CPL General

[Gopherbashi]

6 hours ago, Rheo said:

-Also mentioned he doesn't think CPL happens without the NASL showing that soccer can work up here on a smaller scale

It kind of worries me that this is still an "if"

Also, how is NASL supposed to show that it works up here, with FCE as their only team?

[Dub Narcotic]

1 hour ago, Gopherbashi said:

It kind of worries me that this is still an "if"

Also, how is NASL supposed to show that it works up here, with FCE as their only team?

"It works up here": lawsuits, federal prosecution, near-total apathy and endless losing of money. What a great example.

[Zem]

56 minutes ago, Gopherbashi said:

It kind of worries me that this is still an "if"

Also, how is NASL supposed to show that it works up here, with FCE as their only team?

I was kind of confused by this too, although I think he means if it hadn't been for the NASL showing that it works up here, it wouldn't happen.

I would argue that either meaning is stupid though, you don't need small-scale "tests" in an foreign league to know that professional soccer could work in a country of 36 million people with the right approach. It obviously does help the case of course, but it's definitely not some kind of instrumental factor for the CPL's creation. A pro league is needed and possible in some capacity whether clubs exist at a similar level already or not.

[matty]

8 hours ago, Rheo said:

-said people might be surprised at the quality of foreigners, especially those who've played up here already, who would be willing to play up here.  He's had many of these players ask him about who they could contact.  He cited their general enjoyment of living here and the standard of living in Canada, as well as the political situation in the US being a deterrent.

Not shocked

[Rheo]

10 hours ago, Gopherbashi said:

It kind of worries me that this is still an "if"

Also, how is NASL supposed to show that it works up here, with FCE as their only team?

I recapped what Sandor said badly while working since the interpretations here are off.

He meant that the NASL had two teams that ran for many years in Canada and were somewhat successful.  He theorizes it showed that in Canada it doesn't have to be the MLS level to work up here.  And from everything we've heard from PB this sounds like the CPL business model.  That if not for the success of Ottawa and Edmonton it's probably harder to convince people that lower level soccer can succeed here.

Edited November 14, 2017 by Rheo

[Rheo]

Totera was on Soccer Today yesterday, mostly talking about Italy not making the World Cup but there was one brief CPL question and what he said was interesting

-Said he had to be careful what he says given his relationship to the league but that he had to "say what is in his heart and in his mind"

-2018 is dead.  2019 is the target and if it isn't then "shame on each and everyone working in the CPL office right now and in the CSA office for not getting this done"

-What he's "frustrated about...upset about...absolutely speechless about, why are so many hurdles in the way still?  Why aren't we getting this done?"  Wonders why the CSA doesn't put this to the forefront.  He doesn't care about the Women's team or the World Cup bid.  CPL should be the first and foremost priority.

[Ansem]

When owners must deal with municipalities for stadium construction, as Paul Beirne pointed out, it's out of the league's control. Best we can hope for is cities expediting the process as it's also in their best interest.

[Rheo]

Agreed there's a lot out of their control.  But Totera knows a hell of a lot more than he can say out loud and him being this blunt is a little sobering to me.  Nothing wrong with that though.  Some reality is always a good thing.

Cue now the I told you so messages from those who don't take his positive comments seriously  

(Also for the record, just having fun and not trying to discourage discussion)

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

1 hour ago, Rheo said:

 "frustrated about...upset about...absolutely speechless about, why are so many hurdles in the way still?  Why aren't we getting this done?"  

He was always on a collision course with reality on this. Hopefully people will stop taking him seriously now in terms of having any insider insight and he will finally grasp that raising his voice and thumping the table doesn't strengthen his arguments in any way. The big question mark is how many of the would be stadium builders in the  smaller cities will be willing to take the plunge and actually spend into seven figures without seeing the league up and running successfully first (Saskatoon being #7 looked like it could be motivated by that) and how many municipalities will donate land in prime locations without seeing that happening as well (Halifax's apparent yes came with some quite restrictive strings attached that may have been added in the expectation they would effectively slam the breaks on). It's easy to talk up that sort of scenario when it's not your money or political career that is on the line. The next six months will be critical in terms of putting the foundations in for 2019.

Edited November 15, 2017 by BringBackTheBlizzard

[Rheo]

Where you see them as unreliable all the time I think of them as knowing things while at times being their own worst enemies by at times rushing to report things that don't come to be.  Which in my opinion is understandable with the fluidity of setting up a national sports league from scratch.  If they were as so lacking in credibility as you say why would people that you would acknowledge as legitimate journalists and key soccer figures (coaches, players, executives) go on their shows? 

I don't take what they say as gospel and take their words with a grain of salt but I view them as the same as I view you BBTB and that is sincere.  I respect you guys (and others) a lot, you definitely know a hell of a lot more than I do and I don't agree with everything that is said.  But I consider it a part of the CPL puzzle and when we aren't getting a lot of concrete official news, your skepticism is as important as the rah rah analysis that others have given. 

Edited November 15, 2017 by Rheo

[matty]

1 hour ago, Ansem said:

When owners must deal with municipalities for stadium construction, as Paul Beirne pointed out, it's out of the league's control. Best we can hope for is cities expediting the process as it's also in their best interest.

