OT: Valour FC: Winnipeg's new professional soccer team

[wpgfishfan]

Wonder if in year 2 they will draw more than a Moose or Goldeyes game?

 

[nobody imp0rtant]

Bad part is even with a decent crowd it is going to feel empty at Investors......The venue is just too big for this team.

Just wait till they start drawing 30,000 fans and make a pitch (pun intended) to join MLS.

 

[Hank Chinaski]

Not sure you can build a league on 2000-2500 fans a game, although they got 17,000 for York FC's opener and 5,000 in Halifax. Gale looked like he was in a winter jacket last night, so maybe the weather kept fans away.

Any idea if there is a revenue sharing model for the CPL? They may need it to make the league viable and avoid it getting whittled down to an unworkably small number of teams.

While I don’t know the ins and outs of their business model, my understanding from the very beginning was that they didn’t want to follow the revenue sharing model of the MLS and want it to be more like a small scale European league. Like those leagues, only shared revenues would be in the form of (inter)national TV contracts and league-wide sponsorships.

That whole league model would be premised on having a true promotion/relegation structure, which is obviously a ways away.

 

[Hank Chinaski]

Just wait till they start drawing 30,000 fans and make a pitch (pun intended) to join MLS.

Honestly if we can get even a third of that at current ticket prices, we’re a viable (if not particularly attractive) MLS market.

I mean hell, there are Premier League teams (Bournemouth) that won’t be drawing that kind of gate revenue.

 

[tbcwpg]

Honestly if we can get even a third of that at current ticket prices, we’re a viable (if not particularly attractive) MLS market.

I mean hell, there are Premier League teams (Bournemouth) that won’t be drawing that kind of gate revenue.

Bournemouth don't need that revenue. With Premier League tv revenue they're good enough there for years. Even Championship level is good.

10,000 would be outstanding but 4, 5k would be very good for this team.

 

[sabremike]

They sure are giving out lots of home opener free tickets on 94.3 FM's Casting Call contest every morning. Are they showing the game anywhere?

Don't know about TV but all CPL games are streamed on www.onesoccer.ca which is how I am able to follow my adopted CPL team Forge FC down here in the New York Metro area (have been a Ticats fan since I was 14 in the early 90's which is the connection). Cost $9.99 CDN which is reasonable and they are also going to show the Canadian Championship and NT home matches as well. I've enjoyed all 3 games so far a lot and the level of play is actually pretty good all things considered.

 

[sabremike]

Not sure you can build a league on 2000-2500 fans a game, although they got 17,000 for York FC's opener and 5,000 in Halifax. Gale looked like he was in a winter jacket last night, so maybe the weather kept fans away.

Any idea if there is a revenue sharing model for the CPL? They may need it to make the league viable and avoid it getting whittled down to an unworkably small number of teams.

The 17k was at the Donut Box in Hamilton, not York. Also needs to be noted midweek games are death for soccer attendance in British/French North America. Have been a Metros/RBNY STH for 18 years and there have been several Wednesday games at RBA over the years where there weren't more than a couple of thousand fans in the place. At Giants Stadium there were very often crowds below 1,000.

 

[sabremike]

Hoyle with the goal!

The guy running over to the 3 Valour fans in the corner waving giant flags after the winning goal was awesome.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

The guy running over to the 3 Valour fans in the corner waving giant flags after the winning goal was awesome.

Red River Rising!

they'll be out in pretty strong numbers today.

 

[Hollywood3]

The game in Hamilton was free. Not a great business model. The Fury once drew 20k with free tickets from Superstore as well.

 

[sabremike]

The game in Hamilton was free. Not a great business model. The Fury once drew 20k with free tickets from Superstore as well.

They were trying to get as many people as possible to show up in the hopes that they would enjoy it and come back. Us papering the place was a one off.

 

[surixon]

Well the soccer is quite entertaining through 2 games. Valour couldn't buy a goal in the first half in which they dominated. Some shoddy defending in the second half lead to the two goals for Edmonton. All in all I like the talent and the team.

