I would think that it needs to give its new league (if it comes into existence) the spot...and the Voyageurs cup dies unless the CSA can convince CONCACAF that we have sufficiently progressed to have two spots (one for the cup and one for the league)
Two Canadian berths are probably not happening unless CONCACAF goes back to 32 teams in the champions league.
There is nothing else about this league from anywhere other than Duane Rollins, the same person who spent all last year tweeting that Toronto NASL was definitely coming. He has no concrete sources. If the CSA and CFL were planning something, do you think someone more than a blogger might have something on it by this stage?
Possible. Also possible he's the only one in the Canadian media who cares about D3 level soccer enough to dig it up? We will find out soon enough and either he will gain tremendous credibility or lose it all.
It's entirely possible it's all just smoke and mirrors. I don't claim anything as fact, just passing along information.
I am a bit confused by this idea. Wasn't USSF requiring NASL to have a western conference in the USA to retain D2 status ? My other first thought is that if the 3 Canadian MLS teams join this Canadian league, that would free up 3 more US cities to join MLS. (my first thoughts being San Antonio, Indy and maybe Carolina). Then not much is left of NASL and the remaining teams fold into the USL. >I think this would be good for Canada in the long run, while difficult. With CFL help i probably stands a better chance. Canada need to step it up and decide if it wants to compete on the world stage or even the Concacaf stage. I am part Canadian and Canada has really fallen behind. = I could see the Canadian league a mix of CFL based and a few independents WEST/ Victoria Vancover Edmonton Calgary Regina Winnipeg EAST/ Toronto Montreal Ottawa Hamilton Quebec Halifax 12 team, 22 game regular season Expanded Voyaguer's cup to get to Champions League- maybe 2-8 games needed Space in schedule for some exhibitions This would be a good start for the country.
1. The 3 MLS clubs are not leaving to join this league (if this league even exists) 2. Why would they go to the trouble/bother to create a Canadian league then have a cup competition to decide who gets the Champions' League spot?
Why would the Voyageurs Cup die? Right now it includes teams in different leagues. Even if this new league gets started it is likely that there will be Canadian teams in various leagues. Just expand the current Canadian Championship tournament.
Because if they give the champions league spot to the winner of their new league (likely, if the league exists) why on earth would the Canadian based MLS teams play in the Canadian Championship cup? What is in it for them? Ans: Nothing.
You are assuming that they will give the berth to the winner of this new league. I don't think that is a given or even likely. If there are still Canadian MLS teams (which seems to be the case based on what we are hearing) and maybe even Canadian NASL teams (maybe they will join this new league, maybe not) then those teams would not have any route to the CCL. The Voyageurs Cup might still go on either way. The U.S. had the Open Cup for years and years before winning it got you into any other tournament. Sometimes you have tournaments just to win them, not just because it gets you into something else.
If they are going to have a league that they sanction as Canada's top league...that is where the spot will go....Champions' League spots (on any continent) are more appropriately (and more typically) awarded to league winners....it is a more accurate determinant of your Champion. That alone might be enough to attract the NASL teams to join (the chance of a bigger pay off in the regional tournament)....it would not bring the MLS teams but they have their own ways of generating cash. The fact that this leaves the 3 MLS teams without a path to the CCL is not a matter of concern to the CSA...those clubs/owners picked to play in a foreign league and their lack of ability to qualify to play Pachuca should not be a determinant in how the CSA awards its spot.
I disagree. Having the best Canadian team possible represent Canada is very much in the CSA's interest. Having a team like Montrael show well in the Champions League does a lot more to drive interest in soccer than having a USL level team get obliterated every year.
