The CPL fills the same void that the Cymru Premier does. That's the entire point. You don't? Maybe, maybe not. Depends on which American cities are on the offer and if they're a better situation. Yes, I did think about that. I don't see a reason why any of them would block such a move. If Atletico Madrid felt there was no hope for their CPL team to join MLS, they wouldn't have gotten involved. Their entire reason for getting involved there is to buy into the CPL on the cheap, prove the market, move into MLS, get the boost in valuation, then eventually sell for a significant profit. Why do you think they're there? Some altruistic notions of growing the game in Canada? You did. It actually is. You're insinuating that Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal aren't pulling their weight in helping the game in Canada because they're in MLS and outside the CSA/CPL roster mandate for Canadian players. No one is triggered. No one is being defensive. That's your projection. The difference is, Canada already has 3 well-established teams in MLS, and the CPL will never compete in those cities with those teams. The other remaining cities are either entirely uninterested in the game or have long term dreams of being in MLS. You're either playing dumb or are extremely naïve. CSA, like all soccer federations, cares about money. I think it's evident you don't understand how the world of soccer actually works.
Then I misunderstood that you were strictly talking about pyramid and not type of league, organization etc... So yeah, the same No - evidence points to the contrary, they are staying in CPL "long term" and are multiplying their partnerships with NCR (National Capital Region) academies to work with them only They seem determined to get their hands on the next Jonathan David coming from that area while CF Montreal and TFC lost their grip on that area. If they want to go to MLS, they would have to start a new club in an American City. There's no way the CSA would let them jump in MLS while being based in Ottawa. I mean, take the top league in the region Liga MX - they said yes to Madrid with San Luis... I respect your doubts but had Atletico Madrid announced an expansion in a big MLS city, most MLS fans and certainly the league would have welcomed the news. The Vancouver Whitecaps tried to start a USL club based in Calgary as a way to counter CPL to keep/get a hold on Canada's 4th metro area. The CSA blocked it. When Forge was in dispute with the city of Hamilton who wanted to accept bids from other teams to be tenants, the CSA preemptively warned that any club playing out of Hamilton would not get the CSA sanction. There was strong indication that TFC wanted to move TFC II to Hamilton to stop the league in it's infancy. As for CONCACAF, they denied sanctioning Ottawa Fury in USL any further when their sanction was up for renewal. FIFA Statute 73 says that clubs cannot compete in other countries leagues unless there are "exceptional circumstances". CONCACAF ruled against the Fury which sets a precedent for the current MLS clubs. Provincial associations have blocked and forced clubs to withdraw from US leagues before. Just showing you that precedents are plenty in regards to Canada/US You understand little about ruling bodies rules. Anyone who understand those at a basic level knows that your scenario is actually "impossible". Unless you can find any sources for your claim or you're a higher up at AM...you're kinda wrong on this. CPL is a good long term investment on it's own merit - not the entire planet revolve around MLS or the US. Yes. There's a difference between "incompetent" and "corrupt" If you read me again, the MLS teams are not being accused of not doing their part in helping the program, I'm saying that they can't save/help the Canadian program on their own. Hence my comment that - 3 clubs in MLS is insufficient to help the national team. They had a "regional" scope for their recruitment while we have talent coast to coast who were never being given the time of day because they weren't looking unless you joined their academies. This lead us to "bleed" talent for years. No worries friend, I blame the old CSA mostly for this. It's news to me that the CPL is trying to compete with MLS. The league would be the first one to laugh at that statement - and I can share a secret with you "they already know". This "need" to reafirm that MLS is bigger and better... newsflash "everyone knows" - there's a term for that but I won't go there. They are focused on filling a massive vacuum by putting clubs where there's no MLS and helping the program. The MLS cities are big enough for more clubs so...CPL will be there too Other markets having no long term ambition of MLS is more accurate than not being interested in the game... I mean we still hold the record for the Women's World Cup and we're huge consumers of the global sport which doesn't resolve around MLS - the problem is domestic "supply" not domestic "demand" --> hence buying low in the world's 10th economy in an untapped market is business 101. Contrarily to the NHL, Raptors and Blue Jays who did the marketing job at involving the other markets, the 3 MLS clubs and the league did an atrocious job at it for over a decade. Even the NFL with no Canadian clubs have done miles better than MLS in that regard. Respectfully - virtually no one cares about MLS beyond those 3 metro areas which represent over 2/3 of the country. They rather watch EPL or Champions League. Many American posters have noticed that more people watches "curling" than MLS Who's projecting now? Incompetence doesn't equal corruption. Their books are public and they get federal funding - Being corrupt would be a dumb move to pull... That's lots of Federal funding they'd lose instantly. Keep believing that MLS writes checks under the table to usurp the CSA authority. It's a well known fact that MLS and the 3 clubs were supporting the Ottawa Fury against CONCACAF as a ruling against the USL club would set a "dangerous precedent" for the MLS clubs. Where was the money to make the CSA and CONCACAF drop their ruling?
