Northern Super League to launch in April 2025

[red card]

Matheson said broadcast details will be coming next month.

They'll be following the PWHL model. PWHL takes care of game production including commentators and offers it to media platforms for free. Some games were on national networks in Canada with the rest streamed by the same networks. Only US national network to carry games was FAST channel Women's Sports Network. RSNs carried games in the 3 US local markets.

All games were also on Youtube which typically delivered 10-15k concurrent viewers. After promoting the big Canadian tv numbers for the first game, PWHL or the networks didn't do anymore touting. 

Matheson said this strategy will be for the first few years. So, paying for production & foregoing media rights is part of the $8-10m that Matheson expects owners to spend in the first 5 years.

[shermanator]

Calgary Wild FC. Sounds like they will be playing out of McMahon (which is very different from the rumours I had heard)

 

[Obinna]

Love the branding, neutral on the name, hate the location (if it's McMahon). I guess I should be open minded, but I just can't see how that would be a good venue. Maybe an outdated, 35k cavernous gridiron stadium, won't be a deterrant to fans wanting to come out and watch and support this team?  

[shermanator]

If Calgary Wild are playing at McMahon, hopefully that means new turf with no CFL lines during play. Would give Cavalry  somewhere to play CONCACAF games as well.

[jonovision]

13 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Love the branding, neutral on the name, hate the location (if it's McMahon). I guess I should be open minded, but I just can't see how that would be a good venue. Maybe an outdated, 35k cavernous gridiron stadium, won't be a deterrant to fans wanting to come out and watch and support this team?  

Surely the location is better than Spruce Meadows. The stadium itself is a different story.

[shermanator]

McMahon with new turf has the potential to blow Cavalry crowds out of the water. Centrally located, near transit, bars and restaurants close by, can get big crowds with lower ticket prices.

Doesn't mean it's a good fit, but I would not be shocked to see them get far more butts in seats.

[Ansem]

11 minutes ago, shermanator said:

McMahon with new turf has the potential to blow Cavalry crowds out of the water. Centrally located, near transit, bars and restaurants close by, can get big crowds with lower ticket prices.

Doesn't mean it's a good fit, but I would not be shocked to see them get far more butts in seats.

an opportunity to work together for a SSS downtown Calgary perhaps? We really need to start working together in this country

[Obinna]

2 hours ago, jonovision said:

Surely the location is better than Spruce Meadows. The stadium itself is a different story.

[shermanator]

1 hour ago, Ansem said:

an opportunity to work together for a SSS downtown Calgary perhaps? We really need to start working together in this country

And who exactly is going to put up the hundreds of millions to get that done? Because it's not going to be the city...

[Ansem]

1 hour ago, shermanator said:

And who exactly is going to put up the hundreds of millions to get that done? Because it's not going to be the city...

Isn't McMahon getting replaced one day? That could be an opportunity to partner up for a stadium serving both soccer and football but who am I kidding - we don't cooperate in these parts

[shermanator]

It is not getting replaced, because no one will fund the replacement. 

[Mihairokov]

1 hour ago, Ansem said:

Isn't McMahon getting replaced one day? That could be an opportunity to partner up for a stadium serving both soccer and football but who am I kidding - we don't cooperate in these parts

The question still stands: who funds it? Calgary just went through a teeth-pulling exercise funding a new arena for this country's favourite pasttime and that barely went forward.

Most of my questions wrt NSL revolve around: who's paying for it? In this case, who is paying for the new turf at McMahon, if it indeed is getting new turf.

[Cicero]

18 hours ago, shermanator said:

McMahon with new turf has the potential to blow Cavalry crowds out of the water. Centrally located, near transit, bars and restaurants close by, can get big crowds with lower ticket prices.

Doesn't mean it's a good fit, but I would not be shocked to see them get far more butts in seats.

I'd be very surprised if they draw any better. It's definitely more convenient, but Calgary doesn't have a great history of supporting soccer. Cavalry do okay, but not fantastic. You look at NWSL attendance outside of Portland, LA and DC and its generally similar or lower than most CPL teams, even though most are in larger cities. We'll see, but selling new sports leagues is a tough business, especially when you're trying to get the attention of customers who have all kinds of higher level options already.  

