final roster as of yesterday... http://www.fcedmonton.com/news/FC-Edmonton-Announce-Full-Roster-Prior-to-Season-Opener--
Well, it looks like I have a reason to follow the Eddies from afar. I've already got local PDL and MLS teams, so adding a NASL team is a good thing. Anything I should know about the team and culture around it?
That's good for Edmonton (averaging 2182 so far this year) but their high was 3474 just before the end of the spring schedule. The glass half full is that attendance is improving. The glass half empty is that it is still pretty low for viable D2 soccer.
History shows that something like 5000 average is what it takes to support a D2 team long term so that the team is financially viable. This can be trimmed a bit depending on the details, but that's definitely what I'd shoot for as a base is I were running a D2 side. Edmonton is still obviously well below that, but they are taking steps in the right direction. If the ownership is willing to stick with it for a while, I think they will get there. Having Ottawa join next year will help. They drew almost 5800 against TFC for a Canadian Championship match a couple of years ago so the interest is there.
Hopefully you are right, but just looking at the highs and ignoring the lows does not give you a full picture. Canadian Championship 2011 - 5,781 2012 - 3,700 2013 - 2,838 Again I wish them the best and hopefully they can improve their numbers up there.
My point with the Canadian Championship number was that the fans do exist. But, yes, the trend is not in the right direction. We'll see what happens next year if they make it through the first round and get to play Montreal instead of Vancouver. (The 5800 was against TFC. The 3800 and 2800 were against Vancouver which is perhaps less "exotic" for fans in Edmonton.)
Unless something new has come up, with. The CSA released a format that sees Ottawa and Edmonton play in the first round. The winner joins the MLS teams (and is paired against the highest ranked MLS team) and the tournament continues as with this year's event.