News about the upcoming Canadian Premier League continues to be revealed slowly, but now at least it is steady as well. Last week, the league unveiled its official branding as well as a revamped website.

Tonight, however, even bigger news was potentially revealed: the clubs that will play in the league’s inaugural 2019 season. Joey Alfieri of TSN 690 is reporting that the league is set to announce York, Halifax, Ottawa, Hamilton, BC, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Calgary as its original eight.

Alfieri followed that up by saying that announcement could come as early as this weekend. The league has been promising big updates for a while now, but a lot of those were delayed, potentially due to news surrounding the 2026 World Cup bid.

Sources have informed me that the CPL is going to announce that Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, BC, Hamilton, Halifax, Ottawa and York will be the first 8 teams to join the league — Joey Alfieri (@joeyalfieri) May 3, 2018

There are no big surprises amongst that group. Hamilton and Winnipeg had already been confirmed, while York 9 and Halifax were all but guaranteed to have teams. The best news, perhaps, is that established soccer markets like Edmonton and Ottawa are joining the league.

Those two cities have both had teams play as high up as the NASL, and assuming both the FC Edmonton and Ottawa Fury organizations are involved plenty of experience in running professional clubs at a high level. In a league that is essentially starting from scratch, that is important.

Also positive is the instant rivalries that this list of teams creates. Specifically out in Alberta, where the first ever “Al Classico” was played between FC Edmonton’s Academy and the Calgary Foothills U-23 team on Sunday. More than 3,200 people came out, which is a great sign.

The exact location of the BC team was not reported by Alfieri. Both Surrey and Victoria, however, have come up as potential locations in Canadian soccer circles so it is reasonably safe to assume it is one of those two.

This is a good mix of teams from coast to coast in some of Canada’s biggest urban centres. If these do end up being the original eight franchises, it is a solid foundation on which the league can build.