Home NASL & USL FC Edmonton FC Edmonton confirms Commonwealth as venue for Whitecaps’ ACC match

FC Edmonton confirms Commonwealth as venue for Whitecaps’ ACC match

By Steven Sandor
Posted on January 27, 2012
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Commonwealth Stadium

FC Edmonton has yet to announce where it will play its NASL home games, but the club confirmed Thursday evening that it will contest its Amway Canadian Championship match opener at Commonwealth Stadium.

As The 11 has been reporting since late in 2011, FC Edmonton will play the Vancouver Whitecaps in the first round of the Amway Canadian Championship. Toronto FC will face Montreal in other semifinal. The opening legs have been backed up to May 2 and 9, to ensure TFC is clear of commitments in case it goes deep into the 2012 CONCACAF Champions League.

FCE will host the Whitecaps May 2; no kickoff time has been announced. But, with two western teams contesting the match, FCE shouldn’t have to deal with an early kickoff like it did last season, when it faced Toronto FC in the first round. To satisfy the Toronto TV market, FC Edmonton’s then-named Nutrilite Canadian Championship match was held at 6 p.m.,which made it a brutal task for the front office to sell tickets. With Montreal-Toronto and Vancouver-Edmonton as the matchups, the games should dovetail nicely for a TV doubleheader.

Last year, Edmonton’s early kickoff time hurt the team’s gate at Commonwealth Stadium. PHOTO: JOHN TURNER

And, The 11 can announce that it is working with FC Edmonton to stage a supporters’ match — with proceeds going to charity — on May 2. We invite Vancouver and Edmonton supporters who wish to take part to contact The 11 through the website or to let us know via our Facebook page (LINK HERE).

Ticket information for the Edmonton leg should be available soon — possibly as early as Friday.

A match-up between Vancouver and Edmonton provides many interesting storylines: FCE features many Canadian players who are former members of the Whitecaps’ residency, such as defenders Antonio Rago and Paul Hamilton, and forward Kyle Porter. Certainly, a little revenge will be on the minds of the FCE players now that the game has been made official.

No matter what deal FCE makes for a stadium this season, Commonwealth has to be the venue for the ACC because Canadian Soccer Association rules don’t allow for matches to be contested on fields that have football lines or other sports’ markings on the field.

 

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5 Comments

  1. Branden Fonovic

    January 27, 2012 at 5:22 pm

    You still didn’t say why you forget to mention ‘Voyageurs Cup’ though. That is the trophy they are playing for, after all.

    • Steven Sandor

      January 27, 2012 at 5:29 pm

      I don’t know if “forget” is the right word. I don’t think every article that’s written about the NHL mentions that the players are playing for the Stanley Cup. I liked the fact that, while the CSA hadn’t officially announced the new name, that I was calling it the Canadian Championship. I personally don’t like referring to a competition’s name by the trophy that’s given at the end. We don’t say that the Oilers or Leafs play in “Stanley Cup,” they play in NHL. I know the FA Cup is an exception — but it is an exception, not the rule.

      Again, we don’t have anything like this in our style guides.

  2. jamie montgomery

    January 27, 2012 at 10:33 am

    The CSN site is calling it the Voyageurs Cup, which is the trophy awarded the (Amway) Canadian Championship. What’s the11.ca’s take on the naming merry-go-round?
    ACC sounds like an arena in Toronto.

    • Steven Sandor

      January 27, 2012 at 4:28 pm

      I think, at least on first mention, it’s OK to mention AÇC. After all, it was the transition of the name — Amway choosing to use its own brand instead of the Nutrilite subsidiary — that was a major factor in the delay in getting fixtures to fans, even though the teams were told late in 2011. My issue is that Amway is a compound short-form of “American Way.” So we could call it the “American Way Canadian Championship.”

      I have always liked Reuters’ take on corporate names in sport; they don’t use them. If you look at a Reuters’ report, it still refers to SkyDome, not Rogers Centre. It omits the sponsor name from golf and tennis tournaments. A lot of good reasons for this; from the blurred line between sponsorship/journalism to the simple fact that if Rogers wants to have Rogers Centre’s name in a newspaper, it should pay for the advertising and not get it for free by sliding it into a venue name or sponsoring a tournament. CP and AP don’t follow those leads, but journalists and editors do advise not to use sponsor names more than they need to be. Once is fine.

      For me, it’s a journalistic issue, not a patriotic one. So I will likely use it on first mention and then try to get away from it, following established practice in North America.

      Thanks for the question!

      • Tomas

        February 2, 2012 at 6:47 am

        Any word on the 2012 stadium yet? They seem to be waiting till the last minute to announce it and reveal the new jersey.

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