2025 Cavalry FC and CPL thread

[jayswin]

Wow, so Vancouver has been a complete failure. Dropping over 50% since last season. Yikes.

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Feels a bit like this team got complacent after winning last year and started believing their own hype too much (I'm certainly guilty of hyping them up too much in the preseason). Klomp came back and they got some bite and now they've tailed off again. They can play up to the level of their opponent (See beating Forge 4-0), play down (this weekend's draw against Pacific) and always have a mental block against someone (Forge previous years, Ottawa this year).

I think Baldisimo's second yellow for kicking the ball away was harsh, but thems the rules. Oddly I have way more sympathy for a red card like that than Kamdem, Musse or Ntignee's selfish red cards earlier this year for punching people. EDIT: 4 red cards this year? That's way too many.

League wise, fun to see a player approaching 20 goals, I do find it surprising an attacker hasn't completely lit up the league before this year, but I am completely shocked it is Sam Salter. Did he suddenly become an elite player or is he the perfect poacher playing off of David Rodriguez and crew? We've got two strong teams this year, league hasn't seen that before to this extent.

Overall I think the attendance trends are positive and hopefully with the excitement around the World Cup next summer people get out to more games. 2027 is going to be the true litmus test to see what kind of lasting tv deal/sponsorship/attendance is like for the league

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Wow, so Vancouver has been a complete failure. Dropping over 50% since last season. Yikes.

Wonder how much the Whitecaps being legitimately good this year has played into that. If ~500-1000 people who used to go to VFC matches are spending their football money at the Whitecaps to watch a great team that is a big deal and not an improbable cause in my opinion.

I know which team I'd pay money to watch this year

EDIT: And the BC Lions attendance I believe has really gone up this year. Another option to draw people's discretionary income

[shermanator]

I'm curious to see how Supra do attendance wise next year. They've said publicly they can be profitable at 2500-3500 fans which I think can be done quite easily given the atmosphere around CF Montreal.

[Muta]

I hope Supra is a huge success. Then Quebec City gets a team and there's a captivating derby there. The more regional rivalries, the most intriguing the stories within the league are.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Wow, so Vancouver has been a complete failure. Dropping over 50% since last season. Yikes.

A historically bad team with a coach that was chasing out players left and right combined with a poor location and confusing identity.

The stadium itself isn't actually too bad, the thing could be Wanderers grounds if it wasn't near a rando highway exit in Langley.

Branding it as Vancouver is utterly confusing. Google "Vancouver FC schedule" and you got Whitecaps games for the first year and a half of their existence.

Both Toronto and Vancouver have so many areas of decent population density, I have no clue how Langley and York ended up being their choices.

[shermanator]

The owners of Pacific and Vancouver chose the locations they did because they got stadiums built without having to invest their own money. There were better options available but they would have had to put money in. You get what you pay for and both locations are coming back to bite them.

I suspect similar with York, they picked the cheap option and have been trying to pursue this new ground at Woodbine, but they don't want to put their own money in to make it happen.

Wanderers Grounds as a stadium is nothing special, it's just some bleachers around a dirt field with some food trucks and portapotties. What makes it a good time is the vibe at games, there's a cool factor there that York or Vancouver don't have.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by shermanator

Wanderers Grounds as a stadium is nothing special, it's just some bleachers around a dirt field with some food trucks and portapotties. What makes it a good time is the vibe at games, there's a cool factor there that York or Vancouver don't have.

For sure, but the ingredients of a stadium that encloses all sides of the field is all you really need to get there, as proven by Halifax. York, Pacific and Edmonton FC being the counter examples of small stadiums that are total crap because it feels like a stand beside a field, not a field inside a stadium.

I really hope PFC moves to Royal Athletic Park with new owners, I think it could take off.

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

For sure, but the ingredients of a stadium that encloses all sides of the field is all you really need to get there, as proven by Halifax. York, Pacific and Edmonton FC being the counter examples of small stadiums that are total crap because it feels like a stand beside a field, not a field inside a stadium.

I really hope PFC moves to Royal Athletic Park with new owners, I think it could take off.

I'm skeptical with Pacific. Seemed like a good vibe at their one off game but I always hear countless excuses about why people don't go to games. Their supporters scene is terrible and they never really gave up the Highlanders when Pacific was announced. Did a tonne of damage.

Need to find a new buyer first and take it from there.

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Originally Posted by M*A*S*H 4077

League wise, fun to see a player approaching 20 goals, I do find it surprising an attacker hasn't completely lit up the league before this year, but I am completely shocked it is Sam Salter. Did he suddenly become an elite player or is he the perfect poacher playing off of David Rodriguez and crew? We've got two strong teams this year, league hasn't seen that before to this extent.

