This thread seems appropriate as this will be the 1st of many seasons! 1st game in 27 years for a Canadian domestic league ended in a 1-1 draw between Forge & York 9
Loving that look of the stadium on TV 🌊 Here it is, our first ever starting eleven. 🙌🔜 Kick-off at 8 p.m.📺 Stream our match at @Pacificfccpl live https://t.co/GHfaBqCJuG#UTW #COYW #TogetherFromAways #CanPL pic.twitter.com/PxioygkH4Y— Halifax Wanderers FC (@HFXWanderersFC) April 28, 2019 Our first-ever Starting XI vs. @HfxWanderersFC!#ForTheIsle #PacificFC #CanPL pic.twitter.com/Iw1YxCbkpU— Pacific FC (@Pacificfccpl) April 28, 2019
Victoria's stadium is perfect for CPL. 10 minutes in, both teams keeping the ball on the ground, looking for openings. This is great. They're both playing good football.
The quality is good. I expect Halifax to react in the 2nd half but Pacific is a dangerous offensive team. This league is exceeding lots of people expectations!
1-0 win for Pacific! That stadium though!!! 📺 #CanPLxOneSoccer🔛 Match underway💜 PAC 0-0 HFX 💙👀 The best Canadian soccer 👉🏽 https://t.co/hishXepRT3 pic.twitter.com/rmuIqA6CUL— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) April 28, 2019 Highlights Here we have it🏆 The first victory in @CPLsoccer goes to @Pacificfccpl, in a well fought 1 - 0 win against @HfxWanderersFC⚽ Winning goal scorer & man of the match Hendrik Starostzik (CB)👏 What a historic night on Vancouver Island #CanPLxOneSoccer pic.twitter.com/GiK5wCsANI— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) April 29, 2019 Quality was high on Pacific side. HFX Wanderers took more time to settle in and Ida being subbed in changed Halifax. Halifax is a team built for defense and counterattack but they will regret going all in in that philosophy. Pacific got a red card and even with a man down, kept possession of the ball and pressed Halifax. Halifax defense are big, strong and surprisingly fast. Despite the lose, the fact that they only lost by 1 goal is an achievement on it's own as Pacific kept attacking and playing in their half of the pitch. Pacific will score lots of goal this season. Haber, Fisk, Baldissimo, Verhoeven and Starostzisk were incredibly efficient. Great possession game and maintaining control of the game. Again, the quality is exceeding expectations on game 2.
17 661 during the inaugural game (Forge vs York 9) Sold put ~6000 for the Pacific vs Wanderers game Next game is at Pacific (Langford, BC) and they will be hosting Valour this Wednesday
The league is reporting 5100 for the Victoria game. Renovations are still ongoing so a sell out will eventually be the ~6000 Robert Borden mentioned but for now its a bit lower. I'm hoping the remaining teams can keep things going in their home openers. Certainly it makes for a great atmosphere at the stadium. Halifax, Calgary, and Winnipeg all get their shots this week. Edmonton has to wait another week. York actually has a Canadian Championship game as their home opening a few days before their first league home game. It will be interesting to see the attendance for that because its against Blainville of the PQSL rather than a CPL team.
Halifax will be a sellout. Valour will be over 10k for their first home match. Calgary has a nice venue, but it's tough to get to, and their prices are way too high. Unsure how many fans Edmonton will have.
Winnipeg get their first win in their first game. I only got to see the highlights but it looked like an entertaining match. Haber perhaps should have passed rather than taken the shot that hit the post but that's tough to do in the moment. Attendance only 2360 which is concerning.
