TFC USL Team

[Canuck82]

Since this is considered a professional team in the eyes of the CSA, that should also mean they would be eligible for the Canadian Championships - bringing the total for 2014 to six teams. Since they had already put a provisional round in place for Edmonton to play Ottawa next year, it would be just as easy to slot a second round series between the 3rd and 6th seeded teams. Ergo, based on the standings as they are today, the seeds would be:

1. Montreal
2. Vancouver
3. Toronto
4. Edmonton
5. Ottawa
6. Hamilton

A simple two-legged quarterfinal - 3 vs 6, 4 vs 5 with the winners moving on to face seeds 1 and 2 in the semis. Toronto vs Hamilton - hmm, where have I seen that before....

[Leedsoronto]

TFC would have to have a significant financial hold on the new USL Pro team in order that they can favour their own players above the rest of the team.

[glaze]

Hamilton needs something to fill in some dates at the new Ivor Wynne.
I think the scale may be a bit too big though. What is a decent crowd for a USL team?
Minor leagues have been attempted and failed in this market for far too many years.

[Detroit_TFC]

Seems avg attendance is around 1500 to 2000. Orlando City is in pre-MLS mode, they are drawing a lot more than other teams in the league. There are four or five teams that are absolute shit in attendance (less than 750 avg.)

[OgtheDim]

MLSE will call them "the Baby Reds". (Probably not the first or last marketing mistake that will be made)

Maybe Cochrane can go down there and run that team?



Regardless, as somebody on the waking the red story said, if there is a city council that can mess this one up, its Hamilton's.

[Canuck82]

Team (number of home games): Average attendance as of August 4th
Orlando (10): 7966
Rochester (12): 5876
Charleston (13): 3558
Pittsburgh (7): 3462
Wilmington (9): 3258
Richmond (11): 2174
Phoenix (9): 2073
Harrisburg (9): 1331
Charlotte (13): 802
Dayton (9): 679
Los Angeles (7): 632
Tampa Bay (6): 461

[Initial B]

Hmmm, if a Hamilton-Toronto Connection works, then Abbotsford would probably be an ideal location for a USL PRO affiliate for Vancouver (assuming there's interest there) as it's about the same distance as Ham-Tor. Montreal could be more problematic as there's not a large urban centre in close proximity, but Trois-Rivieres would probably work best due to its placement between Quebec City/Montreal. Add a couple of NASL teams to Quebec City, Halifax, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Calgary, and Victoria and that would give Canadian players a lot more options for development and what could be a very decent national tournament for the CCL slot.

[prizby]

Just had a read, it was posted 5 mins ago so this idea is raising quite a bit of awareness around the footie forums. :@)

yeah sorry, was interested to see what type of reaction it'd get on twitter; very positive

Since this is considered a professional team in the eyes of the CSA, that should also mean they would be eligible for the Canadian Championships - bringing the total for 2014 to six teams. Since they had already put a provisional round in place for Edmonton to play Ottawa next year, it would be just as easy to slot a second round series between the 3rd and 6th seeded teams. Ergo, based on the standings as they are today, the seeds would be:

1. Montreal
2. Vancouver
3. Toronto
4. Edmonton
5. Ottawa
6. Hamilton

A simple two-legged quarterfinal - 3 vs 6, 4 vs 5 with the winners moving on to face seeds 1 and 2 in the semis. Toronto vs Hamilton - hmm, where have I seen that before....

depends; if the CSA see's Hamilton as a TFC farm team, would they let TFC have a 'second' team in the competition?

[Damien]

depends; if the CSA see's Hamilton as a TFC farm team, would they let TFC have a 'second' team in the competition?

They do in Mexico... Cruz Azul has a 'B' team in 2nd division that could conceivably be promoted.
I think other Mexican teams do as well but I'm not that into Mexican league to care.

[Leedsoronto]

As far as player development goes it can only be a good thing. Imagine if Welshman and Becker were getting regular week in week out competitive games. They would have either performed better on the international platform, or found out to be a total waste of $$$ and kicked out months ago!!!!

Either way I think it's a move for the good of soccer in Canada.

[BuSaPuNk]

They do in Mexico... Cruz Azul has a 'B' team in 2nd division that could conceivably be promoted.
I think other Mexican teams do as well but I'm not that into Mexican league to care.

Not to mention the teams that play in the US Open Cup. I believe Orlando played KC this year and Orlando is there team.

[Detroit_TFC]

The players on loan were cup tied.

[Damien]

I wonder what they'd name this hamilton team?

TFC Hamilton? Golden Horseshoe FC? FC Ontario? Stelco FC?

[prizby]

They do in Mexico... Cruz Azul has a 'B' team in 2nd division that could conceivably be promoted.
I think other Mexican teams do as well but I'm not that into Mexican league to care.

They also do in Germany with the u23 teams unless of course the u23 team is playing in the professional division (ie. this year, Dortmund's and Stuttgart's 2nd team cannot compete in the German Cup)

Not to mention the teams that play in the US Open Cup. I believe Orlando played KC this year and Orlando is there team.

