Not bad numbers there for being so far from the start of the season.. Well, except York 9.. They better get cracking. It's only been a month since the announcement, so there is still hope, but the other teams are sprinting ahead quite a bit.
The Canadians on US teams in USL/PDL and players in the various Canadian amateur leagues should be relatively easy pickups if the salary information is correct(I'm not sure how many that is and my google-fu is failing me from USL counts), then you can probably get a couple of loans from the Whitecaps and Impact since they don't have USL team, maybe a few of the players abroad are ready to come back. First year is going to be sketchy, but it should get better as they'll be able to pick up the MLS academy players that don't make the parent teams and, in theory, some that come out of other Canadian youth teams.
Looks like Ottawa Fury really has its eyes on the CPL cup. 23 years old Jeremy Gagne-Lapare from Montreal Impact. I think he played some games with the national team (not sure) ROSTER UPDATE ⚽️Another 🇨🇦 and familiar face is returning to #FuryFC! Welcome back to the club @JRayMeLapare 🔥DETAILS 👉 https://t.co/16UZTYZ9bq#WeStandTogether pic.twitter.com/v9i6rPMQK8— Ottawa Fury FC (@OttawaFuryFC) July 16, 2018 With this latest signing, Fury FC’s Canadian ratio reaches an impressive 65% (17 of 26).
Hopefully they upgrade the non-Canadian portion of their roster tho.. If the expectation is for CPL to be better than USL, Ottawa has a lot of improving to do..
To be fair, they aren't playing in York Region for 3 years but in Toronto at York University in North York. It's a tough sell to get people in Newmarket, Markham or Richmond Hill to get hyped. So far they've been going after the soccer community in York. I think they will go harder after York U students (50k) and North York Residents (over 670k) closer to the beginning of the season. They haven't use their full marketing efforts towards casual residents yet. They aren't worry about the numbers. It's an interesting challenge that they have decided to undertake by appealing to that "York Region identity" to get them behind the team. If they succeed, sky's the limit for them. Halton and Durham Region must be watching closely how York Region will work out. I think once that beautiful stadium is built, their marketing efforts will go full steam ahead in York Region and they will get their membership numbers. They aren't building 15-20k stadium for nothing and they will be in the heart of 1.2 million York resident. I really think they'll be fine.
Which kind of points to, maybe, they shouldn't have been included in the original teams. 3 seasons in a temporary market is not a good idea and only hurts the brand.
I think they will if they want to win. The ownership who's the most openly optimistic is Bob Young in Hamilton. He wants the team to be able to beat MLS teams in the Canadian Championship. Granted they are unlikely to win that cup in year one, but he wants to compete and for that he knows that quality foreigners is a must. Just saying that Ottawa will have to invest there if they want to position themselves as the top team, other clubs won't make it easy
I think they brake even in year one in North York. That gives them lots of time to build up the interest in York
Gonna be honest here.. If they break even, that is a bad thing. If they want to succeed as a team and as a league, they should be losing millions a year. Breaking even means they underspent and should have done more to build their brand and improve penetration.
They should should be losing millions if they want to be a top league in year one or asap. They've learn from what didnt work in other leagues and in the past. So if they want to built up organically and find another path to get there without making the venture unsustainable, the more power to them. There's no need to go down the path of almost folding to be a top league.
If the CPL is supposed to be above the USL, there's no way you can stock the clubs with cast offs from existing USL and PDL teams. But possibly you could find a few good ones here and there. Ottawa already has a few. Maybe you could get a couple of players on loan from MLS teams (although the CPL has been pretty assertive about not wanting to even appear like a farm system for MLS). Maybe there are a handful of Canadians who would be willing to come back from Europe for CPL wages. Taken all together, though, that's perhaps 10 to 20 of the 100 Canadians needed. As I said, it's going to be tough.
Having 5 better players and 6 lesser players doesn't readily make a team better. They will need to find Canadian talent that is better than a USL level... and I think you undervalue the level that is USL. There isn't a whole lot of Canadian professionals in Europe that are 1) in the right talent level of leagues and 2) that will accept the CPL pay level. That is a very niche market you are looking for talent in. It is out there, but filling half of 8 teams rosters with it will take a few years. Early on I am guessing you will see a number of college graduates and academy cast offs of other teams that might have given up the soccer dream that will now have the CPL to call home. They will be able to develop and get better. But in year one, being better than an established league while dealing with a number of restrictive rules the other league doesn't have to deal with, and having a smaller talent pool to pull from, will be tough to beat.
They wouldn't necessarily be cast-offs from USL and PDL teams though.. I have no idea what the population of Canadians in USL and PDL are, but given that most USL players are on one year contracts and making little money, I would expect that number to be approaching zero next season. I think CPL's main issue with the appearance of a farm league is having a MLS2 team in the CPL, not having loans from MLS teams. It seems to me that the CPL understands that will be below MLS for the foreseeable future, so getting a few loans would be fine. They just want to avoid a situation where, as an example, Vancouver is using the Victoria as if it were VWFC2 with a good number of players on their roster and playing the Whitecaps players at the expense of other Canadians.
