Can't seem to find the actual report anymore... Links have been broken. Here's an excerpt paraphrased by a reporter if thats any help: "That the existing four Div. 1 and 2 pro teams in Canada, the three MLS teams and FC Edmonton of the NASL, should be encouraged to have their reserve/developmental squads play in a new Canadian Div. 3 set-up. This offers the biggest thorn for MLS, which just struck a deal with USL Pro to develop affiliated reserve clubs. USL Pro is sanctioned as Div. 3 in the U.S., while NASL is Div. 2. And, the CSA has already stated that it will not sanction teams playing in USL-Pro as Div. 3 in Canada" Full Article: http://the11.ca/2013/02/05/the-easton-report-what-it-means-for-div-3-in-canada/ Remember this was before Ottawa joined the NASL. This coupled with the previous ban on D2 and PDL means everything but D1 (MLS) was non-sanctionable by the CSA. Obviously exemptions were made: MLS reserve teams to keep MLS sides happy, in the case of Ottawa the bid occurred before this report was released. Calgary as mentioned by EP jr. And most recently Victoria Highlanders rejoining the PDL (maybe because these bans have expired?) no idea how that one happened... CSA really lacks teeth eh? The point is all, of these bans were instituted to protect the CSA's interest in starting up their own leagues at the D3 level regionally and to some form of a national D1 which remains to be seen, and perhaps will never materialize. They have been mildly successful in establishing regional D3 leagues in Ontario and Quebec. The OSA has put PDL teams on notice to join its D3 league, although it did already give an exemption to Thunder Bay of the PDL. In the end the CSA does not want to have a Canadian league under the NASL banner. If they cannot get it done themselves then it is probably the best way about doing anything to expand soccer in Canada, its just not the way they want to go about it. Sorry in advance. EDIT: Here I found the report http://issuu.com/rethinkmanagementgroup/docs/phase_i___ii_summary/1?e=6798688/3589027
You are very funny. Big future in stand up. Just book all your gigs for Whitecap, Impact, and TFC fans
Obviously I'm not talking this will happen tomorrow! But maybe after 5 years of successfull CSL running as Division 1 with at least 12 teams (including new clubs in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver), less than that I think will not work. Success means: - CSL as D1 in Canada. CONCACAF canadian birth to CSL; - A good deal with some major network in Canada (cable or other. I think in Canada soccer could make the way to broadcast TV. In US this will not happen in the next 50 years!); - Good stadium attendance (~15k); - Etc.
I think, like you did above, everyone has to define "success" before they state if they can achieve it or not. As for your measures......i doubt that this league would make it on to over the air broadcast TV....in fact, quite the opposite, I think any league (if created) would be a creation of (and to provide cancon programming to) one or both of the sports networks. I also think that if the definition of success is ~15k crowds in a 5 year period people are going to be very disappointed. That said, I am not sure that is the figure....I think in north america we are getting a bit skewed by the recent boom in MLS attendance and setting benchmarks based on that. My bet would be that if a 8 - 12 team league in Canada could be created that provided content for a cable sports network and managed to get attendance in the, say, 7500 range and could attract some sponsorsip.....it might be viewed as a "success"....I also think, however, the first two of those measures (content and sponsorship) would be far easier to attain than the attendance mark.
I don't expect more than 5k in the first and second season. Also I'm counting that FC Edmonton and Ottawa Fury join this league leaving NASL... Good TV rights? Only after 4 years, first cable and then final or other big game during saturday or sunday afternoon could make to broadcast tv. they should selll individual games do broadcast TV instead of trying to reach a multi-year TV contract.
I was observing your "~15k" figure for attendance. As for TV, I firmly believe this league (if it ever exists) will be created solely to meet programing requirements of one of the sports networks and, like the CFL itself, no games would ever be on any outlet other than that sports network. Since Rogers have so much baseball in the summer......I suspect we are really down to "does TSN want/need some summer cancon".
He likely doesn't know cancon and the ctrc's regulations. @Paulo PT Getting on TV in Canada is different it could be much easier if its a Canadian League and not the NASL. It could be hard if the networks don't want to carry it unless its for a Canadian content requirement. Also when you say "CSL" I really hope you're making a mistake in name. The CSL will never run nationwide, never be sanctioned by the CSA (nor FIFA) as any division, and not be the name of a new Canadian league.
Australia may serve as a benchmark here; they have very similar issues with soccer being a red-headed stepbrother of other sports and the country is huge and has very few population centers, too. If you take away their three best-attended teams, average attendances of the rest range between 12k and mere 6k. And that's in a league with over ten years of history and about 40 years of top-level soccer in total. Canada will start from (almost) scratch.
Interesting development. At the bottom of this article there is a very interesting nugget about how the future CanadianPL might look. http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/i...-issue-coming-in-next-month-montagliani-r5546 Outlines a scenario with, far as I can tell, 3 possibilities. 1: Stand alone CanadianPL (Still need Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal teams) 2: CanadianPL as an NASL conference (Still need Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal teams) 3: CanadianPL in USL (Already has Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal teams) If scenario 3 happens, that would be worst case scenario for the NASL for sure. Scenario 1 isn't terrible, but they'll still more then likely lose Ottawa. Scenario 2 is their best case scenario for sure.