I see Orlando-KC partnership more to do with loaning players and not so much a financial arrangement as well; I think the TFC-Hamilton relationship (should it happen) would be more than just loaning a few players, which is a bit different and might be viewed a bit differently; just my feelings into it though, that is all

[goodyear]

I hear they'll be called Hamilton Steelers. Current Toronto Lynx management will run the team with TFC.

[Leedsoronto]

I hear they'll be called Hamilton Steelers. Current Toronto Lynx management will run the team with TFC.

Wonder if they will share the new TFC facility at Downsview for training or locate everything in Hamilton?

[jpopick]

We'll take 'em in Rochester, said the guy from Rochester.

We're used to poor management, and yearn for the days of having a competitive team with promising future stars.

We also have a pretty decent history (NASL; US Open Cup Champs), and are basically just a suburb of Toronto . . .

And I think it might help convince another handful of local lunatics to make the three-hour trek to BMO for games, too.

[Haddy]

So I'm guessing the main opposition to "USL" would be sanctioning additional PDL franchises at this point. Maybe that's the more direct overlap with the proposed league 1 structure? It would be hard to reason that the regional setup in Ontario would have clubs with similar to USL Pro teams.

I am all for TFC to get their reserves playing more meaningful matches...or loanees, whatever. But now I'm really getting concerned about a D3 in Canada. It would be nice to say we could pull something off on our own. I guess it's tricky when you have three D1 teams playing in a multi-national league.

I wonder what they'd name this hamilton team?

TFC Hamilton? Golden Horseshoe FC? FC Ontario? Stelco FC?

Hamilton Highlanders Football Club

We'll take 'em in Rochester, said the guy from Rochester.

We're used to poor management, and yearn for the days of having a competitive team with promising future stars.

We also have a pretty decent history (NASL; US Open Cup Champs), and are basically just a suburb of Toronto . . .

And I think it might help convince another handful of local lunatics to make the three-hour trek to BMO for games, too.

Sorry. Rochester is already affiliated with the New England Revolution. You already sold your soul to a different devil.

[OgtheDim]

I hear they'll be called Hamilton Steelers. Current Toronto Lynx management will run the team with TFC.

Good choice.

I remember that name from the Old CSL. Saw Justin Fashanu (RIP) play against Kitchener, about 13 years after I saw him play for Norwich against Everton.

[Initial B]

I think I'd rather see the name Steeltown FC for Hamilton's club. It has a nice ring to it. Get a rivalry going with Pittsburgh.

[Damien]

FC Hammertown

[TOBOR !]

Important for the club to have a local identity, rather than a transplanted Toronto identity.

[TFC07]

Hamilton Lynx...lol

[Doucet3]

Important for the club to have a local identity, rather than a transplanted Toronto identity.

Agree i think it should have its own identity, Hamilton United?, Hamilton FC?, Hamilton Steelers, Ontario FC, Hamilton Lynx, Steeltown FC, Steeltown United, Hamilton Steel; would love the colour scheme of Black and Yellow.

Either way I would love to have a affiliate right down the road, Im in the Niagara Falls area so id make the trek to see Roberts starts with welshman and Bekker among others get full playing time, i love to see a team build off development and this is a big step towards that.

[Redcoe15]

If the owners of the Toronto Lynx are still running the team, then it wouldn't surprise me if they were still called the Lynx. If they're playing at old Ivor Wynn or Tim Hortons Stadium or what ever it's called, the nickname would seem to compliment the Tiger-Cats.

[Shway]

whatever happened to Bob Young, I'm surprised I haven't read anything about him....IIRC one of thing mentioned in the stadium deal that there would be a professional soccer team to fill the dates.


Also, I wonder how some Hamiltonians feel about this team being the new marlies.

[Areathrasher]

whatever happened to Bob Young, I'm surprised I haven't read anything about him....IIRC one of thing mentioned in the stadium deal that there would be a professional soccer team to fill the dates.


Also, I wonder how some Hamiltonians feel about this team being the new marlies.

Given the Habs farm team is in Hamilton, I think they should be ok with it.

[Pint]

Would players we loan out still count towards our roster and cap restrictions?

[C.Ronaldo]

boo

Hamilton needs a NASL team, no one will want to watch 3rd tier, even if the quality is on par, its still called 3rd tier.

use one of the GTA suburbs for a USL affiliate team, Mississauga or Markham makes sense. They can still easily use the Kia Training Grounds


Although I believe Mississauga is at the point can handle a NASL team, its hard to get people out to games when 70% of their income is mortgage. Plus its just so close to BMO, would be competing for same fans

[MarkEightThree]

I thought the CSA wanted to keep USL Pro out of Canada since we're trying to get our own Div III set up? Kind of taking a step backward on this one to be honest. I'd rather see a nation-wide 3rd division comprised of smaller regional leagues much like the CHL.

Aside from that though, this is good news for the Toronto Lynx. I know their owner has pumped tons of money into the team and has been taking a loss every year since TFC came into town.