

Canadian Premier League (aka Can PL): 2019 location map (first season/7 teams)

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By Bill Turianski on 15 June 2019; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.

Links…

-Can PL official site (canpl.ca).

-Canadian Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).

-Fixtures, results, tables, etc…soccerway.com/national/canada/canadian-premier-league/2019/regular-season.

The map…The map shows the locations and home jersey-badges of the 7 Can PL teams, as well as the 4 other pro Canadian soccer teams (3 teams from MLS, and one team from the USL-Championship). At the top of the map page, photos from each of the 7 Can PL teams’ venues are shown.

Canadian Premier League (aka Can PL): a member of CONCACAF; est. 2019.

The Canadian Premier League (aka Can PL) is being referred to as a startup league. And it is starting small, with just 7 modestly-budgeted teams, to avoid a quick and costly crash-and-burn. There are plans for expansion for the second season (in 2020; see possible expansion plans further below). There will be no expensive signings of over-the-hill marquee players (like in MLS), and for the most part, the venues are small and sensible. True, there are two large, plus-20-K-capacity Canadian Football League venues (for the Hamilton and Winnipeg teams), but otherwise, the Can PL stadiums are all under 7-K-capacity…for now. The plan is for the venues to increase their capacities, as the teams’ fan bases enlarge.

The league has been created to give Canadian soccer fans a league of their own, and to give Canadian soccer players more opportunities, and to give the Canadian national team more competitive players. It is that simple. Seven roster spots per team are allocated to non-Canadian players. There are two 14-game mini-tournaments (Spring and Autumn), with the winner of each tournament facing off in the Final, in late October.

The 7 charter members of the Can PL are…(going from western-most to eastern-most teams):

Pacific FC (Victoria, BC),

Cavalry FC (Calgary, AB),

FC Edmonton (Edmonton, AB),

Valour FC (Winnipeg, MB),

Forge FC (Hamilton, ON),

York 9 FC (northern Toronto [York region], ON),

HFX Wanderers (Halifax, NS).

Canadian Premier League expansion for 2020 and beyond might include teams from the following regions…

-New Brunswick (probably Moncton)

-Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, or maybe Regina)

-Quebec (Quebec City, or maybe Sherbrooke in southern Quebec)

-Mississauga, ON (a suburb southwest of Toronto)

-Ottawa, ON, in the form of the pro team the Ottawa Fury FC (est. 2014, and currently playing in the USL-Championship [USA-2nd "level"].

There are some signs that of solid fan interest. The HFX Wanderers of Halifax, Nova Scotia, are playing to 95-percent-capacity, averaging 5,944 per game (after 3 home games). HFX played to a sold-out crowd of 6,200 in their first home match, then drew 5,387 in their second home match (which was on a weeknight), then had a standing-room-only crowd of 6,244 in their third home game.

-Meanwhile, the first-ever Can PL game [Forge FC 1-1 York FC, on April 27 2019], at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, ON had an attendance of 17.6 K. Since then, Forge FC have averaged a very decent 6.2 K in their next 4 home games (5.8 K v Pacific FC [Wed. May 8], 5.9 K v Cavalry FC [Sun. May 12], 6.0 K v FC Edmonton [Wed. May 29], 7.1 K v Valour FC [Sat. June 15]).

-Valour FC of Winnipeg had 9.6 K in their home opener, but drew just 4.7 K in their 3rd home game (albeit on a weeknight)

But there are also a few worrying signs….

-York 9 FC played to full capacity in their home opener, but then drew 30% less in their second home game. York 9 FC play at York University in the York region of northern Toronto, at a small 4.2-K-capacity stadium that features a fan-unfriendly running track. For their second home game on the 15th of June, York 9 FC only drew 2.9 K. York 9 are one of two Can PL teams that must compete for fans with a local Major Soccer League team (the other being Pacfic FC, of Vancouver Island). And York 9 FC’s ticket prices are pretty high, and are not really a good value compared to Toronto FC ticket prices: they start at $49 (Canadian). {See this from reddit.com…York 9 ticket prices now start at $49 (minus supporters section) after the bleacher side closure. That’s simply too high for non supporters section seating. Seriously concerning}.

-Besides HFX Wanderers and York 9 FC, the only other team that is drawing above 70-percent-capacity is FC Edmonton, who are averaging 3.7 K in their 5.1-K-capacity venue. (FC Edmonton has been existence since 2011, and had played 8 seasons in NASL (II), and were on hiatus last year [2018], after NASL (II) went bust.)

-Calgary’s Cavalry FC had traffic problems in their opener that resulted in hundreds of fans never even making it into the stadium (see this, Cavalry soccer club scrambles to improve fans’ access to Spruce Meadows). And then Cavalry FC only had 2.0 K attendance in their second home game.

But on the field [as of 15 June], Calgary’s Cavalry FC are in 1st place, at 6-0. Hamilton’s Forge FC, who scored two late goals to beat Valour FC on June 15th, are in 2nd place.

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Photo credits on map page…

Forge FC home jersey crest, photo from macron.com/forge-fc-2019-20. West Hills Stadium (Victoria, BC), photo by Canadian Premier League at canpl.ca/article. Spruce Meadows (Calgary), photo from CPL Argentina at twitter.com/[@CPLArgentina]. Clarke Stadium (Edmonton), photo from edmonton.ca. IG Field (aka Investors Group Field) (Winnipeg), photo from smseng.com. Tim Hortons Field (Hamilton, ON), photo from modernelevator.com. York Lions Stadium (Toronto), screenshot from video at youtube.com/[CanPL Central]. Wanderers Grounds (Halifax, NS), twitter.com/[@hfxwanderersfc].

-Blank map of North America by Lokal_profil at File:BlankMap-USA-states-Canada-provinces, HI closer.svg.

-Can PL attendances from soccerway.com.