Canadian Premier League

[WhipperSnapper]

York 9 sounds like the name of a baseball team.

[HomerSPC]

http://canpl.ca/article/debut

Canadian Premier League Debuts League Identity and Inaugural Branding in Advance of the

League’s Kickoff in Spring 2019

– Official branding kicks off a series of major announcements for
Canada’s new professional soccer league over the coming weeks –

– Dynamic league emblem features the North Star as a
guiding light for soccer in Canada –

——————————————————————————————————

TORONTO, ON (April 27, 2018) – The Canadian Premier League (CPL), Canada’s highly-anticipated professional men’s soccer league set to debut in Spring 2019, revealed today the league’s first emblem, visual identity and brand positioning.

Today’s league identity reveal kicks off a series of milestone announcements planned over the coming weeks – including officially naming CPL’s founding clubs for its inaugural season.

“The story of the Canadian Premier League begins today – and it starts with a coast-to-coast narrative that gives hope and a destination to the next generation of soccer players, coaches and supporters across this great country,” said David Clanachan, CPL Commissioner. “We are all so incredibly proud to share a vision and identity for our league and look forward to revealing key details on the founding clubs hitting the pitch for our inaugural 2019 season.”

The Story of the Canadian Premier League – Launch Manifesto Video

Canadian Premier League debuted a powerful new manifesto video that passionately outlines why Canada is ready for a premier soccer league of its own. The 90 second video showcases the authentic emotion of real Canadians who will be impacted by a professional soccer league for Canadians. This includes future players, club supporters, industry champions and Canadian Men’s National Team Head Coach, John Herdman.

The CPL Emblem Defined

The Canadian Premier League emblem tells the story of the Canadian soccer journey from club to community to country. Inspired by the North Star, the central icon acts as a guiding light for soccer in Canada. The star is surrounded by additional elements that make up Canada including the land, coasts, sky and a maple leaf.

The official colours in the logo – “Pitch Green”, “Sky Navy” and “Ocean Blue” – reflect our cultural mosaic as seen through the colours in the Northern Lights.

An honoured red version of the emblem will be used by the league and clubs during special occasions including Canada Day and when clubs play in the CONCACAF Champions League and Canadian Championship.



CPL worked with integrated marketing agency J. Walter Thompson Canada on all elements of the brand. Supporter groups across the country have played a meaningful and active role through every step of the creative process to accurately deliver on what soccer means to Canadians.

“The CPL is a league for Canadians by Canadians and supporters have been integral every step of the way. They’ve helped shape the league’s identity through insight gathering discussions, feedback on early work, and even appearing in the launch video, making them part of the movement we’re creating,” said Ari Elkouby, VP, Creative Director, J. Walter Thompson Canada.

CPL will continue to partner with the creative agency to support the growth of soccer across Canada.

“The passion and authentic voice from JWT’s creative team has been instrumental in bringing the first chapter of the CPL story to life,” said Roy Nasrallah, Vice President of Marketing for the CPL. “Our next steps will be dedicated to growing the momentum from coast to coast. This will include major club announcements, attracting new supporters, recruiting players, and spreading awareness of the league. It’s an incredibly exciting time to be a soccer supporter in Canada.”

About the Canadian Premier League

Canadian Premier League (CPL) is Canada’s domestic men’s soccer league set to debut in spring 2019. Playing in world-class and unique venues, and partnering with strong community-led ownership groups, The CPL will bring professional soccer to communities across our great country.

For updates and more information, please go to CanPL.ca.

Connect with us on Twitter: @CPLsoccer and #CanPL

[esquire]

^ The branding is fine although I question the need for a separate red logo. Why would you want to muddy the waters as to your visual identity in front of what would likely be the largest audiences? (CONCACAF, Canadian championships) It seems silly.

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ The branding is fine although I question the need for a separate red logo. Why would you want to muddy the waters as to your visual identity in front of what would likely be the largest audiences? (CONCACAF, Canadian championships) It seems silly.

I think they're doing the same thing as MLS, and each team will use their own colours for it, so it will have a million versions (well, 10)

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by jonny24

I think they're doing the same thing as MLS, and each team will use their own colours for it, so it will have a million versions (well, 10)

Which is fine. There's no soccer ball in the logo and it's not monotonous and similar to other league logos. I like it more in the red but understand why they went with the green and blue.

