Toronto FC president Bill Manning says it would be downright “foolish” for the so-called Canadian Premier League to unveil a new Toronto team.

Manning recently met with Hamilton Tiger-Cats CEO Scott Mitchell — the man heading up the newly-proposed league — to feel each other out.

“Why would you want to do that to yourself?” Manning wondered. “Why would you want to come into this market (and compete with Toronto FC)?”

Maybe it won’t. We simply don’t know. Frustratingly — maybe even concerning — there’s been little-to-no news regarding the proposed CPL since late last year. League officials hoped to launch the league ahead of 2018.

In December, Canadian Soccer Association president Victor Montagliani told the Toronto Sun that more than a dozen Canadian cities had shown interest in the CPL. He wouldn’t elaborate which ones had stepped forward.

“We’ve been working on the business model,” Montagliani told the Sun. “These things take time. They’re not going to happen overnight.”

That much is clear.

What’s unclear, though, is everything else — particularly whether CPL officials will heed Manning’s advice to put a TFC reserve squad in the league.

“If we don’t have a team in the league, we’ll still be supportive as long as you’re not competing with us,” Manning told the Toronto Sun.

“There are some people who feel having a (reserve) team makes the league appear less than they want it to be. To me, I think we could add strength.

“There are people who believe we could be good for the league. We’ve shown our cards. We’d like to be in the league. Do you want us in the league or not? We’ll see.”

A CPL official refused comment Thursday after being asked if the CPL was pursuing potential ownership groups in the Toronto area.

It’s been reported that the CPL is seeking teams in Hamilton, Regina, Calgary, Winnipeg and Victoria. Additionally, the Ottawa Fury and FC Edmonton could join the newly-formed league.

“A business model where they’re in some of these other cities like Hamilton and Calgary and Kitchener and these other places, that’s great,” Manning added. “That’s the perfect model. You get that community feel. You could build some good franchises.”

There are questions, however, as to whether an all-Canadian league can survive without a club in its biggest market.

“I told (Mitchell): ‘We’re interested in the league.’ But we’re very protective of Toronto. This is our market.

“We want to be supportive of the CPL, but we don’t want to be competitive. That’s something we don’t want to do.”

A second team in Toronto could be seen as a declaration of war against an MLS side that draws big crowds to BMO Field.

Perhaps there isn’t enough fan support to go around.

“The league is going to happen.” Manning said. “I actually truly believe that the premise of the league is to provide more opportunities for Canadian players — so I absolutely agree with the premise. How they go about that, I think, is still a bit of a mystery — honestly. Like, who are they bringing into the league?”

And what players?

It’s no secret that Canada’s player pool — at the professional level — is extremely shallow.

“They don’t want to have a team that’s taking guys from playing in League One and all of a sudden paying them, like, $100,000 a year,” Manning explained.

“The good thing is that there is an unlimited player pool world wide. The bad thing is that the Canadian player pool (isn’t deep) at the professional level.”

Manning said late last year he’d pondered moving TFC III — the club’s semi-professional reserve team — into the CPL.

But that semi-assertion was met with disdain from CPL backers who want Canada’s top flight to be more than a minor league.

“If the league starts, whether we’re in it or not, we want to be supportive,” Manning added — with one caveat.

“For a team to come into Toronto and try and compete with TFC, have fun with that.”

Instead, TFC’s top boss pitched the idea of the CPL being something of a Canadian develop league, where players can be groomed for Canada’s national team and, maybe, MLS.

“If they can help develop players that we can look at and eventually go to Hamilton and ask what it would take to get their player, that’s a good thing,” Manning said.

In the end, one thing sets Toronto apart from other parts of the country.

“You have to be major league in Toronto,” Manning finished.

TFC TO LOSE TO CPL TEAM?

Canadian Premier League sides are expected to boost excitement surrounding Canada’s annual Canadian Championship — a competition that currently has just three MLS sides and two second-division sides competing annually.

“At some point, in the next five years, we’ll lose to a CPL team,” TFC president Bill Manning said.

“We’ll lose to an NASL team. It happens all the time. It happens in England. It happens everywhere.

“One of (the Canadian MLS teams) will get upset every year.

“I actually love that competition is going to grow.”

Changes to Canada’s domestic Cup could arrive as early as this year.

“There might be an opportunity with League One teams,” Manning added. “They’re talking about opening up the competition to the semi-pro teams.”

klarson@postmedia.com