Comparison MLS & CPL

[Jamal]

Morning Guys,

I am an ex-player from the UK and, although I had experience in 2006 in the USL the leagues have come a long way. The English vs Scottish leagues are probably different in terms of stature and, I have been wondering about the MLS vs CPL. I have been covering the CPL for a site www.simbasoccer.com which is an analysis and tips site. So far, on the CPL, our stats have been 12 from 13 tips won. We are finding the CPL a little easier to call than the MLS where our current rate is 70%. As a player, or ex-player, I have been wondering about the difference in quality, not necessarily the money. I look at Forge and see an outstanding side statistically having written an article a few weeks ago promoting Forge to win the league against the likes of Pacific and Cavalry: https://simbasoccer.com/candian-premier-league-chase-for-the-title/

I am enjoying watching the CPL, albeit a huge time difference from the UK. I played against Junior Hoilett in 2012 when he was at QPR and he literally tore me to pieces, playing on the wing against him was a nightmare. I know he played his career mostly in the UK but I see players like Alphonso Davies and think... how can the CPL keep their prized assets that will make the CPL a stronger league?

The MLS is huge, I get that completely, but is the CPL seen as something special from Canadians or is it just a more localised sport rather than a serious endeavour like the NHL or CFL/NFL?

 

Thanks in advance guys, your insights will be greatly appreciated.

[Aird25]

5 hours ago, Jamal said:

Morning Guys,

I am an ex-player from the UK and, although I had experience in 2006 in the USL the leagues have come a long way. The English vs Scottish leagues are probably different in terms of stature and, I have been wondering about the MLS vs CPL. I have been covering the CPL for a site www.simbasoccer.com which is an analysis and tips site. So far, on the CPL, our stats have been 12 from 13 tips won. We are finding the CPL a little easier to call than the MLS where our current rate is 70%. As a player, or ex-player, I have been wondering about the difference in quality, not necessarily the money. I look at Forge and see an outstanding side statistically having written an article a few weeks ago promoting Forge to win the league against the likes of Pacific and Cavalry: https://simbasoccer.com/candian-premier-league-chase-for-the-title/

I am enjoying watching the CPL, albeit a huge time difference from the UK. I played against Junior Hoilett in 2012 when he was at QPR and he literally tore me to pieces, playing on the wing against him was a nightmare. I know he played his career mostly in the UK but I see players like Alphonso Davies and think... how can the CPL keep their prized assets that will make the CPL a stronger league?

The MLS is huge, I get that completely, but is the CPL seen as something special from Canadians or is it just a more localised sport rather than a serious endeavour like the NHL or CFL/NFL?

 

Thanks in advance guys, your insights will be greatly appreciated.

Great to have you interested and reporting on the league!

We're still pretty niche, but I remember thinking the same thing about MLS a while back. A lot of people follow soccer in this country, but very few follow CPL as of yet. We're not in 2 or our 3 biggest cities yet, and I don't have a clue what's going on in Toronto, but nobody there seems interested. Traditional media hasn't exactly been supportive, and the pandemic has come at an unfortunate time for the new league. 

I think losing a few more of our prized assets might actually be good for the league. Few CPL players have found success at higher levels yet and I think that damages the perception of the league. 

[Jamal]

Thank you for the reply!

Soccer is being followed then but not the CPL, that’s super interesting. More following the MLS/European Leagues?

In the UK soccer is so competitive, from young ages it is just absolutely grilled into young minds the “football IQ”. I have watched Pacific, Cavalry and Forge a lot this season and they seem to have so much in terms of quality but you can see a little underdeveloped in terms of football IQ. 

For me, the CPL is so exciting, ordered a Pacific shirt two weeks ago for the kids! (Don’t judge, I loved the colour!)

Well, I’m an avid fan an honoured to have found this forum. Looking forward to being part of the community.

Edited October 21, 2021 by Jamal

[Jamal]

6 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

Great to have you interested and reporting on the league!

