Pacific FC - 2023 Season Thread

[MM3/MM2/MM]

Youth influx, highlighted by Eric Lajeunesse signing a USports contract. 

 https://northerntribune.ca/pacific-fc-emil-gazdov-contract-extension/

[Aird25]

1 hour ago, MM3/MM2/MM said:

Youth influx, highlighted by Eric Lajeunesse signing a USports contract. 

 https://northerntribune.ca/pacific-fc-emil-gazdov-contract-extension/

Nice! I love the moves we’ve made this off-season. Hopefully the Wave kids can get some minutes/experience this season

[narduch]

Has construction started on the new seating?

[Aird25]

4 minutes ago, narduch said:

Has construction started on the new seating?

No, the newly elected council has stalled it 

[Unnamed Trialist]

2 hours ago, Aird25 said:

No, the newly elected council has stalled it 

Can you confirm if the bid for tender was officially published? I appreciate that it could be delayed at any of the phases involved.

[Aird25]

18 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Can you confirm if the bid for tender was officially published? I appreciate that it could be delayed at any of the phases involved.

No, I haven't followed that closely, but it was a last minute election topic raised by the newly elected council. They ran on having more comprehensive development requirements, and that included a feasibility study for the stadium expansion. Some of the council members did speak prior to the opener, so they are hopefully still considering it. If expansion happens they need to improve services too though (food, drinks, transportation, parking etc.).  5K was a bit of a nightmare over the weekend

They barely even got the pole moved in time, and there wasn't enough time to build something permanent to drastically improve the camera angle. I doubt expansion was ever planned to go to tender. I imagine Rob Friend's stadium building company was going to be awarded the project when Stew Young was still in charge, though I seem to recall something about the company that built Cavalry's stadium being awarded the work early in discussions. I think the stands for the last expansion were too expensive and there are some glaring issues, but it would look nicer if it was consistent. 

Edited April 17, 2023 by Aird25

[Unnamed Trialist]

23 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

No, I haven't followed that closely, but it was a last minute election topic raised by the newly elected council. They ran on having more comprehensive development requirements, and that included a feasibility study for the stadium expansion. Some of the council members did speak prior to the opener, so they are hopefully still considering it. If expansion happens they need to improve services too though (food, drinks, transportation, parking etc.).  5K was a bit of a nightmare over the weekend

They barely even got the pole moved in time, and there wasn't enough time to build something permanent to drastically improve the camera angle. I doubt expansion was ever planned to go to tender. I imagine Rob Friend's stadium building company was going to be awarded the project when Stew Young was still in charge, though I seem to recall something about the company that built Cavalry's stadium being awarded the work early in discussions. I think the stands for the last expansion were too expensive and there are some glaring issues, but it would look nicer if it was consistent. 

I was told by a person working on site last July that they hadn't done proper legal tenders for the previous expansions, and they would now have to. So Mayor Stew was aware and was on board.

That meant they couldn't just pick the company they wanted, now they won't even be able to rig the tender in favour of Friend's stadium associates.

I was also told that the new north stand would run from the west side, near the new end stand, to about 30 metres from the other east end line, because of underground gas installations at that end. Or similar. I reported this after visiting last summer.

So what they were planning to do was build a wooden platform down that section, possibly, and put amenities along it, similar to the one on the south west corner. Or maybe that very one.

You're right he never filed proper development plans and they were winging it for years. It was one of the arguments that helped him lose the election, since what really let him down was a minimal participation, not the opposition polling that strongly. People I know in Langford are increasingly critical of urban planning deficiencies.

Edited April 17, 2023 by Unnamed Trialist

[Aird25]

31 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

I was told by a person working on site last July that they hadn't done proper legal tenders for the previous expansions, and they would now have to. So Mayor Stew was aware and was on board.

That meant they couldn't just pick the company they wanted, now they won't even be able to rig the tender in favour of Friend's stadium associates.

I was also told that the new north stand would run from the west side, near the new end stand, to about 30 metres from the other east end line, because of underground gas installations at that end. Or similar. I reported this after visiting last summer.

So what they were planning to do was build a wooden platform down that section, possibly, and put amenities along it, similar to the one on the south west corner. Or maybe that very one.

You're right he never filed proper development plans and they were winging it for years. It was one of the arguments that helped him lose the election, since what really let him down was a minimal participation, not the opposition polling that strongly. People I know in Langford are increasingly critical of urban planning deficiencies.

Perhaps building the stadium along an extremely narrow corridor, competing with rail, road, power, gas etc. was perhaps not the best choice. 

I wonder if the Langley stadium went through a proper legal tender. If that's the route stadiums are going it could throw a hitch in their business plans

[Admiral Murray]

I feel like Stew was quoted at one point that the stands were already purchased or committed to (as part of the $8 million expansion which included $4 million for pole removal) and that the corner stands were already in storage at Langford?  

