York United - 2023 Season Thread

[longlugan]

8 hours ago, Shway said:

Looking at the attendance, am I'm just wondering.

Why not Lamport, why wasn't it ever considered? It's in a gem of spot, and stadium built for soccer.

Here is a gallery of the stadium I took back in 2017 when I was walking around dreaming one day.

They are already competing with TFC regardless of how close they are. But it's the overall experience of going to an enjoy a game and being able to do shit either before or after. That option doesn't exist at York lions, it's get in and get out...a few minutes walk and you could wonder into an area where you shouldn't be after dark (iykyk.) 

If I was the owner, or able to make some serious decisions I would play at Lamport. Keep individual tickets around the same price they are today ($25) but add  5+ group packages. I would take a page out of Atlanta's United's book with providing cheap concessions - ($3 hot dogs, $2 water, $5 beers, $2 pops.) Profits would be marginal, but the experience will be improved, and I can guarantee you that attendance would increase.

Location, location, location. 

....Mind you, I don't think their project place at Woodbine is ideal either.

I am on the same page here. I was at a corporate function sponsored by TFC a few years at Lamport so I got to experience the stadium first hand. It is obviously a tired structure but with a little bit of love(and more than a little money) plus a new professional worthy surface it would be a fantastic home stadium. With Liberty Village at the doorstep for pre and post-game opportunities it could quite literally be one of the best if not the best(location wise of course) stadiums in the CPL. Amazing location for a road trip as a Forge fan like myself as well.

[Kadenge]

24 minutes ago, longlugan said:

..... at Lamport so I got to experience the stadium first hand. It is obviously a tired structure ......

From the gallery provided by @Shway it looks like it hasn't changed from the early 80s, including the players' change rooms/showers, seating, press box etc. A walk down memory lane...

 

 

 

[longlugan]

Just now, Kadenge said:

From the gallery provided by @Shway it looks like it hasn't changed from the early 80s, including the players' change rooms/showers, seating, press box etc. A walk down memory lane...

 

 

 

Indeed but a lot of that is cosmetic. Structurally the stadium seems sound(which is where the costs would really skyrocket) but either way it won't be cheap. I'd still love to see it done...with someone else's money of course.

[Nello]

Doesn’t MLSE have some sort of claim to it? 

[Ansem]

4 hours ago, longlugan said:

I am on the same page here. I was at a corporate function sponsored by TFC a few years at Lamport so I got to experience the stadium first hand. It is obviously a tired structure but with a little bit of love(and more than a little money) plus a new professional worthy surface it would be a fantastic home stadium. With Liberty Village at the doorstep for pre and post-game opportunities it could quite literally be one of the best if not the best(location wise of course) stadiums in the CPL. Amazing location for a road trip as a Forge fan like myself as well.

They'd be in TFC's shadow...literally 🤣

[Pottsy3]

18 hours ago, jonovision said:

A computer science university student (I was one once) could whip up some code to figure this out in about 3 minutes, but they'd need access to a text database of player names.

This seemed like a fun activity, so I quickly pulled this for the current CPL rosters. The biggest challenge was finding the player data for free. I found a site with .csv's but I wasn't planning to pay, so I had to copy and paste the players name from the CPL website. Then manually removed middle names, so that the data set was just first-last from my common knowledge.

 

The names with the least unique letters:

 

5 letters - Rocco Romeo

 

6 letters - Kyle Bekker, Rezart Rama, Jaime Siaj and Oussama Alou

 

The names with the most unique letters:

 

13 letters - Markiyan Voytsekhovskyy, Gareth Smith-Doyle, Alessandro Hojabrpour, and Georges Mukumbilwa

 

14 letters - Pacifique Niyongabire, Christopher Kalongo, and Eskander Mzoughi

Edited April 20, 2023 by Pottsy3

[K Edgar]

34 minutes ago, Pottsy3 said:

6 letters - Kyle Bekker, Rezart Rama, Jaime Siaj and Oussama Alou

 

14 letters - Pacifique Niyongabire, Christopher Kalongor, and Eskander Mzoughi

Valour's time at the top of the league table may not last but this we can hold all season!

... and try Siaj's full name -- "Jaime Mohamad Fathi Ashor Siaj Romero" (still only 12)

[Pottsy3]

7 hours ago, Pottsy3 said:

This seemed like a fun activity, so I quickly pulled this for the current CPL rosters. The biggest challenge was finding the player data for free. I found a site with .csv's but I wasn't planning to pay, so I had to copy and paste the players name from the CPL website. Then manually removed middle names, so that the data set was just first-last from my common knowledge.

 

The names with the least unique letters:

 

5 letters - Rocco Romeo

 

6 letters - Kyle Bekker, Rezart Rama, Jaime Siaj and Oussama Alou

 

The names with the most unique letters:

 

13 letters - Markiyan Voytsekhovskyy, Gareth Smith-Doyle, Alessandro Hojabrpour, and Georges Mukumbilwa

 

14 letters - Pacifique Niyongabire, Christopher Kalongo, and Eskander Mzoughi

Forge’s newest signee, Oluwarimidalare Olatunji also joined the 13 letter club

[Kent]

@Pottsy3 legend! Well done.