Without me going through pages of posts that I've missed has anyone posted this article by Northern Starting XI on Patreon? "Steve Milton of the Hamilton Spectator has reported that average salaries are expected to land between 40,000 and 60,000 CAD, while Bobby McMahon of Forbes estimated player salaries and benefits may realistically reach as high as 56,000 to 75,000 CAD based on the league’s projected expenditure. " "Kartik Krishnaiyer of SocTakes reported that the USL has expectations of 200,000 to 400,000 USD to be spent on player salaries by each team, which would amount to salaries of $9600 to $19,200 CAD across a 25 man roster. This would roughly match figures published from Bill Paterson of the Sacramento Bee, with an average salary of 1800 USD per month only paid in-season, amounting to 17,280 CAD across an eight month season. Finally, Steven Goff of the Washington Post reported that “above average” USL players were earning 2000 USD in-season, coming out to 19,200 CAD dollars across an eight month season." "Coming in with an average salary equivalent just under 71,000 CAD, League 2 presents the most realistic league to gauge the CPL against for those focused on English football. Some may take this is as a damning statement, but it closer to a reminder of how well off the world’s richest football pyramid is."
Not at all. I don't underestimate USL at all. I think most people make the mistake of assuming that the best Canadians available are all in USL and MLS Academies. This has been debunked to death. Without making the assumption that Canadians are better, I think the gap between non-USL Canadian and Canadians in USL is more narrow than people realize. Those in Tier 1 or 2 should stay oversea but you're overestimating how much money they make at D3 or lower. Piette dumping Liga D3 to come running home to Montreal was mostly about money. I happen to know what's happening in Ontario and BC very well. There's talent there and it might take some time to adjust and build chemistry but CIS, OPDL, BC and Quebec system has lots of talent pushing towards pro. Problem is that there's insufficient spots for all of them, that doesn't mean that there isn't more talent and the gap is as gigantic as you're trying to imply. We'll see. I can't predict the future. The league officials are confident that they will gather rosters higher. You and I will have to wait and see.
As the saying goes, paying a bad player more does not make that player a better player. That being said, the projected salaries in CPL is why I'm saying there should be almost no Canadians left in USL and PDL next season. From a purely compensation standpoint, USL/PDL can't compete with those kind of numbers.
However, I don't think that the league will just open the gates either. The league has an idea where it wants to be quality wise and they have already accumulated data on over 200 players with tapes of them. I was actually surprise at the rumored requirement that there must be 6 starters being Canadians out of 11 and that half the roster must be Canadian. That implies a more relax number of foreigners being allowed in CPL than anticipated. Other good thing is that despite having 8 teams starting in 2019, there will still be a scarcity of spots available regardless which will trigger competition. There are 53 teams in CIS, plus the talent in OPDL and different provincial bodies. USL and PDL players might certainly get a look or being tried but if they don't fit or aren't good enough, they will be let go and not kept around because they have PDL or USL on their resume.
It means 9 of your game day roster have to be Canadian, though: the rumor is 6 on the field, so you have to account for subs. So for year one, that requires 72 Canadians. That is an enormous number of players if you expect the quality to be higher than USL.
I think the foreign players will be the high profile, expensive signings that will most likely put butts in seats. I think there are lots of Canadians to choose from who are currently USL quality, with some who are a bit above that. If given some chances, I think some young Canadian players will surprise.
From the domestic and international pool of players not better than the USL? That seems like a much deeper well than Canadians better than the USL, but not good enough to make more money abroad or in MLS?
As someone posted earlier about the salaries, CPL is more than capable to attract international talent. Personally, the gap in talent in D3 and lower between Canada and the US isn't has big as some people like to advertise. I'm not here saying one's better than the other while I recognize that due to sheer number, the US has more players. I'm just saying it ain't world apart in talent. CPL will find good players here and the intent is to surround them with great international to develop them better by putting them in a pro environment. CPL will weed out the weak, mediocre and find the best of the best. If it takes them 2 seasons, so be it, but the talent in this country is there. The lack of pro league is what has hurt us the entire time. Oversimplifying it by saying that all the best Canadians are in USL or MLS is flat out wrong. That would imply that the USSF scouted the entire country, which even the CSA hasn't done completely. MLS and it's academy are notorious for ignoring CIS and non-MLS academies. As for the sheer number of players, that increases your odds at finding good player but I'd still put my money on Iceland. That doesn't mean much otherwise, the US would be winning world cup non-stop
Ok. I've said before that it's pointless to argue about the quality of a league that won't even kick a ball for another 9 months, but this is the internet and what's the point if not to argue with strangers about inconsequential garbage. So with that being said... The USOC contradicts your claim of a lack of defined quality between divisions: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/2018-u-s-open-cup-schedule.2080665/page-4#post-36772389 Are there upsets? Sure, of course, like any tournament. Your example of a Ligue 1 team hanging for a while with the 12th best team in the USL east as proof of the lack of difference between divisions isn't the strongest evidence to back up your thesis. I am excited about the possibility and promise the CPL wants to bring, but forgive me if I think it might take a few years before the quality is higher than the USL. I believe it will absolutely surpass it. Maybe not year one, though.