Canadian Premier League

[esquire]

What can I say, I guess I'm just not that much of a purist when it comes to that kind of stuff. I'd pick a larger but more comfortable venue over a smaller but more austere one. Empty seats don't really bother me.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

What can I say, I guess I'm just not that much of a purist when it comes to that kind of stuff. I'd pick a larger but more comfortable venue over a smaller but more austere one. Empty seats don't really bother me.

If the Bombers played in a 100K stadium with 75K seats empty every week it wouldn't bother you? It would be pretty clear to me that the Bombers weren't meant to be playing in that facility.

[EpicPonyTime]

Originally Posted by JHikka

If the Bombers played in a 100K stadium with 75K seats empty every week it wouldn't bother you? It would be pretty clear to me that the Bombers weren't meant to be playing in that facility.

It all comes down to what people value more, comfort or atmosphere. Wanderers Grounds might have a better atmosphere than IGF or THF, but the game-day amenities are not comparable.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by JHikka

If the Bombers played in a 100K stadium with 75K seats empty every week it wouldn't bother you? It would be pretty clear to me that the Bombers weren't meant to be playing in that facility.

It wouldn't really bother me, no. Maybe not as extreme as your example, but during my Edmonton years I often attended Eskimos games where there were occasionally as little as 30,000 fans in a 60,000 seat stadium and the atmosphere was still pretty good. Maybe not quite the same as 4,000 fans in a 33,000 seat stadium but like I said before, 4,000 fans probably won't seem 'big time' no matter which facility you play in.

I get that it's always best to play in a perfect custom-built venue, you won't get an argument from me there. But whether you agree with my view on empty seats or not, the comparison has to be to the actual next best thing. And in the absence of a decent small stadium, IG Field is easily the best option in Winnipeg.

[Acajack]

Before the building got way over the hill like it is today and was still reasonably functional, the Gatineau (Hull back then) Olympiques' Robert-Guertin arena used to be a pretty fun and lively place to watch a hockey game, even with only 4000 people in the place (3000 seated and 1000 standing).

I took more than a few foreigners to see their first hockey game there so they could feel the roots and passion of the sport at its most basic level.

They were never disappointed.

[EpicPonyTime]

According to a rumour on Twitter, there is a group working behind the scenes to bring a CPL team to King George V Park in St. John's.

Would be really awesome to have a team there since it's without question the most historic soccer field in the country, but sports on the island have always had a rough time due to the travel costs.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by EpicPonyTime

According to a rumour on Twitter, there is a group working behind the scenes to bring a CPL team to King George V Park in St. John's.

This rumour is from an unverified source so take it with the biggest grain of salt possible.

Verified rumours have potential European investors looking at a CPL team in Ottawa.

[EpicPonyTime]

Originally Posted by JHikka

This rumour is from an unverified source so take it with the biggest grain of salt possible.

Verified rumours have potential European investors looking at a CPL team in Ottawa.

The unfortunate thing about the CPL at the moment is that 90% of expansion rumours are unverified. The league is really good at keeping its secrets, to the frustration of fans in the communities that could reasonably get a team.

For instance, everyone know the talk about getting a team in Saskatchewan, but it's amazing how little news there actually is.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by EpicPonyTime

The unfortunate thing about the CPL at the moment is that 90% of expansion rumours are unverified. The league is really good at keeping its secrets, to the frustration of fans in the communities that could reasonably get a team.

For instance, everyone know the talk about getting a team in Saskatchewan, but it's amazing how little news there actually is.

Of course, but some of these rumours have been debunked (like Kitchener) whilst others have been confirmed by CPL writers/OneSoccer staff (like Ottawa). The St. John's rumour is literally from a nameless twitter user and comes mostly out of nowhere. A lot of these rumours, Saskatchewan being a good example, come from a lot of smoke before there's any reasonable fire. In Sask's case the prospective owner is quite literally running trial summer series' of soccer events to gauge interest for CPL.

There'll be no expansion for 2020 but I imagine we'll hear about 2021 entrants in the next month or two.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Verified rumours have potential European investors looking at a CPL team in Ottawa.

Rumuours today pointing towards a team in Ottawa at TD Place for 2020 which is...ambitious.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Rumuours today pointing towards a team in Ottawa at TD Place for 2020 which is...ambitious.

Anything tangible and useful left from the vestiges of the USL Ottawa Fury that they could build upon?

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Anything tangible and useful left from the vestiges of the USL Ottawa Fury that they could build upon?

