http://www.regularguycolumn.com/canada.xls Should probably add one more home and home series between Toronto and Montreal. Top team should go to CONCACAF Champion's Cup.
Top team should go to Central America or Caribbean Qualifier. Why should they deserve an automatically berth?
Can anyone enlighten those of us who have no idea what an .xls extension is, let alone know how to open one, what you guys are talking about?
Sorry, it was an Excel spreadsheet file, but I have converted it to a Web page. I have no real stake in this, just a curiosity why this can't work as a de facto Canadian first division. And I wouldn't write off letting the "champ" directly into the Round of 16 as an incentive. No doubt a Canadien A-League team can't do worse than one of the lesser Central American teams or Carribean squads. http://www.regularguycolumn.com/canada3.htm
Looks like the Voyageurs Cup... I doubt a Canadian A-League team could afford to participate in a CONCACAF club cup.
Thanks for the conversion monster. I was going to say it looks like the voyageurs cup as well. It's one way to crown a Canadian champion, but in no way does it make up for a proper league, especially when you look at the proposed scheduling there. Two of the Whitecaps games are being played on June 14 and 15, and three of the Whitecaps games are being played on August 4, 6 and 8. Pretty unfair to expect the Whitecaps to be at the top of their game when they play a back to back series and then 3 games in 5 days in this Canadian schedule. As for Canadian A-League teams not being able to afford to play in a CONCACAF club cup, perhaps the CSA should look into how to fund those type of efforts as opposed to spending their time trying to get a new stadium and MLS team in Toronto. There should be a way to raise funds for a Canadian A-League team to participate in a club cup, even if they have to hold a bake sale and a car wash!
I didn't know such a thing existed. And I thought I was the smart one. That's exactly what I did - just mesh those matches together. It doesn't replace a league, Krammer, you are 100 percent right. But it's a start, right? Maybe if the CSA had a brain (and I know nothing of their competancy), they would recognize this as a competition, ask the A League to consider it in scheduling and petition CONCACAF to accept the champion as a Cup entrant. As far as not being able to afford the Cup, they would likely be playing a Mexican or U.S. team. It's a home-and-home so maybe they would recoup some of the expenses for the away leg with a good home crowd. And if they can twist CONCACAF's arm, maybe they could guarantee a draw with a U.S. team, cutting down on expenses. I'm a fan of the best soccer anywhere you can find it. And the lack of league in Canada and entrant in the CCC seems to be more about excuses than solutions. Glad to see the fans have stepped in with the Voyager's Cup. Maybe it will be more important in the future.
http://www.voyageurscup.ca/ I would love to see a Canadian team compete in CONCACAF club cup, but I don't see it happen for a few years (if ever).
Part of the problem is that we can't recoup our expenses with home games because we have nowhere suitable to play. in Vancouver with temporary seating we could perhaps fit 8000-9000 people in our stadium. Montreal could perhaps get 9000 in their stadium, and in Toronto perhaps 6000. Which is pretty funny when I see people (including the CSA) saying that Vancouver and Montreal already have adequate stadiums for international games and thats why they are focusing on getting a new stadium for Toronto. As it is now Montreal and Vancouver don't have anything much better than what Toronto presently has.
I don't know about the expense, but 9,000 would practically be record attendance for a CONCACAF club competition.
7,000 would be realistically optimistic for a non-advertised game. 6,000 x 13$ average ticket (minus season tickets) = 78,000$ I think that could go a long way... 2002's operating budget was $1.5m CDN.
Well I'd expect a CONCACAF club competition would be advertised, I also would expect that it wouldn't be included in a season ticket package. Now $78000 might go a long way, but there is quite a bit of expense in playing in such a cup. Not that I'd know or anything but thats the excuse you always hear (it's too expensive to take part).
One of the problems that has like affected our participation has been time. The competiton tends to take place during the off season, thus it is difficult to get a team together to compete.
Yeah, you can probably add sponsors, but I know the Impact are including in the season tickets ALL games (preseason, CACup final if it's here, playoffs) except the final.
Well I guess that one way to get around the drop off in attendance all the teams except the Whitecaps suffer during A-League playoffs. Free playoff tickets to season ticket holders. Good thing that Montreal is a non-profit organization.
If Canada ever gets a league or Cup competition, their winner will probably go into a playoff. Since USA, Can, and Mex are the designated North countries, I would say that the Canada team would play the fourth-place USA team (the USA Cup winner, or the MLS Cup runner up). That way, the North would still have 8 teams in the 16-team tournament proper.
Money maker ideas Pick a stadium (any stadium) and play some games!! For example, take the imaginary stadium in Toronto, gather the Canadian A-League teams together with the top two central american clubs and two caribbean clubs for a three round playdown just to prove the point and make some money. Toronto has proven that fans will come out for foriegn teams. The eight team 3 round format would total 12 games. From previous examples $78,000 * 12 games = $936,000. Even if you get half of it, $468,000. Seems like a no brainer
...and Vancouver and Montreal has shown that the fans will come out in greater numbers even for domestic soccer. So take that imaginary stadium and place it in Vancouver or Montreal and then hold the tournament, and screw the lazy buggers in Toronto who only come out for foreign teams. Why should we cater to those people, they dont deserve it!
Well when I was talking domestic soccer I meant club soccer, and Edmonton already has a large stadium (which is what I thought we were talking about).