PASL-Pro schedule is up.

[gostlouis]

It appears they have a schedule up on their website and it appears that each team now has a schedule. Any chance this league will now have it's own message board?

I hope this league is successful. Well, at least I hope the St. Louis Illusion will be.

GoStLouis

[Shootmaster_44]

It appears they have a schedule up on their website and it appears that each team now has a schedule. Any chance this league will now have it's own message board?

I hope this league is successful. Well, at least I hope the St. Louis Illusion will be.

GoStLouis

This league will have its share of growing pains. It has already lost the Winnipeg Alliance, with their games being picked up by the Calgary United.

I have a passing interest in this league since my hometown Saskatoon Accelerators are sort of in the league. I have yet to figure out exactly the arrangement the CMISL has with the PASL. The Accelerators owner didn't offer any details into the arrangement when I emailed him. The only thing I could get out of him is that the CMISL will issue a press release with their schedule sometime this week.

My biggest concern with the affiliation of the CMISL with the PASL is that they are two different ends of the financial spectrum. The PASL, especially the Stockton Cougars are a fully professional team paying all its players a decent sum of money to play. On the other hand the CMISL is barely semi-pro with the players getting reimbursed for the gas and accommodations to their away games. I have yet to figure out how the Accelerators' players will be able to afford to travel to Texas for a game, when the majority of them are University students and unpaid by the CMISL.

[wellington]

My biggest concern with the affiliation of the CMISL with the PASL is that they are two different ends of the financial spectrum. The PASL, especially the Stockton Cougars are a fully professional team paying all its players a decent sum of money to play. On the other hand the CMISL is barely semi-pro with the players getting reimbursed for the gas and accommodations to their away games.
That's right. Its basically the Stockton Soccer League. The Cougars should dominate the league and will also host the finals (no surprise there). It should be a great arrangement for them, but what about the rest of the teams???

Regarding the CMISL, Saskatoon is not playing any home games and Calgary is playing in a small 200-seat arena. A team in Regina would help Saskatoon, but its going to be tough for the Canadian teams. I don't know if there are any indoor soccer/sports facilities in Saskatoon or Regina. I think for indoor to survive in Canada -- they need to build their own indoor soccer complexes with 2-3 fields -- its hard to bring in enough revenue from playing pro games alone -- but with their own facility they can bring in revenue year-round from youth and adult leagues using the facility (not just soccer, but flag football, lacrosse, etc.). Its obviously a huge investment, but IMO that's the only way indoor soccer can work long-term.

[Shootmaster_44]

That's right. Its basically the Stockton Soccer League. The Cougars should dominate the league and will also host the finals (no surprise there). It should be a great arrangement for them, but what about the rest of the teams???

Regarding the CMISL, Saskatoon is not playing any home games and Calgary is playing in a small 200-seat arena. A team in Regina would help Saskatoon, but its going to be tough for the Canadian teams. I don't know if there are any indoor soccer/sports facilities in Saskatoon or Regina. I think for indoor to survive in Canada -- they need to build their own indoor soccer complexes with 2-3 fields -- its hard to bring in enough revenue from playing pro games alone -- but with their own facility they can bring in revenue year-round from youth and adult leagues using the facility (not just soccer, but flag football, lacrosse, etc.). Its obviously a huge investment, but IMO that's the only way indoor soccer can work long-term.

Saskatoon has two home games thus far (December 20 vs. Colorado and February 22 vs. Wenatchee). So far none against CMISL teams though, but I hear there will be a couple against Calgary. As for indoor soccer facilities there are a few, but none that have any seating or capabilities for seating. Credit Union Centre is the only option for the Accelerators, unless they want to play in one of the tiny hockey rinks. The problem with those is that there is such a crunch for ice time that they are booked solid. Not only that but the CMISL would have to conduct the changeover from a rink into a soccer field by themselves in those facilities.

As for Regina I think they are in the same boat, as the Brandt Centre (home of the WHL's Pats) is their only option. Plus if Regina was admitted into the CMISL, most of the Accelerators would play on that team. It seems the large portion of the Accelerators was built from Southern Saskatchewan.

[wellington]

Saskatoon has two home games thus far (December 20 vs. Colorado and February 22 vs. Wenatchee). So far none against CMISL teams though, but I hear there will be a couple against Calgary.

Thanks for the clarification. It is sort of strange though that Saskatoon will not play any CMISL teams at home, but play Colorado and Wenatchee. Is that due to arena availability? It would seem to me to be more appealing for local fans to see Edmonton or Calgary as opposed to Wenatchee.

I heard that the Canadian Soccer League is looking to expand westward -- Regina and/or Saskatoon? Which one is a stronger market for soccer? Based on your comments on the Saskatoon CMISL team, most of the players are from the southern part of the province. Is that more of a soccer hotbed?

