Australia or something else? You were getting off topic and you know it. If you have something specific to Canada that would be appreciated.
You know, Canada, this forum, what the posts in this forum are supposed to be about. Home friendlies in Canada in particular.
I'm pretty sure I said I'd love for Australia to play a match against Canada. If they took it seriously, that'd be a good work out for Canada.
For both I would think, no offense but with our strange support, I don't think Australia would be much of a draw. As for Argentina, we already played them in an ill advised friendly before the WC and I think the likelihood of a return engagement so soon after might not go down well. Part of the problem is the general public's apathy towards soccer and our lack of real rivals. It's easy to call the US our rival but most casual fans likely couldn't name a player on their team. We have hardcore knowledgeable supporters but that doesn't fill a 20,000 seat stadium. It's hard for them to understand but games have to be sold to casual observers, that's where you get your sellouts.
It's so much about Argentina specifically, but addressing the misconception that nobody would fly to Canada to play you. They are already flying here to play the US, so it would be only a matter of putting out the cash for a game in Canada. Argentina went and played Costa Rica or somebody in San Francisco right after the New York game. Costa Rica is not that much better than Canada and San Francisco is obviously not closer than Toronto or Montreal, or Vancouver for that matter. I don't think Spain is playing two games, but that would be a example of a big name to sort of piggy back off of. Get them before or after (in this case not really because of the Gold Cup, but talking in generalities) the game in Foxboro. It's a matter of money obviously, not team strength or location. Some posters here don't feel it's worth it to spend the money. That's up to the CSA, but there is no doubt that they are there to be had.
To add to the above, until the CSA gets the hell out of Toronto and Montreal they are not going to know what kind of property they have. The market is so fragmented in Toronto that the only thing that multicultural landscape can agree on is TFC support. But those 20,000 don't transfer to the NT. Similar situation in Montreal. The fortunate thing is that with new (rebuilt/refurbed) stadiums coming in Vancouver, Ottawa, Hamilton and Winnipeg we will hopefully see games being moved around a bit. This would hopefully lead to a larger footprint of visibility for the NT and possibly a new hot market being discovered and exploited multiple times.
No offence taken. To be honest, I don't think Australia would see Canada as much of a challenge, but it's a beautiful country and I wouldn't need any specicfic reason to visit again.
I agree they are there to be had for the right price but knowing the Canadian (read Toronto and Montreal) market, it is a risk I wouldn't take. Just to put this into perspective for you, the entire CSA budget (not just the CMNT) but every player in Canada (youth to pro). The budget is not much more than someone like Capello makes in a year. To shell out big money for one game without guarantees is a gamble we should not be taking at this point in time. Normally, I am the eternal optimist when it comes to the Canadian soccer scene but to try and sell 30,000 tickets for a friendly in fickle central Canada, I wouldn't bet on it.
Right now I'd see Canada not too far behind Australia judging by our recent results and playing pretty equal with #10 Greece but to a Canadian crowd Australia isn't, well, very glamourous and I'm sure you'd say the same about Canada.
Anyway, I know the markets and their histories and we've got to get our NT on the road to places like Moncton, St John's and Winnipeg. Vancouver would probably be good and will have such a great place to play but they are so damn far that the travel time for important games is not good unless our guys are already back in North America.
I remember watching a friendly against Brasil where Canada actually did quite well. They actually looked quite good offensively.
There is now an ongoing debate amongst Canadian fans (and now players) that what was holding the team down was lack of heart and desire (which are normally Canadian traits). It seems that the exclusion of TFC players has coincided with a much better performance by the NT. The team has also been acquiring some depth which allows some players who may have been givens (and knew it) to now be excluded or fighting to keep a spot. Two players Josh Simpson (one of the leading scorers in Turkey) and Will Johnson of RSL have been outspoken about the "bad apples" and "holiday camp" atmosphere of the recent past. They say the situation is much improved now and the "bad apples" are gone. This has been indicative in the past three games. To me the perfect storm is brewing. The players are focused and the fans should be ready to support this new resolve. Time to move the team around and let people be exposed to them. Here are some [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YOALqu8Rh0"]highlights vs Ukraine[/ame] where I believe the change in attitude started. We had a lineup missing many starters and did pretty well and i think realized that perhaps missing some select players may not be a bad thing. Nice highlights, sorry about the gawdawful supposed background "music"
I think you could sell out a big Canadian stadium like the Skydome or Olympic stadium in Montreal, with the right team. ARgentina, Spain etc. If you watched the US=Argentina game the support was maybe 50-50 for both teams. I remember attending a Honduras qualifier in Montreal and the line at the border that night was crazy. Several Honduran fans apparently forgot to have the papers. My point is, I think you could sell out a stadium like that at $50-200 a pop for a big team like that. You might actually be the minority cheering section, but if you sold it out to Argentine fanboys or Spanish ones, you stand to make a couple million. I believe the take in from Giants Stadium at 70k was around $5 million, which I assume a healthy chunk went to Argentina at the very least. Risky obviously, and Canada's budget is obviously smaller than the US. The other problem though would be that pretty much every big stadium in Canada is turf. All the big six cities are turf to my knowledge and you'd have to put grass down for the big teams to play. I don't even know if that is possible in the Domes, but if you saw the Giants stadium game, it was ugly.
I think you are comparing this too much to the American market and they're not the same. The Rogers Centre and the Big Owe are basically reviled by sports fans as concrete dungeons. They are generally a very poor atmosphere and look cavernous with even 30,000 people. If they are full their atmosphere is ok but less than 40k not so good. You bring up another point. Every large stadium in Canada (save 10k Moncton) has artificial turf. It is a humongous cost to lay turf, especially for one game. That's another huge expense to add to the cost and uncertainty. It's not an expense that people here for the most part (much less the CSA) want to make. And yes it is possible to lay turf in domes, remember the turf installed at the Pontiac Silverdome for the US World Cup. Turf is installed with tray systems but the shelf life isn't very long especially considering they need lots of water and drainage and most domes aren't made for that.
I went to the Impact game in the Olympic stadium, which was, odd to say the least. I think Toronto or Montreal could sell out for a big team, but you are right the stadiums are a hindrance.
Well neither of them so far has shown the capability or deserve the chance and frankly I'm surprised at how may people agree with me when I say so.
I think they'd show up just to see Messi or Xavi or whoever was there. IF you can get 20k for TFC, I think you'd get plenty of people for a team like Argentina or Spain. They might not cheer for Canada, and it's easy for me to say because it's not my money.
You're missing the point. Only a very small part of that TFC 20,000 show up for NT games (maybe a couple thousand). We are such a multicultural and diverse sporting country that Messi would only mean something to a hardcore soccer fan. Would the Italians show up to see Messi, the Jamaicans, Portuguese? We played a friendly vs Argentina before the World Cup and it was no big deal in the press here. You have to understand that the soccer market here is fragmented and very difficult to predict. And it's not like we have a large South American ex pat population here either.
I wouldn't call about 20k Brazilians in all of Canada a large expat population. They may be highly visible but compared to some 450k Jamaicans, or 800k Portuguese or 2800k Italians I wouldn't say it was huge.