I’m sitting in the bowels of the Commonwealth Stadium complex, waiting for the kickoff of the Grey Cup. And, the big national championship day for the other football has me thinking about what a Canadian Premier League title will look like come the fall of 2019. And, judging by the discussions I’ve seen on social media, I’m not the only …

I’ve used a lot of that resilient and resourceful thinking since I came to the club almost two years ago. I’ve been very fortunate, our owners, Tom and Dave Fath, have allowed me to bring in new ideas and approaches. However, If someone had told me that within my first two years I would take over a struggling front office, work spend two seasons trying to get it the so hard to take it to the next level, then shut it it down and, just a few months later, be faced with possibility of  try to launching it all over again, I would never have believed them.

Beirne can say all he needs to say about not wanting CanPL to be compared to MLS. But he knows, deep down, that this will always be the first place fans will go to. There are three Canadian teams in MLS. MLS games are on Canadian national TV. And, of course, American fans will look at neighbouring Canada as it begins to unravel itself from the U.S. soccer system. They will ask: “If Canada can have single-table, why can’t we?” And we know the fervent anti-MLS factions that exists in the U.S. will use Canada as an example as they continue to fuel their self-destructive Soccer Warz.

Of course, as Beirne will be shaking hands, meeting and greeting, over the next two days, a lot of topics will be covered. We talked about a few Wednesday night.

Easton shared some thoughts on how he sees the league, and what the long-term goals are when it comes to developing Canadian players.

As CanPL moves toward its 2019 launch as this country’s division one, despite the presence of three Canadian sides in MLS, it will be interesting to see what the league takes away from MLS — and what it stays away from.

The truth is, 2018 will be a low point for men’s soccer in Canada. Boy, is it going to suck. It will be ultimate in lame-duck years. Canadian jobs will dwindle. We’ll have fewer teams to support. And even in TFC beats Seattle 10-0 on Saturday, that’s not going to change a thing.

“I was very disappointed in the initial decision to not sanction NASL as a Division-2 league, because it should be,” Fath said Saturday. “And now I am very disappointed that the injunction didn’t go through. Now, the league will look at options, we’ll be looking at the next steps.”

FC Edmonton's front office stated Tuesday that it will not have anything official to add to the NASL's statement. 

He said there has been “tons of interest.” Word of the Canadian Premier League is not only spreading in this country, but in other parts of the world. That’s fairly impressive for a league that, as Beirne admitted in Saskatchewan,  “hasn’t been announced yet”