Introduction

This is the Northern 90 Podcast with Pat Sweet, Episode 5.

Welcome to the Northern 90 Canadian Premier League Podcast, covering the beautiful game in the great white north. For more Canadian Premier League content, head over to Northern90.ca. That’s Northern Nine Zero dot ca.

Welcome

Hello Canada, and welcome to another episode of the Northern 90 Podcast. I’m your host, Pat Sweet.

Today, we’re going to talk about promotion and relegation, what they are, the pros and cons of that system, and how it might look when it comes into play here in the Canadian Premier League

Before we get to that; however, let’s take a minute to go through the week’s CPL news:

News

This week’s headlines:

  • One team will get a berth into the CONCACAF League. The CanPL team going will be determined via the best home and away record between Valour FC York 9 FC (edit to switch York 9 for Valour on Feb 17, 2019), Forge FC, and FC Edmonton. Next year, it will be the Canadian Premier League champion that gets invited to the CONCACAF League. Six clubs from this competition will qualify for CONCACAF Champions League, meaning that it’s possible we’d have two Canadian teams in Champions league.
  • The draws and schedule have been set for the Canadian Championship. Round 1 will take place May 15th and 22nd in a home and away format. The first three matchups will see Halifax Wanderers face off against L1O champs Vaughn Azzurri, Cavalry FC will challenge Pacific FC, and York 9 FC will take on AS Blainville of PLSQ. The winners of those series will then face Valour FC, Forge FC, and FC Edmonton respectively.
  • News came out that the league had signed an agreement with Ticketmaster to provide mobile tickets, so that’s cool. I also understand that Ticketmaster will make it easy for season ticket holders to sell tickets they won’t use… which won’t happen often, I’m sure.
  • Finally, Pacific FC signed Canadian International Ben Fisk, which was great to see.

If you’d like to hear more league news, you might consider joining the Northern 90 Supporters’ Group – a free online supporters’ group I’ve launched. Members get a weekly newsletter with links to the best CPL content every week. Beyond that, there will be contests, giveaways, fantasy leagues, and private members’ Facebook group to discuss games and the league. If you’re interested, just go to Northern90.ca/join.

Up next, everything you ever wanted to know about promotion and relegation but were too afraid to ask.

 

Promotion and Relegation

Today, I’m going to answer three questions:

  • What are promotion and relegation?
  • What are the pros and cons of the system?
  • How might it look in the Canadian Premier League?

What are promotion and relegation?

  • A system that allows for teams to climb and fall through the soccer pyramid
  • Very common throughout the world of soccer – there’s a Wikipedia page that lists leagues without promotion and relegation – there are only five top division leagues in the world without it.
  • The bottom teams from one division climb into the next higher one, and vice versa.
  • Established a meritocracy
  • It means that the various divisions stay balanced in terms of quality
  • Another system of promotion and relegation is what they use in the Argentine first division. There, your average points per game over the last several seasons are used to determine your ranking, and whether you get promoted or relegated.
  • David Clanachan is on the record saying that the Canadian Premier League will adopt promotion and relegation… eventually. His hope is that the league doubles in size over the next five years, and then we can introduce promotion and relegation.

What are the pros and cons of the system?

Pros

  • Every game is meaningful – you’re either fighting to win at the top of the table or fighting to stay alive at the bottom.
  • In contrast, games played between bottom feeder teams in other sports don’t matter – and losing can even help by giving you a better position in the next year’s draft, for example.
  • This leads to better narratives – there’s more excitement no matter where you are.
  • Furthermore, what this means is that ambitious clubs have the incentive to invest. When you do that, there’s a chance of climbing the ranks, getting more butts in seats, selling more jerseys and beer and all the rest.
  • When you invest, you improve player development. Better coaching, facilities, equipment…
  • In the case of the Canadian Premier League, I think it’ll add to the intrigue of the league. It’ll be different from everything else in the sports market here.
  • And while it’s different, it’ll be a traditional system. Promotion and relegation are the way the game is supposed to be set up. Canadians who already love soccer will see this as authenticating.

