Yes, I read the article......but they still suggest a high degree of commonality without spending any time at all on the impacts of this difference......it is not a small difference.....it is a massive, fundamental, difference which impacts all sorts of things: Access to and competition for domestic players Attention from media TV rights/coverage Ticket sales Overall perception of quality in the eyes of the sporting audience It is not a minor difference.....I would describe us as Wales - if Wales was waaaaay larger geographically......not Australia with some differences
Access to and competition for domestic players CPL will overtime be a bigger generator of domestic players as the pyramid will be designed in the long term to funnel most of the domestic talents towards CPL (the plan is now the top 3 tiers), except those going to MLS academies which already represents the minority of players. You're looking at a scenario where MLS teams would have to deal mostly with CPL most of the time for domestic talents. MLS won't draft in U-Sports, CPL will. Hamilton already entered discussions to have an partnership with Sigma FC, initially, other CPL clubs could try to strike such deals with academies in their territories. Overseas domestic players would likely join both leagues depending on what's in front of them (money, lifestyle, opportunities, playing time etc...). Some will chose CPL, some MLS Attention from media Local medias are a given and It's reasonable to say that SN, TSN, TVA and RDS would cover the league as they also broadcast in those markets that represents 2/3 of the nation. With CPL already targeting the cities major suburbs (Surrey & York), they would be already in the Toronto and Vancouver media market. Hamilton does count for Toronto market, so does Victoria in the Vancouver media market. Montreal would be the gap to fill but Quebec City would compensate somewhat for that. TV rights/coverage CPL is working on it. The best case scenario would be CBC, accessible coast to coast, free and meets the Canadian content they would need in the summer. They already trademarked "Soccer night in Canada". Quickest way to get the most eyeballs on the TV from everywhere. Ticket sales Average target is between 6k to 10k. It's in line with what's being done in Australia, Scandinavian leagues Overall perception of quality in the eyes of the sporting audience Not that big of a factor outside of the 3 metro areas (2/3 of Canada- 24M people)... they don't really watch MLS. However, with the right marketing (something NASL-USL & MLS didn't do well), the right presentation/entertainment value and right quality on the pitch, it's very likely the league will be a success in those markets. The 3 metro areas are big enough for more than 1 team. ***Wales still watches both leagues. Canada doesn't "massively" follow MLS despite CPL absence all those years. If we're like Wales as some would say, Canadians could be expected to watch both leagues, however, that's more likely to be the case only within the 3 MLS markets. It would be highly unlikely for CPL to schedule games at the same time as CFL and MLS. A valuable feedback that Tom Fath gave CPL was to listen to the teams in regards of scheduling as they know best when's the optimal time to attract the most people to watch the game. It was a source of frustration with NASL.
Problem is, the distance makes all the difference in Wales. Wales is so small that all of the teams can travel by bus the same day as their games. That's a huge cost savings for a small league. The article also fails to acknowledge that even though Australia is a big land mass with only a handful of high populated cities, those cities, for the most part, are concentrated in the Southeast portion of the country.. Out of the A-League's 10 teams, 8 of them are within 2,000km of Melbourne and 4 of them are within a few hundred kilometers from Sydney.. That'd be the equivalent (distance wise) of having 2 teams in Toronto, 2 teams in Montreal, a team in Ottawa, one in Quebec City, and another in Halifax.
The welsh factor is that, like Canada, the 3 biggest clubs in the country play in a league outwith the nations own division 1. Probably more so than the three biggest clubs being in another league.
I understand that, just saying that the ability to make day trips pretty much eliminates the travel expense for the Welsh PL. That's going to be a pretty hefty expense for CPL.
yes.....there is no perfectly analogous situation to Canada.....it is the Welsh league situation with Canadian geography....so I am not sure why some are falling over themselves to say we are like Australia.
Large land mass with a relatively small population. Having Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal in another league is definitely an issue, but the small population and large land mass is a bigger issue, IMHO.
Australia have 4 nationals leagues australian football, rugby league, soccer and rugby union, Canada have 2 CFL and NHL and more population, there is space for a third league; not gonna be EPL but gonna have a nice existance.
The problem with this is that hockey is as popular in Canada as soccer is in other countries.. There are dozens of junior/minor league hockey clubs in Canada that get thousands of fans per game. There's also 5 other major league teams in Canada from MLS (3), MLB (1), and NBA (1).
Shouldn’t be too much overlap in the Junior (or any) hockey league schedule and the CPL fans. In fact if I was buying a CPL franchise (I am not) I would be trying to get myself in front of the people buying tickets to the local CHL team......that is a group of local sports minded people who spend money on tickets......if you can get them to keep doing that during the hockey off season you have a base.
I honestly wouldn’t know.....nor would I know if those codes impact A-league attendance.....that combined ignorance level is likely why I never commented on it
A profesional national league CPL beat a pro team in a foreing league MLB/NBA, and the 3 MLS will get in soon, it gonna work.
Actually, the A-League season was reduced to 24 games specifically to avoid overlapping the other codes as much as possible. The season starts the weekend after the AFL’s and NRL’s grand finals. The only overlap is in March and April with Super Rugby and NRL starting at the beginning of March and AFL starting at the end.
There is a bit more overlap with playoffs - but yeah - I was there in April - July and got to see games in all four codes including the A-League grand final and a AFL game on the same weekend in June.
How long ago was that? The A-League’s Grand Final has been between March and May as long as I’ve followed it..
Also the Welsh league is extremely small-time, with average attendance under 500. There's not much there analogous to the CPL's ambitions to be a serious pro league with national appeal.
You are measuring the results of one league (Wales) and the hopes of another (CPL) and ssying they are different. I am reasonably sure the Welsh league clubs would also like it if ~ 5,000 per match showed up. I am saying there are lessons to be learned from a country who has it’s biggest clubs in one league and attempts to run a domestic league in parallel to them. Will league averages all be less than 1,000 per match.....no, I don’t think so. Will they all be 5,000+ .......no, I don’t think that either.
And ultimately, regardless of what comparisons to other league are or aren't valid, this is what will matter. I have thoughts on this, some of which I've expressed before, but, for now, I'm waiting until the CPL actually announces its teams. Then we'll be in a much better position to assess the likelihood of success.