[Kent]

I don't know what the salaries are like in England, France, Italy, etc., but there was talk about this $1.5 million salary cap being competitive with other leagues, and around top 5 in the world. With that said, is there any chance that the NSL does what MLS did in it's first year and brings home virtually all national team players? I could see Sinclair holding on for one more season to do a Canadian tour to have the most marketable name/face possible to bring out some fans. I'm not sure there is any other player in our player pool (or the world outside of maybe Marta) that could individually have any real impact on the attendance, but Sinclair might be able to do it. But although they couldn't do it by themselves, would having Lawrence, Fleming, Huitema, Grosso, Leon, etc spread across 6 teams give the league a big deal feeling and draw some decent crowds? Throw in the potential TSN/Sportsnet coverage that was mentioned above and it might even do significantly better than CPL.

Or it could flop. It's hard to say. We've never tried pro women's club soccer in this country to my knowledge. The national team has been pulling good crowds, hopefully the NSL can do it too (and not cannibalize the CPL).

[shermanator]

Some more info from the Calgary Herald:

• Franchise fee was $1 million
• Upwards of $10 million in "invested capital" over the first 5 years
• Club is working on replacing the turf at McMahon
• Calgary Foothills will be the club's reserve team

https://calgaryherald.com/sports/soccer/it-means-so-much-wild-fc-arrives-to-give-women-chance-to-play-pro-soccer-in-calgary

Edited May 31 by shermanator

[Colonel Green]

The Wild logo is A+.

[Mihairokov]

So new turf hasn't been confirmed yet? Winnipeg is spendly roughly $2M for their new turf setup.

[shermanator]

 

 

Edited May 31 by shermanator

[Unnamed Trialist]

3 hours ago, Kent said:

I don't know what the salaries are like in England, France, Italy, etc., but there was talk about this $1.5 million salary cap being competitive with other leagues, and around top 5 in the world. With that said, is there any chance that the NSL does what MLS did in it's first year and brings home virtually all national team players? I could see Sinclair holding on for one more season to do a Canadian tour to have the most marketable name/face possible to bring out some fans. I'm not sure there is any other player in our player pool (or the world outside of maybe Marta) that could individually have any real impact on the attendance, but Sinclair might be able to do it. But although they couldn't do it by themselves, would having Lawrence, Fleming, Huitema, Grosso, Leon, etc spread across 6 teams give the league a big deal feeling and draw some decent crowds? Throw in the potential TSN/Sportsnet coverage that was mentioned above and it might even do significantly better than CPL.

Or it could flop. It's hard to say. We've never tried pro women's club soccer in this country to my knowledge. The national team has been pulling good crowds, hopefully the NSL can do it too (and not cannibalize the CPL).

I would prefer if our league started with a slightly lower cap, until you have stadiums that can attract fans. Which is clearly CPL's biggest problem, weak or wrongly dimensioned venues in too many markets.

In Spain, club budgets vary from Barça at 12 million euros (17 million CDN) to a modest club in Barcelona that promoted last year, and stayed up, Levante Las Planas, with a budget of 850,000 euros. Because all clubs have a larger club structure for other teams, that is mostly salary of players and coaches, other direct staff. 

So Levante Las Planas is paying players the league minimum mostly, which works out to around 24,000 net a year, 2000 euros a month. They have internationals (an American, a Czech, French, Chinese), and pick up older near retired Spaniards, and younger players. The team could only survive in the league, in a small stadium, because one single sponsor paid for a large %. 

This article, if you want to do translate on it, is quite detailed:

https://www.2playbook.com/competiciones/liga-f-desigual-estructura-clubes-avanzan-en-profesionalizacion-futbol-femenino_12618_102.html

[red card]

4 hours ago, Cicero said:

I'd be very surprised if they draw any better. It's definitely more convenient, but Calgary doesn't have a great history of supporting soccer. Cavalry do okay, but not fantastic. You look at NWSL attendance outside of Portland, LA and DC and its generally similar or lower than most CPL teams, even though most are in larger cities. We'll see, but selling new sports leagues is a tough business, especially when you're trying to get the attention of customers who have all kinds of higher level options already.  