[Shootmaster_44]

Thanks for the clarification. It is sort of strange though that Saskatoon will not play any CMISL teams at home, but play Colorado and Wenatchee. Is that due to arena availability? It would seem to me to be more appealing for local fans to see Edmonton or Calgary as opposed to Wenatchee.

I heard that the Canadian Soccer League is looking to expand westward -- Regina and/or Saskatoon? Which one is a stronger market for soccer? Based on your comments on the Saskatoon CMISL team, most of the players are from the southern part of the province. Is that more of a soccer hotbed?

Its partly due to arena availability. Credit Union Centre is I believe the in the 100 busiest arenas in North America. The WHL's Saskatoon Blades get top priority for dates, then major concerts and whatever is left is available for the Accelerators. While indoor soccer is a winter sport, in Canada it almost makes more sense to try and make it a summer sport. Most arenas have large chunks of July and August where they sit empty. I believe last summer CUC hosted maybe 5 or 6 major concerts all July and August, giving ample time for a team like the Accelerators.

On DrillersFans.com they somehow got a hold of the entire CMISL schedule and Saskatoon now has a doubleheader date with Calgary. Wenatchee won't bring out the fans in droves simply because nobody knows where it is. I had never heard of the city (or is it even a city?) until the CMISL and PASL-Pro got into bed together. On the otherhand, Saskatoon likes to think of itself as a major league city, so if Wenatchee was called Seattle instead it would draw. Colorado is a good choice for another opponent as people will be pumped to see us play big time Colorado. Back in the days of the old WBL, the Storm's best attended games were against Las Vegas and Illinois. Why? Fans thought it looked cool to see Saskatoon playing against the big boys. Calgary and Edmonton to hold that kind of allure since both of their WHL teams play here a couple times a year, their Universities are here almost every weekend in some sort of sport.

As far as the CSL expanding Westward, I think that is slightly overblown. Weirdly, from what I understand the CSL and Canadian Soccer Association do not get along. As such, the CSL has trouble with insurance from the provincial bodies for their teams. Basically, what the CSL wants in Western Canada is some deep pocketed owners to come in who will basically prop up the Eastern teams. Unfortunately, since Saskatchewan and Manitoba are very much so ethnically Canadian, soccer has no major foothold professionally. For instance other than at the U of S here in Saskatoon, you'd be hard pressed to see more than one or two people wandering around in public wearing any European soccer jerseys. I think I'm the only one that I've ever seen wearing Toronto FC merchandise. So the fanbase really isn't there for the CSL. However, if they were looking for the soccer "hotbed" in Saskatchewan it would appear to be Southern Saskatchewan. The majority of the Accelerators come from the area, though partly because the coach is from Regina.

The problem with putting a team in Regina would be finding a stadium to play in. Yes there is Mosaic Stadium, but with the Riders practicing there daily and the Rams and Thunder playing there from August on, the dates just aren't there for games. Plus playing in a 30,000 seat stadium when only 5,000 show up looks bad and provides a bad atmosphere. A better idea would be to put the team in Saskatoon and have them play at Griffiths Stadium. Largely, the stadium sits empty until mid-August when the Huskies football and soccer teams begin training camp. But the problem with using Griffiths is that the U of S isn't overly accommodating to groups from outside the University community. The best option would be Gordie Howe Bowl. The problem there is that the City is planning to start major renos next spring/summer which would knock the stadium out of contention for the majority of the CSL season.

However, the biggest thing would be a fanbase. I am not sure that they would have more than a handful of fans at each game. Since many, many people take off to the lake on the weekend in the summer, the games would be better played during the week. However, the CSL prefers only weekend games. Add to this the fact that soccer does not seem to be a popular spectator sport (the U of S Huskies men's team draws in the low 100s to most of their games even with free admission for students.) and I think the CSL is making a mistake on the Prairies.

What might be a better idea first is to get a national TV deal. Broadcast the games and make them exciting, take some of the glitz from the indoor game and add it to the outdoor game. Make some of these guys stars and the fans will take to it. This is exactly how the NLL grew its game in Canada. I now routinely travel 3 hours by plane simply to take in a Rock game and I know of many people who drive the 6 hours to Calgary for Roughnecks games.

[wellington]

Thanks for the detailed analysis of the soccer scene in Saskatchewan.

[wellington]

Based on your comments it looks like it will be tough for soccer (indoor or outdoor) to get a foothold in Saskatchewan. Like you said Saskatchewan demographically is not as diverse as say Ontario or British Columbia. I think for an outdoor to survive they need to partner up with a local baseball team. Here is what I would do... (I don't know if you saw my other post) build a 3,000-4,000 seat baseball ballpark in downtown Saskatoon by the river. Bring in a GBL team and also use the facility for an outdoor soccer team during off weekends. The stadium could also be used for concerts, etc. -- maybe even an outdoor game for the Blades. That's the only way I can envision soccer working in Saskatoon. People are not going to show up just for the soccer -- they want a certain atmosphere/amenities. Plus the stadium itself will be a major focal point in downtown Saskatoon. Its obviously ahuge investment, but it would be incredible for the province.