We're still pretty niche, but I remember thinking the same thing about MLS a while back. A lot of people follow soccer in this country, but very few follow CPL as of yet. We're not in 2 or our 3 biggest cities yet, and I don't have a clue what's going on in Toronto, but nobody there seems interested. Traditional media hasn't exactly been supportive, and the pandemic has come at an unfortunate time for the new league. 

I think losing a few more of our prized assets might actually be good for the league. Few CPL players have found success at higher levels yet and I think that damages the perception of the league. 

 

Edited October 21, 2021 by Jamal
Quote

[Jamal]

Thank you for the reply!

Soccer is being followed then but not the CPL, that’s super interesting. More following the MLS/European Leagues?

In the UK soccer is so competitive, from young ages it is just absolutely grilled into young minds the “football IQ”. I have watched Pacific, Cavalry and Forge a lot this season and they seem to have so much in terms of quality but you can see a little underdeveloped in terms of football IQ. 

For me, the CPL is so exciting, ordered a Pacific shirt two weeks ago for the kids! (Don’t judge, I loved the colour!)

Well, I’m an avid fan an honoured to have found this forum. Looking forward to being part of the community.

[Aird25]

4 minutes ago, Jamal said:

Soccer is being followed then but not the CPL, that’s super interesting. More following the MLS/European Leagues?

100%. Amongst others

3 minutes ago, Jamal said:

For me, the CPL is so exciting, ordered a Pacific shirt two weeks ago for the kids! (Don’t judge, I loved the colour!)

No judgement. I have a couple of those myself.

4 minutes ago, Jamal said:

In the UK soccer is so competitive, from young ages it is just absolutely grilled into young minds the “football IQ”. I have watched Pacific, Cavalry and Forge a lot this season and they seem to have so much in terms of quality but you can see a little underdeveloped in terms of football IQ.

Care to elaborate on specifics?

[Jamal]

5 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

Care to elaborate on specifics?

The speed of the game is actually faster than the UK. So, seeing the speed of the game I noticed it was very direct, HFX especially were a team that had a more direct style. In the UK, the games are fast, but intermittently fast, possession play then break with fluidity. In the Canadian League I have seen aggression and speed, was crazy fast. The MLS is a little similar with some sides but a little more refined. But, also, I felt that the players, individually, had pinpoint technical ability, good touches, two feet, athletic and charismatic on the ball. It was the off the ball movement that is more direct, looking for early gaps rather than opening gaps between the lines

[youllneverwalkalone]

1 hour ago, Jamal said:

The speed of the game is actually faster than the UK. So, seeing the speed of the game I noticed it was very direct, HFX especially were a team that had a more direct style. In the UK, the games are fast, but intermittently fast, possession play then break with fluidity. In the Canadian League I have seen aggression and speed, was crazy fast. The MLS is a little similar with some sides but a little more refined. But, also, I felt that the players, individually, had pinpoint technical ability, good touches, two feet, athletic and charismatic on the ball. It was the off the ball movement that is more direct, looking for early gaps rather than opening gaps between the lines

I don't know if this ties into your comments here or other observations, but I've found the passing stats a bit interesting:

https://canpl.ca/statistics/teams/2021/all/team_play

There's not a whole lot of detail here obviously, but I would expect lower completion percentages (and perhaps more cross attempt in general for this level). I wonder if it's attributable to lack of pressing or defensive intensity throughout the league?

One of the enjoyable things about following the league early on is finding these amateur players who do certain things very well. I'm thinking about Lukas MacNaughton who really seems like a ball playing defender at this level. Pacific in general seem to move the ball around quite nicely. I've thought of it as more vertical than direct, but I completely concede that I may not really understand what these terms mean in a football context.

[Jamal]

29 minutes ago, youllneverwalkalone said:

There's not a whole lot of detail here obviously, but I would expect lower completion percentages (and perhaps more cross attempt in general for this level). I wonder if it's attributable to lack of pressing or defensive intensity throughout the league?