NWSL has moved from 1.0 to 2.0 post covid in terms of attendance, salary cap & broadcast dollars/production.

In its first 6 years, average league attendance was in line with the CPL. It went over 7k in 2019 but covid knocked it back. Then, it went over 10k in 2023 and is averaging 10.7k so far this season.

Only team averaging less than 5k this season is Chicago. 7 teams are averaging over 10k. 3 teams over 15k. 1 over 20k. 

But Seattle is seeing a dip from 13.7k last year to 7.4k this year. Rapinoe retired and being 13/14 in the table are likely the main factors. San Diego is down from 20.7k to 18.5k.

 

[red card]

5 hours ago, Kent said:

I don't know what the salaries are like in England, France, Italy, etc., but there was talk about this $1.5 million salary cap being competitive with other leagues, and around top 5 in the world. With that said, is there any chance that the NSL does what MLS did in it's first year and brings home virtually all national team players? I could see Sinclair holding on for one more season to do a Canadian tour to have the most marketable name/face possible to bring out some fans. I'm not sure there is any other player in our player pool (or the world outside of maybe Marta) that could individually have any real impact on the attendance, but Sinclair might be able to do it. But although they couldn't do it by themselves, would having Lawrence, Fleming, Huitema, Grosso, Leon, etc spread across 6 teams give the league a big deal feeling and draw some decent crowds? Throw in the potential TSN/Sportsnet coverage that was mentioned above and it might even do significantly better than CPL.

Or it could flop. It's hard to say. We've never tried pro women's club soccer in this country to my knowledge. The national team has been pulling good crowds, hopefully the NSL can do it too (and not cannibalize the CPL).

I can see Sinclair coming back. But I have been surprised by her contributions so far this year which may mean another 1 year Thorns contract. Sinclair can also get a nice paying NWSL management position or the Caps can offer a good management role.

NSL can meet the salary expectations of Canada's tier 1 players but not willing to pay the transfer fee. Thorn paid over US$300k for Fleming. Better to wait for a free transfer even if the player's cachet has dipped.

The Euro-based players would also want to play in Champions League. Many wouldn't want to give up access to tier 1 training facilities and staff support. Some play some matches before 20-50k crowds. And since Priestman has been reticent to call up players from non-tier 1 leagues, it's better to wait and see what the NSL quality will be. 

 

 

[red card]

To add Viens tells la presse playing for Montreal NSL team is something that would interest her. But, she still has 2 years left on her Roma contract, wants to win more trophies and play more Champions League.

Priestman also tells us which players should be in NSL. She sees it for youth development, She cites future Awujo and J. Rose type of players should be in NSL rather than NCAA. This will close the gap with other top World Cup teams who have all their players playing in a pro environment.

https://www.lapresse.ca/sports/soccer/2024-05-31/super-ligue-du-nord/evelyne-viens-interessee-par-montreal-mais-pas-tout-de-suite.php

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

19 hours ago, Mihairokov said:

So new turf hasn't been confirmed yet? Winnipeg is spendly roughly $2M for their new turf setup.

Does beg the question of whether they plan to play using yellow lines on a visible gridiron. Ditto when Cepsum is getting mentioned in Montreal. For all the talk of the Cavalry supporting the emergence of the NSL team, the fact that they are not going to be tenants on grass in a sensibly sized soccer specific stadium at Spruce Meadows speaks volumes.

Edited June 1 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Bison44]

Sad and silly they couldnt work something out with CPL, Cavalry.  Unless the ladies think they can pull off playing in the caverous football stadium and make it work.  Not sure why we are always working at cross purposes in Canada.  

[RichV]

Cavalry doesn't own Spruce Meadows, what support are you expecting? If the NSL doesn't want to pay to use Spruce Meadows, how is that the CPL's fault?