MLS Season 2012

[ZeDgE]

Wow.. us Canadians are sure good at one thing. Excuses..

[Acajack]

Just to give an idea of how beneficial it is for Canada to have teams in the "best leagues in the world"...

Basketball was invented by a Canadian - who was living in the States at the time it is true. It has been played in Canada for more than 100 years, basically for as long as it has been in the U.S. We started playing basketball around the same time as the Americans did, long before most other countries in the world did. Our largest city has a team in the NBA, the best league in the world, baby! (Vancouver had one for a short time as well.)

And our national men's team is ranked... 24th in the world.

We do have more players in the NBA than any other country but the U.S. but a whole bunch of other countries are fairly close to us on the list.

As for baseball, we have about 20 major leaguers. We are nowhere near the top "foreign" countries in MLB. This is not abnormal given the dynamics in certain parts of Latin America and Asia, but consider that there are roughly 15Aussies in MLB. Not bad, mates!

Our national men's baseball team is ranked 6th in the world, not too bad I guess.

And our biggest city also has a team in the best baseball league in the world, something no other country other than the U.S. has. (And for several generations, Canada actually had two teams in MLB as you know.)

[Acajack]

Interesting tidbit:

At the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, only two players on the Canadian gold medal winning team were from Canadian NHL clubs.

Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland all had more players from Canadian NHL clubs on their rosters than Team Canada did.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Acajack

We do have more players in the NBA than any other country but the U.S....

France has 10 players in the NBA. Spain and Canada each have 6.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...gn_NBA_players

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by rousseau

France has 10 players in the NBA. Spain and Canada each have 6.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...gn_NBA_players

Are we looking at the same table?

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Are we looking at the same table?

You're looking at the table at the top listing all-time foreign players. Current players are highlighted in green below.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by rousseau

You're looking at the table at the top listing all-time foreign players. Current players are highlighted in green below.

Thanks for setting me straight. So only 21 Canadians have played in the NBA in the entire history of the league. This is very surprising.

[CorbeauNoir]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Interesting tidbit:

At the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, only two players on the Canadian gold medal winning team were from Canadian NHL clubs.

Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland all had more players from Canadian NHL clubs on their rosters than Team Canada did.

Now you're confusing me. You're arguing about disproportionate Canadian national representation in sports, but are looking for foreign talent to fill the rosters for this proposed Canadian soccer league you're hellbent on being a reality? You're contradicting yourself now.

And MLS can't compete with the English Premier League and Serie A

And the Australian A-League can't compete with MLS and the French Ligue 1

And so on, and so on. Where does it friggin' end?

And all of the leagues you mentioned would be an exponentially-better product than anything a national Canadian league would be able to produce. I seriously cannot stress this enough, the quality of the games in this league you're proposing would be utter GARBAGE. I go back to my example of the UK Elite ice hockey league, the fact that it merely exists does absolutely nothing to grow the sport of hockey in the UK because the on-ice product sucks so badly.

[EastVanMark]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I know it will never happen, but I think the Canadiens, the Maple Leafs, and the other existing NHL clubs should be part of an all-Canadian league along with other cities like Quebec City, Halifax, Hamilton, London, Victoria, etc.

BTW, I do know this will never happen, but it's not because of a greater, inexorable force, but rather as I said before, because of habit, conditioning, mindset and national inferiority complexes.

Even in that model for an all-Canadian League there would be huge disparity between larger and smaller markets. Victoria cannot compete with Toronto or Montreal for talent as those markets are much larger and more developed. And if you tried to institute salary controls, what's to stop larger American markets from forming their own league and devouring all the high-end talent. Then you would be left with a second-tier league All-Canadian league.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by CorbeauNoir

And all of the leagues you mentioned would be an exponentially-better product than anything a national Canadian league would be able to produce. I seriously cannot stress this enough, the quality of the games in this league you're proposing would be utter GARBAGE. I go back to my example of the UK Elite ice hockey league, the fact that it merely exists does absolutely nothing to grow the sport of hockey in the UK because the on-ice product sucks so badly.