 

[electroflare]

The atmosphere was absolutely infectious. I’ve never had so much fun in a home loss before

 

[Holden Caulfield]

Wonder if in year 2 they will draw more than a Moose or Goldeyes game?

At least in the same range as those two. 9700 at first home game. Likely a bit higher than normal, I'm thinking it'll stabilize at 5-6K for now. With some spikes for things like Canadian Championship. I believe 5K would be a bit below Goldeyes but ahead of Moose.

It sounds like Valour will be a good team. Won the first one (against a team that already had a win) and apparently outplayed the opponent for the 2nd. Hopefully they have a good year. With new leagues you never really know what to expect in terms of team quality. It appears the league is pretty balanced no blowouts yet.

 

[electroflare]

At least in the same range as those two. 9700 at first home game. Likely a bit higher than normal, I'm thinking it'll stabilize at 5-6K for now. With some spikes for things like Canadian Championship. I believe 5K would be a bit below Goldeyes but ahead of Moose.

It sounds like Valour will be a good team. Won the first one (against a team that already had a win) and apparently outplayed the opponent for the 2nd. Hopefully they have a good year. With new leagues you never really know what to expect in terms of team quality. It appears the league is pretty balanced no blowouts yet.

I imagine the first MLS team we host might draw 15-20k tbh, that’ll be a huge draw

 

[JetsNut]

As I suspected this level of footy is very entertaining. Remember these teams are new and have not chemistry as of yet. I think this time will draw very nicely and will be just fine. I’m hoping this league grows and expands as I can see it being every bit as entertaining down the road.

 

[Deedog99]

As I suspected this level of footy is very entertaining. Remember these teams are new and have not chemistry as of yet. I think this time will draw very nicely and will be just fine. I’m hoping this league grows and expands as I can see it being every bit as entertaining down the road.

Not good news for the bombers then seeing as the seasons align.

 

[sipowicz]

Exciting stu......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........did someone sco.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........

 

[Holden Caulfield]

Not good news for the bombers then seeing as the seasons align.

Lol do you know who owns Valour FC?

 

[cheswick]

Did anyone else who went to the game yesterday just walk in without having to scan or show your ticket? People were just walking by the scan person as she talked to someone, I hesitated and she was just like yeah your good go ahead.

 

[JetsNut]

The group of people we were with were all scanned.

 

[nobody imp0rtant]

As I suspected this level of footy is very entertaining. Remember these teams are new and have not chemistry as of yet. I think this time will draw very nicely and will be just fine. I’m hoping this league grows and expands as I can see it being every bit as entertaining down the road.

And anyone that can afford tickets had better get out there and support this team or else they'll relocate to Regina.

 

[tacogeoff]

pretty good turnout. I had a friend posting a bunch of live stuff on snapchat during the game. He said it was a great atmosphere and had a ton of fun. Might as well grab some tickets for the 11th and check it out.

 

[BigZ65]

Did anyone else who went to the game yesterday just walk in without having to scan or show your ticket? People were just walking by the scan person as she talked to someone, I hesitated and she was just like yeah your good go ahead.

That's happened to me before at Bomber games.

Sounds like things went fairly well. VFC will have to figure out the entertainment, "night out" aspect of things. Only complaint I saw anywhere was about concession lines. That's something the Goldeyes have mastered and IMO VFC is in that same niche of people won't really care too much about win or loss, just going for an outing.

 

[nobody imp0rtant]

That's happened to me before at Bomber games.

Sounds like things went fairly well. VFC will have to figure out the entertainment, "night out" aspect of things. Only complaint I saw anywhere was about concession lines. That's something the Goldeyes have mastered and IMO VFC is in that same niche of people won't really care too much about win or loss, just going for an outing.

Is it the same concessions as at Bomber games? Did Shawarma Khan have a stand?