Super interesting stats site thank you for sharing. From experience, I played in Asia and being one of the top clubs we had phenomenal amounts of possession, where clubs would concede that we would control games. Our issue was that we still struggled to score goals. Pacific are top scorers in the league, so they are obviously doing something right.

 

32 minutes ago, youllneverwalkalone said:

I'm thinking about Lukas MacNaughton who really seems like a ball playing defender at this level. Pacific in general seem to move the ball around quite nicely.

Another player that I picked out, comfortable on the ball, looks to break forward lines with his passes but retains safety nonetheless.

 

 

We use a phrase called “hunt in packs” so when closing the ball it is closing the angles for passes but for that you have to have 2/3 players closing down angles at the same time. Teams tried to adopt it against Barcelona a few years ago and got torn to pieces by them, such was their ability in tight spaces. Our manager made us hold rope in a circle, we weren’t allowed to let go of the rope, simple training drill that never ever worked but the theory was communication when closing the angles. 
 

A good passing side like Pacific will utilise those gaps. The league just seems wide open to me. A beautiful league in its infancy though. Do you know is their investment in youth systems etc for the clubs? Could be a sport that helps in the community, most countries I have played in, clubs have played vital roles in youth development not least in sport but in education.

[Kent]

Welcome @Jamal!

On 10/21/2021 at 9:46 AM, Jamal said:

The MLS is huge, I get that completely, but is the CPL seen as something special from Canadians or is it just a more localised sport rather than a serious endeavour like the NHL or CFL/NFL?

MLS, CFL, NFL, and NHL are all definitely bigger than CPL. Some points of comparison. CFL in 2019 (the last non-COVID year of course) averaged about 23,000 fans per game in attendance across the 9 teams in the league. MLS among the 3 Canadian teams averaged about 20,000 fans per game. The NHL averaged about 18,000 fans in attendance across the 7 Canadian teams in 2018-19. CPL in 2019 (the first season, and only one not affected by COVID) averaged about 5,000 fans per game.

As for TV ratings, the MLS teams typically get in the ballpark of 100,000 people watching on TV a game. The NHL and CFL (I believe) often get over 1,000,000, but I don't have average numbers for this. We don't have good viewership numbers for CPL games, but I wouldn't be shocked if it was more in the 4 digit range than the 6 or 7 digit range. The games are on a streaming service, and they don't publicize their numbers. Of course that range is just speculation.

In general, if you walk up to someone on the street in Canada, they definitely know about the NHL and will be able to name several or even most teams even if they aren't a hockey fan, it's by far the most popular league in Canada. In the MLS cities I think the random person will usually be aware of their cities team, definitely if they are a sports fan. For CPL, even when I am talking to people who play and watch soccer, I assume they don't know about the CPL.

21 hours ago, Jamal said:

Do you know is their investment in youth systems etc for the clubs? Could be a sport that helps in the community, most countries I have played in, clubs have played vital roles in youth development not least in sport but in education.

At this point I don't think any of the teams are investing in academies, let alone schooling (if that's what you were referring to by education). The league has purchased League 1 Ontario, which is a development league that is pro-am in the province of Ontario. Other than that, there is an agreement with the University sports system that allows players to be drafted from University into the league, then return to school during the school year (and still be eligible for University sports). That's about it in terms of development at this stage.

As for the sport itself in Canada, there have been high participation numbers for quite a while. I believe it was about 30 years ago when it passed hockey (and all other sports) as having the most registered players in the country. So there has been 30 years of people playing it at a high rate, which means now the people coaching the kids probably have at least some experience with the game, instead of 30 years ago when coaches tried to remember back to what they learned in gym class that one day they played soccer.

