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  #81  
Old Posted Jul 14, 2017, 2:28 AM
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The owners in Halifax and Saskatchewan seem pretty confident that the money invested in popups will be well worth it. The CPL has to walk a fine-line early on where they can't spend like mad but they also want to appear to be a fully-fledged professional league, too. Canada has had enough amateur leagues in the past that they really need to step away from that and make a good impression.

Filling a quarter of the seats in CFL stadiums is not how you set a good first impression. Packing smaller venues and creating that atmosphere gives a good first impression. Owning your own facilities creates a good impression and gives fans a home that they can call their own.



They may theoretically work for soccer but that doesn't mean they're ideal for building a brand and a league. Piggybacking off the CFL is probably something the CPL is trying to avoid, at least in totality. Some stadium shares like in Hamilton (and potentially Ottawa) are bound to occur.
So it would be ok for Hamilton to share as well as Ottawa, but not Winnipeg or Regina?

If this league wants to be taken at face value, then all or nothing. You start chopping and changing then they might as well give up now.
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  #82  
Old Posted Jul 14, 2017, 9:53 PM
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So it would be ok for Hamilton to share as well as Ottawa, but not Winnipeg or Regina?
A couple teams is fine but over half the league playing in half-empty CFL stadiums is likely something the league is trying to avoid. Hamilton is where HQ is and Ottawa is rumoured to be joining with a team that's been around for a few years already. Besides, the Hamilton CPL team and the Ottawa Fury are both owned by the same groups that own the respective CFL franchises in those cities. If the Riders were going in on the CPL then sure NMS would make sense.

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If this league wants to be taken at face value, then all or nothing. You start chopping and changing then they might as well give up now.
All in on...stadiums they don't own? Revenue they can't control?
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  #83  
Old Posted Jul 14, 2017, 11:56 PM
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So different rules for different folks? Sounds fair.....
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  #84  
Old Posted Jul 15, 2017, 12:22 AM
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So different rules for different folks? Sounds fair.....
At this point I have no idea what you're trying to say.
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  #85  
Old Posted Jul 22, 2017, 1:08 AM
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http://leaderpost.com/sports/soccer/...-soccer-league

Saskatchewan franchise proposed for new soccer league

Discussions are to revolve around a proposed Saskatchewan team in the newly formed Canadian Premier League, which could begin play as early as 2018.

Toronto-based lawyer Grant McGlaughlin — a former member of the University of Regina Cougars men’s basketball team — and erstwhile national men’s soccer team player Joe Belan are hoping to establish a franchise in Regina or Saskatoon. McGlaughlin said a meeting was recently held with Saskatoon civic officials.

“Saskatchewan is primed for another professional (sports) team,” McGlaughlin said. “It’s another thing for people to do at a different cost point — $20 to $29 tickets.

“We want to work with the cities to find out ‘Can this even work for you guys?’ The first step is to see if this is feasible with either city’s plans.”


If a franchise were to materialize, it would have a provincial focus regardless of the home base — similar to the Canadian Football League’s Saskatchewan Roughriders and the National Lacrosse League’s Saskatchewan Rush.

Former Rush president Lee Genier is to run the Saskatchewan’s CPL team if it comes to fruition. Under Genier, the Rush quickly established a foothold and became immensely popular after the team moved from Edmonton to Saskatoon for the 2016 season.

The Canadian Soccer Association approved the CPL on May 6. FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, has sanctioned the proposed league and is to provide financial assistance during the start-up process.

To date, franchises have been granted to Winnipeg and Hamilton, with an aspiration of beginning play with around 10 teams.

“The CSA recognizes this (league) as a key cornerstone for producing more elite players in Canada,” McGlaughlin said.

Ideally, a Saskatchewan team would play in an 8,600-seat downtown stadium with 24 luxury suites — a facility that McGlaughlin estimates would cost between $15 million to $20 million.

“What makes this doable are the modular stadiums that are out there now,” he said. “It’s a totally different price point than $250 million. It’s the reason this is even possible.

“We want to create a soccer-specific stadium to have that intimate feel and so that people can feel that real soccer experience, like in Europe.”

