The Case for the Canadian Premier League

Introduction

This is the Northern 90 Podcast with Pat Sweet, Episode 4.

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 why we should have a professional soccer league in Canada, what makes it a good idea in the first place, and what benefits Canadians can expect from having this league.

News

This week’s headlines:

• Canadian International Marcel de Jong and the Vancouver Whitecaps agreed to part ways, and there have been unconfirmed reports that he will be joining Pacific FC.
• An interesting piece came out on CanPL.ca about which players each of the coaches throughout the league they were keeping an eye on. Son Yongchan of FC Edmonton and Kyle Bekker of Forge FC took home 5 of the 7 responses between them.
• HFX Wanderers FC signs a local high-school student, Scott Firth, who I saw play last summer at an exhibition game that the club organized.
• Some clarifications came out on a league rule that I shared with you in the last episode. Last show I shared that each team needed to have three U21 players on their roster and that they each needed to get at least 1,000 minutes of playing time during the year. Turns out that was a lie. The actual rule, as clarified by John Molinaro on Twitter, is that 1,000 minutes can be spread out amongst the minimum of three players, or used up by as little as a single player.
• There was a great piece that came out on the BBC a couple days ago that gives a great overview of the league. The most interesting bit from that was that Commissioner Clanachan is currently in talks with 18 other “clubs, regions, and towns” about establishing new CPL teams.

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 a private members’ Facebook group to discuss games and the league. If you’re interested, just go to Northern90.ca/join.

9 reasons Canada should have a pro league

Before I launch into this, I think we have to start with an understanding of the fact that sport is important in the first place.

1. MLS has no plans to expand in Canada and is viewed as an American League
   • From what anyone knows, MLS is looking to expand aggressively, just not in Canada.
   • The major markets are tapped out.
   • Expansion fees are set at $150M USD. Highly unlikely that an ownership group in Canada would shell that out and open a team in a smaller market, even if it was something MLS wanted.
2. MLS teams have shown that it can be done and done well
   • It’s been a tough slog at times, but three MLS teams have shown that they can make it work in this country.
   • The leagues will be very different, but MLS teams have shown there’s a market for soccer in Canada.
3. MLS roster rules are not kind to Canadians
4. Canada’s immigrant population gets soccer
5. Soccer is the most popular team sport in Canada
6. World Cup is coming to Canada in 2026
7. World Cup Teams have pro leagues. In Russia, the only teams that didn’t have players from their own domestic leagues were Sweden and Senegal. Still, both those teams have domestic leagues.
8. Increased economic activity – teams, vendors, sports equipment suppliers, advertisers… there’s a lot that will come as a result of having the league. Money changing hands, means jobs  is good for Canada.
9. A domestic pro league will inspire young Canadians to pick up the sport – seeing Scott Firth get a pro contract will encourage more kids to play, and that’s going to get kids more active, which is great.

Mailbag

Holy Cow, Canada. I asked, and you delivered. I got a ton of mail in the last week. Let me share some of my favourites.

• The suggestion that the N90 SG use Slack for private chats
• Away fans
• Possible teams in Quebec.

Send me your questions, comments, or reactions to:

• Twitter: @NorthernNinety
• Facebook: facebook.com/northernninety

If you send me good stuff, I’ll discuss it on the show!

Outroduction

That’s all the time we have for this episode! Thank you so much for listening.

And please, if you’re excited about the Canadian Premier League, be sure to subscribe to this podcast to make sure you stay in the loop. Also, please leave a review. It helps me make the podcast better and helps others find the show, so that’s super important.

If you’d like to read what you’ve just heard, go to northern90.ca/episode4 to find the show notes.

In the meantime, have an excellent week. I hope to chat with you again soon!