In terms of as a spectator sport, MLS is decently popular, but more people watch European leagues, in particular the big 4 and of course Champions League. The World Cup is of course massive, as is the Euro Cup, but very few people watch the Gold Cup (CONCACAF's version of the Euro Cup). At World Cup and Euro Cup time lots of cars have flags of the country they are backing sticking out of their car (at least in Toronto, I assume other big cities as well). The Canadian national team however historically doesn't really register with most people. I remember in 2012, the first day of the Euro Cup also happened to be the day of Canada's first game in the 3rd round of World Cup Qualifying against Cuba. At the time I worked at a sports TV station. I was the only one in my area that knew Canada was playing, and I was the only one watching the Canada game while everyone else were watching Russia vs Czech Republic (I think that was the game). They found it hilarious that the biggest soccer fan in the room was wasting his time watching Canada vs Cuba.

That being said, there does seem to be some momentum with the national team now, with Alphonso Davies and some good recent results. So this might be changing here in Canada. For the same kind of perception change to happen in CPL it will probably take a couple players from CPL getting sold out to bigger clubs and making a name for themselves, plus some positive results against MLS teams and hopefully one day Mexican teams (in the Champions League) should garner the league more respect.

It's early days, at this point it's a very small league, but hopefully that can change! The level of play has surpassed expectations so far.

[Ed_S]

4 hours ago, Kent said:

Welcome @Jamal!

MLS, CFL, NFL, and NHL are all definitely bigger than CPL. Some points of comparison. CFL in 2019 (the last non-COVID year of course) averaged about 23,000 fans per game in attendance across the 9 teams in the league. MLS among the 3 Canadian teams averaged about 20,000 fans per game. The NHL averaged about 18,000 fans in attendance across the 7 Canadian teams in 2018-19. CPL in 2019 (the first season, and only one not affected by COVID) averaged about 5,000 fans per game.

As for TV ratings, the MLS teams typically get in the ballpark of 100,000 people watching on TV a game. The NHL and CFL (I believe) often get over 1,000,000, but I don't have average numbers for this. We don't have good viewership numbers for CPL games, but I wouldn't be shocked if it was more in the 4 digit range than the 6 or 7 digit range. The games are on a streaming service, and they don't publicize their numbers. Of course that range is just speculation.

In general, if you walk up to someone on the street in Canada, they definitely know about the NHL and will be able to name several or even most teams even if they aren't a hockey fan, it's by far the most popular league in Canada. In the MLS cities I think the random person will usually be aware of their cities team, definitely if they are a sports fan. For CPL, even when I am talking to people who play and watch soccer, I assume they don't know about the CPL.

At this point I don't think any of the teams are investing in academies, let alone schooling (if that's what you were referring to by education). The league has purchased League 1 Ontario, which is a development league that is pro-am in the province of Ontario. Other than that, there is an agreement with the University sports system that allows players to be drafted from University into the league, then return to school during the school year (and still be eligible for University sports). That's about it in terms of development at this stage.

As for the sport itself in Canada, there have been high participation numbers for quite a while. I believe it was about 30 years ago when it passed hockey (and all other sports) as having the most registered players in the country. So there has been 30 years of people playing it at a high rate, which means now the people coaching the kids probably have at least some experience with the game, instead of 30 years ago when coaches tried to remember back to what they learned in gym class that one day they played soccer.

In terms of as a spectator sport, MLS is decently popular, but more people watch European leagues, in particular the big 4 and of course Champions League. The World Cup is of course massive, as is the Euro Cup, but very few people watch the Gold Cup (CONCACAF's version of the Euro Cup). At World Cup and Euro Cup time lots of cars have flags of the country they are backing sticking out of their car (at least in Toronto, I assume other big cities as well). The Canadian national team however historically doesn't really register with most people. I remember in 2012, the first day of the Euro Cup also happened to be the day of Canada's first game in the 3rd round of World Cup Qualifying against Cuba. At the time I worked at a sports TV station. I was the only one in my area that knew Canada was playing, and I was the only one watching the Canada game while everyone else were watching Russia vs Czech Republic (I think that was the game). They found it hilarious that the biggest soccer fan in the room was wasting his time watching Canada vs Cuba.

