2019 Cavalry FC season thread

[Mango]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1181290579231215617

[Kipper is King]

From last month.

"The Eddies are scrambling to make the playoffs!"



https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/fc-edmon...erta-1.4587401

What is in the water up there?

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by shermanator

The same panel is also pencilled in for the supporters meetup the night before at the Rose and Crown. Who wants to heckle Larson and Wheeler with me?

Are you going to go prepared with some awful Wheelerisms?

"He's the rareth of talents, Gareth Wheeler!"

[TheIronMaiden]

If it didn't feel like it already the season sure is feeling long now. These next five games will really prove who is the best at playing soccer in Canada.

[TheIronMaiden]

Attendance is a hot topic when in comes to the Canadian Premier leagues inaugural season. I recently put together some of these numbers to see if there is a noticeable trend in attendance.

One thing to note off the bat - I will be updating this to include the remaining games after November. At that time, I will add the average (which I forgot to do before uploading), which is 3387.

There is no surprise that Canadian Championship games were very popular. It is notable that this way the case even before Spruce Meadows hosted a MLS side. Still, I'm sure the allure of playing to host an MLS team was a draw.

It is also no surprise that Weekday game were generally worse for attendance - with the exception of CC games. However, Week day games in the middle of summer such as Y9 and PCF in August still did just under average.

[TheIronMaiden]

If anyone is interested I also made one for weekend games only.

[TheIronMaiden]

While I am posting 4 times in a row. Its interesting to estimate ticket revenue so far. I would guess the average cost of tickets sold is around 50 bucks ( most tickets sold were the cheapest ones available, plus promos, also season ticket holder discounts). So far there has been 58409 tickets sold.

The estimated amount is $2,920,450 ( as flawed as that number probably is).

[shermanator]

I think that number is probably high given that most games have had deals on tickets. As well, the majority of the tickets sold are the cheaper tickets as opposed to the expensive ones.

Having said that, there is concessions revenue, media revenue (via OneSoccer), merchandise revenue (which seems to be lined up out the door before every game) and parking revenue. I think Cavalry does pretty well on these fronts.

I don't think the club is making money, but I don't think they are bleeding money either. Would love to have an honest discussion with Ian about where the clubs finances are.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by shermanator

I think that number is probably high given that most games have had deals on tickets. As well, the majority of the tickets sold are the cheaper tickets as opposed to the expensive ones.

Having said that, there is concessions revenue, media revenue (via OneSoccer), merchandise revenue (which seems to be lined up out the door before every game) and parking revenue. I think Cavalry does pretty well on these fronts.

I don't think the club is making money, but I don't think they are bleeding money either. Would love to have an honest discussion with Ian about where the clubs finances are.

I would imagine the club is in better shape than what they anticipated at the outset. Having the two MLS games there was a nice little shot in the arm that you couldn't have counted on. I also think that given the sole stand to buy beer for the first game, compared to the number of options now has to be a nice boost to the bottom line. Truthfully, the pricing leaves a little to be desired (for the beer), but they're not having any issues selling it on a nice day.

I would guess the tickets are averaging closer to $20/seat and that still puts them around $1.1m for gate revenue. That covers that players, then the concessions/parking and merchandise probably gets them relatively close to breakeven.

[Jimmy Stang]

Since we're talking attendance, here is how attendance looks league-wide:

Spring:


Fall:


Source: Soccerway

Cavalry isn't too bad, all things considered. Halifax is simply stunning. Edmonton, York9, and Pacific are underwhelming.

Cavalry can only go up next year once pricing has been adjusted a bit. I honestly feel that they can average 4,500 to 5,000 next year, which would better reflect the demand in this market. Having more people through the gate, even at a lower cost, will help the bottom line through concessions, merch, beer, and parking.

Is York9's stadium their permanent home? That's such a shame given the population around there. It would be easy to blame Toronto FC having a stronghold there, but if they played in a more intimate venue, it would be a lot more appealing. I seem to recall that their pricing was pretty wild as well. I have never been in person, but it looks and sounds dead. I don't really care, mind you, other than that I would like to see league-wide stability.

[Resolute 14]

The $50 estimate is high. I tried tracking sales and revenue from the CanChamp games against Vancouver and Montreal, and based on what we knew or believed to ahve sold, the average full price ticket was in the mid $40s range. For regular season games, we have something like 1500 (?) season tickets at discounted prices, plus the sales will skew heavily toward cheaper seats - easily 50% or more of weekday games will be Sections 101/102, 108/109, 200s and 400s.

If I wanted to estimate revenue, I would probably use $35 as my best guess estimate given all these factors.

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

Since we're talking attendance, here is how attendance looks league-wide:

Spring:


Fall:


Source: Soccerway

Cavalry isn't too bad, all things considered. Halifax is simply stunning. Edmonton, York9, and Pacific are underwhelming.

