CPL General

[Bison44]

16 minutes ago, Dub Narcotic said:

Well, this is the explicit path the CSA chose for club soccer in this country, an all-Canadian pyramid or bust. Not to be a jerk but I don't think losing Colin Miller and his team is much of a blow in any case.

No I dont think Miller would be missed much, but tough to re-start from scratch with no one in place.  Would the academy get shit canned as well?  

[BradMack]

I would imagine they will probably keep the Academy running for the year if they plan on joining the CPL. Keep the core front office staff in place aswell. Those two things will give Edmonton a huge advantage going into CPL year one. Especially if they have more Didic, Aleksic, Boakye's etc... 

[Kent]

I was wondering this after the TFC academy swept their little BMO Cup tournament this past weekend. How extensive is FC Edmonton's academy? What ages does it include? Would it be considered the pinnacle in the province, or at least one of the best few clubs? I don't know Albertan soccer, but I've gotten the impression that Calgary Foothills are very good, but I think they don't have a monopoly on the best players in Calgary. Do all the best in Edmonton play for their academy (at least in theory, subjective scouting aside)?

[BenFisk'sBiggestFan]

9 hours ago, Bison44 said:

Zero risk??  If you shut the team down for a year dont you risk losing all the players, staff, management etc?  Lose your fan base that you have worked so hard to build up??  It would be hard to take to see a second CDN club close its doors while things are supposedly getting better.  Shitty time for CDN soccer, whitecaps outsource their USL/development squad to fresno and now FCE close the doors??  

They lost several million dollars a year playing in the NASL... obviously the NASL wasn’t going to be permanent. So now he gets out of the NASL for cheap and might have an opportunity to play in a better league. I would say that is a way better option. Sure, he might loose some fans, but that is better than several million dollars a year...

the NASL business plan was unsustainable which is obviously a risky thing. Far riskier than not operating... plus, by taking a year off they may be able to join a league that will be sustainable. They really couldn’t get any worse financially than they were before.

I know it sucks for Canadian soccer. Trust me, I love the eddies, but I have endless respect for Tom Fath. I am glad he chose to shut down for a year. It is better than locking himself in the sinking ship of the NASL and having to shut down permanently. He has given so much for soccer in Canada. It sounds like he wants to give even more in the CPL so I can understand his decision.

[BenFisk'sBiggestFan]

3 hours ago, Kent said:

I was wondering this after the TFC academy swept their little BMO Cup tournament this past weekend. How extensive is FC Edmonton's academy? What ages does it include? Would it be considered the pinnacle in the province, or at least one of the best few clubs? I don't know Albertan soccer, but I've gotten the impression that Calgary Foothills are very good, but I think they don't have a monopoly on the best players in Calgary. Do all the best in Edmonton play for their academy (at least in theory, subjective scouting aside)?

Edmonton’s academy is actually quite developed. I believe almost all the top players are a part of it. The academy has a super high graduation rate to College. I heard from an FC Edmonton employee that it was a 100% graduation rate, but that doesn’t seem possible. Several of the eddies players have gone from the academy to college to the first team. Allen zebbie started in the academy, then to Nait, and last year he was a consistent starter. Shome followed the same rout and is now with Montreal. Edmonton does not have a team above the age of 18; after 18 they go to college and then if they want, back to the team.

in terms of success, the Edmonton academy tied TFC earlier this year sometime. They aren’t quite at the MLS level, but it is amazing their commitment and success with it. 

[Dub Narcotic]

And only one or two mid-level cocaine traffickers!

[xcalibre]

It sounds like Fath isn't sitting out and waiting for the CanPL. I think we can forget about FCE, at least for the first year (how else will Fath get the evidence he needs that it can be sustainable?).

From the league start date being pushed back twice now, to news like this, is anyone else worrying it's a false start and never going to happen? In that case should cities like Hamilton go for USL so we at least have SOMETHING in terms of opportunities for our young players? 

[ReedOnTheGrand]

1 hour ago, xcalibre said:

It sounds like Fath isn't sitting out and waiting for the CanPL. I think we can forget about FCE, at least for the first year (how else will Fath get the evidence he needs that it can be sustainable?).