McGlaughlin said a centrally located stadium is preferable in Regina or Saskatoon because it is “a key to the revitalization or development of downtown,” although alternate options — such as the use of Mosaic Stadium and its 33,500 seats — could also be on the table.

Mosaic Stadium is to be the site of Saturday’s international friendly match between the New York Cosmos (North American Soccer League) and Valencia CF (from Spain). Those sides are to meet at 4 p.m. Soccer Day in Saskatchewan is to begin at 2 p.m., with an exhibition women’s match between the Cougars and University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

A public information session about the Saskatchewan pro team is to be held Friday at O’Hanlon’s Irish Pub (1947 Scarth St.), beginning at 7 p.m. Belan, Genier and CPL president Paul Beirne are to be present.
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  #86  
Old Posted Jul 22, 2017, 6:12 AM
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LOL.

Good luck.....
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Last edited by Dalreg; Jul 22, 2017 at 7:29 AM.
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  #87  
Old Posted Jul 22, 2017, 2:48 PM
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If there's private funding, they can go right ahead.

Saskatchewan is stone cold broke right now. No chance they'll pay for a stadium.
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  #88  
Old Posted Jul 22, 2017, 6:44 PM
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Ideally, a Saskatchewan team would play in an 8,600-seat downtown stadium with 24 luxury suites — a facility that McGlaughlin estimates would cost between $15 million to $20 million.
I've been following the Canadian NTs since the mid 70s and the Canadian soccer scene much more intensely for the past 20 some years and I look at this and wonder. What are they smokin? But then again a lot of "experts" said little Regina couldn't build the best stadium in Canada so there is always a chance. But this, seriously?

I was a big fan of the CSL and at the time studied the CUSL proposal but without the cachet of the big three soccer markets this is going to be a tough sell to the public.
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  #89  
Old Posted Jul 22, 2017, 9:36 PM
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https://juneof86.com/2017/07/22/exci...katchewan/amp/

Excitement building for pro soccer in Saskatchewan

Belan has vision of a team, a stadium and a World Cup bid for province

By Matthew Gourlie

REGINA — A Saskatchewan team in the Canadian Premier League may not yet exist, but it started to feel a lot more real Friday night.

A crowd of approximately 50 people attended the Canadian Premier League Sask. Primer in Regina to listen to CPL president Paul Beirne, Joe Belan and Lee Genier discuss their vision for a team in the province.

Belan and his partner Grant McGlaughlin are the driving force behind the ownership group. The 43-year-old former Canadian youth international has a big vision for the sport in the province.

“We want to be as much a part of the fabric of the sports culture as the Roughriders,” Belan said of Saskatchewan’s beloved Canadian Football League franchise.

Belan, 43, is the chairman and founder of Novatrek Capital, a corporate advisory and investment firm. McGlaughlin is a Toronto-based lawyer who played basketball for the University of Regina.

Their vision for a team in the province includes an 8,500-seat modular stadium in a downtown location in either Regina or Saskatoon.

“When we look at them we think they are both very strong and viable markets,” Belan said of their two options. “I think the final deciding factor is going to be around the stadium and how quickly we can get that done. We do have aspirations to be part of this league and as Paul said ‘team No. 7’ that’s the slot we would like to have. That’s going to require a lot of work and a lot of effort, but I’m very encouraged by the response we’re getting from various constituents we’re getting here in Saskatchewan including both the municipal and provincial governments who see the benefits of this project — not only to bring professional soccer, but to help the broader cultural development as well as economic development.

“This is a team that is going to bring 45 new full-time positions. It’s going to employ over 165 people. It’s going to bring a lot of new revenue to the province. When we look at it in aggregate we think it has a lot of benefits for either city as well as the province.”

While Belan and his ownership group weigh the two main centres in the province, ideally the CPL will have a team in each city at some point.

“When I look at this longer term, we’re not thinking one CPL team. We would ideally like to see two CPL teams in this province,” Belan said. “We have to think about this over a 10 year period, but in order to have that vision, you have to start planning and thinking about those things now.”

