vancanman

I agree. If any former international were needed, it would be Bunbury. Rather than panning the league and sounding as if he'd like to run the entire thing over with a steamroller like De Guzman, Bumblebee's been very enthusiastic, despite being a bit ...how shall I say, 'flighty.'

Merci

10 teams? Can we get to eight first? (Sorry, I'm old and I don't know how to make those face thingies or which one indicates that I'm only joking, so please don't take offence.)

Has he said anything about his time with Wanderers? All he said here in Japanese is, "I have signed a contract with Oklahoma Energy FC. I appreciate the chance to play professionally next year, and I would like to show that I am improving. I'll do my best." so there's nothing there.

I'll preface my comment with this: I am trying to avoid an argument, rather than start one. I hope that comes across below: I agree that each case is individual. That's why I specified 'for billionaires.'

Sorry, but I asked what Saputo wants to do. The second question was asking if you know how other countries get things done.

I know that Saputo had to leave that corridor open in order to not block the view of the incredibly aesthetically pleasing tower at Stade Olympique. What does Saputo want to do to the stadium? Do you have any solutions, or do you know how other countries manage to get it done?

You're right. I don't want public money to fund stadiums for billionaires (not that we have many billionaires in Canada) but the result of the way we do things in Canada is, Saputo's the only stadium with four sides and a roof covering at least the back three rows of the stands. How do other countries get things done?

I love Canada, but to answer your question, yes, absolutely, because Canadians just don't 'get' sports the way people in other countries do. Professional sports is just not a way of life in Canada the way it is in most other countries. People don't want public money going to fund stadiums. Look at the Whitecaps, they don't even want private money going to fund stadiums. I don't want public money going to fund stadiums for teams owned by private owners, but things are always made so difficult, and there's not a chance of us ever having a national stadium or even a couple of regional stadiums for national teams (to possibly be shared with amateur sports). The easiest way to compare our situation to others is the NHL since all things should be equal amongst all the teams. So they're arenas, not stadia, but it's the same principle. When a team in the US wants to build a new arena, they get help from the local government, and pay very little in taxes because of the jobs they create and the revenue they bring to the immediate area and the local economy in general. When a Canadian team wants to build an arena, the city tells them to go f*** themselves and you end up with teams like the Habs paying more in taxes than all US teams combined. People argue that part of the problem is that our population is all spread out, which is true. However, Australia's population is also along a very thin line along the southern edge of the country, concentrated in one blob towards the east with an isolated city on the west coast and an island of slightly unusual people off the coast on the eastern edge of the country. If you build a new stadium in Australia, the locals ask, "Why isn't it bigger, and why didn't you build it sooner? Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go watch five other teams I follow."

The the only reason you'd need French in an officially bilingual country is if we have a team in Quebec? Perhaps St. Boniface isn't as francophone as it once was, but I find the 'Quebec is French and the rest of the country is English' way of thinking baffling. Even if that vision of language distribution in Canada were true, it's certainly not the best way to entice teams from Quebec (or New Brunswick) to join, or to get other francophone fans even. Just as M Marchand pointed out, the league is very anglophone. If I were him, it wouldn't be a very alluring aspect. Imagine the shoe being on the other foot? How closely would anglos be following this league, and how many anglo investors would be interested in forking over wads of cash if the league had started off in Quebec, New Brunswick and franco-Ontario and had almost no English content?

With the important stuff like such a great result, great atmosphere from what I've heard and great answers from these two, I can look past the typical off the pitch things the CSA still does like providing one mic for two people. Thank you for posting this.

He should be interviewing them. First question: Why didn't you f***ers broadcast this game?

For this season at least, we have the winners of the Spring and Autumn seasons playing off against each other. For those who need more than that, that would have to include at least four teams. Barring some miracle and another team joins by next season without a stadium to play in, that would mean that all you have to do to make the play offs is be mediocre. That's right, finish mid-table and voilà, here's a playoff. So now we're in 1980's NHL 'everyone's a winner!' territory, rewarding all but the last place team in three divisions and all but the last two teams in the other division with a play off series. If you want meaningless games, that's the way to do it.

That's insane, considering the following that team has for the size of the city. Who do the sports media people in Halifax think those people are that march to the ground waving flags?

Agreed. If you don't know the league exists, you're not going to search for it If you want to attract casuals and the zillions of people who don't even know the league exists, hiding on the internet isn't the way to do it. They should be doing what they can to get highlights on TV. Of course, TV in Canada should also be doing its part, but that's not likely to happen because there's never time after showing half an hour of 'sports' highlights from some other country.