Canadians are quite a bit better at soccer than Brits are at ice hockey.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by CorbeauNoir

Now you're confusing me. You're arguing about disproportionate Canadian national representation in sports, but are looking for foreign talent to fill the rosters for this proposed Canadian soccer league you're hellbent on being a reality? You're contradicting yourself now.

No, the rosters would be a mix of domestic and foreign players, just like they are in pretty much any normal national soccer league in any normal country.

[hockey rules!]

More than 59 000 tickets sold for Saturday. Will this game be the most attended sporting event in Canada this year?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by EastVanMark

Even in that model for an all-Canadian League there would be huge disparity between larger and smaller markets. Victoria cannot compete with Toronto or Montreal for talent as those markets are much larger and more developed. And if you tried to institute salary controls, what's to stop larger American markets from forming their own league and devouring all the high-end talent. Then you would be left with a second-tier league All-Canadian league.

People have such a hard time thinking outside the box. 23% of NHL clubs at the moment are Canadian, yet more than a third of NHL revenues come from Canada. A much higher share of merchandise sales comes from Canada, and the league's biggest TV contracts are all Canadian. Canadians are paying more than their fair share of the NHL's bills in order for the NHL to provide hockey entertainment to millions of Americans who don't give a shit about the sport, whereas Canadian cities that are big enough for pro sports by any other global standard have to beg for clubs.

The Canadian league would likely be every bit as rich or richer than the U.S. league, which would probably have to contract and eliminate some deadbeat teams to remain competitive.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by hockey rules!

More than 59 000 tickets sold for Saturday. Will this game be the most attended sporting event in Canada this year?

Do we know if Becks will play?

[Nicko999]

Originally Posted by hockey rules!

More than 59 000 tickets sold for Saturday. Will this game be the most attended sporting event in Canada this year?

The most attended sporting event in Canada will be in a month... the Canadian Grand Prix with an attendance of 300k.

The game tomorrow could very well be the third most attended in MLS history.

Unfortunately it won't be an all-time soccer record in Canada. 71,619 fans were at the big O for the 1976 Olympic Games final between East Germany and Poland.

[EastVanMark]

Originally Posted by Acajack

People have such a hard time thinking outside the box. 23% of NHL clubs at the moment are Canadian, yet more than a third of NHL revenues come from Canada. A much higher share of merchandise sales comes from Canada, and the league's biggest TV contracts are all Canadian. Canadians are paying more than their fair share of the NHL's bills in order for the NHL to provide hockey entertainment to millions of Americans who don't give a shit about the sport, whereas Canadian cities that are big enough for pro sports by any other global standard have to beg for clubs.

The Canadian league would likely be every bit as rich or richer than the U.S. league, which would probably have to contract and eliminate some deadbeat teams to remain competitive.

First off, its not 1/3 of total revenues since there is no possible way to accurately measure those since teams are owned by private entities that don't release figures. The 1/3 figure comes from ticket sales. Secondly, when you take away the troubled sunbelt franchises, that ratio falls right about where it should be. As for TV contracts; FALSE. The US TV deal is currently worth slightly more (although the Canadian side is yet to be re-negotiated). Also, if the 2 countries were to form their own leagues the US league would keep 12 or so of their largest, most successful markets capable of driving salaries into the stratosphere while the Canadian one would only have a couple, maybe 3 that could keep pace. The rest would not be able to. And that is for our national pastime. For Soccer, the situation would be even worse!

