phil03

Thanks to the boy for bringing a ray of sunshine in what was admitedly a crappy day for the Canada-Impact-ATO soccer fan that I am... Now to hope we can win some medals asap so that both me and our sports media have something else to think...

What is the point of national teams beyond representing the country, giving it soft power in the broader world and create good feelings at home? Like, obviously I care about the national teams beyond that but objectively speaking if we have to chose between a move protecting those things and a move that would be best in term of results on the pitch there is only one choice to make...

I don't think anyone save for a rare few posters would deny that the MLS clubs as they are when they play against their own league are better and that the CPL clubs in the same situation are not as good. However, the simple fact that such upsets aren't unheard off is a sign of progress for the CPL.

We still had work to do but with the women putting the World Cup behind them, the guys doing well, the CPL attendence trending north, the MLS clubs doing well for that too, NSL being around the corner and Blue making headway money things were looking up. My Soccer was finally starting to be once again able to make me forget, for two or three hours apiece, about the general state of the world and the fact my generation was screwed economically so badly that someone who had exactly the same job then I have twenty years ago would have WAYYYY better off then I am all others things being equal. And now this... Obviously it sucks way more for the players but still...

I read somewhere drones are often used during practice at that level (for your own team, of course). I'd imagine for a national team it would be a way to maximize the data you receive. As for Honduras, they did do so but, and I admit I am obviously biased, considering the amount of shit they pull when we go there and the projection-based defense some of their fans and media offer when its brought up I am not inclined to believe their accusations short of some concrete evidence. Until and unless that come the coincidence of an alignment between Honduras' (probably baseless) accusations and the very real bad stuff we did is to be considered just that.

I could see a scenario where the random dude, or the assistant coach, thought they were showing initiative and that Priestman would just accept it when they would arrive with the footing, perhaps be rewarded for taking personal risks. There are people like that, sadly... Which isn't to say Priestman didn't know, or that she wouldn't hold responsibility for creating a work environment where someone could think that kind of behavior would be welcome, but we should assume guilt IMO.

I think there is good and bad news both financially and on the pitch. For all the financial issues attendance is moving in the right direction, taking MediaPro out of the equation could at least conceivably make negotiating with Canadian broadcasters easier. Moreover, with the CMNT back on the right track and with Marsch taking a more collaborative party line about it (and at least Eustaquio following suit) there is reasons to think that a rising tide will indeed lift all boats and that the PR damages taken in 2022 will fix themselves with time. On the playing side there is progress but at least for MTL's case it was a borderline perfect storm in Forge's favour, there is still moments where I am like ''yep, that's a CPL kind of mistakes!'' while watching and the pipeline has improved has we hoped. Like, yes Taheed and Tavernier got interest from very impressive clubs but nothing came out of it and other, less storied but still solid'' options haven't gone for them after Feyenoord and Monaco didn't pick them up. If anything most of the best solid alumnies of the league (Farsi, Waterman, McNaughton, Loturi, Zator, etc...) were players who came up in earlier year. Basically, we shouldn't be too rosey in outlook or too pessimistic. Lets be happy about the good signs and work to deal with the less promising stuff...

Not necessarely, there is such a thing as professional negligence. I.e., she could very well not be guilty of authorizing it but to not have to crossed her Ts to prevent something like this, which a coach at her level is REALLY responsible for doing, and that would be more then enough to justify her firing in my book. At the very least its worth noting that from a legal standpoint, the French police took the admission of guilt from the drone operator that he acted out of his own initiative as credible and exonorated anyone else from it, which would make the argument that Priestman's main sin is to have failed to prevent it rather than ordering it. As for the old Honduras stuff... Considering all the distasteful stuff that happens when we are there and that their federation is seemingly ok with (as I don't believe they have done anything to prevent it) and how I have seen their fans and media being big on projection I'll just assume its an instance of the later and that the alignment with something bad someone did for the CWNT is pure coincidence until Honduras or someone else can provide concrete evidences of their claim that has yet to be forthcoming.

Basically my thoughts about it. With some luck Honduras vs Salvador will end in a way that would allow us to be first of our group with a tie and we'd have a fairly winnable match up to qualify for the U-20 world cup, which is by far the most important IMO even if a deeper run would be nice.

Honestly, as an Impact fan, I have never hated TFC. We are allies in helping Canadian Soccer get better and we now need to have each other's backs if we ever need to fight off a misguided attempt at conscripting us into the CPL, as well as coordinate our messages as to why this would be a horrible idea when someone brings the subject up. I am, however, really passionate about beating them

I. As I said previously, my take the pre-covid situation doesn't provide any meaningful indication of how much CNMT games are worth after it broke into the mainstream. You are, of course, free to agree or not. II. No MLS games came remotely close of commanding the viewership of some national programs game. III. And? Everyone understands the argument that the national team wasn't doing so well when they signed up the deal. What I, and others, think is that betting against its future turned out to be a terrible gamble and with players like Davies and David in the pipeline (as well as more generally with a 20 years deal). IV. Do you have a link for that? As I said, I aknowledge its not all and broadly speaking I'd argue that even a fair few of the biggest ones aren't the kind of blue-chip sponsors we would ideally like to have. V. I don't disagree, I just think the national programs are there while the CPL has still a long way to go to get there. What you said about the Sinclair friendly is often cited by the CSB deal's defenders but a) we just don't know if its true or if TSN successfully played hardball and b) as stated above, the same factor often quoted by those who bemoan that the traditional broadcasters aren't interested in the CPL due to Rogers' business politics (that they don't want to help a competitor in MediaPro) also apply here.