2 things 1. the lure of that Champions league is a very strong financial draw for investment in the new league 2. They may not be allowed to give the MLS teams the spot even if they continue with the Canadian Cup. Likely the most analogous situation is Wales/England. The top 6 (or is it 8, I forget?) teams in Wales all play in the English pyramid. In 2008, one of them (Cardiff) got to the English FA cup final and the FA quite clearly stated that they would not grant an English qualifying spot to Cardiff should they win the Cup (they didn't...so the matter became moot)....it all festered though and in 2012 the Welsh FA came up with a plan to revive the fortunes of their own domestic cup and have the clubs playing in the English system play in the Welsh Cup (so that would be the 3 MLS teams playing in the Canadian Cup) to maybe get a Welsh Europa League spot. The working theory at the time was they would likely play their reserve teams in the early rounds and then when the spot was in sight play their first teams. UEFA's response was clear (quote from BBC)....."Uefa's executive committee have ruled Welsh clubs in an English league cannot qualify for Europe via the Welsh Cup." That put the matter back into the hands of the English FA.....the year after the UEFA ruling, Swansea qualified for Europe via the league system. Assuming (and it may be a big assumption) UEFA and CONCACAF have consistency in their rulings (which may be necessary as the ultimate goal, I guess, is competing with each other in the WCC) then the formation of a Canadian league may force the issue of the 3 Canadian clubs being eligible to qualify through the league they have chosen to play in.
Considering CONCACAF already allows teams to qualify via a tournament, CONCACAF is already inconsistent with UEFA. Why should CONCACAF follow UEFA's lead anyways? Different confederacies, different continents, different nations, and different circumstances. Wales having their own spot in the champions league is like each state in the US having a spot in the the champions league.
the allowance of qualifying through the Canadian Cup is a nod to the fact that Canada did not have a league and that a Canadian rep had to be established somehow. You seem to misunderstand the Wales situation....they already have spots in UEFA Champions League and Europa League. Their reps are determined by their own league and cup competitions. All that UEFA ruled in 2012 was that teams who had chosen to play in England were not eligible to receive any of the Welsh spots (this year they are represented in the CL by The New Saints and in Europa by Bala Town, Airbus UK Broughton and Newton)
I agree with TOareaFan here... If CSA are going to set-up their own league, and more than likely put their own money into it - they are going to want their league and teams representing them on the International stage. More exposure can only help the league stabilize and then hopefully grow by attracting Investors/players/TV (well, in theory anyways). As for the current MLS teams... CSA can just tell USSF they can nominate them for CCL if they want (of course, New Horizons has a better chance of photographing aliens having a tea party on Pluto than that happening, but hey - it would then be USSF denying those clubs CCL, not CSA!)
Yes, America has taken one of its spots and used it to support their cup tournament.....something we could do if we had more than one spot. this was discussed earlier (either in this thread or one of the many others) and America is fairly unique in doing this and it is likely just an offshoot of us only having one regional tournament.
I remain skeptical that the CSA will "automatically" give the CCL slot to the winner of this new league. I think it is especially hard to think it likely when we don't even know what this new league will look like. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
It is all hypothetical.....but it would seem bizarre for them to create a Canadian league..presumably with some national footprint and not use one of the few tools that they possess to make it appear "big league"....and the CCL qualifying spot is that. We will just have to wait and see if a) this league ever exists and b) what they do with the qualifying spot.
If Canada has more than 5 pro teams then they might have a shot at 2 teams in the CCL. Some of the Central American leagues only have 10 or 12 teams in their top divisions and they get 2 slots. Admittedly most of those countries have promotion/relegation so they actually have more than just the teams in the top division. And you have the issue of where the slot would come from. But it doesn't seem likely that Canada would get additional slots if they don't allow their best teams to compete for those slots.
Best thing about this thread is somehow americans believe in the efficacy more than any Canadian ever could. We're going to build a soccer system on the model that is a culmination of OUR major junior hockey system and your franchise-based "big four" pro sports model. Big four are what they are because relegation/promotion is a business model of the past, and a strong semi-pro minor league can support development of young atheletes and fill the demands of a market profitably. *See MJH for an example