2019 Canadian Championship

Don't forget the Ottawa Fury.

 

I'm looking forward to the expanded tournament.

I'm also very curious as to the format. I can think of a number of options. They could just pick something that works for this year as a stand-alone but, if it was me, I'd try to come up with something that would enlarge easily as more teams are added. Tweaking things every year on an ad hoc basis would be awkward.

 

Without Ottawa, Robert Borden listed 12 clubs. The simplest format would be the same as the MLS playoffs with 4 clubs getting byes and 8 playing in Round 1. Unlike the MLS playoffs, everything could be done in 2 legs. For 2019, the three MLS clubs could get byes along with the winner of L10 or PLSQ. It would be hard to pick one. If you add Ottawa to make 13, the three MLS clubs could be the only clubs with byes. If there were 12 clubs in 2020, I would give the three MLS clubs and the CPL Champion the four byes. Alternatively, no league could be given byes, and the best clubs one year could get byes the next year.

Another possibility is a Group Stage. 12 clubs could be put in 4 groups of 3. I would give every club one home game and one away game so it would only take 3 matchdays. If clubs played every opponent twice, it would take 6 matchdays to get down to 4 clubs. The four winners would go to the Semifinals, and performance within your group could seed the clubs from 1 to 4 to determine who hosts second legs like the Concacaf Champions League used to do. 3 groups of 4 would avoid clubs having a matchday off, but it would add two problems. One problem is that either some clubs would get 2 home games and some clubs would get 2 away games or clubs would play every opponent twice and play 6 games. I don't know how many games the CPL will play, but I don't think MLS clubs would want to play 34 games plus 6 + 2 + 2 = 10 games for this. Another problem with 3 groups is that the best second place club would go to the Semifinals rather than one club per group. 13 clubs wouldn't go in groups well. A knockout tournament could handle 12 to 16 clubs with the same amount of rounds.

 

Or have a first round with the ten non-MLS teams. That will leave five to which you add the three MLS teams to get to eight.

 

It would be pretty long for whatever non-MLS teams went far, too.

I've been wondering if the tournament might eventually end up going to single game eliminations like the USOC. I'd strongly prefer to stay with the doubles so that everyone gets a home game each round but the increasing number of teams might force their hand.

 

With 13 clubs, the two proposals have MLS clubs play the same amount of rounds. The difference is having 10 non-MLS clubs start in the same round or giving a fourth bye to a non-MLS club making two non-MLS clubs start before the other 11. If it expanded to 14 or more clubs, there would need to be two rounds before MLS clubs entered, or some MLS clubs would get byes but not others. American MLS clubs have to play five games to win the U.S. Open Cup. Canadian MLS clubs having to play three rounds of two games isn't much different. If Canadian MLS clubs had to play four rounds, they're more likely to want rounds done in one game.

As a separate issue, looking at the locations of the CPL clubs, would it make sense to do the first round in an eastern half and a western half to reduce travel?

 

Irrespective of the impact on travel, it might be a good idea from the perspective of fostering/creating "local" rivalries which could increase attendance.

I could see some complaints of the "you got to the final only facing teams from the X-side which is weaker". For example, there would presumably be only one MLS team in the west and two in the east. But, hey, you've got to win in the final to win it all regardless.

 

Just to make sure I'm understanding correctly, you're proposing a group stage with teams of all levels? So one group of six and one of seven (assuming Ottawa's in)? Followed by playoffs.

I think this makes the tournament too long. It would be more difficult to sustain interest seeing the D3 teams get pummelled five or six times and would be a lot of time to sort which CPL teams join the MLS teams in the playoffs. (A longer tournament will favour the higher salary MLS teams because it makes a single upset less important.)

If you want to do a group stage, make it four small groups with the group winners going on.

I'm not sure how this would be particularly unfair to the MLS teams. It seems like a lot of extra games for everyone but it's the same regardless of level, isn't it?

 

The FA Cup has eight rounds (including using the words "preliminary" and "qualifying") before clubs at the top two levels enter. If the amount of clubs is not a power of 2, and there is not a group stage, there would have to be some byes. Any amount of clubs from 9 through 15 requires a group stage or byes.

 

I've been intrigued on how the 2019 Voyageurs Cup tournament will be set up.

Regarding the OP, does Lanaudière get to represent PLSQ as the cup winners? Should it not be league winners Blainville?

Could we get to 16 teams and do a straight elimination bracket? 13 teams right now, add the cup winners of L1O and PLSQ, and the Challenge Trophy winners?