Here's the logo stitched on a jersey. Looks really good, IMO:

[esquire]

^ Yes, full credit to them for avoiding the obvious soccer ball cliche.

[JHikka]

Rumour circulating right now is a team announcement every week starting with York on May 10.

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Yes, full credit to them for avoiding the obvious soccer ball cliche.

Well, it depends if you're referring to an obvious ball or obvious cliché. Because it's round, segmented... it IS as soccer ball, as well as a C. but it's not an obvious ball.

The embroidered red looks fantastic.

[JHikka]

Couple leaks on York9 from Vocal Minority:

• Colour scheme is black on black with green
• Proposing a purpose-built, 15,000 seat modular stadium near Canada's Wonderland. Stadium will be pop-up esque with ability to be expanded. They're pushing it being built with environmentally sustainable wood (I think similar to the old Whitecaps' proposal years ago). Likely ready for 2021.

[JHikka]

Officially trademarked.

[Acajack]

Why the number 9 in York's name?

Isn't the number in reference to a soccer squad always 11?

In French it's very common to refer to "le onze..." something.

As in the Montreal Impact is referred to as "le onze montréalais" (the Montreal eleven) or Paris-St-Germain is "le onze parisien"...

[Horus]

It's meant to reference the 9 smaller municipalities that comprise York Region:
Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Aurora, Whitchurch-Stouffville, King, Newmarket, Georgina, East Guillimbury.

I think the expectation is that the team will be based out of Vaughan.
{EDIT} which someone noted above, with the stadium near Canada's Wonderland.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Horus

It's meant to reference the 9 smaller municipalities that comprise York Region:
Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Aurora, Whitchurch-Stouffville, King, Newmarket, Georgina, East Guillimbury.

I think the expectation is that the team will be based out of Vaughan.
{EDIT} which someone noted above, with the stadium near Canada's Wonderland.

OK thanks!

[megadude]

I think York 9 sounds cool and I like the logo. I'm fascinated by geography on large and small scales. So the 9 cities and boundaries of York Region do interest me.

But many of them have little in common with each other. So I think a large portion of soccer fans won't feel an association with a team based in Vaughan, which is heavily Italian and mind-numbingly suburban.

The heavily Chinese cities of Markham and Richmond Hill I feel have very little connection to Vaughan.

East Gwillimbury and Georgina might be too rural. And Georgina is quite far. Georgina I've only been to twice, once in Keswick and once in Sutton. Doesn't feel like a town with many soccer fans but the demographic is changing as many people have been moving there for affordability, especially since the 404 does go there now.

Outside of Vaughan, King and maybe Aurora, I don't think many residents of the other cities will feel the attachment. I think they are way more likely to attend TFC than York 9.

Also, York 9 might not make sense in the future. You never know. Wasn't that long ago in the early 2000s the Mike Harris PCs forced towns to amalgamate. And places like Hamilton and Ottawa absorbed surrounding towns. This could potentially happen to a place like say East Gwillimbury. Could be chopped up and absorbed into Newmarket, Georgina, Uxbridge and Whitchurch-Stouffville. Or Georgina could secede from York and join Durham.

But then again, the Big Ten in NCAA has 14 teams. The Big 12 has 10 teams. So really it wouldn't matter.

Anyway, I hope they have success. If I lived nearby and could watch for $10 then I'd definitely check it out.

[Horus]

Yeah, York 9 sounds like an attempt to try to draw fans or interest from the other areas of York Region, but it will be Vaughan's (read: Woodbridge and Maple) team.

[megadude]

Should also point out that Brampton, Caledon (particularly Bolton), Etobicoke and North York and parts of Mississauga are all closer to Vaughan than much of York Region. Might alienate them!

Seriously though, I wouldn't know what else to call them. Vaughan would sound too local and calling them something like GTA whatever wouldn't make sense if another GTA city got a team.

[mistercorporate]

York 9 sounds good. They'll develop their own nicknames with time and may rebrand later, a la Raptors.

[Nite]

Originally Posted by megadude

Should also point out that Brampton, Caledon (particularly Bolton), Etobicoke and North York and parts of Mississauga are all closer to Vaughan than much of York Region. Might alienate them!

Seriously though, I wouldn't know what else to call them. Vaughan would sound too local and calling them something like GTA whatever wouldn't make sense if another GTA city got a team.

Vaughan FC would have been fine in my eyes.

[mintzilla]

Read through the thread and seems interesting.