From the league start date being pushed back twice now, to news like this, is anyone else worrying it's a false start and never going to happen? In that case should cities like Hamilton go for USL so we at least have SOMETHING in terms of opportunities for our young players? 

i remember the start date going from hopefully 2018/maybe 2019 to hopefully 2019. Don't remember it being pushed back twice, hell 2018 was never more than hopefully.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

52 minutes ago, xcalibre said:

It sounds like Fath isn't sitting out and waiting for the CanPL. I think we can forget about FCE, at least for the first year (how else will Fath get the evidence he needs that it can be sustainable?)...

The emphasis on sustainability provides a possible explanation for why the soft launch in 2018 didn't happen. It's possible that the interested groups were not on the same page when it comes to the business plan, and if so FCE probably wanted something lower budget.

[BenFisk'sBiggestFan]

1 hour ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

The emphasis on sustainability provides a possible explanation for why the soft launch in 2018 didn't happen. It's possible that the interested groups were not on the same page when it comes to the business plan, and if so FCE probably wanted something lower budget.

I am pretty sure that comment is more pointing at how the NASL isn’t sustainable and the City of Edmonton didn’t support the team. it isn’t possible to make money with a stadium that won’t even hold 5,000 people. So what Fath is saying, is that he needs help from Edmonton for a better stadium. The Faths need the city of Edmonton to provide some money for upgrading the stadium. So far, it has been all Fath. The Faths fully paid for expanded seating and Edmonton didn’t help with any improvements.

What the CPL needs to take away from this is the need to provide marketing for the league itself. They need to advertise on major tv networks. The league also needs to get a proper tv or streaming deal, not one that they receive money for, but one that gets viewers. The viewers will drive corporate sponsorship for the teams. It doesn’t matter if they give the TV rights away for nothing; the viewers are more important than the money for the deal at first.

if the CPL can get these things right and Edmonton will help out a bit with the stadium, I think we might see FC Edmonton again. But, if any of these things are missing, I don’t think the Faths will be back. I still believe we might see FC Edmonton in the first year of the CPL. But they need to show the sustainability in ways that I just mentioned.

[matty]

Omg the cpl twitter retweeted something for the first time in a while! Announcement coming soon I'm sure!

[ReedOnTheGrand]

Hey everyone, I've made a map with all the potential CPL markets that either have either grassroots support or some sort of ownership group we know about. I've attached teams to future/potential stadium locations. I've also added a layer with road trips within the east/west. Hope you guys like this. Let me know if there's anything I could add or if anything is wrong.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1R1Mgs_kOv9idPAk79ZU7XpZDz9MOnjWY&usp=sharing

[matty]

2 hours ago, ReedOnTheGrand said:

Hey everyone, I've made a map with all the potential CPL markets that either have either grassroots support or some sort of ownership group we know about. I've attached teams to future/potential stadium locations. I've also added a layer with road trips within the east/west. Hope you guys like this. Let me know if there's anything I could add or if anything is wrong.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1R1Mgs_kOv9idPAk79ZU7XpZDz9MOnjWY&usp=sharing

Someone get something going in St. John's (that stadium deserves this) show the city you want it

Edited November 26, 2017 by matty

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

13 hours ago, BenFisk'sBiggestFan said:

I am pretty sure that comment is more pointing at how the NASL isn’t sustainable and the City of Edmonton didn’t support the team. it isn’t possible to make money with a stadium that won’t even hold 5,000 people. So what Fath is saying, is that he needs help from Edmonton for a better stadium....

Here is Steven Sandor's take and it's worth listening to given he has regularly interacted with Tom Fath where FCE was concerned in recent years:

https://the11.ca/fces-move-to-cease-operations-is-a-bad-sign-for-canpl-edmonton-world-cup-boosters/

...Ironic, on a day that many Canadian Premier League supporters-to-be took to Twitter to vote for their favourite team scarves — an exercise to build hype around the coming league — Fath delivered a pretty large blow.  He said that he was not convinced that his team could be “sustainable” if it was to be revived to  join the new league. It was a massive statement of uncertainty. And, to be clear, while he said the NASL’s ongoing battles with the United States Soccer Federation, it was only an additional difficulty placed on top of what was already a bad situation. He gave every indication that, if all was rosy with the NASL, FC Edmonton might still be making the same decision...