Genier has previously worked for the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders and Bobsleigh Canada. He came to Saskatchewan in 2016 to help launch the National Lacrosse League’s Rush and the team was a massive success on the floor and in the stands. Genier said that was testament to the sporting passion of the people in the province and he expects the new CPL team to similarly capture the imaginations of fans province-wide.

“People love to travel across this province to see their team play. When I was with the Rush we had people come from Estevan to La Ronge and Lloydminster who were dedicated to showing up every week. I don’t anticipate anything different (with the CPL),” said Genier who will run the CPL team once the franchise is granted. “This is going to be a provincial team that we launch and we’re to draw from across the province.”

Saturday is “Soccer Day in Saskatchewan” with events around the city that will be capped by a friendly between the NASL’s New York Cosmos and Valencia from Spain’s La Liga at the New Mosiac Stadium in Regina.

Belan had a chance to look at the new $278M, 33,350-season stadium and came away impressed.

“When you walk into that stadium, it really gives you goosebumps. It’s a pretty spectacular facility. It’s world class in my view. It stacks up with many of the best stadiums around the world, including Europe. There’s a world class facility here in Regina and for Saskatchewan,” said Belan who was born and raised in Canada, but has lived in England and currently resides in Switzerland.

“I like to think big. I don’t like to think small. Canada being part of the 2026 World Cup is going to fundamentally change soccer culture in this country. We have a world class stadium blocks away from where we are right now and part of this project is not only going to bring the CPL into Saskatchewan, but also to be in the discussion and the conversation to have Saskatchewan host a World Cup game,” Belan added to cheers from those in attendance at O’Hanlon’s Irish Pub in Regina.

Saskatchewan may not seem like a soccer hotbed, but more than 300 spectators watched a brief Valencia training session at the University of Regina. Some of the supporters in attendance Friday have travelled across country and abroad to watch Canada play. One of the long-suffering Saskatchewan fans recalled seeing Canada beat Mexico in a World Cup qualifier in 1976.

For all they have seen in a lifetime of following Canadian soccer, most admitted that they never expected to see a professional team in Saskatchewan.

Beirne, who was the first employee of Toronto FC in Major League Soccer and is still a season-ticket holder, has seen first hand how MLS has benefitted Toronto.

“It’s 11 years old now. If you go to a Toronto FC match today, the number of parents with youngsters and this is their club now. The parents bought it because they love the game. The youngsters come in because it’s in their heart. It’s a completely different sense of connection,” Beirne said. “There is a generation of kids in Toronto now who are growing up in a city that in their existence has always had a big club. In 10 years we’ll have that same thing happening here — this Saskatchewan club will be in the hearts and minds of all of those youngsters who are toddlers today, but very soon they will be committed to this club for the rest of their lives.”

Beirne has said that they are building the league for the next 100 years and beyond. With that in mind, they have been cautious in revealing details before the league is formally launched. Winnipeg and Hamilton have been granted franchises and Beirne has said that there have been 10 expressions of interest in the league and that there are other centres who are exploring their options.

“There are 10 who are on the path to readiness. If we launch this league with six teams, I would suspect the Saskatchewan team would be No, 7 or No. 8. There are cities that are a little bit behind this group and they will be nine and 10,” Beirne said. “Then there are some others that are just getting started, so they have a lot of work to do. They have to find investors. They have to find that piece of land. They have to find a business model that makes sense for them and that community. There’s a lot of moving parts, but all of them are moving in the right direction and all of them are moving a lot faster than people realize.”

The league could kick off as early as Saturday, July 22, 2018 — exactly a week after the World Cup final in Russia. They would not begin with fewer than six teams, but are looking to have two more teams already unveiled for a 2019 start date if they launch next year.

Belan said it is unlikely Saskatchewan could be ready for a 2018 launch, but he is optimistic that they could have a stadium build and ready for the spring of 2019 with their modular stadium model.

While the league would like to begin play in a year, they aren’t married to that idea.

“We’re not going to rush into it if we’re not ready,” Beirne said. “The more important principal is that we won’t launch unless we’re ready. We won’t launch with fewer than six teams. The ideal scenario is that we launch with six and the subsequent year we add two or three and then we just move from strength to strength after that. If we’re not ready, then we’re quite prepared to wait until 2019. You only get one chance to make a first impression. We have to launch in a strong fashion. We understand that this is something that has been tried by smart people in the past and there are high expectations on us. We’ve got to get it right.”

