of Athletic Football Club, but it doesn't actually stand for anything, they made AFC at the start of the name to get it to show up first alphabetically. I've never heard the "A Fans Club" thing so I'm curious which teams use that if you know of any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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