Posted by

Mat Rooney

March 7, 2016 Email

Mat Rooney



Twitter

@Canucks_Abroad

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The Canadian soccer world has been a buzz for the last two years about one thing: an all Canadian pro soccer league. And on February 4th John McGrane, a former Canadian international player and representative of Hamilton Ti-Cats owner Bob Young, walked into Hamilton's city hall and had a meeting with the city council where he went on the record saying that there is going to be a Canadian Premier League. According to McGrane, the league is going to have 6 to 8 teams with a mix of CFL and NHL ownership. While we couldn't ask for a better ownership situation in Canada, there are a great number of things that the league is going to need to make the impact that it's hoping to create in the Canadian market. The following is a list of things I feel are needed to help the league survive.



Note: Developmental programs, like academies and drafts, will not be included on this list nor will a TV deal or the 2026 World Cup as they've already been written about and discussed in great detail.



A SPOT IN THE CHAMPIONS' LEAGUE

The CPL will be playing in the shadows of the MLS for a lot of fans, one of the best ways to make up for this is for the league's champion to earn a slot in the CONCACAF Champions' League. With that slot, the CPL earns top tier status and arguably as much weight as the MLS in Canada when it comes to the CCL. It also assures that there will always be a CPL team in the CCL, even if it's in a play-off against the 3rd place team from CFU Club Championship, and it creates the possibility of no Canadian MLS team qualifying.



While it might be hard to see a new league getting such treatment, remember that 5 of the 10 most attended CCL games in history were played in Canada and in soccer, money talks.



A CANADA HOSTED GOLD CUP

Hosting a major sporting event brings a lot of attention to the sport(s) involved. One of the big reasons the CPL was able to gain traction was because Canada is just coming off the biggest year in Canadian soccer history thanks to the Women's World Cup. Aside from the 2026 World Cup, the next event Canada could host to get that sort of light on the sport of soccer is the Gold Cup. Should the CPL launch in 2018, then hosting the 2019 Gold Cup would be a massive opportunity to showcase international men's soccer at a high level to Canada. It would also provide the CPL a possible chance to show Canada and the world how strong the league is, should a good number of CPL players be called upon to play in the Gold Cup. It would also provide a better dress rehearsal for the World Cup than the 2025 Confederations Cup, due to its scale and timing prior to 2026, should we get the World Cup.



7-9 FOREIGN PLAYERS ON EACH TEAM

A lot of the focus on the league has been dedicated to developing Canadian talent and allowing Canadians the chance to play. While these should be the ultimate goals for the league, the importance of foreign talent to this league should not be forgotten. For the first several seasons, the Canadian talent pool available to the CPL will likely not be large enough to provide strong and entertaining soccer. Not enough of the 80-100 Canadians being scouted by Floro would be willing to return to Canada to play in the CPL for the first season, pay-cuts and pride will see to that. There is, however, a great deal of Central American and Caribbean talent that would be willing to play here. The signing of strong Central American and Caribbean players would not only improve the on-pitch product but would also increase the likelihood of CPL players being called upon for international duty and, therefore, improve the CPL's reputation.



It should be noted having 7-9 foreign players on each team would not cease the development of Canadian talent. Even if 9 non-Canadians started for every team for a one week, we would still see 16 Canadians earning starter minutes and a great number of young Canadians gaining crucial experience in substitute roles.



As time goes on and Canadian players improve, the league's dependence on foreign talent will decrease, but for the first few years they will be very much needed.



DESIGNATED PLAYERS

In a recent edition of the Footy Soldiers podcast, the question of who would pay to see unknown players was asked and it is a legitimate question that needs to be asked. People are not really that interested in the unknown when it comes to sports. Should the league use a salary cap, a good way to combat this is to follow the MLS' Designated Player concept and have each team sign a high-profile player for a sum of money that would not count against the team's cap. Should the league have no cap, like the NASL, then a player of such caliber should be a must for every team. The player could then be used to draw attention to the team locally with casual fans and give the league credibility on the world stage. Star signings have proved to be a draw for the MLS, the Russian Premier League, the A-League and both the Chinese and Indian Super Leagues, and it would be no different for the CPL.



FRIENDLIES

A great number of fans will disagree with this one but friendlies have proved to be a real money maker for the MLS and the CPL should follow suit. While it's highly unlikely that the CPL would be able to score clubs like Manchester City, smaller Premier League clubs have proved to draw (eg. Crystal Palace drew about 7800 people when they played against the Richmond Kickers who usually draw around 2500). The ideal set up would be for 4 clubs from Europe's elite leagues to have a 2 city Canadian tour each in mid-July during the CPL's two-week break. Each Euro club would get an eastern and western market to play in.



Friendlies would provide a nice sum of money to each CPL club and expose the clubs to the much needed casual fans in their markets. It would also be a good bit of fun for CPL players to share the pitch with Premier League or Serie A talent.



BONUS: NO TEAM CALLED “MONTREAL MANIC”

I know the name comes from a dam but it's still a terrible name. It makes you think of mood swings. It's possibly the 2nd worst name any pro sports team in the history of North American pro sports. It's worse than the New York Red Bulls (ad), Buffalo Bills (punny), Toronto Raptors (dated) and Utah Jazz (makes no sense). It's only outdone by the Washington Redskins (racist) and, if we go into sports-entertainment, TNA Wrestling (never had a chance to be taken seriously because of that name).