m-g-williams

I'd agree. Given that we don't have reliable metrics for One Soccer's actual subscription uptake, Youtube data seems to be the closest proxy we have to gauging interest. There's a noticeable spike in views every time there's a major national team match, and even some of the Canadian Championship matches have turned a few heads. And this all helps get more people paying attention to One Soccer as a platform and the rest of the content they offer, namely, the CPL. I'm not going to speculate on precise figures for One Soccer subscriptions or revenue from all of this, but given that their Youtube subscribers have increased by nearly 150% since March and their cumulative views have increased by about 200% in that same timespan, it seems like the general trend is looking good.

Over 114,000 views for their Youtube highlights of last night's CAN-SLV match in the last 10 hours. Getting (most of) the rights to the men's and women's national teams matches really seems to be doing the trick for One Soccer.

Does anyone know who the owners of the Stingers are? I know it's a bit apples to oranges, but they really seem to have taken hold in Edmonton and created a buzz (no pun intended). As for the venue, I'm constantly amazed at how resolutely meh Clarke Stadium is.

Anyone know of any local pubs showing the match on TV? My buddy and I might look for a drier alternative to swimming through the match at Lansdowne.

. . . oops. 😬

Mayhaps he's teasing that Quebec City and Laval are indeed the expansion sides?

That, or maybe my perennial expansion favourite of Moncton. Seriously. That stadium should not go to waste.

Right move. I know this will turn off some fans and prevent some from going if they're not already fully vaccinated/unable to get a test in time, but hopefully it'll be reassuring enough for those who are that they feel more comfortable getting back to the match. I imagine the rest of the league will follow suit fairly quickly.

As if my being a Wanderers fan but having season tickets to Atlético wasn't enough in terms of divided loyalties, I've always had a soft spot for Winnipeg. I was out for my morning bike ride through Ottawa earlier wearing my Valour kit, and who passes me and compliments me on my gear but Rob Gale. I friggin' love this league.

Probably a dumb question, but I'll ask: If a camera operator can't use a cherry-picker because of the safety concerns with the hydro pole, is there any safe way to just mount a remote-operated camera to a cherry-picker and operate it from the ground? I feel like there has to be a solution to this damn problem. Also, separate topic: Has anyone seen/heard any further news on LSSE getting approval from city council in Saskatoon for the stadium?

Agreed. Great atmosphere in the stands, and pretty happy with how the Bytown Boys and CCSG kept at it tonight. Also impressed with how many people already have/were lining up to buy merch. It feels good to be back.

It actually was a true "pay what you want" scenario. I already have seasons but was curious about the idea, and when I checked the TD Place site you could pick tickets for $0. I recall someone on here posting that around half of the spectators decided to throw a few bones at Atletico, but no idea on how much gate-driven revenue was generated.

Did anyone catch the attendance tonight? It seemed like a solid crowd, but I didn't hear them announce the final figure.

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. I know OS has done one-offs in French for Canadian Championship matches involving the club formerly known as the Impact, but having something more permanent is reassuring.

"I usually don't see anything hugely egregious going on where announced vs actual is concerned from the Onesoccer coverage that can't be explained by factors like a reasonable percentage of season ticket no shows."

Not really news, but just for info. Good to see VW more publicly supporting the sport/league, and interesting to see a TSN reporter involved.

Fair. I just wish it didn't make for such bad viewing on TV. Sidenote: Seeing as we still don't have authoritative viewership figures from One Soccer directly, I'm still keeping tabs on their Youtube viewership. It seems like the CMNT and CWNT matches the last few months have definitely had an impact. They had about 1,800,000 views across all videos and 11,000 followers in January of this year; they hit the 5,000,000 views mark as of this morning with over 22,000 followers. It also seems like there's a "rising tide lifts all boats" effect as I'm seeing that their CPL and One Soccer Today videos are generally getting more views more quickly nowadays. Fingers crossed they keep getting more folks interested in the league and considering a subscription.

Kind of a similar question to the one above: Is there a reason why York can't do like Cavalry and have the main camera mounted on a cherry-picker on the empty side of the pitch so we can actually see the stands? I get that the broadcasting services are probably designed for the stands side, but God, is it ever sad watching a top flight match and seeing zero supporters on camera.

Still no word on moving the hydro pole, then? I wish they could either move the damn thing, find some kind of arrangement where they could mount a remote camera onto the pole or just shoot it from the stands. The short angle isn't *terrible* tonight with the lighting, but some of the afternoon matches are almost unwatchable with the glare from the turf.

Two down . . .

At this point, I feel like you're just relying on semantics. "Kind of empty", "somewhat empty", "partially empty" - however you want to phrase. The lower bowl can look between a little over half to three-quarters full and still host a crowd on par with most other teams in the CPL, and well within the 4,000-6,000 range. The official numbers, ticket sales and crowds I've seen over the course of five years all back that up. If you want to rely on your few odd matches that had some bad weather as the defining standard, then go for it. I stand to be corrected on the NASL => USL jump, but I've always understood it be more about them reading the tea leaves and switching to the more stable league. I don't think it was so much about expansion fees and lack of ticket sales (though the club admittedly lost money over the years) as it was about finding a long-term, stable home. And as per above, the fan base seems healthy enough that they'll be fine in the long run with the CPL (especially with Atletico as backers). I wonder about the virtual adds and such myself, but I suspect they'll be doing away with that (or least the ones projected on the stands; the pitch ads I'm fine with). During the bubble, the fan tickets sold at IG Field were intentionally on the side of the stadium *not* covered in the camera shots to avoid this issue. But looking at ticket sales for Valour now, it looks like they're selling tickets back on the side to be covered by the camera. With local ads being displayed in each stadium, I don't think there's really the need for all the digital overlays in the stadium, but who knows. As for your consistent harping on empty seats in stands, I don't really know what I can say to someone who won't reconsider his views in light of evidence and testimonials from people on the ground. Good luck.

The south stand seats about 10,000 people, with about 3,000 in the upper deck and 7,000 in the lower. With that single lower deck portion having more seating capacity than the entire stadium of any of Halifax, York, Calgary, Edmonton or Victoria, it can look kind of empty while still hosting a decently large crowd. The reality on the ground/in the stands is that they were doing fine.