Cons

  • There’s a risk that the best of the lower division teams aren’t good enough for the next division. A playoff between the top of division 2 and bottom of division 1 could solve this.
  • Poor quality management from lower div clubs. This might lead to teams in the top division not being able to cut it, and reducing the quality of play.
  • Risk that some clubs’ venues would be incapable of hosting enough people for a division 1 team. Stadium size/ quality could be a requirement of promotion.
  • Is it fair for long term investors? (Caveat emptor? Club owners know that Pro/ Rel is part of the plan already)

There’s an excellent Delloite report on promotion and relegation in MLS. It was commissioned by Riccardo Silva, who helped establish The Miami FC of NASL. I bet you can guess why he did that. You can check out the summary at the link below:

http://midfieldpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Deloitte-Sports-Business-Group-Silva-Summary-Document-091116-1.pdf

How it might work

Given the pros and cons, I think most people would agree that promotion and relegation in Canada is a good idea. The trick is getting it started. In England, there are eleven divisions, and promotion and relegation between the top 8. We’re still working on establishing a top division.

  • Step 1 – Get the league up and running
  • Step 2 – Expand to 20 teams over the next 10 years. Split them into Div 1 and Div 2. Both leagues are spread throughout Canada
    • Div 1 – CanPL – 10 Teams, Rel 2, Promote 2
    • Div 2 – Canadian Soccer Championship – 10 Teams, Promote 2, Rel 3
  • Meanwhile, grow a Division 3 using teams that already exist as a springboard. I imagine this division being regional to save travel costs for teams. I borrow from the CHL, because that seems to work.
    • Quebec and Atlantic – PLSQ plus new atlantic teams
    • Ontario – L1 Ontario plus USL League 2 teams, and maybe others
    • Western – USL League 2 teams plus others
    • Each Div 3 league Promotes 1, Receives 1.
  • To keep continuity between the leagues, I imagine a playoff between the winning lower league teams and the losing upper league teams to ensure things don’t get silly.
  • Also, I imagine there being specific requirements in place with respect to team operations, finances, and stadiums to make sure a team is eligible to be promoted.

What do you think? I’d love to hear. Hit me up on Twitter @NorthernNinety.

Next up, the mailbag.

Mailbag

I got a couple of interesting messages over the last week, which I’d like to share.

  • First off, a shout-out to MichaelTheElder on Reddit, who has provided me with a lot of great feedback and encouragement already, which has been huge for me. He also sent me another reason why the CPL stands out. He said:

Also, relating to the main theme of the last podcast, I’ll add one other aspect of the CPL that stands out is that there seems to be a real sense of comraderie amongst clubs and especially supporters groups that one just doesn’t see near as much in other sports.

  • @CopelandBrandon on Twitter shared an interesting article about the benefits of the Canadian Premier League and how it’ll help Canadians look at other Canadian cities in a new way. For example, this will be Halifax’s and Victoria’s first top-division sports teams, and it’ll give both cities some love that they would not have had before.
  • Finally, I’ll send @dimeetree on Twitter some love for suggesting this episode. Thanks!

If you have something to say, and I know you do, write to me @NorthernNinety on Twitter, or leave a comment at the bottom of the show notes at Northern90.ca/episode5.

You could also try joining the Northern 90 Supporters’ group, where we have a private Facebook group to talk about the league. It’s totally free, and it’s easy to sign up. Just head over to northern90.ca/join.

Outroduction

Sadly, that’s all the time we have for this week. Thanks again, and have an excellent week.

 

Credits

 

Featured Image

Flickr: Prakash

Intro music

Move Like This by spinningmerkaba (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: Texas Radio Fish, Alex Beroza, and Snowflake

Main Content Intro Music

260809 Funky Nurykabe by spinningmerkaba (c) copyright 2010 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.

Mailbag Music

I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque

Outro music

Urbana-Metronica (wooh-yeah mix) by spinningmerkaba (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: Morusque, Jeris, CSoul, Alex Beroza