How big of a savings would that be though? Hotels aren't exactly cheap (well, not the ones you want the players to be staying in) and the teams would be responsible for meals while on the road. Now, admittedly, flying in Canada is fairly expensive, but I would imagine the extra days of room and board would offset a hefty chunk of the airfare.
I'll repeat what Paul Beirne has been saying all along. Travel costs are a Canadian reality due to the size of the country but it's already been addressed by the league. It's not a "worry" for the league and adding more sponsorship just reinforces that. Looking at the Toronto Wolfpack in Rugby, their sponsorship with Air Transat took care of all their transatlantic travels + assuming the costs of flying teams from England to Toronto. Travel costs are expensive but the league addressed that already.
A no brainer but worth documenting We have partnered with Ticketmaster to provide 100% mobile tickets for our inaugural season.📝: https://t.co/nL9zdsmyJN | #CanPL pic.twitter.com/5SrW7tD4py— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) February 7, 2019
Emilio, Justin, & Morey are ready.York9 FC is proud to add three more players to the club.Full story: https://t.co/EjAYYUEluf | #York9FC #CanPL pic.twitter.com/h55UPRr36S— York United FC (@yorkutdfc) February 8, 2019
NCAA is pretty broad range of ability. The teams at the pinnacle are filled with professional level players while the bottom of the pyramid are intramural level players. So it depends on what you are taking about. Fisk (a name I actually recognized) played at UW which is slightly below the top tier and has solid players and an occasional gem like Roldon. But if you are talking about UCLA, Maryland, Stanford, Wake Forest then yes, you are probably right as these schools are filled with youth national team level players and top transfers.
Kids stay can stay 4 years (or even 5 if injured) so go back to the 2015 Wake team in you have 5 guys that play first division soccer (though two are now 2nd tier in Europe) plus Gdula who you mentioned. Does about half the starters count as filled? Kris Reaves - Played for FC Dallas in MLS last year Jon Bakero - Played for Chicago and Toronto last year Ian Harkes - Played for DC United and is now at Dundee in Scotland Jack Harrison - Played for NYCFC now at Leeds in England Jakori Hayes - Played for FC Dallas Logan Gdula - Signed FC Cincinnati this year - likely to play for them 2016 team had Bakero, Harkes, Hayes, Gdula Ema Twumasi - Sign FC Dallas 2017 team had Bakero, Gdula, Twumasi Brandon Servania - signed FC Dallas Mark McKenzie - signed Union These are just guys that played at the first tier level so far that I happen to know. There are many others that at the level of CPL, USL and other leagues. I think the only players on this list that were drafted were Bakero, Harrison, Twumasi and Gdula. So pretty much 5-6 guys that are first vision level players going back to 2015.
Upon further review you can add: Kris Reaves - Played for FC Dallas in MLS last year Jon Bakero - Played for Chicago and Toronto last year Ian Harkes - Played for DC United and is now at Dundee in Scotland Jack Harrison - Played for NYCFC now at Leeds in England Jakori Hayes - Played for FC Dallas Logan Gdula - Signed FC Cincinnati this year - likely to play for them Sam Rabin - signed with Colorado this year 2016 team had Bakero, Harkes, Hayes, Gdula, Rabin Ema Twumasi - Played for FC Dallas 2017 team had Bakero, Gdula, Twumasi, Rabin Brandon Servania - signed with FC Dallas Mark McKenzie - Played for Union Omir Fernandez - signed with Red Bulls this year Justin McMaster (Played USL as amateur - US U18 Nat Camp/Jamaica U17 Nat team)
To bring things back around, Wake has Alistair Johnston from Ontario on its roster so maybe he will join the CPL next year.
Concacaf Announces Scotiabank Concacaf League Expansion Canadian Premier League gets 1 spot as of July 2019 (Whoever has the most points by then or split season) 22 clubs 12 Clubs plays (home/away) on the 1st round. Winners joined the next 10 highest ranked teams in Round 2 for the Round of 16 (Knockout Stage) The Winner of the CONCACAF League goes to 2020 Champions League The remaining 15 clubs will be ranked from 1 to 15 Best next 5 also joins 2020 Champions League CPL path to the 2020 Champions League A CPL club must make it to the round of 16 by winning in round 1. That club must advance to the quarter finals to be part of the final 8 A-If the CPL Club wins, they automatically advance to the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League B-If they lose, they most rank as the top 2 of the losing teams from the quarter finals (tie breakers) to advance to 2020 CONCACAF Champions League Concacaf Announces #SCL Expansion: 2️⃣2️⃣ clubs🇨🇦 Inclusion of a @CPLsoccer spot🔝Five Central American clubs🆕Qualification method to Champions League🗞 >> https://t.co/2AhgRz7ws3 pic.twitter.com/S5QMe9US6N— Concacaf (@Concacaf) February 11, 2019 Concacaf Announces Scotiabank Concacaf League Expansion https://www.concacafleague.com/en/article/concacaf-announces-scotiabank-concacaf-league-expansion In addition to qualifying its champion to the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League, the tournament will qualify an additional five teams. At the end of the competition, clubs will we ranked 1-15, in accordance with the competition tie-breaking procedure. The top five ranked clubs will automatically qualify for the 2020 edition of the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League. For 2019, the Member Association slots have been allocated as follows (in alphabetical order by Member Association): Preliminary Round (12 clubs): Belize 1, Canada 2, Caribbean 3, Caribbean 4, Costa Rica 3, El Salvador 2, El Salvador 3, Guatemala 2, Guatemala 3, Honduras 3, Nicaragua 2 and Panama 3 Round of 16 (10 + 6 winners of the Preliminary Round): Caribbean 2, Costa Rica 1, Costa Rica 2, El Salvador 1, Guatemala 1, Honduras 1, Honduras 2, Nicaragua 1, Panama 1 and Panama 2.
^ This seems good all around. With the CPL, Canada definitely deserves more representation. Given the level of the CPL, this also seems like a fair way to do it.
All of Central America got relegated. So CONCACAF League just got very competitive. A great test for the league
Waitaminnit, something doesn't make sense here: According to this format, the VCup Winner, Top 4 MLS and Liga MX teams, and Caribbean Club Cup Champion are automatically entered into the CCL. How does that song go? "One of these is not like the others, one of these just doesn't belong." How in the world does CONCACAF justify the CCC1 entry when it has such a low coefficient in the tournament? That should belong to either Panama or Costa Rica's winner. Or just add the CCC1 team to the CL if they really want those clubs to get "meaningful games".
Three reasons I can think of: 1. Of all ways to qualify for the CL/CCL, the CCC is the only qualification path that's already international, so in theory it's got to count for something. 2. Giving the CCC one direct CCL spot guarantees that at least one CFU club will be in the CCL. If you put the entire CFU into the CL, there's the risk that all six (or, in that situation, all seven) CCL spots end up going to UNCAF (or CPL) sides, locking the CFU out of the CCL altogether. 3. CFU is an over-represented voting block in C'CAF, and they're looking out for their own.
22 teams in a weird cup and others 10 teams waiting in another cup. Why not just a classic 32 team continental cup?
They don't feel like it for a barrage of reasons...hence the ridiculously long name and bizarre acronym