Canadian Premier league

Sometimes, it's all about fit. I know in Montreal, for example, Molson Stadium was never an option for the Impact because they'd be third in priority, behind McGill and the Alouettes. Then there's things like football lines, revenue control, etc.

 

They say the page does not exist. I'm thinking someone involved with the CPL saw this and squashed it. I think they really want to control the message and information flow until the league is actually announced. Already I can imagine they've heard backlash as to how the league won't be able to survive with only 6 teams at the start.

 

Thanks for all that, mikehurst 21. Some really interesting stuff there. Taking it all at face value:

The six club start with a short initial season is an interesting idea and certainly one I had not thought of. It lets the CPL get going without having to get all eight clubs ready for day one. The short season means they can do six clubs without having to play the same teams too many times. Having two expansion teams ready to go the next year will also keep the excitement of growth going.

Edmonton but not Edmonton FC will be... interesting. There's no way both survive. For obvious reasons it would be better if they could pull together but I guess the old balkanization of Canadian soccer isn't quite dead yet.

Assuming the CFL interest we've heard about is still on, this would mean five of the six teams would presumably have CFL backing. That should be very useful.

For Halifax itself, they seem to be doing everything right. A simple, affordable stadium with a suitable capacity that looks to be in a great location (I've been to Halifax a few times but don't know it well enough to say for sure). Ticket prices seem reasonable. My main concern would be the expectation of 3000 season tickets. I guess that would depend on how well they can sell the team as Halifax's professional sports club. In the absence of any other competition, they could make that work.

 

Thanks for the new link. So it looks like it will be a 30-game season, perhaps they are thinking of having a single table 16-team league as the end-point. But more likely they would break it into east and west conferences when they got to 8 or more teams, playing home-and-away against the opposing conference with the rest of the games played against in-conference teams.

The 6-team soft start would get in a short, 10-14 game season to start. However, a team like the Ottawa Fury would have to bail on a half a season in the USL (unlikely) unless they come in the following year.

The stadium design looks too small. I would think for TV viewing purposes they would want the stands to stretch from goal-line to goal-line with spectators filling the stands. Probably increasing the capacity to about 7-8000?

 

^ It depends on the format of the games played. If, say, everyone plays a double home and away with everyone else (equals 28 games for an eight team league) then a single table makes sense. If instead they do something unbalanced to keep travel costs lower then divisions makes sense so that you are pooling teams that play opponents the same number of times.

 

But if they play single table with each team playing each other an equal number of times, then they wouldn't need playoffs to crown a champion.

 

Liga MX uses playoffs. Twice in one season, even.

 

Only it's pretty much an Eastern-based league with clustered team, with only Perth on the other coast, and Wellington in NZ. That keeps distances short, except for the odd longer trip. Looking at average/median distance between clubs might be more telling.

 

Even if they go single table (which would make a lot of sense in an eight team league) I expect they'd still have playoffs. It's too ingrained in Canadian sports culture.

A 28 game regular season (double home and away). Top four in the playoffs with home and away semis and a single game final. That still leaves space for Canadian Championship games.

 

Future Hamilton CPL President is starting to hype the direction that CSA will be going as of next month where CPL receives its sanctioning:

Developments of some key decisions about to be made in Canadian Soccer brings to mind the concept of "don't let fox guard the henhouse"

— Scott Mitchell (@ticatmitchell) April 22, 2017

 

That tweet worries me. It sounds like there's going to be a conflict of interest between Owners who want to put out a competitive product and the CSA that wants to develop Canadian talent. Maybe the CPL is not going to have international player restrictions (which defeats the purpose of the CPL in the first place)?

Or maybe with the new co-host WC bid there is less justification for a domestic league?

 

Paul Beirne already said in a Q & A session in Halifax that the quota would be initially low but increase progressively as the pool gets bigger and better. That's a win-win for both parties.

The league will be very competitive right at kick-off. He also said that only other league Division 1 or 2 players would be targeted by the CPL. Division 3 or lower, farm leagues will be excluded.

 

Seems like after Hamilton, Halifax is officially confirmed!

https://www.backyardsports.ca/2017/04/26/shaping-the-future-by-embracing-the-past-through-sport/

 

Well, I *hope* they confirm, but it looks like its dependent on a vote of some sort. I try not to be pessimistic about this, but Haligonians tend to be very resistant to change. I wish them luck.

 

Podcast regarding the Canadian Premier League

http://www.northernstartingeleven.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/E2-MLS-World-Cup-and-USL.mp3

 

There is a difference between being seen as a reserve/farm league and being seen as a lower tier.

It would take an enormous miracle (that is not happening) to make CPL a higher/better league than MLS.....but that does not mean that it has to accept a status as a farm or reserve league.