We have soccer snobbery in US. We probably always will. Provincialism is not exclusive to Canada but I agree that it is a factor to be dealt with. On your last point, part of that leads back to the first point. I'm not too old to remember when the US Nats played certain countries and US fans stayed away for various reasons from apathy to wanting to watch college football to feeling intimidated by the opposing fans. Coz it still happens. There are American soccer snobs in our country that will look to pick a fight if someone wants a few of the TV's turned to the US WCQ at the soccer sportsbar even if the Euro game is a friendly. I know, because when I was younger and stupider, I used to get baited into confrontations almost leading to fisticuffs. So while we are further along in the game than our neighbors, some of the issues that you raised are not completely unknown to us. I have confidence that they can move forward if they can gut the CSA and get some CASH. I'm not ready to give up on Canada.
Canada has no league of its own. Monaco is part of France in soccer terms. The Welsh clubs in the English League pre-date the formation of the League of Wales, which is not professional. I think Singapore also has a couple foreign teams, and is even courting an African team! Now that's rediculous. That being said, I'd rather Canada had their own league I think for a first division. If the second division and below clubs still play in USL that's fine. Nothing against Canada, but it's more fun when there is more leagues to follow.
Krammerhead, you have a really good point about the markets. I would actually argue that if you eliminate the stadium deal that Montreal has the best current base because of the success that the Impact has had. But it is my understanding that they would need to work out something stadium wise. I never got to see an NASL Whitecaps game in Vancouver but my folks did take me to see the Manique once and the Blizzard once play at home. It was so long ago that I don't really remember any distinct impressions to be honest. I do remember being really impressed watching one of Soccer Bowls played in Vancouver on TV. I don't remember the year. There seemed to be 80K people. I do agree with you that as Yanks, many of us seem to have a predisposition to think of TO before we think of anywhere else in Canada. I think that probably says a bit more about us than TO, though.
There are rumours of a refurbished CCR or a new 22,000-seat soccer-only stadium in Montréal because there's a need for it and because of the 2007 WYC. Now, with the rumoured capacity, I wouldn't be surprised to see an MLS ownership group in the shadows. The Impact were arguably not looking for more than 15,000-18,000 seats for a stadium.
Hey, there's always the comedy 'remodel Olympic Stadium' option. It's not like much else will use it during the summer now.
Canada has a league called the CPSL-Canadian Professional Soccer League, pretty much based in Ontario and 1 or 2 teams in Quebec. I'll admit it's close to semi pro but they've been around awhile. Now my idea would be to take that league and then put the USL teams in it and maybe some midwest expansion you might have a viable league in Canada, without MLS interference. Just a thought
Heh, the CPSL. They actually had plans for a western expansion a year or so ago. Nobody out west bought into the idea, a league that averages about 50 fans a game is a hard sell.
Well the nutjob had been talking with the CPSL until certain people pointed out that the guy was mentally unbalanced and pointed out his posts on the voyageurs.
I think the sheer geographic distance is a big challenge for both Canada and the US. Both are equally spread out East-West, but the U.S. has the advantage of much more depth North-South. So while it is still a challenge in the U.S., particularly in the West, at least there you can have a region or conference with a decent number of teams within reasonable flying or even driving distance. In Canada this is less the case (again, particularly in the west). Also, many Canadian cities are in as close proximity to U.S. cities as they are to other Canadian cities. So Vancouver, for instance, makes sense in a region with Seattle and Portland (etc.), but less sense to play against Montreal, unless the leage is really big enough to sustain that amount of travelling with Canadian teams alone.