Another interview with the new commissioner. Some key points:
- 12-15 markets interested. Expecting 8-10 teams at launch.
- Will not be run like MLS, who has a single entity system that oversees all clubs (e.g In MLS, when a player signs with a club, he's actually signing with the league)
- Long term vision will see promotion / relegation. Ideal vision is a 16 team single table. Once the league gets more than 16 teams interested then promotion / relegation will be looked at.
- League hopes to get a dedicated spot in the CONCACAF Champions League for the league winner, in addition to the spot for the Voyageurs Cup winner.
Love the relegation/promotion system, works well in England. Also gives fans incentive to support their team, and punishes poor performance (something the Oilers should have learned a million times over by now).
16 teams though, I hope they're prepared to pool revenues and re-distribute accordingly. Just a hunch, but somehow I don't think a team like Saskatoon or Moncton would be able to compete with teams like Ottawa, Mississauga, or a GTA franchise financially. Hell, even Fraser Valley as a club doesn't necessarily mean big Vancouver bucks. This is assuming even the smaller teams must have consistent attendance.
EDIT: Clanachan says thats 16 teams just in the "premier" league. I'm guessing that smaller, less economically strong teams would be in the lower divisions, and would likely involve more grassroot club involvement. Ambitious to say the least.
Shermanator: do you see CPL clubs having to operate in conjunction with pre-existing amateur soccer clubs in their respective locales? I take it that if the CPL one day has three divisions, and, for example, Lethbridge wants to join, they'll have to utilize existing club infrastructure, such as the Whitecaps FC Academy Centre/Alberta South team (an agreement signed last fall)? Or even in Calgary, the idea would be to build out an existing club (e.g. Foothills, Rangers, Celtic, Darts) and integrate into the local CMSA / CUSA?
Realistically, pro/rel is a long, long way off. We have to get to a point where there are 16 stable first division clubs to even begin to entertain that thought. Baby steps...
Ozy Flame, I think each market will be different. My guess is that most CPL clubs will work with the existing youth clubs, as providing a place for the best local players to play pro benefits both the youth and pro clubs. Some CPL clubs may be the brainchild of existing youth clubs. And some CPL clubs start their own academies.
Realistically, pro/rel is a long, long way off. We have to get to a point where there are 16 stable first division clubs to even begin to entertain that thought. Baby steps...
True, but if you ever plan to do relegation you need to make that clear to franchise owners right from the start. Ideally I'd include right in the founding documents of the league how that split would happen - i.e. when the league gets to 16 teams they will get split into two leagues of 8.
One of the biggest things preventing promotion/relegation from ever happening in North American sports currently is that owners buy into a specific league and there is no way they'll agree to the potential lost revenue of moving to a lower one.
Will clubs be able to sign / afford former stars who are on their last legs to drum up interests, much like Diego Forlan who just joined a Hong Kong club:
Will clubs be able to sign / afford former stars who are on their last legs to drum up interests, much like Diego Forlan who just joined a Hong Kong club:
With Salary cap rumored to be around 1.5million (mentioned in one of the earlier posts), will be tough for teams to compete to sign aging stars.
Top flight aging stars find their way to Eastern Europe Leagues or MLS. If below that skill level, you have teams in China or Middle East willing to throw a lot of cash to bring them in.
Yup, the Ledgerwood signing is being made with an eye on the Canadian Premier League launching in 2019. It is also being made with an eye on the fact that his playing days are coming to an end, given that he'll be 34 when the league launches. It's a good idea to get a post playing career rolling.
Also, this is not the only high profile signing (in the PDL sense) that Calgary Foothills will be making for the upcoming PDL season, with an eye on CPL launching in 2019. Stay tuned on that.
Shermanator - is PDL not a U-23 league? I thought it was . . .
Not strictly U23, I think there are restrictions on the number of players over 23 that are allowed. Foothills has played with players older than 23 this whole time (e.g. Jonathan Wheeldon, Dean Northover, Massimo Megna, Nik Reyes)
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Paul Beirne has been named President of the Canadian Premier League. He was actually the first hire of the league, but now his role is officially announced.
Not strictly U23, I think there are restrictions on the number of players over 23 that are allowed. Foothills has played with players older than 23 this whole time (e.g. Jonathan Wheeldon, Dean Northover, Massimo Megna, Nik Reyes)
Mike Richards (formerly of the FAN 960) did an interview with the CPL commissioner on his podcast.