[Gopherbashi]

16 hours ago, matty said:

Omg the cpl twitter retweeted something for the first time in a while! Announcement coming soon I'm sure!

Surely.

Maybe there will be some news within the constant "60-90 days from now" timeline.

Edited November 26, 2017 by Gopherbashi

[matty]

8 minutes ago, Gopherbashi said:

Surely.

Maybe there will be some news within the constant "60-90 days from now" timeline.

I hope they select the final candidates to propose brand spanking new modular stadiums to their local governments for approval during that time

[Complete Homer]

12 hours ago, matty said:

Someone get something going in St. John's (that stadium deserves this) show the city you want it

There's at least tire-kicking from one group (On Ice I think they were called?). Who knows how far it went though 

[Gopherbashi]

13 hours ago, matty said:

I hope they select the final candidates to propose brand spanking new modular stadiums to their local governments for approval during that time

We should hear within 60-90 days.

[matty]

10 minutes ago, Gopherbashi said:

We should hear within 60-90 days.

just like my engagement to gal gadot

[GuillermoDelQuarto]

19 hours ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

"In the end, FC Edmonton’s demise may just prove that in the world of pro sports, maybe nice guys do finish last. Fath paid to double Clarke’s capacity by bringing in the grandstands. He never said much to the media that challenged the status quo.

Maybe he would have been better off demanding millions from city council, threatening to move the team, complaining to the media whenever he could." 

Pretty stern words from Sandor to finish off the article.  I do sometimes wonder if footy fans in this country are a little too apologetic.  But it does always come down to the soccer fans that don't support their own team.  Really you can't get mad at the casual fan if even our own won't support it.  I do think TFC(and MLS in general) is slowly changing that though.  

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

It's an entertainment product, so nobody should ever be made to feel that they are obligated to support it, if they are not deriving sufficient enjoyment from it to want to keep coming back. MLS has found a way to make the economics work at D1 level to the point that they have games that can draw 20,000+, because the games are well worth watching. PDL has found its niche in small markets with NCAA scholarship players and summer soccer camps. How to make the stuff in between work well is still not clear, but having minor league affiliates similar to the USL is the model that has had staying power in North America in other sports like hockey and baseball rather than the NASL or CanPL's independent league approach, and it's not obvious why soccer would be any different.

The CFL would find it difficult to operate as it does at the moment if the NFL had teams in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, so gridiron football doesn't provide a sensible analogy for what's likely to happen in Canadian pro soccer in the years ahead with three MLS teams remaining in place in the three largest Canadian metro areas, but it's the one that Victor Montagliani wanted to pursue perhaps in the hope that a successful solo 2026 World Cup bid would be a game changer. With a joint bid and close collaboration with the USSF on that, things took a different direction from what the CSA initially hoped and the three MLS cities will almost certainly be the ones hosting the ten World Cup games, so it's difficult to see how 2026 is a driver for a new domestic league at this point. If FC Edmonton is out and that definitely appears to be the case, they better have the Ottawa Fury firmly on board at this point and ready to sign on the dotted line or CanPL is probably going to be DOA where 2019 or 2020 are concerned given the stated need to have six markets ready to go with viable stadium solutions and two more in the pipeline.

Edited November 27, 2017 by BringBackTheBlizzard

[Ansem]

 

CPL official twitter, what's that about?

[Complete Homer]

21 minutes ago, Ansem said:

 

CPL official twitter, what's that about?

That's not the official Twitter. It's a fan run account that is causing confusion

Pretty sure they've been given the feedback before that they are being a little misleading 

Edited November 27, 2017 by Complete Homer

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

It's not the official account. This is the official account:

 

[Ansem]

Thanks guys