I believe David had the opportunity to join all 3 MLS academies but decided to go directly to Europe.
That's true. However, he was identified by the CSA upon referral from his academy. He was right under Montreal's nose the entire time and they never knew anything about him until they say him at CSA camps. That's a CSA structural problem This can't happen in hockey where hockey Canada already knew about Sidney Crosby when he was hitting puberty in the middle of nowhere. Great nations have the structure to do that - Soccer Canada is playing catch up and CPL is that tool
The devil here is in the white space. Why would Atletico Madrid prefer Ottawa over, say, Phoenix or Detroit or Las Vegas? The answer is obvious: it's cheaper than any of those US markets. Primarily, Ottawa has the stadium in place. Bypassing that high-cost political fiasco is a big deal. That's the beginning and end of why they're in Ottawa. They'll invest in the youth a little less given the current returns in CPL. Do not kid yourself, their primary motivation is not to find a diamond in the rough. It's too many resources devoted to such a low probability. Their ultimate goal, like with any investment, is to maximize value. To do that, they need to be in MLS, and they will eventually iron out a deal to make that happen. It's just a matter of time. There's no comparison to be had between Mexican clubs and Canadian clubs in terms of a relationship to MLS. There are currently 3 Canadian cities in MLS. The relationship is established. That's a conflict of interest. They should have blocked it. That doesn't mean a CPL team in Calgary won't eventually want to jump to MLS should the market ever prove worthy. The main problem with the CPL is it will never compete with MLS. The biggest clubs in Canada are already established in MLS, and the rest of the country is simply not populous enough to allow it to be fiscally competitive. What happened was ownership didn't want to put up the scratch to bribe the CSA and CONCACAF to lift the sanctions. This is how federations work. Rest assured, Atletico Madrid knows how this game is played and is prepared to grease palms. See above. There is no precedent for the CSA or CONCACAF stopping a team from moving to MLS. The precedent is Canadian teams can and do play in MLS. What's changed is, going forward, if someone new wants to do that, they will need to "wet the beak" of certain organizations to make that happen. I feel like I'm going to endlessly repeat myself on this point. Sigh. Football governing bodies are amongst the most corrupt organizations on the planet. Money is king. All you need to do to get your way is not threaten their power and give them some money, and they'll make whatever you want kosher. You can continue to live in your bubble for all I care, I'm just laying out the real world for you. Believe what you want. I don't understand why you keep going on about this. It's a matter of club volume, and the CSA would be better off with a higher volume of MLS clubs. There is now and will forever be more resources in MLS. Of course they know, which is why they're putting up "sanctions". They know as well as anyone that they're better off with as many Canadian clubs in MLS as possible. The sanctions are just a way for them to insert themselves in any future Canadian-MLS goings-on. Sure they'll be there, and if they're ever successful enough to join MLS, they will. There's no benefit to remaining in the CPL for any major Canadian city. Interest in soccer =/= interest in a domestic league. MLS is third in viewership by a fair amount in the US. Having a domestic Canadian league isn't going to move the needle. People will still rather watch the EPL and Champions League. I think I've already sufficiently covered "Business 101". I honestly don't know how you can consider yourself knowledgeable about football governing bodies while simultaneously holding that they're not deeply corrupt organizations. Government oversight doesn't eliminate corruption, it just creates one more palm to grease. Believing under-the-table dealings aren't typical in that line of business is about as naïve as one can be. It's like believing casinos rely completely on chance. If MLS has interest in ever being in Ottawa, Calgary, and/or Edmonton, they would of course be against having to deal with sanctions.
^^^ Your superiority complex, imagination on football affairs and lack of knowledge is quite adorable! You sir, have been quite entertaining
40 team league EAST Southeast: Atlanta United Charlotte FC Orlando City SC Inter Miami Nashville SC Northeast: New York City FC New York Red Bulls New England Revolution Philadelphia Union DC United Great Lakes: Montreal Impact Toronto FC Columbus Crew FC Cincinnati Detroit, MI * Midwest: Chicago Fire Sporting Kansas City Saint Louis City Minnesota United Indy Eleven ^ WEST Frontier: FC Dallas Houston Dynamo Austin FC San Antonio FC ^ New Orleans, LA * Mountain: Real Salt Lake Colorado Rapids Oklahoma City Energy FC ^ El Paso Locomotive ^ New Mexico United ^ Southwest: LA Galaxy Los Angeles FC San Diego Loyal ^ Las Vegas Lights ^ Phoenix Rising ^ Northwest: Seattle Sounders Portland Timbers Vancouver Whitecaps San Jose Earthquakes Sacramento Republic *Only expansion teams would be Detroit and New Orleans... everyone else would be promoted up. Play everyone once home/away 39 games, and home/away in conference, 43 games. MLS Cup champion and runner up from each conference, higher seed, has home game. +4 games. Or, you could just do it home/away inside of one conference for 38 games. But I would like a way to promote these rivalries.
