Why would they be invited when they play in the Central American Cup? This is an odd response. For everyone who wants to champion Leagues Cup now that it is sanctioned by CONCACAF and has three spots into CCC but refuse go acknowledge the other two new Cup competitions by region makes me scratch my head a little.
Already having three big teams in a country is possibly 95% of most leagues in the world. Where is the grow the game crowd? CONCACAF doesn't start at the Southern Mexico border and end in three Canadian cities last I checked. Is there another D1 league not allowed in the other two regional Cups?
I think the CPL should be included, but that has nothing to do with the viability of it as a first division league. They probably need a few owners willing to lose money to keep it afloat for a while like Anschutz and Hunt did here.
Because it seems to undermine the principle behind the Leagues Cup. Bringing the biggest clubs in North America together to make as much money as possible.
But the Leagues Cup is supposedly 1 of 3 cup competitions to determine participants in the Concacaf Cup and Canada is the only country whose first division isn't included in any of them.
True but to make up for not being in any of the three regional cups, CPL gets direct entries into the CCC. No one in CFU or UNCAF gets that
And given the choice, I'm willing to bet every Canadian team would choose that over being in the Leagues Cup where they have to defeat the best of MLS/Liga MX to get a spot in the CCC.
There is direct entry for Liga MX and MLS teams outside the Leagues Cup. 6 Liga MX and 5 MLS teams make it in addition to 3 Leagues Cup teams. The CPL gets shortchanged of another opportunity by not being in the Leagues Cup.
They never used to, but that changed last year, I think. If any of the 3 were to win MLS Cup or the Supporter's Shield, they qualify. A team could also qualify if it were to win their conference without winning the Supporter's Shield. That's how St. Louis qualified for this year's CCC.
2024 CCC teams 9 USA 6 Mexico 3 Canada 3 Costa Rica 1 Suriname 1 Jamaica 1 Dominican Republic 1 Nicaragua 1 Panama 1 Guatemala
The Canadian MLS teams now qualify via MLS results as well as the Canadian Championship. They would not have to win MLS Cup, Supporter's Shield, or Opposite Conference best. They go on the Shield list just like US-based teams. Orlando (2) and New England (6) got in this year by finishing next best on the overall Shield table. Those are designated CCC spots. New England got in because Columbus (3) got in via winning the MLS Cup, Philadelphia (4) got in via Leagues Cup, and St. Louis (5) was highest in the West. Toronto and Montreal could have qualified by finishing in any of those spots in MLS. Vancouver got in via the Canadian Championship.
I agree with this and why I believe this won't happen until CPL gets past will the league fold or prosper. Also the spots aren't guaranteed for any league, that's just the initial setup. Eventually if turns into rank in CONCACAF and seating will be adjusted. https://www.concacaf.com/news/concacaf-launches-new-ranking-system-for-region-s-clubs-and-leagues/
Here are the current rankings and CPL have have six teams ranked between 53 & 75. Not great but not bad compared to the rest of CONCACAF. https://www.concacaf.com/en/rankings/club/
I think there's a huge gap between Toronto and Cavalry but in those rankings it's 3 places. I wonder where USLC teams would sit.
In terms of actual quality of the teams I mean, as opposed to the rankings based on recent performances in continental competition.
I don't think people really understand the direction CONCACAF is trying to go. The idea is to improve the region and the competition. Hence Nations league and expanded club competition for the region. More regional club cup competition/CCC/CWC is the path they've embraced. They even talked of something with CONMEBOL but that might be dead now. The better regional competition is the better your seating in the CWC. Granted they are behind South America and Europe but after that who knows the third ranked Federation? So player development and revenue are the goals and hopefully better result for CONCACAF.
Quick reminder that Concacaf asked MLS for their preference when they reformed the CCL as a half-season tournament; MLS responded that they'd rather play it in spring. Of course, the heavy US representation is partly thanks to our Leagues Cup podium sweep last year... but essentially, we're trending the same way as Conmebol: spamming continental berths for the more profitable leagues, in exchange for everyone getting slices of a bigger pie. Among other things, yeah. Don Garber let us know what time it is when he specified that there are no plans to play Leagues Cup matches in Mexico any time soon.
It's funny how people want MLS teams to pay bigger salaries but don't want the league to gain more revenue. I think Garber said definitely no Leagues Cup in Mexico this season and no current plans to play in Mexico. If Liga MX wants games in Mexico they'll get games in Mexico.