League1 Ontario has announced it will introduce promotion and relegation starting in 2024

[canuckgbp]

 

 

Edited January 25, 2022 by canuckgbp

[canuckgbp]

More info-

The 2024 Plan: League1 To Introduce Pro/Rel, 3-Tier System For 2024 Season (league1ontario.com)

[-Hammer-]

My only question here is given it is a youth league, would we expect a lot of dramatic jumps and falls, given it's impossible for these teams to retain players long term.

[ted]

[canuckgbp]

 

[rydermike]

45 minutes ago, -Hammer- said:

My only question here is given it is a youth league, would we expect a lot of dramatic jumps and falls, given it's impossible for these teams to retain players long term.

League1 Ontario is not a youth league. It's the open age semi-pro division. The L1O Reserve Division is U21, but that doesn't affect L1O itself. The OPDL is the Ontario top youth league

[Kent]

Absolutely love this! The only downside is that they went with the ridiculous "Championship" naming of the 2nd tier.

What do the winners of the top tier playoffs (if they continue with playoffs, I haven't read everything yet) win? Is it the Championship? The div 2 winners have also won the Championship? I really don't understand how the Championship in England didn't get ridiculed until it changed to something more sensible, thus allowing us to copy something that makes more sense.

But yeah, outstanding news today!

[rydermike]

Yeah, I don't like the copying of Championship for second tier. I feel like they did it because they created a second short season this year due to covid called the Summer Championship which was to be a one-off and figure they started it so might as well continue it.

[Shway]

So the pyramid or naming convention is:
League 1 Ontario Premier Division
League 1 Ontario Championship Division
League 1 Ontario League 2

Why not keep it simple like.....

Ontario League 1
Ontario League 2
Ontario League 3 

or 

Ontario Premier League
Ontario Championship League
Ontario Elite League

Edited January 25, 2022 by Shway

[rydermike]

I think it's supposed to be

League1 Ontario Premier

League1 Ontario Championship

League2 Ontario

 

Not L1OL2

Edited January 26, 2022 by rydermike

[Obinna]

Just came here to bitch about the nomenclature. Looks to already have been taken care of. Good work guys.

[Kent]

I wasn't following pro soccer when England used First Division, Second Division, Third Division. But when they switched to Premier League, First Division, Second Division, my father pointed out that it's a bit stupid because premier (or more specifically, première) means first. So it's First, First, Second. The subtle foolishness of that name is nothing like Premier, Championship, One. I wonder how long until the third tier ends up being named something like "Gold Medal".

[Cblake]

The only thing I wonder about is how it will effect some of the more ambitious entries into L10. We have both Electric City and Simcoe County Rovers for instances who have mentioned a possible CPL future and are really putting an effort into into their club. Not sure what good it does making them start in the 3rd division of this structure playing reserve teams. Could even make some double think about going down this path? Just a thought. 

[Kent]

2 hours ago, Cblake said:

The only thing I wonder about is how it will effect some of the more ambitious entries into L10. We have both Electric City and Simcoe County Rovers for instances who have mentioned a possible CPL future and are really putting an effort into into their club. Not sure what good it does making them start in the 3rd division of this structure playing reserve teams. Could even make some double think about going down this path? Just a thought. 

Those 2 specific teams will start this year, and the split happens in 2024, using aggregate results from 2022 and 2023 (points factored at 75% in 2022 and 100% in 2023). So if they are good enough on the field, then they will be in the top tier when the split happens.

Going forward what it does for new ambitious teams is that if/when they get their way up to the top tier, they have a division with no filler, just other teams of a similar mindset. Higher quality games each time out. I think it's better to prove you are a big deal instead of just telling people you are a big deal. Look at other ambitious teams like that one that folded a few games into year one (they had former Newcastle United player Nolberto Solano as their coach, and were playing downtown Toronto at Lamport stadium, so seemed like a big deal), or the Barrie team 1812 FC which seemed like a big deal when they were announced, but by the end of the season their coach wasn't bothering to show up anymore (I don't know the story behind that) and they never did play home games in Barrie, or all that close to Barrie even.

[Kingston]

On 1/25/2022 at 9:46 PM, Cblake said:

The only thing I wonder about is how it will effect some of the more ambitious entries into L10. We have both Electric City and Simcoe County Rovers for instances who have mentioned a possible CPL future and are really putting an effort into into their club. Not sure what good it does making them start in the 3rd division of this structure playing reserve teams. Could even make some double think about going down this path? Just a thought. 

I doubt it would make a committed expansion team forgo joining the league.  Since the 3rd division is meant to be for reserve teams, however, to me it would make sense to put expansion teams in the 2nd division.  Especially if they are entering with a reserve team already in place which is not out of the question for an established club side moving into L1O.

My random thought is whether we'll see teams in the 3rd division pass on promotion.  The current reserve division is nicely divided geographically.  If I'm running a reserve team in London or Windsor, say, I think I'd stay in the 3rd division rather than move slightly up the pyramid and have to do a lot more driving.

[Kent]

1 hour ago, Kingston said:

I doubt it would make a committed expansion team forgo joining the league.  Since the 3rd division is meant to be for reserve teams, however, to me it would make sense to put expansion teams in the 2nd division.  Especially if they are entering with a reserve team already in place which is not out of the question for an established club side moving into L1O.

Will be interesting to see about reserve teams. Will teams in the 3rd tier have them? Or maybe they will play in a local league outside of L1O's pyramid? As per the article linked above, expansion teams won't be starting in the 2nd tier.

"Despite unprecedented levels of interest in joining the league, the L1O Board of Directors has decided that new expansion will be paused until 2024, at which time clubs invited to join the fold will begin their journey starting at the newly-created League2 tier."

[Kingston]

5 hours ago, Kent said:

Will be interesting to see about reserve teams. Will teams in the 3rd tier have them? Or maybe they will play in a local league outside of L1O's pyramid? As per the article linked above, expansion teams won't be starting in the 2nd tier.

This year the 3rd tier (called the Reserve Division) had actual reserve teams from L1O clubs and also teams from, for example, local academies that have all their other teams elsewhere.

[Cblake]

I am very impressed with Electric City FC in Peterborough. They have a team store selling all sorts of gear that is also available online, something I have never seen before in L10. Have had pubs night, they really putting an effort in to promote this team. I have also noticed banners hanging from the light standards around town. This new team seems to have some real ambition behind it. They also have recently announced partnerships with five local area youth soccer clubs.  Now the only question left to answer is where they are playing?

https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/sports/soccer/2022/02/03/electric-city-football-club-partnering-with-five-peterborough-area-youth-soccer-clubs.html

Edited February 4, 2022 by Cblake

[Kingston]

15 hours ago, Cblake said:

Now the only question left to answer is where they are playing?

I don't know the city well.  Would the university stadium work?  A quick map search makes it look reasonably accessible and the internet tells me it seats 1000 which is a good size for an L1O team.