This is why the constant desire to build modular stadiums everywhere isn't as awesome as many think and the CPL needs to make greater use of already existing stadiums that could work for CPL.

1 hour ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

The big question mark is how many of the would be stadium builders in the  smaller cities will be willing to take the plunge and actually spend into seven figures without seeing the league up and running successfully first (Saskatoon being #7 looked like it could be motivated by that) and how many municipalities will donate land in prime locations without seeing that happening as well (Halifax's apparent yes came with some quite restrictive strings attached that may have been added in the expectation they would effectively slam the breaks on).

I don't think anywhere near the level that some people think. Even when the league is up and running I'm doubtful we'll see a dozen teams in the league for a long time because this goes way beyond just building stadiums.

2 hours ago, Rheo said:

-What he's "frustrated about...upset about...absolutely speechless about, why are so many hurdles in the way still?  Why aren't we getting this done?"  Wonders why the CSA doesn't put this to the forefront.  He doesn't care about the Women's team or the World Cup bid.  CPL should be the first and foremost priority.

It's not solely in their hands. He knows this right?

[Kent]

5 minutes ago, matty said:

It's not solely in their hands. He knows this right?

He might be referencing other things that we don't know about. Right now in terms of having a stadium or building plans put before a municipality I think we only have 5 right? Hamilton, Winnipeg, Halifax, Saskatoon, and I think Surrey? Saskatoon was expecting to be number 7 so maybe there are 2 teams that are still dealing with their own stuff before even getting to the step of going before the city to get building approval. Maybe it's a lack of ability from these 2 groups (and/or group numbers 8, 9, and 10) that is preventing them from getting to that step that is frustrating him.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

The other two will almost certainly be FC Edmonton and the Ottawa Fury. FC Edmonton appear to have been keen on a 2018 launch given the issues with the NASL's sanctioning. I suspect (judging from John Pugh's quote above and stuff I have seen on twitter) that the Ottawa Fury will want to see it working before committing because they are in a league that appears to be heading in the right direction at the moment and have no obvious push factor for changing direction again.

[Complete Homer]

Not necessarily CPL, but a Vancouver-based group trademarked "BCFC", for use for merchandising, sporting events, operation of a soccer stadium, etc.

http://www.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-cipo/trdmrks/srch/viewTrademark?id=1861393&lang=eng&tab=reg

Hopefully (if this is the Surrey group) they aren't gravitating towards "BC Football Club", too generic in my opinion, and would fly in the face of any long term developments in other BC markets. Though maybe BC locals have a different opinion?

The trademark applicant, SixFive Sports and Entertainment, doesn't seem to have any kind of footprint online. Closest I could find was an Ontario based marketing firm and a Filipino sports clothing company, which probably wouldn't be behind this.

Edit: And yeah, BCFC can obviously refer to multiple english clubs, but as the applicant is based in Vancouver, I don't think that's the case here

Edited November 16, 2017 by Complete Homer

[LAK]

12 minutes ago, Complete Homer said:

Not necessarily CPL, but a Vancouver-based group trademarked "BCFC", for use for merchandising, sporting events, operation of a soccer stadium, etc.

http://www.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-cipo/trdmrks/srch/viewTrademark?id=1861393&lang=eng&tab=reg

Hopefully (if this is the Surrey group) they aren't gravitating towards "BC Football Club", too generic in my opinion, and would fly in the face of any long term developments in other BC markets. Though maybe BC locals have a different opinion?

The trademark applicant, SixFive Sports and Entertainment, doesn't seem to have any kind of footprint online. Closest I could find was an Ontario based marketing firm and a Filipino sports clothing company, which probably wouldn't be behind this.

Edit: And yeah, BCFC can obviously refer to multiple english clubs, but as the applicant is based in Vancouver, I don't think that's the case here

I believe someone on this board was hired to do some graphic work by an undisclosed ownership group affiliated with the CPL. I'm pretty sure some of his work displayed "BCFC" in the logo. I'll try to find it.

 

[LAK]

I found it, I just don't know how to quote it from another thread and bring it over to this one. It's by @Xavier and it's in the logo thread. Can you post the picture of the kit you were working on for the Fraser Valley team?

[LAK]

Here's @Xavier post...

This is a design concept for the potential Fraser Valley Canadian Premier League team that I have been working on. I would love to get feedback on the name (British Columbia Football Club, or BCFC for short), as well as the crest, and last but not least the kit.

The gold/black/white colour scheme is meant to represent the Gold Rush era that populated the Fraser Valley and British Columbia. The sublimated waves pattern on the kit are similar to the waves on the BC flag. 

Let me know what you think!

....and also he added later...

I do also feel as if very little people outside of BC know what or where the Fraser Valley is, therefore making BCFC much more marketable. In a league that will want as many Canadian players playing in and hopefully will be a great development league, I think having a team focus on an entire province rather than a region or single city makes sense. Just having kids wearing BCFC t-shirts in Prince George, Kamloops, Victoria, etc makes more sense than them wearing Fraser Valley stuff. If that makes sense.

