Professional soccer leagues in this country have come and gone. Many, many times.

And now another one, born and bred in Hamilton, has come but its founders don't think it'll be gone any time soon ... or any time at all.

Why does the Canadian Premier League have such confidence in achieving long-term success?

"Money " would be a good way to start the answer, but it's not just depth of ownership equity. It's the commitment of that equity to a far-horizon ideal that is broadly, in the words of CPL commissioner David Clanachan, "heritage."

The heritage lies in establishing long-term franchise and league strength, and developing not only a much stronger Canadian men's national team, but a much stronger soccer GNP in general — including all levels of playing, watching, training, coaching and organizing the game.

Clanachan said Thursday the new league will be competitive and entertaining and its calibre of play "I would like to think, could be above the USL. That's my personal opinion, though."

Forge FC is a new name, but it's the league's oldest franchise.

The CPL began with a seed of an idea from local soccer luminaries like John McGrane and picked up steam when Ticat owner Bob Young committed to owning a pro team here.

He dispatched Ticat CEO Scott Mitchell to investigate the possibilities.

And a startlingly few years later we have an eight-team loop from coast to coast.

With Halifax, Hamilton, York Region, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Victoria, the CPL already has teams in five provinces, matching the most any national league in this country has ever had in one season.

And on the cusp, among others, are a team in Saskatchewan and in at least one of three possible cities in Quebec.

The league considered launching last year, but held off to make sure they had strong ownership in place for eight teams.

"We'd like to announce two expansion clubs for 2020," Clanachan said. "If everything lined up nicely it wouldn't be outside the realm that we could announce four expansion clubs."

Young, Mitchell and Clanachan emphasized Thursday that starting a new league had the advantage of being unencumbered by locked-in practices and mindsets.

They're looking at moving away from old-school broadcast networks, for instance, and jumping directly into the rapidly changing media world that includes streaming and other non-traditional forms of sports-content consumption.

Mitchell reiterated that the average team would have from $3-4 million at risk in Year One, "and it scales up from there."

The formation of Canadian Soccer Business, a parallel company to the CPL (Mitchell is the CEO), which owns numerous marketing, sponsorship and broadcasting rights in Canadian soccer, has helped attract strong investment said Hamiltonian Derek Martin, who heads the Halifax franchise.

"It's an important part of making the entire business model work," he said. "There are commercial opportunities tied to it. The CSB team is amazing."

There will be a salary cap, and overall rosters will contain between 23 and 25 players, half of whom will be Canadians.

At least six of the 11 players on the field at any one time will have to be Canadians.

"I think some clubs will play even a greater number than that," Clanachan said.

He added the league has "at least 20 minutes of video" on 200 Canadian players playing at various pro levels around the world.

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smilton@thespec.com

905-526-3268 | @miltonatthespec

- Forge FC's name a nod to city's past and future