Quote:
Originally Posted by Joborule
Is CFL a good base to judge if MLS could do well in Calgary? Vancouver doesn't give a #### about the CFL at all, nor does Toronto. But their MLS teams seem to have pretty good support in relation. I think that you also have the factor in league prestige in those cities. They are selective in what they want to spend their money on since there's lots of entertainment options. So they wouldn't want to spend money on a lower tier league like the CFL since they're more interested in the NFL which is somewhat physically accessible. But MLS is the highest tier for soccer on the continent, so they are willing to spend for that. So is Calgary similar? Would the general population interest in soccer high enough that perhaps MLS could work?
Just based off of this article on 2019 numbers. Some spots in high pop. cities don't have the greatest numbers. Granted there's a lot more competing interests. Calgary wouldn't haven't that issue as MLS would immediately be the 2nd biggest league in prestige in the city.
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There's no question that CFL in Toronto and Vancouver is hurting (
especially the Argonauts), and your reasoning is the CFL is "lower tier" and thus doesn't appeal to residents of those cities for "prestige" reasons, yet the MLS attendance is still pretty light. Toronto draws about 25,000 per game, but Vancouver Whitecaps games at BC Place are just about the same mausoleum-like experience as Lions games: 19,514 vs. 17,803.
Whether deliberate or not I think you've conveniently ignored the elephant in the room that, frankly, makes your line of reasoning contradictory and specious to me: Montreal Impact. They draw a paltry 16,151 people per game. Granted the Alouettes aren't a hell of a lot better (17,574) but if MLS draws flies in the second-biggest and arguably most
cosmopolitan city in the country... why would it be any better in Calgary? Especially in light of the fact the Stampeders draw better than any of the Canadian MLS teams already, and in fact would be in the top four in attendance in the MLS overall.
As such I don't think CFL attendance is indicative of the market for MLS. MLS needs to stand on its own, and to do so they'd need a venue that works for soccer. The prudent thing to do in planning a McMahon replacement/reno is to take soccer into account, but I wouldn't necessarily count on an MLS team making the whole thing financially viable. Either way a roof is out of the question: there's absolutely no way to make that work money-wise.