Calgary to launch bid for NASL team

[shermanator]

Update: looks like the bid is shooting for a 2015 start. Still talking about McMahon which is very disappointing...

http://the11.ca/2013/07/03/floods-co...ing-inquiries/

[fundmark19]

Nothing like setting up the team for failure right at the start!

[Jimmy Stang]

It is hard to get excited for this. I just have this feeling that it will join the long list of soccer failures in this city at this rate. Time for an email to Petrone or something. Not that it will do any good - it seems they have decided on McMahon and that basically seals the fate of this little venture.

[Muta]

Don't be so sure McMahon will be their permanent home.

[shermanator]

I'll throw this out now in case there are any takers

Calgary Puck Supporters Group?

[mac_82]

I'll be there for sure. McMahon is 100% the wrong call though.

[Red John]

Originally Posted by M*A*S*H 4077

Winnipeg, Regina, Hamilton, are all getting new football stadiums. There is no reason why Calgary should not have an equally nice, new stadium.

Because the CFL sucks and if you don't get a MLS tenant in there it's only being used 8 times a year?

[Matty81]

If the rumors about the new arena + stadium complex are true the Flames would be stupid not to buy an NASL team themselves. Build the new stadium with an upper deck you can close off for soccer like BC Place until the fanbase grows and you add 16 odd home dates you can book in the stadium.

Of course a purpose built little 10k soccer stadium would be ideal but I think this makes the most sense and with the marketing might of the Flames behind them the team would succeed.

Never thought about it that way but it is amazing that the CFL is getting stadiums built for that kind of money with 8 or 9 home games a year.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by shermanator

I'll throw this out now in case there are any takers

Calgary Puck Supporters Group?

Only if there's flares and offensive banners

[calgaryrocks]

Originally Posted by Red John

Because the CFL sucks and if you don't get a MLS tenant in there it's only being used 8 times a year?

fyp
It is difficult to make a financial case for a new stadium to be used 10 or 11 times a year (aside from CJFL and CIS football, which get barely any support). although if Winnipeg can do it.....
A CFL stadium is too big for an nasl team anyways, we need a building that will sell out with 10,000, so that it creates the atmosphere and people don't stay away because it looks empty. use the Allouettes model

[shermanator]

An NASL team would be a great addition to a new stadium, I just can't imagine the atmosphere being great in a large stadium. When Ottawa joins the NASL next year, I guess we will see what type of crowds they attract, and what type of atmosphere they get at Landsdowne.

If the crowds are average NASL crowds of 4000, it's not going to be a great one.

[fundmark19]

I am in! I will bring the batteries to be thrown!

[Jimmy Stang]

It isn't just the size of the stadium that makes some venues poor for soccer. The distance from the field is a big one, and the obscenely bright football lines make for poor viewing. I'm not suggesting that an NASL club could justify their own surface and the labour involved to swap it, but just try and watch a FC Edmonton match on Ustream without getting a headache. I don't know enough about the types of lines (painted-on vs. stitched in), but some facilities do share a surface for football and soccer by (I can only assume) scrubbing the lines off and re-painting.

I'm honestly not trying to dump on this from every angle, but these things matter. I'll still go to the matches no matter what, but I'm one of the very few people that don't need any convincing to support it - like many of you here. To a lot of the population, they're going to go to a match at McMahon to try it out, observe the lack of atmosphere of being in a 10% full stadium (and that's being optimistic) and they're going to thing "well that sort of sucked" and never come back.

Whether or not a new stadium addresses any of those issues (by making a more intimate environment, closer to the pitch, etc.) won't really matter if the NASL team folds before the stadium even gets started.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

I'm honestly not trying to dump on this from every angle, but these things matter.

Don't worry, you're bringing up good points.

One good thing about building a small dedicated ground is that smaller parks provide an excellent opportunity to build an intimate environment. When the Arsenal left Highbury, the extra space between the touch lines and the seats took something away. It's much easier to achieve that in smaller grounds.

[shermanator]

I agree with your points to Jimmy Stang, but there are issues with every stadium that could be considered. A member on the Voyageurs board wrote this up, which highlights potential locations:

1) Foothills Athletic Park - next door to McMahon. Home of the PDL/A-League Storm from 2001-03. It has been renovated since then to accommodate the Canadian track and field nationals. Capacity is maybe 3000? No lights. Running track and you are really far away. Back in the Storm's days, the pitch was very narrow. Good location - lots of parking, close to mass transit. Scheduled to be demolished and replaced with a massive new fieldhouse whenever the city gets the money together.