Cavalry can only go up next year once pricing has been adjusted a bit. I honestly feel that they can average 4,500 to 5,000 next year, which would better reflect the demand in this market. Having more people through the gate, even at a lower cost, will help the bottom line through concessions, merch, beer, and parking.

Is York9's stadium their permanent home? That's such a shame given the population around there. It would be easy to blame Toronto FC having a stronghold there, but if they played in a more intimate venue, it would be a lot more appealing. I seem to recall that their pricing was pretty wild as well. I have never been in person, but it looks and sounds dead. I don't really care, mind you, other than that I would like to see league-wide stability.

I think Cavalry can average over 4000 next year. As far as I know, most people that attend a game have been satisfied with the experience. Combine that with another year of marketing, some decreases in ticket prices (if the rumours I've heard are accurate), and a good team on the pitch I think that is an achievable figure.

Consider this, no soccer team in Calgary has averaged this many fans since the Boomers, and they folded after one year. The bar is very low, but Cavalry will be the most successful professional soccer team in this city after just the one year.

What this really highlights to me is that Edmonton is no good. This is the only club in the league that has a semblance of history behind it. They had a 9 year head start on everyone else in all aspects of the game, and their attendance has dropped significantly from their last season.

[Arsenal14]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

Is York9's stadium their permanent home? That's such a shame given the population around there. It would be easy to blame Toronto FC having a stronghold there, but if they played in a more intimate venue, it would be a lot more appealing. I seem to recall that their pricing was pretty wild as well. I have never been in person, but it looks and sounds dead. I don't really care, mind you, other than that I would like to see league-wide stability.

It isn't supposed to be their permanent home. They are currently playing at York University which isn't actually in the York Region. I believe the plan was to build a stadium in Newmarket but I haven't heard anything about that in awhile. I did find an article that seems to indicate they are looking at being at York U for another 2-3 years.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by shermanator

I think Cavalry can average over 4000 next year. As far as I know, most people that attend a game have been satisfied with the experience. Combine that with another year of marketing, some decreases in ticket prices (if the rumours I've heard are accurate), and a good team on the pitch I think that is an achievable figure.

Consider this, no soccer team in Calgary has averaged this many fans since the Boomers, and they folded after one year. The bar is very low, but Cavalry will be the most successful professional soccer team in this city after just the one year.

What this really highlights to me is that Edmonton is no good. This is the only club in the league that has a semblance of history behind it. They had a 9 year head start on everyone else in all aspects of the game, and their attendance has dropped significantly from their last season.

Is there a rumor that Spruce Meadows is planning on building a 12k seat soccer specific stadium?

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Is there a rumor that Spruce Meadows is planning on building a 12k seat soccer specific stadium?

They do have something like that in their long-term plans, yes. I think someone posted those plans a while back in this thread.

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Is there a rumor that Spruce Meadows is planning on building a 12k seat soccer specific stadium?

The plan for a new stadium is more than a rumour, it's public. Here's an article from last month about it.

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/new-12-00...plan-1.4599320

Important to note that just because this is in the plans, it doesn't mean this will happen right away. The article says this is 6-10 years out. There is not much business case for building a new 12000 seat stadium if the 6000 seat stadium is half empty most games. But, it is good to know that long term there is a plan to move into something that can bring in more money and make the club sustainable.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by shermanator

The plan for a new stadium is more than a rumour, it's public. Here's an article from last month about it.

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/new-12-00...plan-1.4599320

Important to note that just because this is in the plans, it doesn't mean this will happen right away. The article says this is 6-10 years out. There is not much business case for building a new 12000 seat stadium if the 6000 seat stadium is half empty most games. But, it is good to know that long term there is a plan to move into something that can bring in more money and make the club sustainable.

I would assume the City will also initiate very preliminary talks with ATCO about regarding the Cavalry, at some point, when the field house gets built (and it will be getting built). The field house will be an indoor facility with a soccer field and 10,000 seat seating capacity.

The chances of the Cavs moving into this facility are likely incredibly low... but the City wouldn't be doing their due diligence to at least inquire. I could see indoor games as special events here or there, however.

[cam_wmh]

Fellas

What are the high, low, and average wages for a player in the CPL? Cavalry?

If I were to best guess;
$50k to $100k ? $65k average?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Fellas

What are the high, low, and average wages for a player in the CPL? Cavalry?

If I were to best guess;
$50k to $100k ? $65k average?

I don't know what the wages are, but the league salary cap is $1m. So these guys are playing mostly for a love of the game!

[TheIronMaiden]

Assuming that the Cavalry are only spending 1M on their players (my guess is they are spending more) - if all 24 players were paid equally they would be earning 41,666 a piece. We know that isn't the case, and I am sure that the the local U21 players are earning much closer to 20,000. That said, nothing is stopping Atco from 'hiring' these players in any capacity. I highly doubt he league has a sophisticated auditing system yet, and I'd imagine that league revenue ( or lack there of) keeps the teams responsible for the most part.