Winnipeg played a good game with Hoyle and Carreiro scoring for Valour. Petrasso was a constant threat. Haber just can't catch a break but is due to start scoring soon. I thought Pacific played a bad game trying to play the long ball to Haber and crossing.to him. They became predictable and easy for Valour to defend against. Their midfield is so talented, they must go back to use it to create opportunities and being creative. That was a small midweek attendance, will have to compare to the next weekend game. Temperature didn't help either from the look of it 🥇 @ValourFootball win their first match ever, on the road against @Pacificfccpl⚽ 2 - 1 final score, with goals from Stephen Hoyle, Jose Hernández Jr, and @DylanCarreiroo👏 Man of the match: Valour FC Captain @JMurrell4#CanPLxOneSoccer pic.twitter.com/IOSfGQwZg3— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 2, 2019
Yes, and I don't want to make too much of one game, but... The league says they need an average attendance of about 6000 to be viable. That means a team like Victoria needs to basically sell out every game - the financial math doesn't care that it was a mid-week game with chilly weather. When their stadium capacity (once the renos are done) is just equal to the necessary attendance it's not like they can hope for a big crowd later to make it up. Again, I'm not going to panic based on one game. I'm sure there's some flex. Still, it's disappointing to see so early on in the team's history.
It's too soon to panic over 1 game. The wording is 6000 to "break even". Everyone knew that some would be losing money but the point if for Pacific to build up a consistent attendance over time.
A late, 8pm start was hard to understand. I agree it's not great, but sadly about what one would expect for An 8pm Wednesday night game when it's freezing. Also shows that the media deal, sponsorships and any player sales down the road are vital.
Others have said that having 2 games almost back to back was a bad idea as most people would most likely choose 1 and the inaugural. From what I've heard without checking the schedule, Winnipeg's schedule manages to avoid that. 7 team league doesn't help...hence the need to bring it up to 8 or 10 next season
“Since Zach joined us in March he has worked hard to become a better player...” - Michael SilberbauerPacific FC officially welcomes @ZachVerhoven to the squad: https://t.co/J6qHzrRnav#ForTheIsle #PacificFC #CanPL pic.twitter.com/itv8aQ7zPz— Pacific FC (@Pacificfccpl) May 2, 2019
📺 #CanPLxOneSoccer🔚 FULL-TIME!💪🏽 @HfxWanderersFC wins the first game of the season!🔝 Man of the match: Luis Perea💙 HFX 2-1 FOR 🧡 🤩 Super Saturday👀 All @CPLsoccer's games 👉🏽 https://t.co/hishXepRT3 pic.twitter.com/ZA6GQ7cep7— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 4, 2019 6,113 was the attendance today for @HfxWanderersFC— John Molinaro (@JohnMolinaro) May 4, 2019
FULL TIME!!Cavalry FC with their first win in team history!!! A fantastic 2-1 victory over York9 FC.#CavsFC #CanPL #RideWithUs pic.twitter.com/qlGueBHB79— Cavalry FC (@CPLCavalryFC) May 4, 2019
HFX Wanderers 2-1 Forge FC Cavalry FC 2-1 York 9 FC Valour FC 1-2 FC Edmonton *CONCACAF LEAGUE Qualifiers*
Winnipeg Valour - 4MAY2019 https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/s..._WHmtzAtEZgHJ1aLQixcDKae37np-94qcCa8kxOYcU6Gc https://nationalpost.com/sports/soc...YKKu0EEQFHM7YSUDGtMkcAvEd_DJBImi-H87xyP6uvw_A
📰 | https://t.co/qsuSdvfptt | #CanPL | HFX Wanderers owner says mid-season stadium expansion a possibility— CanPL FC 🇨🇦⚽ (@CanPL_FC) May 7, 2019
Not that my opinion will matter to the club but I would urge them to go slowly on any expansion. Keeping sell outs long term is more important than grabbing a few extra fans now. Wait and see where the attendance settles after the initial buzz has worn off. Personally, I'd wait until the end of year three when their temporary stadium permit expires and do any expansion in conjunction with making the stadium permanent. By then they may have weathered some bad on field performance and have a gauge of what attendance is like during adversity. Still, very impressive that they are even talking about this.
Isn't the season already sold out, or close to it? If so, I don't see the harm in bumping the capacity up a few thousand for the last half of the season. Get more people in the stadium and prepped to purchase season tickets.