Regarding NLL, that is an awesome sport. It has a lot of potential since it is a fast-action, hard-hitting sport. It seems to me that NLL should start a minor league circuit (NLL2) with teams in places like Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, etc. I think people would be more intersted in minor league lacorsse than indoor soccer anyway.

[Shootmaster_44]

Based on your comments it looks like it will be tough for soccer (indoor or outdoor) to get a foothold in Saskatchewan. Like you said Saskatchewan demographically is not as diverse as say Ontario or British Columbia. I think for an outdoor to survive they need to partner up with a local baseball team. Here is what I would do... (I don't know if you saw my other post) build a 3,000-4,000 seat baseball ballpark in downtown Saskatoon by the river. Bring in a GBL team and also use the facility for an outdoor soccer team during off weekends. The stadium could also be used for concerts, etc. -- maybe even an outdoor game for the Blades. That's the only way I can envision soccer working in Saskatoon. People are not going to show up just for the soccer -- they want a certain atmosphere/amenities. Plus the stadium itself will be a major focal point in downtown Saskatoon. Its obviously ahuge investment, but it would be incredible for the province.

Regarding NLL, that is an awesome sport. It has a lot of potential since it is a fast-action, hard-hitting sport. It seems to me that NLL should start a minor league circuit (NLL2) with teams in places like Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, etc. I think people would be more intersted in minor league lacorsse than indoor soccer anyway.

I agree that a new stadium needs to be built for a baseball team. The problem with your proposed location is that there is nowhere to put it. The ideal place would have been River Landing at the foot of the traffic bridge. However, the city has already decided upon a hotel/spa idea and possibly a CN Tower like structure to go along with the promenade and stage theatre that exists currently. Pushing the stadium any farther south along the river would force it into an area that while not a big city style ghetto, is the rougher area of town. By putting the stadium there you will likely scare off some of the families that would frequent a ball game/soccer match.

A better location for the stadium, while not downtown nor along the river would be in the city's Northeast area. There are vast tracts of land there currently under residential development. There is a proposed neighborhood that would break ground in 2015 called Rosewood in that general area that could see the plan altered if someone wanted to build a new stadium. Unfortunately, for a new stadium to be built, it would have to be done with private money. The City of Saskatoon today announced its operating budget for the 2009 fiscal year and said it would likely have to run around a $2,500,000 deficit. Thus meaning that the City has no extra cash to throw toward a non-essential capital project like a new ballpark.

The other question I have about using a baseball stadium for a soccer pitch is the size required for a soccer pitch. From my cursory knowledge of outdoor soccer (of which I don't follow too much), a soccer pitch is roughly the same size as a Canadian football field (110 yards X 65 yards). By putting this into a baseball stadium aren't you running into either large foul territories or deep outfields? Neither of which a baseball team would want (unless you plan to build a team around ace pitchers and no power hitters).

As for the concert idea, wouldn't 3,500 be too small to attract any of the outdoor tours that exist? I realize you'd have closer to 5,000 once you allow for fans on the field near the stage. But for the major outdoor tours, don't you need a capacity of at least 30,000?

As for the NLL, it has talked for many years about a minor league, however they laid off that talk when they decided to go with a fall outdoor league. In Canada we don't see the MLL on TV, so I am not sure what an outdoor pro game is like, but if its decent enough product perhaps NLL-O would be an idea for Saskatoon.

The thing with an outdoor soccer team is that a new stadium wouldn't necessarily need to be built. With the right marketing in place, I don't see why they couldn't use Griffiths Stadium here in Saskatoon. I know 5 or 6 years ago the Calgary USL team held a game here that was attended decently (around 2,500) and they played at Griffiths Stadium. Granted, this was done before the major renovations that took place for the 2006 Vanier Cup. So I'm not sure if outdoor soccer clubs would want to play on FieldTurf or not, but the option is there if a CSL team wanted to use it.

But I'm still not sure you could easily make a go of outdoor sports in this city. Football seems to bring out the fans unless it rains or is a driving blizzard, but I'm not sure that any other outdoor sport would bring out the fans. Baseball is likely the next best choice for outdoor since it is a sport that many people follow and thus might be willing to head to the ballpark for. Soccer and outdoor lacrosse just don't seem to have the following in this province that might be required to sustain a pro team. Granted, nobody has tried a pro soccer or lacrosse team in Saskatoon, so who knows? I think my desire for a professional sports franchise in Saskatoon (as I don't really count the Accelerators as one) lies in an indoor team that plays during the spring/summer. Basically, this would mean either an indoor/arena football team or an IBL basketball team unless a new regional league pops up.