On Wednesday, the Canadian Premier League delivered some much anticipated news, announcing David Clanachan as the league’s first commissioner and that the league plans to kick off, finally, in 2019. Clanachan was named President and Chief Operating Officer of Tim Hortons Canada in 2014 and has more than 35 years of experience with a company that’s deeply entrenched in the psyche of Canadians. And that’s exactly what Clanachan hopes the CPL becomes: A grassroots-focused league that will act, at least in the beginning, similar to the way Canadian Hockey League teams connect with mid-sized cities in Canada.



“Those local teams, to a lot of people in those towns, that’s their professional team,” said Clanachan. And just as the CHL continues to be a source of talent and a place to develop Canada’s best young hockey players, Clanachan believes the CPL must contribute to the strength of Canadian soccer.



“Our mandate...