So yesterday it got announced Sam Salter is signing a four year contract with Swedish club GAIS when his deal expires this offseason (Same club Matteo De Brienne is playing for and by all accounts doing well at).

https://www.canpl.ca/news/atletico-o...dish-club-gais

Great for him, great for the CPL. Never in a million years did I think Sam Salter would be the striker to finally push on and rise above this level

[shermanator]

Shome scored for Bangladesh to equalize in the 99th minute against Hong Kong this morning. They then gave up the winning goal on the 101st minute.

[Bill Bumface]

Not an Instagram-ist, so forgive me if this doesn't work, but it's pretty cool:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPmSD...8wYnRtZw%3D%3D

[shermanator]

Cavalry are offering teachers 2 free tickets to the Forge game tomorrow night.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1976433782316990954

[jayswin]

Good decision to make with so many unsold tickets for tomorrow's game. Win/win. Tickets likely wouldn't have been sold anyway, and they'll get good PR from teachers showing up for the match.

[Johnny199r]

Wanderers' success is 98 % attributable to the fantastic location in the heart of the city, walkable to everything. Put that team in Dartmouth, Bedford or anywhere else, and it's not even close to the same. It doesn't hurt that there is no competition in Halifax for fans sports dollars during the season.

Generally, you won't be able to replicate that location and experience across the rest of the country without tons of ownership $. Obviously, that investment doesn't make sense to any investor.

The alternative is what the Cavs do, and pick a unique setting outside the city centre and try to make it an experience.

Anyone that didn't see this coming with Vancouver is crazy. The whole operation is horrendous. Why go see a match rather than a League 1 BC match? I can't think of a compelling reason. I think putting a CPL team in any city where an MLS team exists is a bad idea, but let's see if Supra can do something different and channel all the bad will that currently exists towards CF Montreal.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Johnny199r

Wanderers' success is 98 % attributable to the fantastic location in the heart of the city, walkable to everything. Put that team in Dartmouth, Bedford or anywhere else, and it's not even close to the same. It doesn't hurt that there is no competition in Halifax for fans sports dollars during the season.

Generally, you won't be able to replicate that location and experience across the rest of the country without tons of ownership $. Obviously, that investment doesn't make sense to any investor.

The alternative is what the Cavs do, and pick a unique setting outside the city centre and try to make it an experience.

Anyone that didn't see this coming with Vancouver is crazy. The whole operation is horrendous. Why go see a match rather than a League 1 BC match? I can't think of a compelling reason. I think putting a CPL team in any city where an MLS team exists is a bad idea, but let's see if Supra can do something different and channel all the bad will that currently exists towards CF Montreal.

A part of it also is that Calgary is a driving city. Lots of people take their cars everywhere. Victoria, I'd be surprised if half the people in a key demographic even owned a car.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

A part of it also is that Calgary is a driving city. Lots of people take their cars everywhere. Victoria, I'd be surprised if half the people in a key demographic even owned a car.

Fully agree, but I do feel that is slowly shifting as the density of the city increases and younger people don't covet car ownership as much as previous generations. But ultimately this city has been built around the automobile, so hopping in the car is normal and expected to do most things.

But let's be honest - we're lucky to have a stable, deep-pocketed owner with a damn good facility. It makes up for the location being inconvenient to some. Something central and more accessible would help them tap into other demographics, but the stadium and gameday experience would suffer.

It is kind of like the old triangle thing: location, stadium, game day experience. Pick two. If you have all three, like Halifax, you're golden. I'd argue that "location" is the most important thing, and is still a limitation to Spruce Meadows even in a car-centric city. But they really nail the other two to make up for it.

[Bill Bumface]

We need to bulldoze Prince's Island and put up a soccer stadium.

[Howie_16]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

We need to bulldoze Prince's Island and put up a soccer stadium.

How about bulldoze Shaw Millennium Park and build Mewata Stadium 2.0? Or use that site for Burns Stadium 2.0 - they could be a local rival for the Okotoks Dawgs or an Alberta rival for the Edmonton Riverhawks?

I just need to start pick better Lotto Max numbers for my plan to succeeed!

[Cappy]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

Fully agree, but I do feel that is slowly shifting as the density of the city increases and younger people don't covet car ownership as much as previous generations. But ultimately this city has been built around the automobile, so hopping in the car is normal and expected to do most things.

But let's be honest - we're lucky to have a stable, deep-pocketed owner with a damn good facility. It makes up for the location being inconvenient to some. Something central and more accessible would help them tap into other demographics, but the stadium and gameday experience would suffer.

It is kind of like the old triangle thing: location, stadium, game day experience. Pick two. If you have all three, like Halifax, you're golden. I'd argue that "location" is the most important thing, and is still a limitation to Spruce Meadows even in a car-centric city. But they really nail the other two to make up for it.

Having Cavs closer to downtown would certainly be nicer for me - as well as the rest of us hipster soccer fans.