Without comparing the behavior of Netanyahu and Putin (suffice it to say I don't have exactly a high opinion of Netanyahu at this stage, to say the least, but Putin manages to be significantly worse in my book) I'd argue that from an organizational standpoint, FIFA is simply under nearly as much pressure with Israel as they were for Russia. FIFA objectively didn't want to give more than a slap on the wrist to Russia and they only accepted to do more when it became apparent that it was simply impossible for a Russian club or national team to play against anyone in UEFA in anything looking like a safe environment and/or that most of UEFA would simply point blank boycott any game they are involved in. This is simply not the case for Israel, as FIFA-sanctioned their move to UEFA decades ago to avoid precisely that situation with clubs and nationals teams from Arab countries.

I think it actually predate both clubs being in MLS and started with the very first edition of the Canadian Championship, when the Impact became the, to this date, only non-MLS victor of a competition that was expected to be TFC's warm-up before the CONCACAF Champions League. I'll actually go to the bat and say the final game when MTL got the result they needed was the most important non-international game in Canadian Soccer, as it did a number of very consequential things: I. It brought legitimacy to a competition that, like I said, could have been easily seen as a rubber stamp for TFC playing in Concacaf during its firsts, crucial years. II. It and the run in Concacaf that followed is what allowed the Impact to break into the mainstream and made it strong enough to barge its way into a hesitant MLS before the door on more Canadian applicants was closed. III. By making upsetting TFC such a key part of the Impact's history (and helping it find its way into MLS) and by giving TFC the memory of a black eye this early in its own history it set the stage for the rivalry that would dominate Canadian men's soccer and, despite the Whitecaps run of good form, still kinda do off the pitch and in people's mind. As for right now, yeah the Classique isn't what it used to be due to both clubs having their issues. For MTL its Saputo still pouting about people not seeing the genius of his rebranding of the club, and prioritizing Bologna as a result, as well as creating PR messes and the club being straight-jacketed by a stadium too small. For TFC its them continuously building disfunctional squads in an attempt at buying a championship in a league built to not allow it and their incapacity to capitalize on solid players from their academy... The good news is that these issues appear to be reasonably fixable. The mayor who played hard ball on stadium expansion in MTL will get slaughtered next election and Saputo is showing signs that he at least understands how he has antagonized people and that he is the one responsible for it, and as they say self-awareness if the first and most important step... For TFC the Italians' contracts have seemingly burned them badly enough that there is hope they'll take an approach more adapted to MLS in building their squad after they are gone and there is enough alumni of their academies they have missed out that have done well elsewhere recently that they'll likely try to not miss out as much going forward...

I think it is more then likely that the broadcasting rights made the difference between the aforementioned $8.2 million (1) and $13 millions yes, and I would say 75% is probably a rather conservative estimate. I'd say 80% minimum. As for where the opportunity is, its the same then for most sports teams: its paying to be the (insert common name) of the CMNT. I also think that how things were in the pre-pandemic world is not a good indicator of how things are now. The national was simply not in the mainstream at the time and it loom way larger in people's sports consumption now then in the past. Just trying to find articles about it before and during as well as after the qualifiers for 2022 and you'll see there was a massive difference. The fact we started to have a genuine shot at qualifying for World Cup was a game changer. As for my stance, its pretty simple: praise when somebody does something I think is good and criticise when somebody does something I think is bad. I have no problem giving Rob Friend credit for putting some of its own money on the line to help build Pacific and VFC but I also don't think that him doing so (or any other CPL owner doing so) is owed some kind of blind trust that whatever they are doing serves Canadian Soccer and is a good use of its resources. (1) With the context of the quote it does seem like they are talking about the national teams. A lot to unpack here so I have number for my ease of answer: I. People assume it is driven by interest in the national teams because, objectively speaking, there is far more interest in the national teams. I'd also say that the number of sponsors doesn't equate to money. A lot of sponsors of CPL (although not all) are local businesses that just don't have the same money to spend. Furthermore, I do think its mistaken to see sponsorship as purely a business decision. Helping Canadian sports is actually one of the few things you can get the blue chips businesses in Canada to spend money on without much hope of solid returns, as long as the beneficiary makes it into the mainstream of Canadian sports, which the national programs have done and CSB hasn't... Objectively speaking we'd probably have more willing sponsors for the nationa programs II. TBH I don't see why that is such a strong argument... Other businesses have made some buy ins without being sponsors so they'd be considered somehow engaged by virtue of those adds buy in even if they aren't sponsors... I dunno, just doesn't seem a solid metric to me. III. The deal as it is inherently unfair to the CWNT, no if or but. It turn significant revenue streams from them to an organism aiming at funding a men's league without any legally binding timeline to establish a women's league. Regardless of the amount involved, this is just indefensible. IV. Do you have a link for any of that? Especially for the fact that only a handful of games brought money of any kinds... Mind you, even *if* that were true the very same arguments many often bring as to why TSN and co aren't interested in showing CPL on tv would be relevant here as well: MediaPro is a competitor to them and it obviously weighted into negotiations somehow and probably cost the CSA some good chunks of cash they would have gotten otherwise... Overall, the argument that a league whose very existence is ignored by most Canadians is making more money than national teams when some of the latter's games were among the most-watched events in Canadian broadcasting history is utterly unconvincing to me. I would need some extremely compelling evidence to believe it. And I am someone who actively defended the basic concept of the CSB deal to casuals or non-CPL watchers a fair few times so imagine how unconvincing it would be for the average Canadian Soccer fan... Would I like the league to be way more popular with sponsors and the wider public? Of course, who wouldn't? But we need to be realistic as to where things are actually at in those conversations and work from there if we want to go somewhere. And part of where we are is that as a wider soccer system we are still very much strap for cash, and that the national programs very much could have used the money in the CSB deal and the one indirectly lost because of it. So lets be frugal in our spending until the day we are finally in a better place and lets not spend money developing Mexican players instead of our own.

You call it a catch, I call it a...