The Canadian Premier League thread

[JerryUnderscore]

I'm disappointed for you guys. When I lived in Calgary I lived in the Northwest in the Hillhurst area. The commute down to Spruce Meadows would have been a deal breaker for more than a handful of games.

Now I live in Halifax and we have a deal in place for a downtown stadium that's within walking distance to all kinds of pubs. Plus it's only a 15 minute drive from my place.

In the CPL Halifax will obviously be my team but Calgary sports in general always hold a special place in my heart. I'm excited to watch some Calgary matches on TV or streamed.

[Resolute 14]

It would have been a far better location for the pitch had the WRR and SWRR been completed. The need to run shuttles from Summerset-Bridlewood to Spruce Meadows will also be an additional cost.

OTOH, if the Calgary Foothills experiment in Okotoks bears fruit, you might see some of that fan base make the short drive up.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

It would have been a far better location for the pitch had the WRR and SWRR been completed. The need to run shuttles from Summerset-Bridlewood to Spruce Meadows will also be an additional cost.

OTOH, if the Calgary Foothills experiment in Okotoks bears fruit, you might see some of that fan base make the short drive up.

It's an additional cost, but one that they bear for basically everything they do at Spruce Meadows already. It's not like this is a brand-new idea for them; they run shuttles for all of their current horse events, Christmas Market and I don't know how many other events.

Is Spruce Meadows not in city limits though? Maybe the city border jogs around it? There are a lot of houses near and south of it in general, so it has to be really close?

[Resolute 14]

Yes, but there is a difference between running shuttles for 30-80,000 paying customers in a day and, what? 3-4,000 if we're lucky for most games? But, Spruce Meadows likely also wants to make their facility more of a year-round centre, so that makes the cost easier to swallow.

And even though Spruce Meadows has a Calgary address, I think it is technically just inside the edge of the MD of Foothills.

[troutman]

When I meet Slava for fishing, I can get from Kensington to Hwy 22x in 25 minutes, if traffic is good.

[shermanator]

The league had mentioned that they were looking to have games on Saturdays at 3 pm, so that may help from the commuting side of things.

[Resolute 14]

Yes, that very much will.

[mac_82]

Pretty mixed bag for me.

So happy that Calgary will have a team. Private funding is great. But everything I love about going to games - close proximity, central location, pubs before and after, transit home in a reasonable amount of time, ability to go out after a game - is really missing. From the west end of town I'm looking at 35-45min drive, or even more via transit with 1 bus, 2 trains, and a shuttle.

They will truly need to make this a real destination event and extremely cost friendly with a great atmosphere to draw people from across the city.

[Reneeee]

Originally Posted by mac_82

Pretty mixed bag for me.

So happy that Calgary will have a team. Private funding is great. But everything I love about going to games - close proximity, central location, pubs before and after, transit home in a reasonable amount of time, ability to go out after a game - is really missing. From the west end of town I'm looking at 35-45min drive, or even more via transit with 1 bus, 2 trains, and a shuttle.

They will truly need to make this a real destination event and extremely cost friendly with a great atmosphere to draw people from across the city.

If I can get free trainsit with my season tickets I'd consider it. Without that incentive, I'll probably only take in 1 match a year

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[Jimmy Stang]

A bit early to say, but any guesses about how many games will be played in this league? A 28 game schedule would be balanced (4x each opponent), but as is often the norm in North America, distance and cost may necessitate the league to adopt a conference format.

(Closes eyes and begins calculating 14 home games x travel time to Spruce Meadows from Tuscany)

It could get boring quickly if we see the same 3 teams excessively, and rarely get to see Halifax, for example.

[agulati]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

A bit early to say, but any guesses about how many games will be played in this league? A 28 game schedule would be balanced (4x each opponent), but as is often the norm in North America, distance and cost may necessitate the league to adopt a conference format.

(Closes eyes and begins calculating 14 home games x travel time to Spruce Meadows from Tuscany)

It could get boring quickly if we see the same 3 teams excessively, and rarely get to see Halifax, for example.

I guess it depends on how long the season is, and how many games are played in 1 week. If it will only be 1-2 games a week, the travel will not be as bad.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by agulati

I guess it depends on how long the season is, and how many games are played in 1 week. If it will only be 1-2 games a week, the travel will not be as bad.

True. Throw in a league-wide airline sponsor, a hotel sponsor, etc. and they might be able to keep that bill nice and tidy. Well, as tidy as possible for a league covering such a wide geographic area.

I'm thinking that they'll mirror other soccer leagues - have afternoon weekend league matches at a fairly predictable time to help establish a routine for supporters, and then scatter the cup competitions (and a few random league matches that need to be fit into the schedule) on weeknights.

[shermanator]

Ian Allison of Spruce Meadows was on Fan 960 this morning in an interview with Ryan Pinder.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/960/ryan-pi...calgarys-team/

[Jimmy Stang]

So with Spruce Meadows bring involved, the bookmakers odds of this being Cavalry FC or something horsey/western themed has probably gone up a bit, eh?

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

So with Spruce Meadows bring involved, the bookmakers odds of this being Cavalry FC or something horsey/western themed has probably gone up a bit, eh?

Please no

[Resolute 14]

Should call ourselves Pipelines FC to piss off all the fans of "Port City FC" when we go west.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Pipelines FC

Please no

[Muta]

Screw the drive. I'll be buying season tickets and make it work somehow.

[shermanator]

They will forever be "Calgary Olympic" in my mind. Stupid IOC ruining a great name....

[troutman]

Inter Real Calgary City United FC