Couple of questions if any of you are kind enough to respond.

What crowd sizes would be necessary for this. 10k?

What would the time frame of a season be? Gets pretty cold from nov to march in most Canada.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Horus

{EDIT} which someone noted above, with the stadium near Canada's Wonderland.

AFAIK York9 will be playing two seasons at York University whilst their stadium near Canada's Wonderland is being built.

Originally Posted by mintzilla

What crowd sizes would be necessary for this. 10k?

What would the time frame of a season be? Gets pretty cold from nov to march in most Canada.

CPL is aiming for 5k-7K upon startup and reaching somewhere closer to 10K after a couple of seasons. Teams are expected to have 6K/7K minimum stadiums upon startup.

The season will be running through the summer similar to MLS. Roughly April-September.

Originally Posted by Nite

Vaughan FC would have been fine in my eyes.

Vaughan SC already exists. Guessing they wanted to avoid looking like an affiliation or looking like a club that only represents one municipality.

People have a tendency to complain if all the teams are Vaughan United, Toronto FC, Brampton City...I don't mind it, but I understand why York would go with something trying to appeal to the wider region. We'll see how the other teams shake out but i'm usually in the camp that likes to avoid gimmicky team names (Hello, Ottawa Fury) and instead rely on fans and supporters to develop the culture for the nickname itself. Toronto FC is a good example of this: The Reds is a side nickname but the team isn't Toronto Reds FC. Nicknames are better when they're organic and not forced. NYCFC is another example: they're nicknamed The Pigeons, but you'd be crazy to try and market a New York Pigeons soccer team.

There's a good fiftyfive.one article on this:

Originally Posted by fiftyfive.one

You might suggest that this is hypocritical from a Minnesota website who fought to keep its team named something Europhillic and boring. But the Minnesota United FC identity is an illustrative example. Eyes rolled when the “United” name was announced. But jaws dropped when people saw the crest. The key feature of the entire team’s identity is the crest element of the Loon, which immediately gave fans something to latch onto. Before the rebranding event had ended, the team had a staid, respectable soccer name, and a nickname around which to begin to build an organic culture.

This is how they do it in most other parts of the world. Our naming conventions are generally borrowed from England and Scotland, where teams have an official name and a ubiquitous nickname. Often, though not always, that nickname is a central feature of the club crest. This isn’t the only way to do it, but American soccer teams don’t seem to be giving fans any help in establishing common symbols to rally around.

Take Minnesota’s MLS expansion-mates, Atlanta United FC. After a long public brainstorming process that included intriguing names playing off Atlanta’s history as a railroad hub, its postbellum rebirth from the ashes, and other wild cards like “Black Harts”, the team went the unimaginative route with “United.” But unlike Minnesota’s effort years earlier, Atlanta declined to do anything interesting with their badge. What do we call Atlanta? The stripes? The A’s? The red and blacks? There’s not a lot to work with, and no evidence that fans have made any headway.

Joining MLS in 2018 are LAFC, who have insisted upon that soporific name since the very start. They’ve since added a very slick new crest, but the central problem remains. What to call this team? The wings? The angels (recipe for a lawsuit)? The Art Decos? Do they inherit “the goats” from the ghost of Chivas USA?

NYCFC similarly started life with a beautiful but completely unhelpful crest. It didn’t happen immediately, but enough fans have started to call the team “the Pigeons” to give me some hope of that fun, local, and interesting nickname sticking around.

You can go on an on with this stuff. Louisville City FC. St. Louis FC. FC Cincinnati. San Antonio FC. Puerto Rico FC. Nashville FC. Dull, dull, and dull.

Only a few clubs have gotten it right. The shining example among them is the Sacramento Republic, which managed to find an official name that was unique, local, and still Euro-sounding. Slap the state flag’s bear on the crest, and you’ve got the makings of a great club identity in the capital of California. Orlando City SC also found success, despite Orlando really being more accurately described as a large suburb. But the addition of lions to their USL crest and the prominent sun/lion on their MLS crest have reinforced the team’s nickname and identity.

Not every team needs to be the Rochester River Dogz or the Carolina RailHawks. There is a middle ground between a club looking minor league and looking joyless. One great way to do that is to create an identity that works formally and informally. Teams in the US have evidently lost that art, and that’s a shame.

http://fiftyfive.one/2016/12/opinion...rge-us-soccer/