2) Burns Stadium - baseball stadium next to McMahon. Has been pretty much vacant since the Vipers folded a couple years ago. Capacity about 7000. Good location. Minimal amenities - probably 20 years behind the curve in the world of minor pro sports - and no suites, club seating, etc. Could be renovated for soccer. The city owns it and said before they are not putting a dime into it for a new tenant. Now it is slated for demolition to make way for the new fieldhouse mentioned above.

3) Shouldice Park - the stadium field holds 3000. New facility primarily designed for football - turf with permanent lines. Soccer team do play there. Location is okay, not sure about transit or parking. Probably comparable to Clarke in Edmonton. Could be a temp home only.

4) Glenmore Park - capacity about 1000 with minimal expansion space. Minimal and outdated facilities - I remember having to go to the ice rink next door to go to the washroom as there were none at the field. PDL Storm Prospects played here one year when the A-League team was the primary club. Slated to be demolished and replaced with a new stadium in the same park - no time frame but years away. Wouldn't work.

5) SAIT field - capacity mimimal with little chance to expand. Turf field. Good location for transit, parking limited due to being on campus. Not feasible.

6) Calgary Rugby Park - capacity 2400. I don't know much about it, but natural grass field and presumably good facilities. Calgary's W-League team used if for one year. I've never been there as it's far from my house in an industrial area in the SE. I don't know about transit. I suppose it's a possibility but it's not really close to anyone. I would be really careful about this location - don't want to be in a situation like the NHL Coyotes with all of your potential fans are too geographically far away.

I think the best option in terms of atmosphere is Calgary Rugby Park, but for almost all other aspects, it is not great. I think this situation highlights that we don't have any options right now.

[shermanator]

The NASL commissioner was in Edmonton last week to discuss the football lines at Clarke Stadium. Expansion bids that permanently rely on a stadium with football lines won't be considered.

Peterson also said that the league won’t look at expansion bids that include pitches that have football lines on them. He said they are OK as a temporary solution, a new team can play on them for a year or two while it waits for new turf or a facility of its own. But it can’t float a football-lined surface as a permanent solution.

That may be an issue for the Calgary bid, where McMahon Stadium, home of the CFL Stampeders, is being floated as a stadium possibility. Peterson said Calgary, Winnipeg and Hamilton remain in the mix as potential expansion cities, even though the league has now made getting franchises into the western United States as a priority.

“We could possibly include Calgary as a new team with those western cities,” said Peterson.

http://the11.ca/2013/08/18/nasl-commish-peterson-to-meet-with-edmonton-officials-monday-about-clarkes-football-lines/

Also, building on the Calgary Puck Supporters Group comment, I've thought of a name: McGrath and Sons. Perhaps I should wait until there's actually a team first...

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by shermanator

The NASL commissioner was in Edmonton last week to discuss the football lines at Clarke Stadium. Expansion bids that permanently rely on a stadium with football lines won't be considered.

This is both good news and bad news for Calgary's prospects of landing an NASL. I can't see McMahon ever agreeing to erasable lines, no should they. They have a bread and butter tenant in the Stampeders, and the Dinos also use the facility for football because the University actually owns it. This essentially squashes the idea of McMahon being the permanent home of an NASL team, which is good in so many ways.

But will this deter any potential investors from jumping on board? Which is worse: having an NASL team that fails miserably because it is in a totally inadequate venue, or never getting an NASL team in the first place.

I have tried on a few occasions to watch and enjoy an FC Edmonton match on Ustream (and now even on Sportsnet 360), and it is a headache-inducing activity. Some will say that they're "just some extra lines", but it really is difficult to watch. The big, fat football sidelines are a few yards inside a thin, yellow soccer sideline that you can barely see.

[shermanator]

Calgary Foothills SC will field a team in the PDL starting in 2015. It's not NASL, but it's a start.

Perhaps that Calgary Puck Supporters Group can be fielded after all!

http://calgaryfoothillssoccer.com/fi..._-_revised.pdf

[troutman]

SAIT Field has amazing views of downtown and the mountains.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by shermanator

Calgary Foothills SC will field a team in the PDL starting in 2015. It's not NASL, but it's a start.

Perhaps that Calgary Puck Supporters Group can be fielded after all!

http://calgaryfoothillssoccer.com/fi..._-_revised.pdf

Interesting "development". Having more places for local top players to compete is a good thing. I hope that they are successful in their goal.

Has anyone heard anything more about the potential of an NASL team starting up?