[Admiral Murray]

Found this which says 2024 for expansion but that was written last year when Stew was still around.

 

https://islandsocialtrends.ca/bc-hydro-pole-relocation-pushes-starlight-stadium-to-2024-for-expanded-sports-season/

 

And then there is this item in 2023 Langford budget:

Edited April 17, 2023 by Admiral Murray

[Unnamed Trialist]

4 hours ago, Aird25 said:

Perhaps building the stadium along an extremely narrow corridor, competing with rail, road, power, gas etc. was perhaps not the best choice. 

I wonder if the Langley stadium went through a proper legal tender. If that's the route stadiums are going it could throw a hitch in their business plans

I was regularly checking the online BC municipal tender site and never saw one for the Langley Events Centre. Comparing that to others I did see, including for stands in other facilities in Langley, in Surrey. Transparency means you can check online and filter, and you can't find anything for VFC.

Possibly, when an entity has entered into an agreement with a municipality, and there is a collaboration of sorts, you can circumvent open tenders under certain circumstances.

Edited April 18, 2023 by Unnamed Trialist

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

 

[Aird25]

2 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

 

It’s nice to see the new Langford council working with the club. I imagine they’ll just be adding more bleachers on the north side. I wonder where visiting fans will be put. They’ve sold tickets this time for the sections they were previously placed in this year

Edited May 18, 2023 by Aird25

[davey_twelve]

Any guesses on how many Whitecaps supporters will be attending? How many came out for the match in 2021?

[SpursFlu]

1 hour ago, davey_twelve said:

Any guesses on how many Whitecaps supporters will be attending? How many came out for the match in 2021?

I think there were about 50 but remember covid restrictions and stuff were still lingering at the time. I'm sure there are also Whitecaps fans on the Island. People who have moved over or do the ferry ride for games

[Unnamed Trialist]

18 hours ago, Aird25 said:

It’s nice to see the new Langford council working with the club. I imagine they’ll just be adding more bleachers on the north side. I wonder where visiting fans will be put. They’ve sold tickets this time for the sections they were previously placed in this year

Ferryside, who came up with that? I don't like it all, it makes no sense for anyone in BC.

More seating: I just checked for tickets and there were no stands showing on the north side, where the benches are. I wonder if they will put some stands in and sell walk-up overflow to those areas, to not have to add them to the Ticketmaster. 

Or, they could add a tier in behind the West side, I suppose, but not as easy.

[Aird25]

18 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Ferryside, who came up with that? I don't like it all, it makes no sense for anyone in BC.

More seating: I just checked for tickets and there were no stands showing on the north side, where the benches are. I wonder if they will put some stands in and sell walk-up overflow to those areas, to not have to add them to the Ticketmaster. 

Or, they could add a tier in behind the West side, I suppose, but not as easy.

I imagine they’re already selling tickets for the north side as GA or beer garden tickets. It’s just not shown on the map that way. Otherwise I suspect the GA would’ve been sold out long ago. It typically is one of the first things to go. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

8 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

I imagine they’re already selling tickets for the north side as GA or beer garden tickets. It’s just not shown on the map that way. Otherwise I suspect the GA would’ve been sold out long ago. It typically is one of the first things to go. 

Is that all standing then? How do they calculate that when if you go 2-3 deep someone shorter or a kid is not even going to see the game?

As I hate the idea of beer gardens as associated with soccer (it looks and is stupid, every time we see it in these CPL stadiums it's an embarrassment, HFX included--and I am willing to recognize a few exceptional cases), it seems like such a waste when you could generate revenue with proper stands and give the fan decent conditions for watching a game.

[Aird25]

4 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Is that all standing then? How do they calculate that when if you go 2-3 deep someone shorter or a kid is not even going to see the game?

As I hate the idea of beer gardens as associated with soccer (it looks and is stupid, every time we see it in these CPL stadiums it's an embarrassment, HFX included--and I am willing to recognize a few exceptional cases), it seems like such a waste when you could generate revenue with proper stands and give the fan decent conditions for watching a game.

The beer garden is standing but takes up a small part of the north sideline. I imagine they’ll add additional bleachers elsewhere along the north sideline if needed. 

[gator]

1 hour ago, Aird25 said:

The beer garden is standing but takes up a small part of the north sideline. I imagine they’ll add additional bleachers elsewhere along the north sideline if needed. 

