CPL General

[Mihairokov]

I think it goes without saying that an urban stadium is required in order to do well. Supporters who can walk to matches, immediate tie-in to community, fewer logistical hurdles, surrounding businesses. There's a good reason why Halifax is so well-supported and why Forge and Ottawa do so well. Calgary gets crowds out despite their location. 

Langley seemed like a bad idea from the get-go because it's not a major urban centre and lacks community identity. Suburbs don't function in that way. Kelowna would probably function better in the long-run as its a medium-sized metro looking for teams for the community to get behind and represent them on a national level. It's why CPL should be focusing on medium-tier cities as opposed to suburbs of top-tier cities. 

Edited June 24 by Mihairokov

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

On 6/22/2024 at 3:44 PM, Footscray said:

...wonder if it'll be the langley team coming up here or a brand new franchise

Think it's Pacific fans that have more reason to be nervous given SixFive Sports didn't go along with the stadium expansion referendum as part of the new rental deal from the city council and only signed on for a single season instead.

[Aird25]

15 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

SixFive Sports didn't go along with the stadium expansion referendum as part of the new rental deal from the city council and only signed on for a single season instead.

Where did you learn this? I thought the one year deal was to buy more time for negotiations with the new council and that the city were still commissioning new design plans/quotes for expansion

[jonovision]

4 teams basically average only a goal per game. Valour has 12 in 12, Halifax and Cavalry are slightly better with 12 in 10 and 12 in 11, while Pacific is worse with 11 in 12.

Halifax (last place) has the same goal differential as Vancouver (second). 

Ottawa seems like the only truly good team at the moment, but I expect Forge to come good yet.

[Mihairokov]

This should be the point in the season where the table stretches out a bit. It should be a tight race for those playoff spots. 

[Aird25]

Who are the best strikers in League 1C right now? 

[Footscray]

On 6/24/2024 at 4:16 PM, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Think it's Pacific fans that have more reason to be nervous given SixFive Sports didn't go along with the stadium expansion referendum as part of the new rental deal from the city council and only signed on for a single season instead.

What's actually going on with the stadium referendum?  I remember back in february reading there was going to be a referendum but then it never seemed to happen?

Would be too bad to see that club move.  I really like Starlight - one of the better stadiums in the league for me and if they could get that 4th stand built would be a very nice looking facility.  I know it's a ways out of the downtown core and location is a rub for some but last time I went it took me like 15-20 minutes to drive there from downtown.  I think if soccer fans aren't willing to drive 20 minutes to a game moving the stadium downtown won't change that immensely?  Have a hard time thinking that moving to a revamped Royal Athletic Park is going to bump the attendance a ton.  The parking was bad at Starlight though I will say for a stadium most have to drive to that's a big deal.

Langley's a tougher spot, its a very small city itself and I know they were hoping to draw fans from up and down the valley but it feels like there is a non-stop churn of CHL and AHL teams moving in and out of the Fraser Valley who have tried to do that and failed. Attendance numbers up a bit this year though so maybe they are building a fanbase.  

I figured they would have set up shop in Surrey and branded/traded on the bigger population there who identify more strongly with being from Surrey but I guess you have to go to the community that will pay for the stadium ultimately.  I know a lot of people outside Surrey rip on it, but people from there seem to have a strong sense of identity in being from there.

Feels like the league is a bit cursed facility wise right now.  Halifax stadium seems permanently stalled, haven't heard anything about woodbine stadium in 2 years, saskatoon plan died, edmonton and quebec are dead quiet.  Be nice to see some good news.

Edited Monday at 09:49 PM by Footscray

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

18 hours ago, Footscray said:

What's actually going on with the stadium referendum?  I remember back in february reading there was going to be a referendum but then it never seemed to happen? ...

My understanding is that the referendum was contingent on SixFive Sports signing the new five year lease deal that was on offer:

https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/langford-to-hold-referendum-on-expanding-starlight-stadium-8297564

...“While negotiations are complex and involve numerous intertwined agreements between the city and PFC, the city has presented a mutually beneficial offer of a new five-year use agreement to PFC,” the city’s post said.

“The city is optimistic that this will be finalized in the coming days and that PFC will continue to play in Langford for years to come.”...

Given voters were likely to vote against it in the current fiscal climate since a price tag of $10,425,665 or $14,667,256 was said to be involved:

https://www.facebook.com/CityofLangford/posts/263744293425158?ref=embed_post

that was really an offer of a new five year rental deal with no further expansion. Two months later, it was only a one-year deal that was signed to provide more time for negotiations:

https://www.cheknews.ca/pacific-fc-signs-one-year-contract-with-langford-city-hopes-for-more-1198992/

Join the dots from there to what is happening in Kelowna.

 

[Aird25]

19 hours ago, Footscray said:

What's actually going on with the stadium referendum? 

They're obtaining alternative quotes for the expansion before bringing those numbers to the public

[Kingston]

21 hours ago, Footscray said:

I really like Starlight - one of the better stadiums in the league for me and if they could get that 4th stand built would be a very nice looking facility.  I know it's a ways out of the downtown core and location is a rub for some but last time I went it took me like 15-20 minutes to drive there from downtown.  I think if soccer fans aren't willing to drive 20 minutes to a game moving the stadium downtown won't change that immensely? 

You wouldn't think so but I've come to the conclusion that it does.

Victoria metro has a population of about 440 000.  Langford specifically is about 50 000.

If you start drawing travel time circles on a map, you'll see that Langford has about 50 000 people within a 5 minute trip, 100 000 people within a 10 minute trip, and 440 000 within a half hour trip.