That being said, there does seem to be some momentum with the national team now, with Alphonso Davies and some good recent results. So this might be changing here in Canada. For the same kind of perception change to happen in CPL it will probably take a couple players from CPL getting sold out to bigger clubs and making a name for themselves, plus some positive results against MLS teams and hopefully one day Mexican teams (in the Champions League) should garner the league more respect.

It's early days, at this point it's a very small league, but hopefully that can change! The level of play has surpassed expectations so far.

That registration argument is very misleading, boosted by female participation (which is very much a lower percentage in hockey). I had an amateur coaching career for approximately 20 years, early 90's to mid 2010's, and I can tell you that participation numbers are huge for the under 12 crowd, as it is much less expensive than putting children into hockey. Once past 12, registration numbers drop off exponentially. Moreover, saw so many elite players athletes (or rather their parents) choose hockey over soccer as they hit 10 to 12 years of age as that is where the money is. That may all change with the success of our men's team. However, that was an opinion among some on this board when Canada won the gold cup back in 2000 lol. Hockey is still king and will remain so for my lifetime (I am retired).

Edited October 22, 2021 by Ed_S

[Kent]

2 hours ago, Ed_S said:

That registration argument is very misleading, boosted by female participation (which is very much a lower percentage in hockey). I had an amateur coaching career for approximately 20 years, early 90's to mid 2010's, and I can tell you that participation numbers are huge for the under 12 crowd, as it is much less expensive than putting children into hockey. Once past 12, registration numbers drop off exponentially. Moreover, saw so many elite players athletes (or rather their parents) choose hockey over soccer as they hit 10 to 12 years of age as that is where the money is. That may all change with the success of our men's team. However, that was an opinion among some on this board when Canada won the gold cup back in 2000 lol. Hockey is still king and will remain so for my lifetime (I am retired).

Yeah, I get that. If someone is saying "WOAH, THE REGISTRATIONS! WE ARE GOING TO CONQUER THE WORLD!". I just brought it up in terms of having a bit more soccer literate coaches now vs 30 years ago. The male/female split is definitely a factor in soccer's high registration numbers, but also the "soccer as babysitting" for younger kids. You gotta tire kids out somehow, so put them in soccer. Safer and cheaper than hockey.

But back to my point, soccer literacy has increased in that time frame. It's a lot more rare to hear people saying they hate soccer, and it is a lot, lot, LOT, more common to see soccer highlights on sports news shows. Any "plays of the week" will always have at least 1 or 2 soccer clips these days. Soccer clips often win TSN's "1v1" segment which is voted by fans (I just checked, Davies has won 7 days in a row for his goal vs Panama). In the 90's you would usually only see a soccer clip if there was some sort of wacky own goal or a player bit another player's penis during a goal celebration.

[Ed_S]

I agree with that and the babysitting aspect is spot on from my experience. Growth has been pretty steady with MLS teams in play. I was somewhat taken aback by the crowds at Spruce Meadows as they are pretty young despite a generous sprinkling of old farts like myself. WCQ success will bring a quantum leap in interest.

[youllneverwalkalone]

I mean you just have to look at the crowd at BMO the other night to see how far we've come. My first qualifiers were 2004, and if there were 5,000 ppl at Swangard half were supporting Costa Rica or Guatemala.

[nolando]

2 hours ago, Kent said:

In the 90's you would usually only see a soccer clip if there was some sort of wacky own goal or a player bit another player's penis during a goal celebration.

[Jamal]

12 hours ago, Kent said:

MLS, CFL, NFL, and NHL are all definitely bigger than CPL. Some points of comparison. CFL in 2019 (the last non-COVID year of course) averaged about 23,000 fans per game in attendance across the 9 teams in the league. MLS among the 3 Canadian teams averaged about 20,000 fans per game. The NHL averaged about 18,000 fans in attendance across the 7 Canadian teams in 2018-19. CPL in 2019 (the first season, and only one not affected by COVID) averaged about 5,000 fans per game.

To be honest that is a staggering. Those numbers are pretty damning to the CPL, I guess that in the scheme of things, being a new league interest will be low. In the UK, being the most supported sport it is just new to me that interest would be so low. In the UK, the 4th tier of English football would average around 5000 fans per game.

