It will be very interesting and instructive to watch Canada's FIFA ranking over the next few years. The ranking will always be a bit fraught as certain external factors (like some CFU and Central American teams playing more tournament games) will temporarily skew things. It is also a lagging indicator. That said, I expect to see a steadily improving trend starting right around now and continuing over the next number of years until we are consistently ranked around 3rd in CONCACAF.
According to http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/proposed-2018-wcq-format.2011626/ we don't know how many qualifiers Canada will play next year. It will be 2, 4, or 6. Rounds 1 through 3 will each be two leg series (Round 1 in March, Round 2 in June, and Round 3 in September), and Canada will start in Round 2. If Canada wins two aggregates then they will reach the Semifinals, which will start in November. The Semifinals will start much earlier than usual because of Copa America 2016 making there be no CONCACAF qualifiers in June 2016 and because FIFA eliminating friendly matchdays makes the next Hexagonal start in November 2016 because there are only 8 matchdays in 2017 before the interconfederational playoff.
For Canada only having two indoor venues in which to host matches, both with field turf, makes it tough to get matches in place on home soil during the winter cold windows. Either having a set tournament, in which grass can be put in place, with good sponsorship and backing. Or facing off vs the 3 MLS and two NASL clubs could be an option.
SkyDome will soon have grass, though I'm sure that the Blue Jays will take exception to their nice grass field getting chewed up, hence why the Argos are getting the boot. Maybe they'll make an exception for CMNT since their games would be very infrequent. Has there ever been talk of trying to get grass in at BC Place? There must be some kind of solution, I'm sure that Sweden and Norway have to deal with this situation themselves. Curious as to what they do.
To answer some of that RC has already hosted in recent years National Team's friendlies. The latest I beleive to be the Mexican National team. BC place will never get permanent grass. In fact the WWC will be played in Canada at all venues, except Moncton, which will have the highest of levels of FIFA certified field turf. It has drawn some critics about this and not being equal for WWC. Most of the venues for sure have recently placed in the newest and latest field turf in which football is played on. Have not heard in BC place will be planning to put in new Field Turf. Since it will host the finals I guess it could be a possibility.
True, but up until now it has always been on turf. They're switching to grass to appease the Blue Jays, and as a result the Argos are getting the boot because the Jays want to protect their new grass field, so it's a whole different scenario now.
Yup that is true and BMO is expanding and renovating to gain hosting some of these events with the 30K permanent and 40K expanded. Still RC could/would be a destination especially post baseball season with National teams having this late year training. The city of Toronto is now filled with much more imigration from around the world. A lot of huge ratings for the World Cup do to this. Don't think that Rogers may take advantage of this in having popular National teams come in and play when the whether is cold be it against team Canada or not. or even the Women's National team vs the US or other top rival Nations that Canada will begin to obtain
Not sure what you mean by this. Moncton did get a new turf field in March. The organizers had to ensure that all venues and training facilities used the same surface. You could even argue that not wanting to switch back to turf was a big reason that the Toronto Tourism board or whoever didn't bid to host WWC games at BMO. MLSE would've opposed it.
Thanks I did not realize that Moncton went to Turf. Toronto is hosting the Pan Am games immediately following the WWC in July. That may likely be the reason why BMO or any Toronto area venue is hosting any kind of WWC match. They are really in the middle of an issue with the WWC being played on all Field Turf surfaces. CWNT has a pretty big following and have become a top club in the World. With the US and Canada WNT's becoming bitter rivals as well as US holding top World ranking makes Canada a great site. Several new Stadiums built and others major modern reno's. For Canada and the cities and regular tenants in these stadiums withing the cities Field Turf is much more efficient. These new venues did not skimp on the type of field turf they put in. All have top of the line Field Turf ( Not the old Concrete type Astro turf that people may think of). Methods for putting in temporary grass have greatly improved but is costly. Especially when you are talking about putting it onto 5 sites. Canada placed a bid as is and were awarded it. So FIFA is on the hook here IMHO. On the men's side CMT is in a major rebuilding process but in major areas like GTA and Montreal international countries are very popular. Canada is yet to even host or co-host any kind of Concacaf events as of yet. Although the venues are now in place with the expandable 40K minimum needed for many international events.
For WCQ we need to bring Honduras panama etc to really cold places where 1- we have actual home fans 2- weather destroys them like it does us when we play abroad
If I read it right Canada will not enter qualifications until june. second round wen teams ranked 9th-22nd in concacaf. still will be a lil chill but venues will be limited with the WWC. either THF or BMO be available as well in Montreal Saputo available with WWC being at Olympic.
Having watched Mexican players shivering on the bench in gloves and hoodies at 20 degrees in Toronto, I don't even think we need really cold weather to hurt teams from Central America. At least not what we would consider really cold. That said, Edmonton in October or November would be great.
Maybe. I could only find BMO's exclusive use period, which is July 7 - 14. Interesting tidbit: while I was looking for Tim Horton's Field's exclusivity period, I stumbled upon a document that listed the Ti-Cats' rights to a pro soccer team at the stadium. I had never seen the specifics before. It says that "By May 31, 2015 - the Tiger-Cats must receive sanctioning from the Canadian Soccer Association OR they can decide either not to proceed with securing a soccer franchise and foregoing the exclusive rights to do so OR extend the exclusive rights period to September 30, 2015 for a fee of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($150,000)." (Emphasis my own) (Source) At the risk of straying too far off topic, I will end by saying that May 31, 2015 is less than seven months from now. The Ti Cats likely will not have to compete with anyone for a pro soccer team but I'm intrigued to see if they can get sanctioning before then.
I would wonder since THF was not fully fan functional until the last game of the season that they may get extended time to fulfill the contract signed. With the premis being that there argreement with the contractor was breached and not having at least one full year of revenue before they would decide to get sanctioned and two full season's of profits before fielding a club for the 2016 season.
Unless someone else has a real viable plan to get a team in Hamilton, the CSA will give the Ti-Cats ownership whatever they want.
^ True. If I were the Ticats owner I wouldn't be too concerned about someone else trying to sneak in an NASL team. That said, if I did have intentions of launching such a team myself, I'd want to get going on it as soon as I reasonably could. Stadium dates are stadium dates, after all.
I thought that would be the situation. CSA is trying to build up the number of pro teams at the highest level of play and for ownership groups that have a 2 or more teams under their brand using a synergy model stand a much better chance of being financially viable in the long run. Ti Cats owner Caretaker Young has been taking losses for years now. With the deal that he and his team(s) do and will have with the city and the stadium along with all of the modern amenities where revenue will be generated compared to the old Ivory Wynn. Pretty much from here on out the model and salary caps will keep them in profits each year for some time. Selling out the suites and other premium seating, with a waiting list to get in alone likely will exceed previous profits.