A stadium in down town Victoria would have 200 000 within a five minute trip, 300 000 within a 10 minute trip, and 440 000 within a half hour trip.

Feel free to adjust the details in the numbers if you feel I've mis-estimated, but the point is that way more people have a shorter trip to a down town stadium.

(There also seems to be a psychological phenomenon where, for some reason, people in the downtown or in a larger centre somehow think it is a shorter trip for people from the suburbs or surrounding towns to come to them than it is for them to go out to the suburbs or surrounding towns.  My wife and I call this the "Toronto effect" where somehow it's a much longer trip for friends to drive out to Kingston to see us than the reverse.)

[Aird25]

2 hours ago, Kingston said:

You wouldn't think so but I've come to the conclusion that it does.

Victoria metro has a population of about 440 000.  Langford specifically is about 50 000.

If you start drawing travel time circles on a map, you'll see that Langford has about 50 000 people within a 5 minute trip, 100 000 people within a 10 minute trip, and 440 000 within a half hour trip.

A stadium in down town Victoria would have 200 000 within a five minute trip, 300 000 within a 10 minute trip, and 440 000 within a half hour trip.

Feel free to adjust the details in the numbers if you feel I've mis-estimated, but the point is that way more people have a shorter trip to a down town stadium.

(There also seems to be a psychological phenomenon where, for some reason, people in the downtown or in a larger centre somehow think it is a shorter trip for people from the suburbs or surrounding towns to come to them than it is for them to go out to the suburbs or surrounding towns.  My wife and I call this the "Toronto effect" where somehow it's a much longer trip for friends to drive out to Kingston to see us than the reverse.)

What downtown victoria stadium are you talking about?

[davey_twelve]

3 hours ago, Kingston said:

My wife and I call this the "Toronto effect" where somehow it's a much longer trip for friends to drive out to Kingston to see us than the reverse.)

I've heard of this phenomenon before. With Toronto being the centre of the universe, its gravitational force quickly pulls objects into it. Conversely, objects leaving its orbit have to expend more energy which often causes them to slow down.

[Kingston]

13 hours ago, Aird25 said:

What downtown victoria stadium are you talking about?

A hypothetical one.  Footscrazy said:

On 7/1/2024 at 5:47 PM, Footscray said:

I think if soccer fans aren't willing to drive 20 minutes to a game moving the stadium downtown won't change that immensely? 

I just responded saying that, actually, a downtown location probably would change attendance simply because fewer people would need to make the "long" drive to the stadium.

[Ansem]

4 hours ago, Kingston said:

I just responded saying that, actually, a downtown location probably would change attendance simply because fewer people would need to make the "long" drive to the stadium.

100% agree - Pacific attendance would increase significantly

[Aird25]

1 hour ago, Ansem said:

100% agree - Pacific attendance would increase significantly

Maybe if you replace parliament with a stadium, but otherwise in another location, I'm not at all convinced this is true

[DoyleG]

7 hours ago, Aird25 said:

Maybe if you replace parliament with a stadium, but otherwise in another location, I'm not at all convinced this is true

If a 20-minute drive from most of the CRD is too much, the problem is with the individual.

I lived near the Memorial Centre and RAP for several years and noted how much of a traffic jam it would be getting in and out of the area. It was a regular sight I would see from my balcony, especially when the Royals played. Even then, there was a bigger justification for the arena existing than for any purpose-built sports stadium in Victoria.

I never had problems getting to and from Langford, and I used public transit to either shop at the Westshore Mall or attend events at the stadium. The only concern was the decision by BC Transit to move its station to the hills above the mall rather than keeping it at the mall itself. There's more than enough for pre and post-game activities if you aren't being so choosy.

[Kingston]

11 hours ago, DoyleG said:

If a 20-minute drive from most of the CRD is too much, the problem is with the individual.

…

I never had problems getting to and from Langford, and I used public transit to either shop at the Westshore Mall or attend events at the stadium….There's more than enough for pre and post-game activities if you aren't being so choosy.

What you say isn’t wrong but the thing is it’s not up to the individual to make the effort so much as the team to make it easy for them to come and want to come.  A lot of businesses have failed over the years by trying to tell the consumer what they should do rather than accommodating what the consumer wants.

There’s a reason downtown stadiums are popular and tend to do well. Unfortunately, the CPL is not in the financial position to just go about building downtown venues.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

Not 100% sure this is the best place to post this but

 

[Ansem]

Lol - CPL tweet of the year

 

[Aird25]

 

20 minutes ago, Ansem said:

Lol - CPL tweet of the year

 

They hit the nail squarely on the head with this one

[narduch]

Tomorrow's Forge v VFC game will be free to watch.

 

 

[red card]

Wanderers Notebook did some leg work to find best selling jerseys per club. 3 players per club ex the two VFCs who were only able to provide partial info. Not surprising with Valour given their weak commitment to ops. If PFC can provide the data, not sure why Vancouver is lagging.

Forge FC — 1. Béni Badibanga 2. Tristan Borges 3. Kyle Bekker

Halifax Wanderers FC — 1. Dan Nimick 2. Lorenzo Callegari 3. Zachary Fernandez

Cavalry FC — 1. Marco Carducci 2. Daan Klomp 3. Bradley Kamdem Fewo

Pacific FC — 1. Olakunle Dada-Luke 2. Sean Young 3. Josh Heard / Ayman Sellouf

Vancouver FC — 1. Rocco Romeo

York United FC — 1. Dennis Salanović 2. Max Ferrari 3. Noah Abatneh

Atlético Ottawa — 1. Kris Twardek 2. Ollie Bassett 3. Ballou Tabla

Valour FC — 1. Raphael Ohin