Put your money where your mouth is: Would you support a Canadian Div. 1 soccer league? By Steven Sandor Posted on March 19, 2015 17 0 860 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter The latest issue of Plastic Pitch has certainly ignited a lot of Twitter debate and comments. Our look at Canada’s role in North American leagues certainly has more than a few of our readers calling for a Canadian-only first division or conference. To get the issue: CLICK HERE for our Shopify Store CLICK HERE for Apple CLICK HERE for Google Play. Last year, we heard the rumours about the North American Soccer League, the Canadian Football League and the Canadian Soccer Association discussing the formation of a domestic league or division. But, as NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson told us in Plastic Pitch #3, “It really is too early to talk about a Canadian division, but it is not something we think is out of the question. There is enough interest in Canada for pro soccer, I think it is something that could possibly work, but I don’t know when.” Others have told me that it’s vital that a major title sponsor (think of Barclay’s and the Premiership) would need to come forward, with money that would help offset the massive travel costs. If the travel costs are mitigated, then more potential investors might come forward. But, without that big sponsor, it’s hard to get investors interested in losing the millions they’d need to lose for a decade or so as the league got off the ground. They wouldn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. We know that we’d need sponsors and investors before we can even talk about players, teams and academies. So, if we’d want a true Canadian Division 1, we’d need to prove that there is a market. If we can’t prove the market, then we’d need to accept there is no burning desire for a Canadian league outside of a few diehards. And so, in keeping with the theme of PP‘s fifth issue, we ask: Would you pledge to spend $500 for a season ticket if a local club joined a Canadian Division One league? Let’s face it. Moral support is nice, but it doesn’t pay the bills. I only want you to tick off a box on the survey below if you’ve got the means — and the will — to spend that kind of dough on a ticket. Spread the word and ask your friends and fellow fans to check this out. To measure a show of support, a sponsor or investor would need to know that there are at least 50,000-60,000 people who would be willing to spend on season tickets. Those numbers would need to be spread out nationwide, but also be prevalent in big media markets. You can’t have a number of fans concentrated in one region, but very little support in the rest of the country. A nationwide league’s support has to be, well, nation-wide. (I’m not expecting to get those kind of numbers on this survey, I’m just interested in seeing what the numbers are like among the readership). All you do is this: If you would spend $500 a ticket (yes, I know some tickets would be less, some would be more, but this is a good median figure), then go down and click off a box that corresponds to your region. If you wouldn’t support a league, just ignore the box below. Please don’t vote more than once. I have this poll policed, but technology is never 100 per cent efficient. And thanks again for reading Plastic Pitch. The pledge sheet is now closed. In seven days, it received 451 “votes” of support. More importantly (and more telling) is that the conversion rate was 20.5 per cent. That means about one in five people who went to the pledge sheet made a “commitment” for our fictional $500 season ticket. Yes! I pledge to buy a season ticket for my local club if it played in a new Canadian Division-One Soccer league. (Check off the appropriate region) Newfoundland Nova Scotia PEI New Brunswick Quebec City Montreal Ottawa Kingston Hamilton/Niagara Windsor London Toronto central Toronto west Toronto east Northern Ontario Winnipeg Saskatoon Regina Calgary Edmonton Fort McMurray/Northern Alberta Kelowna Vancouver Victoria Kitchener/Waterloo Poll Maker