Only new info that isn't in this thread is that there will be no playoffs; the team at the top of the table at the end of the season wins the title. Also, since the initial comments of 15 markets interested, a few more markets have reached out. But the league will start with 8-10 teams in 2019 and go from there.
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The salary cap number floated has been $1.5 million. If people are looking to understand the level of play, I think NASL level is probably the best comparison out there. As a comparison, the San Francisco Deltas, who won NASL last year, had a salary budget of around $1.2 mil USD.
Would they have a salary cap at the beginning? is that even legal without a player's union and collective bargaining? It seems like the league is doing a lot of things right with pro/rel, no playoffs, spots in the Voyageurs Cup and CONCACAF Champions League.
If they're going to emulate European soccer, why not let someone create a powerhouse club that can compete for CCL and VC trophies while playing in the CPL? A better approach would be to let the league organically elevate itself. A salary cap would work against both clubs with high aspirations and quality clubs who couldn't approach salaries in a 1.5 million capped league.
Would they have a salary cap at the beginning? is that even legal without a player's union and collective bargaining? It seems like the league is doing a lot of things right with pro/rel, no playoffs, spots in the Voyageurs Cup and CONCACAF Champions League.
If they're going to emulate European soccer, why not let someone create a powerhouse club that can compete for CCL and VC trophies while playing in the CPL? A better approach would be to let the league organically elevate itself. A salary cap would work against both clubs with high aspirations and quality clubs who couldn't approach salaries in a 1.5 million capped league.
Stability is the real goal of this league for the first few years.
I think that a salary cap is necessary specifically to increase parity and therefore fan interest within the league. If a powerhouse club comes in and wins the title every year, how much are supporters of the clubs that never win going to show up? And if clubs start folding due to lack of butts in seats, does that really help the powerhouse club? As much as we like to think that fans will support their clubs through thick and thin, the reality is that fans are fickle.
The example I give is the current NASL which is all but dead, where there were powerhouse clubs who tried to buy, and their competitors who couldn't compete and were eventually pushed out. Edmonton is a good example of a club that specifically could not compete for same talent as the richer clubs, and didn't draw, and are now gone. Miami FC threw money at players, and now the league has folded around them, and they are playing in an amateur league.
If the players don't like playing under a salary cap, there are hundreds of other leagues for them to try and get a contract in. However, the core talent of this league will be the Canadian talent that is considered foreign everywhere else in the world (except for the randomness of their status in MLS, which seems to change by the year). Play in Canada under a salary cap, or maybe you'll get a contract elsewhere.
Long term, I think it makes sense to remove the salary cap, but the league has to be stable and willing to increase investment in players to do so. I think one of the big downfalls of MLS are all of the random salary rules that help the big clubs without explicitly hurting the smaller ones. Fans hate that.
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Last edited by shermanator; 02-01-2018 at 08:53 PM.
From Steven Sandor, who was the colour commentator and one of the main sources for FC Edmonton. My understanding is that Edmonton is in, but they want improvement from the city and the fanbase over what they had for their NASL club.
@stevensandor 29m29 minutes ago
#FCEd looking for 1000 season seat commitments in next 40 days #CanPL
CPL president Paul Beirne was in Edmonton meeting with
Quote:
He tells the audience that he does not want the Canadian Premier League to be compared to MLS. He says the league is leaning towards determining a champion via the single table and not having playoffs. He says, “where possible,” the Canadian league will respect the FIFA dates, something MLS has long been criticized for not doing. When an audience member asks him if an MLS reserve team would ever be admitted into the CanPL, he smiles and says “yes, when we have a second division.” But never the first.
Beirne says, instead of MLS, the closest comparison for CanPL will come to pro leagues in South Korea and Japan. Why? Because they are relatively new, and are examples of first divisions that were basically “plopped on” to those countries pyramids in order to kickstart development. Those leagues lean heavily towards playing domestic players.
...
When asked if he could ever see the three Canadian MLS teams defecting for the Canadian League, he answers, “it’s a possibility, but we have to earn it.” Basically, the CanPL will have to prove it’s a good enough league that the three Canadian MLS teams will one day want to leave that league on their own terms. He doesn’t want teams forced to leave MLS or legislated to act a certain way.
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