Edited November 16, 2017 by LAK

[harrycoyster]

51 minutes ago, Complete Homer said:

Not necessarily CPL, but a Vancouver-based group trademarked "BCFC", for use for merchandising, sporting events, operation of a soccer stadium, etc.

http://www.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-cipo/trdmrks/srch/viewTrademark?id=1861393&lang=eng&tab=reg

Hopefully (if this is the Surrey group) they aren't gravitating towards "BC Football Club", too generic in my opinion, and would fly in the face of any long term developments in other BC markets. Though maybe BC locals have a different opinion?

The trademark applicant, SixFive Sports and Entertainment, doesn't seem to have any kind of footprint online. Closest I could find was an Ontario based marketing firm and a Filipino sports clothing company, which probably wouldn't be behind this.

Edit: And yeah, BCFC can obviously refer to multiple english clubs, but as the applicant is based in Vancouver, I don't think that's the case here

Three options:

1- It's a non-professional soccer thing.

2- That's the Vancouver NWSL team.

3- That's Rob Friend's CPL group...Friend by the way, left his job in LA a year ago to start a "project" in Vancouver, and happens to be very proud of the fact that he's Six foot Five inches tall.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Looks like FC Edmonton might still have a league to play in:

and that could complicate putting the numbers together for a 2019 CPL launch.

[harrycoyster]

17 minutes ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

Looks like FC Edmonton might still have a league to play in:

and that could complicate putting the numbers together for a 2019 CPL launch.

If the NASL is re-certified and continues operation, that means FC Edmonton wouldn't be allowed to leave NASL until either 1) the league fails or 2) the league reaches 11 teams again. So basically FC Edmonton would need to leave the NASL before re-certification to play in the CPL in 2019....assuming this news is true.

They could of course pay the abandonment fee, but that fee is reportedly around $5 million...far more than the $100,000 they'd have to pay to leave right now. I'd say paying that fee is out of the picture. 

Edited November 16, 2017 by harrycoyster

[Complete Homer]

3 hours ago, harrycoyster said:

If the NASL is re-certified and continues operation, that means FC Edmonton wouldn't be allowed to leave NASL until either 1) the league fails or 2) the league reaches 11 teams again. So basically FC Edmonton would need to leave the NASL before re-certification to play in the CPL in 2019....assuming this news is true.

They could of course pay the abandonment fee, but that fee is reportedly around $5 million...far more than the $100,000 they'd have to pay to leave right now. I'd say paying that fee is out of the picture. 

I wonder what the details of the exit clauses are. If it's just "if we aren't at least D2 then you can leave for 100k" then FC Edmonton could just leave now and suffer the gap year, since they currently don't have D2 sanctioning

Given that we haven't seen any of the teams rumoured to be leaving pull the trigger, there's probably a little more to it. 

Edited November 16, 2017 by Complete Homer

[Rheo]

3 hours ago, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

and that could complicate putting the numbers together for a 2019 CPL launch.

Possibly but at the same time Edmonton has been outside of the lawsuit due to their not being in the States.  The NASL filing also indicated that they were on the way out.  It could be that this provision (if it exists) won't apply to them.  Just a theory but I can't see the USSF trying to screw over the CPL/NASL/FC Edmonton.  It's not within their interests, especially when they're partnering with the CSA (big factor in CPL) in the World Cup, apparently making conciliatory gestures to the NASL and given Sandor's reporting of American teams wanting the CPL to get going so they  didn't have to deal with the complications of the border crossings.

Honestly if this happens this could be the best thing.   Gives FC Edmonton a place to keep playing until the CPL is ready while at the time helps to prop up the NASL as they try to re-establish (if it ever was really solidly established lol) their footing.  Sounds like a win-win to me.

[Rheo]

3 hours ago, harrycoyster said:

If the NASL is re-certified and continues operation, that means FC Edmonton wouldn't be allowed to leave NASL until either 1) the league fails or 2) the league reaches 11 teams again. So basically FC Edmonton would need to leave the NASL before re-certification to play in the CPL in 2019....assuming this news is true.

They could of course pay the abandonment fee, but that fee is reportedly around $5 million...far more than the $100,000 they'd have to pay to leave right now. I'd say paying that fee is out of the picture. 

As I theorized and will expand on after reading a couple of the replies after I did mine, I don't know if things will be as black and white for Edmonton being a Canadian team that the NASL has already stated publically is on the way out.  It may well be but they're not a part of the lawsuit due to geography.  I think it's entirely possible that whatever the three year conditions are placed on the NASL and it's clubs by the USSF may not apply to them.

[soccerlife]

9 hours ago, harrycoyster said:

Three options:

1- It's a non-professional soccer thing.

2- That's the Vancouver NWSL team.

3- That's Rob Friend's CPL group...Friend by the way, left his job in LA a year ago to start a "project" in Vancouver, and happens to be very proud of the fact that he's Six foot Five inches tall.

I am going with #3.

[Rheo]

Just a little article on managing expectations for the league, which seems to be easy for some and hard for others lol

https://footynarrative.com/blog/2017/11/16/managing-expectations-for-the-canadian-premier-league