The Northern Super League and Calgary Wild FC thread

[shermanator]

Formerly known as Project 8, the Canadian women's soccer league was announced today as the Northern Super League. So far clubs in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax has been announced.

Calgary's club to have their branding unveiled on Thursday.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1795514948761932176

[shermanator]

Calgary's club has been unveiled as Calgary Wild FC.

Thought I heard at the press conference that they will be playing out of McMahon. That is quite different than the rumour I had heard stadium wise albeit in the same area. If they are playing at McMahon, hopefully that means new turf with no CFL lines during play. Would give Cavalry somewhere to play CONCACAF games as well.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1796220018667253959

[fleuryisgod]

Ugh, McMahon is a horrible idea. Also different from what I originally heard.

Originally Posted by shermanator

Calgary's club has been unveiled as Calgary Wild FC.

Thought I heard at the press conference that they will be playing out of McMahon. That is quite different than the rumour I had heard stadium wise albeit in the same area.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1796220018667253959

[shermanator]

McMahon with new turf has the potential to blow Cavalry crowds out of the water.

Centrally located, near transit, bars and restaurants close by, can get big crowds with lower ticket prices.

[AndyM]

McMahon is an awful, awful idea. Jesus. Aside from the turf issues, watching the CPL is painful at CFL stadiums. Cavernous. Hollow. Ugly. Old.

[undercoverbrother]

Why not have this at the some faciality the men's round ball play at?

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Sweet branding, horrible place to play. New turf is a must but it’s gonna feel empty without 10,000+ people and just suck the life out of the atmosphere. Now that said I do look forward to checking it out!

I think they should’ve made a deal with the Cavs or go down to Shouldice. Put some money in that turf, get some bleachers on the other side of Hellard, reno a couple locker rooms like the Colts did, and now you’ve got an intimate 4000 stadium in a decent location (other than LRT access). I know there are plans (in early stages mind you) for a redevelopment of the Shouldice facilities and they’d be a great anchor.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by M*A*S*H 4077

Sweet branding, horrible place to play. New turf is a must but it’s gonna feel empty without 10,000+ people and just suck the life out of the atmosphere. Now that said I do look forward to checking it out!

I think they should’ve made a deal with the Cavs or go down to Shouldice. Put some money in that turf, get some bleachers on the other side of Hellard, reno a couple locker rooms like the Colts did, and now you’ve got an intimate 4000 stadium in a decent location (other than LRT access). I know there are plans (in early stages mind you) for a redevelopment of the Shouldice facilities and they’d be a great anchor.

They should look at the Calgary Rugby Union.

Grass Fields, Stands (sit around 2000?) lots of parking and beer

[cheevers]

That name sucks but damn! What a badge!

[TheIronMaiden]

I hope that they make money!

[shermanator]

From what I've heard, Spruce Meadows were asking an insane amount to rent their stadium...

[craigwd]

If only we had some kind of fieldhouse.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by shermanator

McMahon with new turf has the potential to blow Cavalry crowds out of the water.

Centrally located, near transit, bars and restaurants close by, can get big crowds with lower ticket prices.

Haha, blow Cavalry crowds out of the water? Maybe they could draw more, but say that’s 7000 people. They’re not coming back after the atmosphere of that crowd in a stadium for 30,000. It’s a bad decision to play there. It’s far too big, and even putting that aside the stadium and its amenities are terrible.

[shermanator]

CPL has only had 7 crowds over 7000 in their history, and Cavalry haven't sold out Spruce Meadows since the first year, so yes I think that would be blowing Cavalry out of the water.

I think a new club jumping on the wave of women's sports giving people cheap tickets and a central stadium can do quite well in the short term. This club is marketing to parents with young girls who don't give a #### about the stadium amenities. Now if they charge Cavalry prices, no chance.

Longer term they absolutely need something more suitable but to kick things off this isn't a big deal, IMO. Even getting a club off the ground is a massive step forwards.

[browna]

Yeah ingress and egress at Shouldice or Broadview wouldn't be great.
When the Storm played those two years in the late 90s, it was at Foothills. Ingress and egress were fine, but one bleacher so 2000 was max capacity. The next year they raised the prices by double, which was the wrong choice and the team was done, to come back as the Mustangs the next year who played in McMahon in their year of existence.

I tend to agree with Sherm. $10-$20 tickets, cheaper parking, and get quantity of eyes on the game. Like the PWHL they've seem to have more national corporate sponsorship and backing than even the CPL, so losses, while expected for a few years, seems to be easier to absorb if they draw good crowds.

Sure maybe some of the environment can't be created as at Spruce (Spruce obviously would be a lot more racous if you didn't have one sideline wide open) but then the capacity would be almost doubled. So it's not so much about in match experience and home field advantage as it should be about getting people just to come out week over week.

Who knows, maybe they can and will put up temp bleachers in behind the nets and even along the sidelines so there isn't that big gap.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by shermanator

That is quite different than the rumour I had heard stadium wise albeit in the same area.

Would you be able to share the rumoured location that you heard?

[shermanator]

Two of the main complaints people make about Cavalry are that the ticket prices are too high and the stadium location sucks. McMahon eliminates the location complaint, and if they eliminate the price complaint that takes care of another, and it's close to public transit so that takes care of another.

Combine that with the rise of women's sports, the fact that they are paying top 10 in the world in salaries in the sport, and the significantly better PR around the league compared to CPL and it could do quite well. Could being the key word.

I'm not suggesting McMahon will be sold out, I'm just thinking they have a shot at having more butts in seats than Cavalry.

[TheIronMaiden]

I think the tickets to Cavalry games are more than fair, in the context of inflation, the tickets haven't really budged, and eliminating paid parking makes it that much more affordable.

Re Location: I am biased because I live on a farm north of the city, but since the ring road has been complete it takes 55-60 minutes of free flowing low stress driving to get to Atco Field, it takes 50 minutes to get to McMahon generally ok driving and it takes 60 minutes+ of awful traffic to get to the dome.

To me, the city is the city and it is never going to be so convenient that it impacts my choice.

The biggest impact is quality of the event. SpruceMeadows has the best venue for showing up an hour early and relaxing/taking in the vibes.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by shermanator

Two of the main complaints people make about Cavalry are that the ticket prices are too high and the stadium location sucks. McMahon eliminates the location complaint, and if they eliminate the price complaint that takes care of another, and it's close to public transit so that takes care of another.

As one of the reasons I left Calgary was to live in a city where I didn't need to drive most places, the location of ATCO Field was a serious concern of mine when the Cavs launched. However, they rather impressively fostered a fantastic matchday experience that overcomes the location issue for me when I'm in town. Fingers crossed that Wild FC can, similarly, manage to overcome the obstacles McMahon poses in terms of providing an intimate football environment.

[Slava]

To me the problem of McMahon is the gameday experience. It's not the marketing or the product. And sure, maybe they do have more fans, but it's still a cavern. I suppose YMMV, but I'd rather have a more out of the way place like Spruce Meadows and a better gameday experience personally.