Getting it right includes adhering to a salary cap. Beirne wouldn’t get too deep into specifics, but he did envision it slowly increasing over the first few seasons as they continue to build the Canadian player pool.

It would also include a building boom of smaller stadiums that will be more intimate for the CPL experience. To make those more cost effective, many will have artificial surfaces which will allow a bubble to go over the surface in the winter months and make them accessible to other teams and groups to play and train on.

“There will be a lot of artificial surfaces,” Beirne said. “I think we’ll be very aggressive in trying to ensure that we don’t have any gridiron on our pitches, but I don’t think I can look anybody in the eye and say that’s 100 per cent not going to happen.There are some compromises that we may have to make along the way.”

One thing they won’t compromise upon is the need to develop Canadian players. Beirne said there would be a finite amount of foreign players in the league but he hoped that number would decrease as the league grew.

“Our mandate and commitment is to the Canadian player. The Canadian player pool right now is quite shallow. That’s not a knock on any of the players. That’s just our current fact of life,” Beirne said. “If we start with six teams that will be a shock to the player pool. We add two more teams that will be another shock to the player pool. It will take some time to normalize.”

The event was hosted by Rob Notenboom from the From The Black Hole podcast and founder of the Pile ’O Bones Supporters Group in Regina.

Amongst the crowd was Regina’s Kevin Holness who had nine caps and scored twice at the 1998 Gold Cup and is currently a technical director of FC Regina.

Also present was Regina mayor Michael Fougere, Ken Cheveldayoff, the Saskatchewan minister for parks, culture and sport, Don Story from the Canadian Soccer Association board, and Tracy Fahlman, CEO of the Regina Hotel Association.
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  #90  
Old Posted Jan 10, 2018, 3:54 PM
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http://canpl.ca/article/david-clanac...ssioner-of-cpl

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TORONTO and OTTAWA, ON (January 10, 2017) – The Canadian Premier League Board of Governors confirmed today the appointment of David Clanachan as the first Chairman and Commissioner of the Canadian Premier League (CPL). Canada’s highly anticipated professional men’s soccer league is set to debut in spring 2019.

Clanachan will oversee all aspects of the CPL. Clanachan’s first order of business will be to award official CPL clubs in key Canadian communities from coast to coast.

Canada Soccer confirmed membership of the CPL, along with founding cities Hamilton and Winnipeg, at its Annual Meeting of Members in May 2017. Additional CPL communities will be confirmed in the coming weeks. Clanachan will manage the day-to-day operations of the CPL out of the league’s new head office in downtown Toronto.

About David Clanachan

Clanachan is the Chairman of Restaurant Brands International, Canada. Having spent his whole professional career at Tim Hortons, Clanachan was named President and Chief Operating Officer of Tim Hortons Canada in 2014, and has more than 35 years with the brand. Clanachan was a key member of the leadership team that grew Tim Hortons into the iconic Canadian brand that it is today.

The Burlington, Ontario native has also been a champion of Tim Hortons’ popular Timbits Minor Sports Program – a grassroots community program sponsored by Tim Hortons Restaurant Owners across the country, which has provided millions of Canadian children with the opportunity to play house-league sports. This includes more than 300,000 Canadian children who play Timbits Soccer every year.

A passionate soccer enthusiast, Clanachan has played competitive and recreational soccer his entire life. Known for his “aggressive defending”, Clanachan still takes the pitch every week playing in the Burlington Soccer League.
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  #91  
Old Posted Jan 10, 2018, 4:01 PM
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Starting date for Spring 2019 seems much more reasonable.
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  #92  
Old Posted Jan 13, 2018, 5:08 PM
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Roundup from what we know from this week:
  • League will start in April 2019. Regular season, no playoffs, single table. Plan to begin with ten teams.
  • Community (see: team) announcements will begin in the coming weeks. Winnipeg and Hamilton have already been confirmed, and there has been confirmed interest in Halifax, Saskatchewan (Saskatoon), York, Calgary, and the Fraser Valley. There are 12-15 interested communities for teams in the league right now.
  • League will be club-based and not single-entity, franchise-owned model (MLS, other major sports leagues)
  • Promotion/Relegation may be implemented eventually once the number of teams reaches a certain number (16 is assumed)
  • CPL wants its teams to compete in the Canadian Championship and for its winner to gain a berth into the CONCACAF Champions League (presumably in addition to the one team already from the Voyageurs Cup)
  • League is backed by a $500M investment over 10 years by league founders
  • Canadian player requirements (minimum) for each team