[VinceA]

 

[VinceA]

https://canpl.ca/article/york-united-ownership-update-announced

[Soccerpro2]

This is the least surprising development, ever.

Attendance was beyond terrible and was not improving in year 5.

Best thing that can happen is York gets moved to Kelowna or whatever city is ready for an expansion team.

[K Edgar]

https://northerntribune.ca/baldassarra-family-sells-york-united-to-csb/

[zeelaw]

Sad face.

[CanadaFan123]

I guess we’ll wait for the other shoe to drop here. Attendance wasn’t great but surely they’re at least breaking even with player sales over the last year.

In terms of football management they’re one of the better run sides. So I think a new owner would see the potential. Hopefully CSB steps up right away and makes this voyageurs cup match against the whitecaps special. 

[Dominic94]

Are the attendance issues solely stadium related ?

[Soccerpro2]

Here's my hot take:

It's hard to get people to care about lower-league sports teams in a big city like Toronto. Yes, York had a bad stadium and did things wrong but I think it's almost impossible to pull off a successful team in the GTA.

Move the team to Kelowna, KW, Quebec City, anywhere.

I don't believe for one second that "better marketing" suddenly makes 5k people show up in a metro of 5 million rather than the 900 people they currently get.

 

 

 

[jonovision]

I'd feel badly for York fans, but moving the team to somewhere in Quebec would do wonders for the balance of the league.

[ATM]

2 minutes ago, Soccerpro2 said:

Here's my hot take:

It's hard to get people to care about lower-league sports teams in a big city like Toronto. Yes, York had a bad stadium and did things wrong but I think it's almost impossible to pull off a successful team in the GTA.

Move the team to Kelowna, KW, Quebec City, anywhere.

I don't believe for one second that "better marketing" suddenly makes 5k people show up in a metro of 5 million rather than the 900 people they currently get.

 

 

 

I 100% agree with you. I have been saying this for a while now in previous discussions. The ONLY way this team has a chance is if the league calls RYAN REYNOLDS!!!!!

Move the team to Quebec City or Laval.

 

[narduch]

15 minutes ago, Soccerpro2 said:

Here's my hot take:

It's hard to get people to care about lower-league sports teams in a big city like Toronto. Yes, York had a bad stadium and did things wrong but I think it's almost impossible to pull off a successful team in the GTA.

Move the team to Kelowna, KW, Quebec City, anywhere.

I don't believe for one second that "better marketing" suddenly makes 5k people show up in a metro of 5 million rather than the 900 people they currently get.

 

 

 

It's going to be interesting to see how Vancouver FC does.

I think with a better stadium and possibly a better location it could maybe work in Toronto. 

Go after the soccer hipster crowd.

‐-‐-----

My speculation is they fold like Edmonton did.

The big question is will the league be 7 or 8 teams in 2024. The league needs an expansion win desperately. 

Edited April 24, 2023 by narduch

[-Hammer-]

On 4/19/2023 at 6:01 PM, longlugan said:

I am on the same page here. I was at a corporate function sponsored by TFC a few years at Lamport so I got to experience the stadium first hand. It is obviously a tired structure but with a little bit of love(and more than a little money) plus a new professional worthy surface it would be a fantastic home stadium. With Liberty Village at the doorstep for pre and post-game opportunities it could quite literally be one of the best if not the best(location wise of course) stadiums in the CPL. Amazing location for a road trip as a Forge fan like myself as well.

Lamport is probably the best location you can hope for, save that you basically need to make sure you never schedule anything the same time that TFC plays. That however is the problem, MLSE will do everything in it's power to make sure that doesn't happen. 

Frankly, I think the best thing for Lamport is that it be turned into a slowly expanding 15,000 seat venue for the Argos and that they only use BMO for big games like the Grey Cup. That will make the TFC fans stop complaining and may give the Argos a new lease on a facility more to their size.

[ATM]

10 minutes ago, narduch said:

It's going to be interesting to see how Vancouver FC does.

I think with a better stadium and possibly a better location it could maybe work in Toronto. 

Go after the soccer hipster crowd.

‐-‐-----

My speculation is they fold like Edmonton did.

The big question is will the league be 7 or 8 teams in 2024. The league needs an expansion win desperately. 

I hope York is not our version of the Coyotes and the NHL....doing whatever possible to keep the team in york even if there are better options.....much like the Coyotes,  everyone wants the team in Quebec, but Betteman and the NHL seem to know better!?!?! lLet's pray the CPL Board have better sense.

[Colonel Green]

5 minutes ago, ATM said:

I hope York is not our version of the Coyotes and the NHL....doing whatever possible to keep the team in york even if there are better options.....much like the Coyotes,  everyone wants the team in Quebec, but Betteman and the NHL seem to know better!?!?! lLet's pray the CPL Board have better sense.

Not really comparable situations — Bettman does not actually want a team in Quebec because Canadian markets aren’t his expansion emphasis, the CPL knows it needs teams in Quebec, they just haven’t been able to find an ownership group.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Guess this also belongs here:

 

[narduch]