An all Canadian Soccer League was started at a time when there was no serious soccer league in the US or Canada. The timing couldn't have been better.....and it STILL failed miserably. Today, the MLS dominates and the chances for success of an all Canadian soccer league is even less than it was when the CSL started a generation ago.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by EastVanMark

First off, its not 1/3 of total revenues since there is no possible way to accurately measure those since teams are owned by private entities that don't release figures. The 1/3 figure comes from ticket sales. Secondly, when you take away the troubled sunbelt franchises, that ratio falls right about where it should be. As for TV contracts; FALSE. The US TV deal is currently worth slightly more (although the Canadian side is yet to be re-negotiated). Also, if the 2 countries were to form their own leagues the US league would keep 12 or so of their largest, most successful markets capable of driving salaries into the stratosphere while the Canadian one would only have a couple, maybe 3 that could keep pace. The rest would not be able to. And that is for our national pastime. For Soccer, the situation would be even worse!

There aren't 12 American powerhouse clubs in the NHL. More like 7 or 8. In order to get to 12 you'd have to fill their league with other clubs, some of which aren't even as rich as the Flames and Oilers.

Maybe an all-Canadian pro hockey league wouldn't beat the pants off the U.S. counterpart, but it certainly wouldn't be a poor second sister either. There would likely be two highly competitive pro hockey leagues in North America. That's it.

Of course, all of this is assuming the popularity of hockey remains a different ball game on either side of the border. An NHL club in a city of 2 million in Canada will almost always be more successful (not necessarily on the ice) than an NHL club in a city of 2 million in the U.S., just because hockey is number one in Canada, and rarely number one in the States. Not even in the northern cities.

Because of hockey's unique position in Canada, a pro hockey club in Halifax, Nova Scotia in a top-level Canadian league would probably be as viable as the Buffalo Sabres or Carolina Hurricanes.

[EastVanMark]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There aren't 12 American powerhouse clubs in the NHL. More like 7 or 8. In order to get to 12 you'd have to fill their league with other clubs, some of which aren't even as rich as the Flames and Oilers.

Maybe an all-Canadian pro hockey league wouldn't beat the pants off the U.S. counterpart, but it certainly wouldn't be a poor second sister either. There would likely be two highly competitive pro hockey leagues in North America. That's it.

Of course, all of this is assuming the popularity of hockey remains a different ball game on either side of the border. An NHL club in a city of 2 million in Canada will almost always be more successful (not necessarily on the ice) than an NHL club in a city of 2 million in the U.S., just because hockey is number one in Canada, and rarely number one in the States. Not even in the northern cities.

Because of hockey's unique position in Canada, a pro hockey club in Halifax, Nova Scotia in a top-level Canadian league would probably be as viable as the Buffalo Sabres or Carolina Hurricanes.

Maybe Carolina, but not Buffalo(and even Carolina is a stretch). And Buffalo wouldn't even make it into a 12 team top US league. And if you would measure Canadian markets that have 2million + there is all of 3 markets that have those numbers. So you would have a Canadian league with 3 markets totally dominating, or an American one where at least 8 markets would be on a relatively equal financial footing. Those 8 could then offer contracts to top talent that only 3 markets in Canada could match leaving the Canadian league lagging behind in talent.

For soccer that gulf widens-significantly. When the CSL folded, and any available league could give a rats behind about bailing out weaker sisters in the name of nationalism, so only 3 Canadian markets were able to keep teams going. That was all that was available. Now, those same cities have joined the MLS. Secondary markets can now concentrate on joining leagues like the NASL where far less is required to keep franchises afloat. Overall, it's a better scenario than in an all-Canadian league where the smaller markets bring down the larger ones that have capabilities for something bigger. It's unfortunate, but a real problem in the sporting landscape of Canada. A league like the CFL kinda gets away with it only because of their vast history in the country which unfortunately does not exist in the other kind of football.

[agrant]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Do we know if Becks will play?

Looks like we will >>> MLS.com. Such a huge crowd. The Galaxy get way too much respect.

[Darkoshvilli]

Originally Posted by agrant

Looks like we will >>> MLS.com. Such a huge crowd. The Galaxy get way too much respect.

The Beckham hype machine. People hear his name and run to buy tickets like a bunch of sheep.