FYI, there is a rather significant connection to football for Calgary. Brett Wilson, oilpatch superhero and Dragon's Den star, owns a chunk of the Derby County Rams, a team in the Football League Championship. He has said before he wants to promote the game in North America wherever possible.
Rather than an "FC Alberta" or MLS team here (which is years and years away IMO), why not be a feeder team in the NASL to Derby County? This would be a similar scheme to what Chivas USA is to Guadalajara. I say start small, bring some international footballers here, and even a few exhibition games against NASL opponents. If I'm not mistaken, Wilson was interested in bringing DC out to Calgary for training camps, so why not make it a foothold to grow soccer in Calgary?
Wilson also has the bucks and the interest in the sport to possibly head up some sort of consortium of investors to get things moving in Calgary - which I believe is the only viable solution to getting a new stadium (multiple investors with various stakes in new stadium revenue).
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