The Canadian Premier League thread

[shermanator]

Muta, that stadium would be awesome. Having said that, looking at Spruce Meadows' long term plan online, their idea of a new stadium would be dual purpose (soccer / equestrian), it would just be larger and more permanent. Personally, I think the idea of sharing a soccer stadium with equestrian is ridiculous, but I don't have billions of dollars to do it the way I want.

Here's the link if anyone's interested: https://www.sprucemeadows.com/press/...ase.jsp?id=562

[browna]

Originally Posted by Arsenal14

I can't wait for the CPL to announce the format for the season - at the end of the season instead of ranking the teams based on results we'll simply rank them based on which club is the oldest. Much simpler and "consistent with seeding for the Canadian Championship based on membership".

Have the Calvary adopt a nickname of, or add "Boomers" to the team name, and they can do the Guard of Honor on opening day then!

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by shermanator

But it has nothing to do with the CPL itself and whether that league will get support. It's the CSA that deserves the blowback, not the league or it's clubs.

I disagree. By remaining silent as more than half of its teams - and their fans - get screwed, the CPL becomes complicit. If they won't stand up and say this is a farce, then their silence says they are perfectly fine with the CPL being a league where some teams get preferential treatment.

[shermanator]

Anyone going to the pub night Thursday?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by shermanator

Anyone going to the pub night Thursday?

I’ve debated it. Thursday isn’t an ideal night for me, but I feel like I should make it out to one of these eventually.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Muta

That stadium was built for $16.5M (USD) too, which is an absolutely reasonable cost for a facility like that.

I heard that the planned capacity would be higher for a future Calgary stadium, I'm just taking a conservative approach.

I think of they build a stadium similat to that in Calgary it will have covered seating, which probably increases the cost.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by shermanator

Anyone going to the pub night Thursday?

I RSVPed, hopefully will be a good evening.

[Resolute 14]

So we signed a British sixth division player with a fraud/forgery conviction on his record. That's... curious.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

So we signed a British sixth division player with a fraud/forgery conviction on his record. That's... curious.

I'd assume that in order to get a work visa in Canada (and to travel internationally), that has been fully addressed.

Assuming it has, and that a personal issue (and not a limitation in skill) is why he went from West Ham to several other small clubs to this Dulwich Hamlet club, he could be a reclamation project with serious upside potential.

This will be a big indication as to whether Tommy has a strong read for these sorts of issues when assessing players or if he'll be prone to taking fliers on washouts that don't work out. As long as its not a big cost outlay for the club that could be used on proven winners at a USL/MLS type level, this is probably a good way to get players who would otherwise be at superior levels and a risk CanPL clubs have to take before the league is established.

[Thunderball]

Mediapro confirmed... 10 year deal.

https://canpl.ca/article/mediapro-to...7ZOvS0VfdXikPA

I'm a bit concerned that unless they sublicense to Sportsnet, DAZN or someone established in the Canadian marketplace, it's going to be a tough sell for anyone to pay for another streaming service just for CanPL. Plus, this league has to be on mainstream TV, at least sometimes, to get the necessary traction.

[Arsenal14]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

Mediapro confirmed... 10 year deal.

https://canpl.ca/article/mediapro-to...7ZOvS0VfdXikPA

I'm a bit concerned that unless they sublicense to Sportsnet, DAZN or someone established in the Canadian marketplace, it's going to be a tough sell for anyone to pay for another streaming service just for CanPL. Plus, this league has to be on mainstream TV, at least sometimes, to get the necessary traction.

It sounds like they are more the production side than the distribution so they will probably be working on deals with somebody else. I heard they own BeIN which I think is available through DAZN so that gives me some hope. If they try to do their own streaming service I can't see myself buying in unless it's ridiculously cheap ($1-2/month).

[Thunderball]

This part is encouraging:

https://twitter.com/PeteSchaad/statu...545134594?s=20

Mediapro must be very confident. To me, jaw dropping means several million per year.

[CorbeauNoir]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

Mediapro confirmed... 10 year deal.

https://canpl.ca/article/mediapro-to...7ZOvS0VfdXikPA

I'm a bit concerned that unless they sublicense to Sportsnet, DAZN or someone established in the Canadian marketplace, it's going to be a tough sell for anyone to pay for another streaming service just for CanPL. Plus, this league has to be on mainstream TV, at least sometimes, to get the necessary traction.

The writeup seems very vague to me but it seems to be implying some kind of even smaller more niche boutique cable channel paired with a streaming service? Specifically geared only towards non-MLS Canadian soccer coverage?