https://www.wakingthered.com/2018/1/...-canada-soccer

http://torontosun.com/sports/soccer/...als-start-date

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbymc.../#79861f92330b
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  #93  
Old Posted Jan 14, 2018, 11:25 PM
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Though I am not by any stretch of the imagination a soccer fan, I hope the CPL gets up and running successfully.
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  #94  
Old Posted Jan 15, 2018, 12:23 AM
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I'll never understand why Canadian leagues shy away from the single-entity model.

Centralize and control for costs.

With the Franchise model, you will have booms and busts with franchises. Controlling for salaries isn't enough with other things such as taxes and travel which will impact some franchises more than others.

I wish the CPL well and 500M will go a long way but I just find the franchise approach curious.
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  #95  
Old Posted Jan 15, 2018, 2:02 AM
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I'll never understand why Canadian leagues shy away from the single-entity model.

Centralize and control for costs.
In terms of Canada i'm guessing it's slightly more difficult to centralize in a country that is inherently regional. You're always going to have a tug-o-war between different power centres.

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With the Franchise model, you will have booms and busts with franchises. Controlling for salaries isn't enough with other things such as taxes and travel which will impact some franchises more than others.

I wish the CPL well and 500M will go a long way but I just find the franchise approach curious.
The goal behind it is to emphasis the grassroots model and to make communities feel more involved. Franchise-systems are entirely corporate and prevent a lot of people and places from entering the market. With an open-ended floor for entry it's possible that any little town could be involved with the right combination of factors (money and revenue, obviously, still at play). They want the league and sport to be as open as possible for everyone. There's a growing disconnect in most major sports between the corporate owners and natural fans (pricing out of tickets, etc.) and i'm guessing CPL is trying to tap into that disconnect a bit.
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  #96  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2018, 7:32 PM
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Clanachan was on TSN690 and handed out some bits and pieces of info:

Along with Montreal and Quebec City, Clanachan confirms talks with Sherbrooke.

8-10 teams to start. Talking to 12-15 interested communities.

Interested communities have stadium plans ranging from as small as 6K to as large as 30K. I believe Halifax would be the 6K and Winnipeg the 30K based on previous announcements.

League is expecting crowds in the 6K-10K region to start.

As part of the $500M initial investment, Clanachan states there could be four new stadiums built in Canada as a part of CPL. IIRC, Halifax and Saskatchewan would be two of these.

Announcements in the next month and a half will unveil CPL executive as well as team announcements in their communities. Want to get the supporters groups involved.

Winnipeg and Hamilton are the only two groups affiliated with CFL owners that they're speaking to. I imagine Ottawa is floating around somewhere
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Old Posted Jan 20, 2018, 12:04 AM
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It was obvious months ago that the CPL would not be starting up in 2018. No announcements by any of the founding clubs, no announcements from the league...not until now. They may be lucky to get this thing off the ground in 2019. Lot of work to do in 14 months.

Winnipeg is setting themselves up for failure if they are playing at Investors Group Field as the article implies (Winnipeg playing in a stadium seating 30,000) Even getting an average of 10,000 people to attend games in the first season - a generous estimate although possible for the first season given the curious factor plus lots of freebies - would result in a mediocre atmosphere with a half empty lower bowl. That would kill interest pretty quickly in the product on the field.

