Not sure how legit but I've heard the Katz Group offered $1 for FC Edmonton. Which IMO is about what they are worth as a club right now, given the $4 million a year operating costs of a CPL club.
FC Edmonton as a club has a dozen years of a disinterested market, few season ticket holders, a stadium where they don't receive concession or parking revenue, little corporate support, fractured relationships with youth clubs, and no supporters scene to draw atmosphere to the game day environment. You're essentially asking someone to dump 8 figures into a club that is significantly worse off than one starting from scratch.
Oddly enough they've actually been BETTER run under league ownership than under the previous owners. They're starting to rebuild relationships with youth clubs and slowly getting more corporate support. The crowd on Saturday was almost 3 times what they got at the start of the year. But it's still a long way away from being an attractive purchase for anyone.
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Last edited by shermanator; 09-20-2022 at 09:44 AM.
I would love to see the Edmonton Scottish get involved with FCE ownership. They have a deeply embedded and storied presence is the YEG soccer scene, are already competing in the APSL, have a youth development system in place, they are affiliated with the Edmonton Angels (women's amateur team competing for the Jubilee Trophy), and even has its own game broadcasting experience (Fitba.tv). The also announced semi-pro mens and womens teams to compete in interprovincial leagues last year.
Seems like the kind of group that would handle a pro team with compassion and tact.
To me, the ownership of FCE should be handled by those who currently have trust and respect in the city to build up the brand. Some management group coming in to make a quick buck is not what that team needs. It needs good planning, local ownership, deep football roots, and a commitment to improving the game-day experience, including involving local brands and communities.
The question you have to ask is where is Edmonton Scottish going to get $4 million a year to run a CPL team? And that's without considering any cost to actually buy the team....
They along with Calgary Foothills and FC Manitoba are actually trying to get this League1 Central off the ground. That's the right place for them at the moment, the idea of a professionally run amateur league fits into their strengths without the massive operating expenses that come with running a pro club. They also don't have to massively improve infrastructure to accommodate the type of support that league would receive.
By comparison, I wonder what Cavalry are worth now? Good stadium experience, growing fanbase, insanely good marketing, healthy relationships with local clubs, proven player development experience, and of course, on-field success. I would imagine the CPL loves what the Cavs are doing for the league.
Last edited by Muta; 09-20-2022 at 10:20 AM.
Reason: stadium experience, not location
My point is more that an existing club with football management experience should be involved. The logistics I am not to sure about. Perhaps they operate in partnership with/under the purview of an investor.
I personally would move them to Foote Field for starters, if that was possible.
Either way, it would be foolish for some fly-by-night ownership group to come in and try and make a quick buck. The FCE brand is damaged and needs rehabilitating, and you do that through community integration.
It's too bad the new Jasper Place Bowl Stadium redevelopment is too small (2,000 seats); would have been an awesome facility for a re-branded FC Edmonton to play out of if it was capable of holding 5,000+ seats and game day experience facilities.
Spoiler!
I do know that the City has plans to put some work into Clark Stadium (including building canopies over the stands). Don't know when / if that's happening though.
Hell yeah I forgot about that new facility. Looks awesome! Also didn't realize it was in the West End, which is actually a great spot (in general) given the proximity to West Ed, 170th, and Whitemud. It also lets people catch a game away from work. The downside is that it's too far from a walk for some from a (soon to be built) LRT station, and the game-day parking situation would get hairy given it's also proximate to two high schools and a fitness facility.
The current location, while familiar for Edmonton sports fans, also just isn't conducive to the paying audience. Then again, Commonwealth has been around for a long time and people find a way.
My point is more that an existing club with football management experience should be involved. The logistics I am not to sure about. Perhaps they operate in partnership with/under the purview of an investor.
I personally would move them to Foote Field for starters, if that was possible.
Either way, it would be foolish for some fly-by-night ownership group to come in and try and make a quick buck. The FCE brand is damaged and needs rehabilitating, and you do that through community integration.