It is interesting this topic came up, last night at the Forge match my son and I were discussing how it could be beneficial to the club to have cheap GA tickets in a North end zone beer garden, the structure is there! I get what UT is saying about it but this could bring additional casual fans into the stadium and more money brought in by beer, food and merchandise sales! I don't care if the fans are not fully engaged in the match, I saw a highlight of a home run hit into the new patio of the Rogers centre which almost hit several fans not paying attention swilling back beer!😀🍺

[red card]

On 5/20/2023 at 12:48 PM, gator said:

It is interesting this topic came up, last night at the Forge match my son and I were discussing how it could be beneficial to the club to have cheap GA tickets in a North end zone beer garden, the structure is there! I get what UT is saying about it but this could bring additional casual fans into the stadium and more money brought in by beer, food and merchandise sales! I don't care if the fans are not fully engaged in the match, I saw a highlight of a home run hit into the new patio of the Rogers centre which almost hit several fans not paying attention swilling back beer!😀🍺

This reminded me of a recent Athletic article about London-based Dulwich Hamlet of the non-league National League South. While Dulwich had the highest average league attendance of 2,464 (about 1k higher than the 2nd highest club), they still got relegated.

The article in some part focuses on how the huge gates didn't translate into financial dominance of the league. It theorized attendance figures and atmosphere do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. 

What used to be a vibrant, raucous atmosphere can now sometimes feel to some more like an outdoor food hall or pub garden, with a football match going on in the background. To some Dulwich fans who have been coming for years, this new influx of fans has changed the feel on matchdays and even driven some away from coming. 

“What we completely underestimated is how the crowd would change as it grew. When a group of friends turn up together for a day out, the likelihood is that they aren’t there to make a racket, they’re there to socialise. This has undoubtedly negatively impacted the matchday experience for the fans who prioritise supporting the team over having a chat with their mates."

https://theathletic.com/4513863/2023/05/13/dulwich-hamlet-relegation-new-ground/

This can also describe MLS 1.0 where the focus was on catering to casuals or soccer moms. But they didn't attend enough matches to matter, didn't buy any merchandise and not only didn't add to the matchday expereince but usually drained it. As MLS 2.0 and later showed, this meant it turned off core soccer fans especially from the American Latino community.

Edited May 22, 2023 by red card

[ted]

On 5/19/2023 at 8:32 AM, Unnamed Trialist said:

Ferryside, who came up with that? I don't like it all, it makes no sense for anyone in BC.

Yeah, it's not only bad, but they are now pretending that "the fans" came up with it. 🙄

[Unnamed Trialist]

4 hours ago, ted said:

Yeah, it's not only bad, but they are now pretending that "the fans" came up with it. 🙄

It's a takeoff from Merseyside, mostly, but what does that mean? It's the county on either side of the Mersey, and anyways it almost always refers to a match between two teams on the same side of the river and in fact quite close to each other. Not with the main team on the other side in the Wirral, Tranmere (I've been to that stadium too).

So it's just mumbo jumbo and applied senselessly.

Mainland - Island. Salish Sea. Whatever. The Caps and CPL teams aren't in the same league and can't play a derby, there's no guarantee it'll even be a regular thing. 

Now VFC vs Pacific, what's that, the Lang-Lang?

[BearcatSA]

On 5/21/2023 at 5:25 PM, red card said:

This reminded me of a recent Athletic article about London-based Dulwich Hamlet of the non-league National League South. While Dulwich had the highest average league attendance of 2,464 (about 1k higher than the 2nd highest club), they still got relegated.

The article in some part focuses on how the huge gates didn't translate into financial dominance of the league. It theorized attendance figures and atmosphere do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. 

What used to be a vibrant, raucous atmosphere can now sometimes feel to some more like an outdoor food hall or pub garden, with a football match going on in the background. To some Dulwich fans who have been coming for years, this new influx of fans has changed the feel on matchdays and even driven some away from coming. 

“What we completely underestimated is how the crowd would change as it grew. When a group of friends turn up together for a day out, the likelihood is that they aren’t there to make a racket, they’re there to socialise. This has undoubtedly negatively impacted the matchday experience for the fans who prioritise supporting the team over having a chat with their mates."

https://theathletic.com/4513863/2023/05/13/dulwich-hamlet-relegation-new-ground/

This can also describe MLS 1.0 where the focus was on catering to casuals or soccer moms. But they didn't attend enough matches to matter, didn't buy any merchandise and not only didn't add to the matchday expereince but usually drained it. As MLS 2.0 and later showed, this meant it turned off core soccer fans especially from the American Latino community.

Go to a BCHL game and that's what you're getting, if it is a rink with large, accessible concourses.  It's like a supersized Boston Pizza restaurant where instead of the game being only on the plethora of big tv screens around the room, it's played live while patrons are stuffing their pieholes with pricey beverage and food and yakking it up during the match.  It's an all around, fall fair/carnival event, where the game is not the only attraction.