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Originally Posted by nfotiu
Would they have a salary cap at the beginning? is that even legal without a player's union and collective bargaining? It seems like the league is doing a lot of things right with pro/rel, no playoffs, spots in the Voyageurs Cup and CONCACAF Champions League.
If they're going to emulate European soccer, why not let someone create a powerhouse club that can compete for CCL and VC trophies while playing in the CPL? A better approach would be to let the league organically elevate itself. A salary cap would work against both clubs with high aspirations and quality clubs who couldn't approach salaries in a 1.5 million capped league.
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Stability is the real goal of this league for the first few years.
I think that a salary cap is necessary specifically to increase parity and therefore fan interest within the league. If a powerhouse club comes in and wins the title every year, how much are supporters of the clubs that never win going to show up? And if clubs start folding due to lack of butts in seats, does that really help the powerhouse club? As much as we like to think that fans will support their clubs through thick and thin, the reality is that fans are fickle.
The example I give is the current NASL which is all but dead, where there were powerhouse clubs who tried to buy, and their competitors who couldn't compete and were eventually pushed out. Edmonton is a good example of a club that specifically could not compete for same talent as the richer clubs, and didn't draw, and are now gone. Miami FC threw money at players, and now the league has folded around them, and they are playing in an amateur league.
If the players don't like playing under a salary cap, there are hundreds of other leagues for them to try and get a contract in. However, the core talent of this league will be the Canadian talent that is considered foreign everywhere else in the world (except for the randomness of their status in MLS, which seems to change by the year). Play in Canada under a salary cap, or maybe you'll get a contract elsewhere.
Long term, I think it makes sense to remove the salary cap, but the league has to be stable and willing to increase investment in players to do so. I think one of the big downfalls of MLS are all of the random salary rules that help the big clubs without explicitly hurting the smaller ones. Fans hate that.