That doesn't even factor in the high probability that interest in the league in most if not all cities will somewhat decline after the initial season for the next several seasons. If you look at MLS after its first season there was a big decline in attendance the following year. It took 15 years for the league to finally match its attendance from that initial season. Expect this Canadian League to follow a similar pattern, possibly worse. I hope the powers that be are prepared to lose money and a significant amount of it at that for the first decade or so of this venture.
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  #98  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2018, 12:14 AM
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Winnipeg is setting themselves up for failure if they are playing at Investors Group Field as the article implies (Winnipeg playing in a stadium seating 30,000) Even getting an average of 10,000 people to attend games in the first season - a generous estimate although possible for the first season given the curious factor plus lots of freebies - would result in a mediocre atmosphere with a half empty lower bowl. That would kill interest pretty quickly in the product on the field.
The case example of this would be Ottawa Fury FC. They're owned by a CFL ownership group, play in that CFL stadium, and have horrid atmosphere at their matches as the lower bowl of one half of the stadium is sometimes full.

Fury average about 5.5K/match, with some matches getting as high as 6K or 7K. This is against teams from areas with nothing to do with Ottawa whatsoever (Rochester, Harrisburg, Fort Lauderdale) so my only asusmption is that crowds would be larger against national opponents. Canadian Championship matches have gone as high as 9K.

I agree that sitting smaller clubs in bigger stadiums is always going to be a recipe for disaster, especially to start. We'll see how Fury do this year with the CPL potential ramping up, but they seem like an ideal club to join in the first year, along with a reborn FC Edmonton.

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That doesn't even factor in the high probability that interest in the league in most if not all cities will somewhat decline after the initial season for the next several seasons. If you look at MLS after its first season there was a big decline in attendance the following year. It took 15 years for the league to finally match its attendance from that initial season. Expect this Canadian League to follow a similar pattern, possibly worse. I hope the powers that be are prepared to lose money and a significant amount of it at that for the first decade or so of this venture.
There were massive growing pains with the MLS. It was a gimmicky league. They were expanding into new markets and increasing the schedule. Although the average crowds didn't meet the initial season for 15 years the total crowds did in nine seasons. The difference between this CPL venture and the MLS is that the CPL is positoning itself as being very grassroots and local (especially in regards to reaching out to supporters groups), whereas the MLS is a hulking corporation whose growth as a whole is based on expansion.

There's always going to be growing pains when starting up a new league. The Commissioner, and the owners, are keeping expectations relatively muted for that reason.
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Old Posted Jan 21, 2018, 12:09 AM
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League is expecting crowds in the 6K-10K region to start.
Does anyone else see this as unrealistically high? If the Fury are averaging 5.5K and Edmonton averaged under 4K, I don't see how they can expect a league average that is higher than those. Ottawa and Edmonton will (realistically) be amongst the, if not the, largest cities in the new league for its first year.

Expecting teams in Saskatoon/Regina, Halifax, or Winnipeg to average that much is completely ridiculous in my opinion, and if that is the benchmark they are setting I fear they're setting themselves up for failure. It's going to take several consistent years of quality play and outreach for teams to hit that mark, and some of them maybe never will. Tons of CHL teams in big cities don't even get that many people out; banking on fans being drawn to other watch other Canadian teams doesn't seem wise.
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Old Posted Jan 21, 2018, 2:05 PM
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Does anyone else see this as unrealistically high? If the Fury are averaging 5.5K and Edmonton averaged under 4K, I don't see how they can expect a league average that is higher than those. Ottawa and Edmonton will (realistically) be amongst the, if not the, largest cities in the new league for its first year.
Fair points. Ottawa suffers from a dreadful atmosphere in a stadium too large for the team and Edmonton switched their attendance counting (IIRC) to actual bodies in the stadium. As I said, Ottawa can reach up to 7K/9K if they're playing against Canadian opponents even in an unsuitable stadium. Presumably a few of these new teams are going to have stadiums conductive to more intimate atmospheres.

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Tons of CHL teams in big cities don't even get that many people out; banking on fans being drawn to other watch other Canadian teams doesn't seem wise.
Those CHL teams wouldn't be the best hockey in that market and would be in a saturated market as is.

Even so, i'm not entirely sure what you're talking about. CHL average attendance this season:

London 8,961
Quebec 8,477
Edmonton 7,280
Calgary 7,159
Halifax 6,750
Regina 6,034

Seems like they fall in that region of 6K-10K even with NHL and AHL teams floating around.
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