Scottish being the football operations with a big money investor could be a good fit. Foote Field, not so much.
Part of FC Edmonton's problems stem from marketing the club heavily when first launched, only to play at Foote Field. Stands 30 yards from the pitch, bright yellow end zones, football lines. Take a look at these highlights below, no wonder people didn't take to the product. Clarke is a dump but it is far superior IMO.
Part of FC Edmonton's lack of appeal is that without significant investment into a stadium that the club would not own, or a new stadium built from scratch, the stadium will be completely subpar for professional soccer. Ideally the latter is built, but again that's a large investment in a market that hasn't accepted pro soccer.
Those are just cosmetic issues, nothing that can't be spruced up. Some investment upgrades from the U of A and in partnership with a private investor can take care of a bunch of those issues.
Muta - do you know of anything Foote Field getting any scheduled upgrades or changes?
Note also that Foote is located on the Capital Line, at South Campus. The Capital Line is the more heavily-used line (at the moment), and most traffic from the core is heading southward towards Ellerslie. The location just south of Belgravia, plus at the crux point of Fox Drive/Whitemud/114th means people can get in far easier and leave far quicker than what is currently at Clarke Field.
I think both aren't ideal, but they each have their strong points, if one can make cases for strong points.
I think any investment has to be done with established operators/clubs. Scottish, U of A, maybe NAIT . . . .
Would love if they rebuilt Clarke Field in Blatchford and take advantage of all that centrally-accessible land, and with the Metro Line being built. Would be a big change to the master plan though. One can dream.
One thing to note is that the Regional Metro Plan was approved a couple of weeks ago, with the Rapid 2 route going past Foote Field. The RMP would connect an EMA area of close to 1.5 million people.
Any future plans for an FCE location needs to have multiple fast-point access options in mind. Foote Field would seem like an ideal location.
Buying FC Edmonton is counter intuitive to the common sense of any wealthy potential owner. The club has been a disaster for a decade and there’s still no solution to the stadium problem. That’s 10x more riskier than starting a club from scratch in a new market. I was a season ticket holder when I lived there during the NASL days.
Usually rich people are wealthy because they make good business decisions (or inherit money). Buying this club in the hopes of somehow turning things around and having to come up with a stadium solution is the riskiest pro sports play I’ve ever seen. I would never do it and evidently, no one else would, either.
Last edited by Johnny199r; 09-20-2022 at 11:27 AM.
Edmonton Scottish are the equivalent to Calgary Foothills. Both those clubs are working on building this League1 Central, not looking at launching a pro club themselves. In theory FC Edmonton would have already partnered with them had they not alienated the entire Edmonton youth soccer scene.
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I think there’s a capital spend concern for soccer in Edmonton. Few of their facilities are club owned, Vic/Scottish etc. The problem lies, with the rapid growth of 7v7’s, and the need to build more fields, and convert existing boarded. Scottish uses their 7’s for youth only, and Vic, doesn’t share within the ASA structure.
Thus, I can see CoE more readily spending CapEx on actual recreational use, vs a professional club.
The other annoyance, is boarded remains the standard for indoor provincials.
I think there’s a capital spend concern for soccer in Edmonton. Few of their facilities are club owned, Vic/Scottish etc. The problem lies, with the rapid growth of 7v7’s, and the need to build more fields, and convert existing boarded. Scottish uses their 7’s for youth only, and Vic, doesn’t share within the ASA structure.
Thus, I can see CoE more readily spending CapEx on actual recreational use, vs a professional club.
The other annoyance, is boarded remains the standard for indoor provincials.
This is all but finished. There may not be boarded provs in men's anymore. Youth/AYSL etc. is 7v7.
CUSA is actually trying to get rid of boarded altogether.
Anyone close to the team know if Camargo or Bevin are coming back? We need some late season saviours to help generate some chances. Concerning there aren't more games left to get these guys back into it before playoffs.