 

12 hours ago, Kent said:

At this point I don't think any of the teams are investing in academies, let alone schooling (if that's what you were referring to by education). The league has purchased League 1 Ontario, which is a development league that is pro-am in the province of Ontario. Other than that, there is an agreement with the University sports system that allows players to be drafted from University into the league, then return to school during the school year (and still be eligible for University sports). That's about it in terms of development at this stage.

Certainly of interest. Academies are such an essential part of youth opportunity and aspiration. The levels of academies vs club level are night and day in the UK. The path is clearly set out as a youngster in the UK. Club level > Academy Level > Youth Pro > Full Pro. I wonder how visual a path is set out for young Canadian players?

 

12 hours ago, Kent said:

That being said, there does seem to be some momentum with the national team now, with Alphonso Davies and some good recent results. So this might be changing here in Canada. For the same kind of perception change to happen in CPL it will probably take a couple players from CPL getting sold out to bigger clubs and making a name for themselves, plus some positive results against MLS teams and hopefully one day Mexican teams (in the Champions League) should garner the league more respect.

Alphonso Davies, for me, is one of the best attacking full backs in the world. Phenomenal talent at such a tender age playing for one of the biggest clubs. My assumption would be that there is interest in Bayern Munich as he is arguably Canada's biggest name player?

 

 

Thank you for such a comprehensive overview. I have been working to understand more about the CPL. Watching the Cavalry vs Pacific game the other day, I was surprised to see unfilled seats in the stadium. The game today between HFX and Forge I am really looking forward to as it could change the scope of the league. The standard of the league would be comparable to our League Football in the UK. I can imagine that the CPL could attract many young players from the UK looking for opportunities abroad as I was. 

 

The community on this forum have been insightful and knowledgable about football, with understanding of football and the league the standard will only improve. I would love to see the clubs competing for TV coverage and replicating numbers of the MLS. What a day that would be.

[Stanley]

11 hours ago, youllneverwalkalone said:

and if there were 5,000 ppl at Swangard half were supporting Costa Rica or Guatemala.

..and it was always Costa Rica or Guatemala night at the stadium with everything being catered towards those supporters.

[youllneverwalkalone]

Indeed, poor Current Champ being dragged out by the RCMP for being attacked.

Through all the dark Colin Miller interim days Kevan Pipe and the rest, I really couldn't imagine both a top crop of players coming through, but also the fan engagement in response (where I think we are at the tip of the ice berg for the CMNT).

Even the media is getting on board. I listen to Halford & Brough in the morning here and they love them some CMNT right now. I think we're headed for 55k + at BC Place in January.

All this will help the CPL in the long-term. We do have the supporters, they just need to be won over.

[Ed_S]

17 hours ago, youllneverwalkalone said:

I mean you just have to look at the crowd at BMO the other night to see how far we've come. My first qualifiers were 2004, and if there were 5,000 ppl at Swangard half were supporting Costa Rica or Guatemala.

I was at Commonwealth in 1994 for Canada vs Brazil -- just shy of 56K and quite pro-Cdn. The real sea change will happen only if we qualify for a WC.

[red card]

Player registration growth has stopped and has fallen.

Despite winning 2 bronze and hosting a World Cup, youth female registration has slipped about 18.5% from 2014-19 as per CSA numbers. I haven't seen any reasons cited for why this has occurred. Covid made it worse. Post covid, there has been some analysis that female sports participation won't be simply bouncing back.

Youth male participation has fallen by about 7% from 2014-19. But as others have noted, quantity didn't mean quality. With better youth coaching, more pro clubs and a maturing football culture, more elite players are being developed from a decreasing pool.

[yellowsweatygorilla]

On 10/21/2021 at 9:46 AM, Jamal said:

how can the CPL keep their prized assets that will make the CPL a stronger league?

