Ams1984

Why would it be “doomed?” I also disagree with the notion that only a world superstar can draw casuals and help grow the fanbase. Having a top player (for this level) on a club would: 1) make the games more exciting, especially if the player is offensive. 2) increase notoriety and news coverage of the league. Considering that it does very little advertising and gets very little coverage, this might be especially helpful. 3) help clubs whose attendance isn’t great by a) making the games better, b) attracting casuals and bettering the atmosphere, all of which would; 4) help the league make more money. Doesn't sound like doom to me. I’m also hoping that they’ll get rid of the salary cap eventually. At the very least, they should make it flexible and linked to revenue on a per club basis. For the league to improve and grow, we need to spend (responsibly).

Might help fix the attendance, so maybe.

Yeah, salary caps are a thing... true. Ideally there might (hopefully) be a raised cap, or some kind of exception for ‘marquis’ players not to count against the cap, but I guess it’ll be tough until that happens.

Zero shots on goal for York... this seems to be a pattern; they play well enough and are usually competitive in matches, but for the most part struggle to generate scoring opportunities. I reiterate my view that York 9 should sign a ‘marquis’ type striker in the off season. Preferably one with name recognition among casuals, even if he’s ageing, in order to help attendance, and of course to score some bloody goals!

Well... that’s all folks. I guess ‘better luck next year’?

Assuming he’s not actually a rapist, I’m all for it. We should let Cuban defectors stay, and in the case of soccer players, I’d bet that they’d be domestic players for league purposes (I believe that refugees are given PR status). That being said, I really don’t know how one gets to the bottom of such an allegation when it’s made elsewhere, especially if the person in question hasn’t been tried, and particularly if the system doing the investigating in situ is questionable at best (as most third world justice systems are).

I’m all for Canadian players, but I think that for a player to be the ‘marquis’ player, it’d make the most sense to buy someone casuals might have heard of, someone who can help get butts in seats, and the most likely to check those boxes and dominate on the field, would be an older or prime aged European player.

I think York 9’s attack is pretty listless. They need to sign a creative foreign player who can lead the attack. A ‘marquis’ player, if you will.

Sounds the the greater Toronto area

Will he take up an international spot though? He’s still Canadian. Anyhow, yes it sucks that he won’t be playing for the CMNT.

The 70s and 80s might as well have been 1000 years ago in terms of the commercial viability of professional sports. TV/broadcast deals, merchandising, corporate partnerships etc are in a whole different universe than they were back then. The failure of a given approach in 1980 means nothing in reference to this new league’s chances. Further, there is zero evidence that a lack of ‘parity’ was responsible for that league’s demise; to ascribe its failure to a lack of ‘parity’ is beyond a subjective normative valuation based on nothing but your own views on the matter.

Bang on. ‘Parity’ is MLS and US sports league silliness. The English Premier League, La Liga etc, are the best and most successful leagues in the world, both on and off the field. Given that almost all soccer fans in Canada also likely watch one or more of the European leagues regularly, I’d say most of us aren’t bothered if the biggest markets like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver are allowed to exploit their larger market potential.

I agree with what I believe your larger point to be; MLS and the USL are the same in that they aren’t our Canadian national league, and now that there is such a league, we should disentangle ourselves from both of the aforesaid (or at least, there’s no rationale for keeping Canadian clubs in one but not the other). Of course FIFA, Concacaf, and the CSA are subject to the legal systems of the jurisdictions in which they operate, but there is no right to receive sanctioning, and there is also no right to hold third parties to a contract or business arrangement that they aren’t a party to (the sanctioning bodies have no privity of contract with USL or the Fury). Bottom line is that the Fury is completely at the mercy of the sanctioning bodies. Their leeway will probably run out soon, and then they’ll either have to fold or join the CPL. Not much more to it than that.

I get what you’re saying, but I disagree. 1) I think that USL is probably pretty analogous to CPL in terms of attendance, cost structure, and level of play whereas MLS is substantially different in all of those respects; and, 2) I’m not sure that the MLS clubs would have a leg to stand on if their sanctioning were withheld.

To you, longevity of the USL might mean that it’s a better bet from Ottawa’s point of view, but it’s very unlikely to have any bearing on a court case. The issue would be whether Concacaf (or the CSA as the case may be) have acted unlawfully in declining to issue sanctioning to the Fury to play in a US league now that there is a Canadian one. You never know with the Courts, but if the Fury were to sue to compel the sanctioning body to give them sanctioning, I view such a law suit as highly unlikely to succeed. 1) The CSA and Concacaf have no obligation to sanction anyone. 2) The Fury’s business relationship with the USL, and the particulars of the contract governing that relationship, will have absolutely no bearing on the decision making of outside parties. 3) If the Fury fold, lose money, or suffer some other real or imagined detriment at having to react to losing sanctioning -it will be because they have opted to act in a way that does not conform with the sanctioning body’s pre established procedures, procedures that they will have been well aware of- 4) Given the debacle of last season’s tempura tantrum by the Fury, it is well known that this issue exists. The Fury won’t be able to complain about notice or fairness anymore.