Given how much OSEG seems to loathe CPL it's hard to gauge. Presumably some of the former players are still floating around. I'm surprised a CPL effort would get field time at TD Place given OSEG's hesitancy and outright dismissal of the CPL as a whole in the past. A lot of it depends on who the rumoured local and international investors are in the project.

[JHikka]

After two CPL players were capped this weekend for Canada's National Team we have our first CPL transfer out of the league, as Cavalry has sold Joel Waterman to Montreal Impact. Rumoured to be worth $100k but no confirmation yet.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Rumuours today pointing towards a team in Ottawa at TD Place for 2020 which is...ambitious.

This seems to be on track and could be announced shortly. Atletico Madrid are the foreign investors interested in placing a team in Ottawa. An eight team CPL makes the schedule much easier to sort out for the league and its teams.

[svlt]

Getting reported out of the Spanish media as well now. Seems all but certain it will happen, only question mark is still whether they'd make the 2020 start time.

[craneSpotter]

An Ottawa team would be prefect! More balanced. I think 10 teams would be about right for this league.

PFC has a new head coach - with west coast connections - Pa-Modou Kah.

https://canpl.ca/article/can-we-insp...ive-pfcs-youth

Kah should be able to hit the ground running at Pacific, fitting in fairly seamlessly with plenty of faces that are familiar to him. In his time with Vancouver, he worked with (and even briefly played with, as the grizzled vet alongside youngsters at Whitecaps 2) much of Pacific’s young core — Victor Blasco, Kadin Chung, and Terran Campbell, to name a few...

...Of course, the CPL isn’t just a proving ground for young players. It’s also provided most of its coaches with their first opportunity at the helm of a professional club. Kah is no exception; he’s been an assistant at various levels, from the Whitecaps’ reserve team to MLS newcomers FC Cincinnati, but never the man in charge.

The CPL has the potential to develop both players and coaches for the upper leagues.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by JHikka

This seems to be on track and could be announced shortly. Atletico Madrid are the foreign investors interested in placing a team in Ottawa. An eight team CPL makes the schedule much easier to sort out for the league and its teams.

It was announced over the weekend that Jeff Hunt will be the "local guy" for Ottawa's new CPL team. Hunt is part of OSEG (Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group) which owns the CFL Redblacks and OHL 67's and owned the USL Fury. He's also IMO the most visible individual member of OSEG.

It's been said that OSEG can't stand the CPL and CSA so it's interesting that it's Hunt as an individual and not OSEG itself that is lining things up with the CPL and Atletico Madrid.

[JHikka]

CPL League MVP, U21 Player of the Year, and Golden Boot Winner (and recently capped with the CMNT) Tristan Borges has been sold to Leuven in Belgium for a league record fee of nearly $300K with the fee rising to $500K upon certain conditions being met. Borges is the first CPL player to move on transfer to Europe.

https://www.richmond-news.com/hamilt...eam-1.24058245

Perhaps most interesting in all of this is that Leuven is owned by King Power, the same organization that owns Leicester City of the EPL.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by JHikka

CPL League MVP, U21 Player of the Year, and Golden Boot Winner (and recently capped with the CMNT) Tristan Borges has been sold to Leuven in Belgium for a league record fee of nearly $300K with the fee rising to $500K upon certain conditions being met. Borges is the first CPL player to move on transfer to Europe.

https://www.richmond-news.com/hamilt...eam-1.24058245

Perhaps most interesting in all of this is that Leuven is owned by King Power, the same organization that owns Leicester City of the EPL.

That's gotta be huge for small clubs like this. I wonder if they ever forecast transfer sales in their budgets. Assume one or two of their players will get sold every one to three years or something like that for a hundred grand?

What does Hamilton do with that cash now? Or Calgary with the $100k from Waterman?

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by megadude

That's gotta be huge for small clubs like this. I wonder if they ever forecast transfer sales in their budgets. Assume one or two of their players will get sold every one to three years or something like that for a hundred grand?

It is huge. $300K covers nearly half the team's salary for a year if the salary cap sits where it's rumoured to ($750K-$1M/year).

At this point we've only had two transfers for fees out of the league (Waterman and Borges) so it might be difficult for all clubs to forecast transfer sales as future revenue. IIRC a lot of players were on one-year deals which prevented them from being sold for profit: Malonga moved on a free to China, Sukunda signed in Finland, and Didic is rumoured to be trying out with Whitecaps - all would be free transfers out of the league.

Originally Posted by megadude

What does Hamilton do with that cash now? Or Calgary with the $100k from Waterman?

They can do basically anything with it as it goes into general revenues like anything else. Because there's a salary cap they cannot overspend on salaries but they can put it towards player purchases, club upgrades, etc. or just offset expenses.