I hope I'm interpreting that wrong, I was bracing myself for broadcast rights to be buried deep on Sportsnet World or something like that but it possibly sounds like an even more atrocious setup.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by CorbeauNoir

The writeup seems very vague to me but it seems to be implying some kind of even smaller more niche boutique cable channel paired with a streaming service? Specifically geared only towards non-MLS Canadian soccer coverage?

I hope I'm interpreting that wrong, I was bracing myself for broadcast rights to be buried deep on Sportsnet World or something like that but it possibly sounds like an even more atrocious setup.

It sounds like Mediapro paid 9 digits for this deal, and what will happen is they'll produce all the games, do a free game of the week on CanPL streaming, paid games on Can PL streaming, and then try to find other distributors for games at the highest bidder, which may or may not be conventional TV, or something like BeIN or DAZN.

The positive is that this deal sure seems to do a lot for league finances and may be enough on its own to keep the league afloat for 10 years, the downside is if Mediapro bobbles this, the average Canadian may have no idea.

[CorbeauNoir]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

This part is encouraging:

https://twitter.com/PeteSchaad/statu...545134594?s=20

Mediapro must be very confident. To me, jaw dropping means several million per year.

https://www.vancourier.com/canadian-...ner-1.23640212

A source said Mediapro is investing $200 million into the Canadian project over the lifetime of the deal. Scott Mitchell, CEO of Canadian Soccer Business, calls it "the single-largest commitment any company has ever made in terms of soccer in Canada."

The initial plan is to have all CPL games available via the league's app/soccer streaming channel, with some matches for free. Viewers will have to pay to get more.

But Mediapro is open to anything, looking for partners on any platform. Mitchell says there has been a "serious appetite" from Canadian domestic partners.

Certainly a 'jaw dropping' amount by your standards...

Still a little vague, I appreciate the trend towards cord-cutting but they really need to have some kind of accessible cable presence for this thing to have legs.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by CorbeauNoir

https://www.vancourier.com/canadian-...ner-1.23640212



Certainly a 'jaw dropping' amount by your standards...

Still a little vague, I appreciate the trend towards cord-cutting but they really need to have some kind of accessible cable presence for this thing to have legs.

CFL is roughly $40m per year by comparison, but for a league that has never played a game, no proven fan support, is still filling rosters, has half its stadia under construction, and is located in a country that has been a soccer graveyard, half that amount is impressive.

I should add that the details were a bit light for something that I expect to be up and running smoothly by April 27th.

[Resolute 14]

$20 million worth of investment a year is actually pretty healthy for what this league is and where it's at. That's actually a good thing.

And there's no reason to think this deal is going to preclude a cable TV option. Especially with the MNT and WNT being included. There's just no chance that the CSA is going to allow a deal that takes the national teams off cable TV.

[shermanator]

Wonder how much Mediapro will regret this 10 year deal when the league folds like a cheap tent in it's first couple seasons, amirite?

This announcement seems big on paper, but it really lacks in telling people how they can watch games, and what it costs. That's frustrating. I'll try to ask the club how people actually do that at tomorrow's meetup. Until we know how that can actually be done the announcement is just fluff, regardless of how much it helps the league financially. And FWIW, those in the Victoria supporters group say it's worth $15 million annually to the league.

[CorbeauNoir]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

CFL is roughly $40m per year by comparison, but for a league that has never played a game, no proven fan support, is still filling rosters, has half its stadia under construction, and is located in a country that has been a soccer graveyard, half that amount is impressive.

It also seems bizarrely overaggressive for a seven-team league playing games to a few thousand people and has no presence in TO/MTL/VAN. I'll freely admit I don't know what the CFL's viewership numbers look like but you're drawing upon one deep niche of viewers to count upon to reach half of that.

Originally Posted by shermanator

Wonder how much Mediapro will regret this 10 year deal when the league folds like a cheap tent in it's first couple seasons, amirite?

MediaPro cover something like 16 leagues including La Liga and Ligue 1. It's a jaw-dropping amount from the perspective of CanPL; is it a jaw-dropping amount from the perspective of MediaPro? Considering the other leagues in their portfolio this isn't exactly striking me as a critical-importance file for them.

[Resolute 14]

CFL games routinely have drawn 500-700,000 viewers for TSN. It's a big property for them. Last year saw some rather big declines though. Especially the Grey Cup.

And I can't see any way Mediapro makes this kind of deal without assurances the league will have a presence in Canada's largest markets. Because the reality is that not one of the existing seven markets will move the needle on international interest, and I can't see anyone making a $200 million commitment on a Canadian start-up soccer league that doesn't offer at least a small amount of hope for international subscribers to help gather a ROI on that investment.