Looks like it is coming folks http://www.thespec.com/news-story/6261090-canadian-pro-soccer-league-to-call-hamilton-home/
So we'll know in the next 4 months? I suppose they'll announce it sometime during the Voyageur's Cup while media attention is on it. An 8-team league with a combination of CFL-NHL owners? That's an interesting mix. I'm hoping they realize they'll be losing money probably for the first decade before turning a profit. What's really interesting is they're tying in Acadamies and developing soccer executives to this league. I think that is a big step up from previous attempts at a national league - they're looking at the overall infrastructure. I wonder if they got the Ottawa Fury and FC Edmonton on board?
Reading Duane Rollins' tweets from 10+hrs ago till now suggest 6 teams to start for 2018 (possibility for 2017 is also mentioned by Rollins again) being: Hamilton, Winnipeg, Calgary, Regina, Ottawa, & Montreal or Quebec. I guess if Quebec it would be in the University of Laval stadium. He is also reporting a completely open V-cup for 2018, and the possibility of a Toronto team possibly playing at York U, Lamport, or Varsity. <- Do not hold your breathe for these last two until official announcements are made. That looks decent and certainly falls inline with what the Easton Report was suggesting. Hopefully Edmonton eventually joins from the NASL. Also a d3 out west is going to be crucial for success.
Pick Quebec over Montreal and, ideally, substitute Edmonton for Regina and I think it gives the league the best possibility of success it's going to have (short of also convincing the MLS teams to move their USL sides over). An expanded V-Cup with MLS and CPL teams would be great. A fully open V-Cup is interesting but I'd want to see how the finances would work for the D3 teams.
Rollin's update: http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/i...le-dream-of-the-canadian-premier-league-r5542 He's set on ownership groups from Ottawa, Hamilton, Calgary and Winnipeg. He'd previously reported that ownership in Montreal had be found, but no longer seems to be certain about that.
No congrats yet - let's wait and see. Canadian Soccer has had a history of shooting itself in the foot. There's lots of ways this could go pear-shaped.
This is going to be a great situation for Canada. I hope they follow the MLS model and be very patient with the growth of the league. Want them to truly emphasize the need to develop Canadian players especially the youngsters. Hopefully they can understand that their a selling league to start and make it easy for their players to move to other leagues. Even when this league does happen in the future, I do hope the CSA still fight for the MLS to make Canadians domestic players throughout the league. Will be great to see this league grow and I am excited to see this happen great news.
Now that you mention it, this is probably a big part of why those involved believe that the league can be made financially viable. If they can develop enough talent, there's probably some decent money in selling it. It might also suggest why Sigma FC may be a serious candidate to join this league, as they fancy themselves to be (or potentially becoming) a developer of top talent.
It has been posted that Canadians count as foreigners on American MLS clubs because federal employment law requires all foreigners to be treated equally, and counting Canadians as domestic would mean a person not from USA or Canada could win a hiring discrimination case against MLS. It isn't MLS's decision. Search through the MLS forums if you want more information.
That one's been debated a number of times. The real thing to look for is for MLS eventually require that Canadian MLS clubs have the same quota for Canadian players as the American clubs have for American players. As of right now, our talent pool is too thin for that. It's currently 3, though all of TFC, VWFC and IdM exceed this number, so I think it would be good for MLS to bump it up to 5 at this time.
I've long been in the camp that believes we're better off having more teams in cross border leagues. That said, if this league does go ahead, I hope it succeeds. It's important to remember what success would look like, though. Success would mean a six to eight team league at the level of the USL. That would be great in providing a staring place for Canadian pro players. Your last point (which I bolded) would be critical, however. We aren't going to want to stock the NT with players from the CPL. We're going to want to stock the NT with CPL alumni who have moved on to higher levels. Historically in Canada we have not done a good job of making it easy for players to move up.
As an American is it annoying how much of a better brand Canadians have than Americans. General design, team branding, uniforms, even gk gloves are always better Canadian than American. !!! Hate it.
Those are all concepts, not the real deal. But I do agree, the maple leaf always looks good in red...
Well we know that there is at least one CPL supporters groups are there any more? https://mobile.twitter.com/BartonBattalion
Here is a podcast discussing the CPL http://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/246634132-footy-soldiers-fs-canadianpremierleaguespecial.mp3
Saw this today RE Vic running for CONCACAF pres. He makes a mention of the domestic-Canadians in MLS rule "to be rectified by 2017" around 7:05. While this is good, I hope it doesn't take away from the steam of the CPL. He does also acknowledge the league in the works as "inclusive" as to not hinder the MLS but compliment it.
All the CPL talk has gone quiet... Hope Vic's run for pres hasn't gotten him distracted. If if can't be done than get Calgary and Hamilton in the NASL already!