 

It's important to remember that CPL isn't built to compete with the MLS at the moment because of salaries on offer. Most CPL players earn around the league minimum of $22,000 a year, and quite a few earn even less than that because of a loophole around developmental players (compare that with the MLS minimum salary of $63,547 for reserve players; minimum of $81,000 for senior players). CPL players seek to move on to bigger leagues, and unfortunately, even stronger players may retire early due to the lack of a living wage (Luca Gasparotto, Giuliano Frano, Jason Beaulieu, and Dylan Carreiro are all recent examples).

Edited October 24, 2021 by yellowsweatygorilla

[Aird25]

On 10/24/2021 at 6:58 AM, yellowsweatygorilla said:

It's important to remember that CPL isn't built to compete with the MLS at the moment because of salaries on offer. Most CPL players earn around the league minimum of $22,000 a year, and quite a few earn even less than that because of a loophole around developmental players (compare that with the MLS minimum salary of $63,547 for reserve players; minimum of $81,000 for senior players). CPL players seek to move on to bigger leagues, and unfortunately, even stronger players may retire early due to the lack of a living wage (Luca Gasparotto, Giuliano Frano, Jason Beaulieu, and Dylan Carreiro are all recent examples).

These CPL numbers are quite different than what the league reported. Where are they coming from?

Regardless, some of the highest paid CPL players are probably the young MLS loanees, and many of them aren't even playing. To me it seems like there's a clear discrepancy in wages for soccer players in this country as a result of the gulf in salaries between the two leagues. From what I can tell, salary does not really reflect ability, or even potential, currently. There are so many past MLS academy players in the CPL that are currently making significantly less than their younger MLS counterparts that are in the same position they were a few years ago.

CPL wages do need to improve, but unfortunately, from a business sense I can't see it happening any time soon. Players aren't exactly being poached at the moment and I'd be shocked if any team was making money. Regardless, any player retiring early now, would have surely retired even earlier a few years ago. We didn't even have a league. Incremental improvements and we'll hopefully get there.

[Big_M]

beaulieu was one of if not the weakest keeper in cpl..should never ever be mentionned as a strong player...this year he played as a striker in a league four levels below plsq as a striker...guess he has to get his anger out lol

[yellowsweatygorilla]

18 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

These CPL numbers are quite different than what the league reported. Where are they coming from?

Regardless, some of the highest paid CPL players are probably the young MLS loanees, and many of them aren't even playing. To me it seems like there's a clear discrepancy in wages for soccer players in this country as a result of the gulf in salaries between the two leagues. From what I can tell, salary does not really reflect ability, or even potential, currently. There are so many past MLS academy players in the CPL that are currently making significantly less than their younger MLS counterparts that are in the same position they were a few years ago.

CPL wages do need to improve, but unfortunately, from a business sense I can't see it happening any time soon. Players aren't exactly being poached at the moment and I'd be shocked if any team was making money. Regardless, any player retiring early now, would have surely retired even earlier a few years ago. We didn't even have a league. Incremental improvements and we'll hopefully get there.

These numbers are from my discussions with players and the union.  Even the league released numbers showing majority of the teams spending below cap backs that up.

I completely agree that salary does not necessarily reflect ability or potential, but it does mean a challenge for retaining players reaching their prime (24-29 years old).

I am not going to recycle an argument about whether CPL is capable or should be paying higher wages at this moment, but I do think it's somewhat obvious that until it can compete on the salary front with MLS, it's going to lag behind. And maybe that's ok - but that wasn't what the OP was asking.

[yellowsweatygorilla]

8 minutes ago, Big_M said:

beaulieu was one of if not the weakest keeper in cpl..should never ever be mentionned as a strong player...this year he played as a striker in a league four levels below plsq as a striker...guess he has to get his anger out lol

Fair - should maybe rephrase as higher reputation player coming from MLS.

But the other three players were clear starters - and we have acclaimed coaches like Isacco directly stating that the biggest challenge to the league's development of players is retention - with a direct correlation to the inability of players to live off their wages. He specifically spoke of Carreiro earning almost double his pay entry level elsewhere.