Where do you get this crap from? You sure must have too much time on your hands to dream this ridiculous crap. The league will never ever grow to 40 clubs, we will be lucky to see it expand to 32. It's time to join relativity.
I like it. I think it would be very hard to find investors for NOLA. But, to me, this looks like a great long term goal.
I have no connection to NOLA, personally, but it strikes me as the kind of market that would be outstanding in MLS or USL (at least) due to its cultural identity as a brand. If they can get an ownership group to invest, I believe this would make a great choice... a natural rivalry with Atlanta and Houston too (connecting the Texas teams with the Southeast) and a fun party city.
This would be really cool. Too many games though IMO. I'd just change the format, but I like how you promoted rivalries. 1) Play everyone in your division twice (8 total - 4 home, and 4 away), 2) Play every team in 2 of the 3 other divisions within your division once (10 total - 5 home, 5 away) 3) Play every team in 2 of the 4 divisions in the other conference once (10 total - 5 home, 5 away) 4) Play against each of the teams who finished in the same spot as you in each division: ex: your team came 1st, you play against each of the other 7 division winners from last year. (7 games total - 3/4 home, 3/4 away) Total: 35 games, current schedule has 34 I believe. This is just for fun, would never happen. Cool to come up with this though.
...This won’t happen anytime soon, but I would like to see, for youth development purposes MLS teams fielding u23 + 3 teams and USL teams fielding full strength teams... in what could be called the ‘Lamar Hunt League’ or something similar. It would be styled somewhat the Nations League and used in either for our domestic cup and/or reserve league. Ideally, we would schedule these games 1x month - typically in FIFA windows to reduce the burden on players and stretch out the exposure for young players. Plus, I would regionalize the format to reduce travel and increase rivalries... with a promotion/relegation system each year ~ satisfying that itch in some without going full out for those who want it as part of the league... The added benefit is helping the USL clubs by that added exposure. A model format: South A: Atlanta United, Orlando City SC, Inter Miami, Nashville SC, Charlotte FC, Birmingham Legion FC+, Charleston Battery+, Tampa Bay Rowdies+ B: Memphis 901, North Carolina FC, Miami FC, Charlotte Independence, Greenville Triumph, Chattanooga Red Wolves, South Georgia Tormenta, Richmond Kickers North A: DC United, Philadelphia Union, New England Revolution, New York City FC, New York Red Bulls, Columbus Crew, FC Cincinnati, Indy Eleven+ B: Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Hartford Athletic, Queensboro FC, Buffalo, Rhode Island, Louisville City FC, Forward Madison, Fort Wayne FC East A: Sporting Kansas City, Saint Louis City, FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, Austin FC, Chicago Fire, Minnesota United, Phoenix Rising+ B: Union Omaha, Des Moines, El Paso Locomotive, New Mexico United, Rio Grande Valley Toros, Oklahoma City Energy, Tulsa FC, Austin Bold, FC Tucson West A: Colorado Rapids, Real Salt Lake, LA Galaxy, Los Angeles FC, San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers, Las Vegas+ B: Orange County, San Diego Loyal, Sacramento Republic, Oakland Roots, Monterey Bay, Central Valley Fuego, Spokane, North Colorado Hailstorm
It is appearing more and more likely with the advent of the Leagues Cup new format in 2023 that this will spell the end of MLS expansion at 30 clubs. The focus now will be forging, closer ties with Liga MX, with perhaps the end goal being merging the two leagues into a North American Super League in 10 to 15 years. This leaves the hope for expanding soccer across the Unites States for under served markets up to USL.
MLS will not let a good market go unused. Anything USL proves to be viable will eventually be absorbed
Sorry, but I have to disagree. MLS is more concerned with partnering with Liga MX than absorbing every viable market possible. I'm afraid the days of rapid expansion are over.
USL isn't that far away from being able to form a rival first division. It just needs a few more billionaires.
It wouldn't surprise me if the USL sometime in the future announced the USL Premiership (1st division) with pro/rel between USL Championship and USL League One.
I think the only thing that would prevent that, besides the lack of billionaires, is that NuRock is coining it as is. But a USL Premiership could include (2019 att) New Mexico 12.7k Indianapolis 10.7k Sacramento 10.4k Louisville 9k Las Vegas 7.7k Phoenix 6.7k San Antonio 6.7k Memphis 6.6k El Paso 6.5k Tampa Bay 5.4k Birmingham 4.5k That would mean a combination of stadium expansions, new stadiums and relocations. San Diego, Detroit, Queensboro NY and a NE team would be other possibilities.
MLS is a gate-driven league and will remain so for the foreseeable future. They also want to squash any potential development of a rival league. It will not be long before the likes of Indianapolis, Tampa, San Antonio, Phoenix, Detroit, etc. are part of MLS.
Which would severely dilute the current owners shareholding unless there are expansion fees. Assuming Charlotte's expansion fee is the current price per share, each shareholder's holding would drop in value from $325M to $244M.