Its weird I was actually born there but Edmonton really is a riddle when it comes to soccer. You get the Drillers NASL, Drillers NPSL, Drillers MISL, Brickmen and Aviators and they all collapse in varying degrees of financial ruin. As soon as Edmonton gets a team then Calgary automatically needs a team (or vice versa) in any sport and soccer is no exeption. However as a place to play the Womens national team and the Churchill Cup Rugby it will sell out. I mean it makes no sense. Local teams with local talent get no fans. Oilers and Eskimoes with almost no local talent succeed and the Cracker Cats without any local talent also draw.
Too bad what happened with Edmonton in the A-League (USL1). Hopefully something can get done in the near future with regards to the USL1 or even a PDL franchise. It would also be great if Calgary could get another PDL franchise.
Should note some things first on the non-soccer front. 1. The Esks players have a drawing power because many of the players, import and non-import, live in the city during the off season. There's one player that is a doctor at the University of Alberta (He had to go back to Edmonton right after winning the Grey Cup so he could go on shift) The Oilers are in a position where even during the hey day of the 80's they had local talent. 2. The Cracker Cats actually have a good number of local players on their roster. Sad to see that the team is being ripped apart in public thanks to a feud between the Owner and his companion and the managers. Many in the staff have already quit. Mel Kowalchuk, who just quit as the Cats GM, seems to have a rather soft spot for soccer. The thing that seems to be a curse on soccer in Edmonton is how it's treated by the sports community. It would certainly last if owners of other sports teams treat it as an equal rather than a rival for the sports fans. Wouldn't know many other soccer fans that would watch other sports on a regular basis. The media in Edmonton can be best desribed as anti-everything but the Oilers and the Esks. A lot of the old guard and their protege's don't want to give any thought to other sports. People complain that Commonwealth was too big for the Aviators. But have those same whinners every tried something to accomodate them. There isn't a facility in the city that is large enough capaity wise that would support a team outside of Commonwealth. The closest is Foote Field at the U of A that has a capacity of about 3500. The problem is the current lack of transit and parking and the main field being made of Astroturf. There are fans to make it work in Edmonton. That is for certain.
I've been to Edmonton many times, and I think it's a sin the way the Aviators were operated and eventually met their demise. I think what was worse was the way the media in Edmonton jumped on the bones (The Edmonton Sun especially) and declared that Edmonton was only good for "Big-League soccer". It's awful because I know Edmonton could support a USL club at some level ,so long as their were relatively local clubs that could lower their travel costs (Yes...that means Calgary too...:-( )...maybe start with a PDL side or get together with some Western cities and start a USL D2 division. But for god's sake, don't bring it to Commonwealth Stadium where the cost to operate the scoreboard was higher than the gate revenue. Edmonton would be good to have in the USL again. Cheers, Bill