BEIRNE NAMED CPL PRESIDENT
The Canadian Premier League’s first employee is now its first president.
Former Toronto FC executive Paul Beirne, who joined the league as its project manager 18 months ago, was appointed president Wednesday afternoon, two weeks after Canada’s newest league introduced ex-Tim Hortons COO David Clanachan as its commissioner.
“The deeper I got into this, the more I understood what this opportunity meant for Canada not just as a soccer nation, but for all of these communities across the country,” Beirne told the Toronto Sun by phone this week. “That’s what excites me the most.”
Preparing for an inaugural soccer season — one that’s supposed to kick off next spring — is “uncharted territory,” Beirne said, adding the CPL has seen a groundswell of support.
“One of the hallmarks with this league will be the deep connection we have with diehard supporters across this country,” Beirne said. “We want to spur on a movement.”
Beirne likened what’s happening Canada-wide to what he experienced while working to establish Toronto FC ahead of its inaugural season in Major League Soccer.
“What’s surprising is the level of desire for this is the same in Halifax and Calgary and Winnipeg as it was in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal,” Beirne said, referring to it as a “craving” for the game at the local level.
“It’s consistent across the county. I don’t think I anticipated that,” he said.
Ownership groups in Hamilton and Winnipeg were awarded flagship franchises last May. Halifax, Ottawa, Saskatoon and Calgary appear likely to join The Hammer and The Peg.
Of the roughly 15 markets that have shown CPL interest, Fraser Valley (B.C.), Kitchener-Waterloo (Ont.), York Region (Ont.), Edmonton, Moncton and Mississauga (Ont.) also are believed to be in contention.
Clanachan told the Sun he expects the league’s initial sixmonth season to include eight to 10 clubs, with the potential for immediate expansion.
“A true national footprint in a game that’s a global game, at a time in Canada where everything is changing from a demographics perspective,” Beirne described it.
He later added: “There are a number of stars that are aligning to suggest this is unlike anything Canada has seen before and the timing is right.”
Before joining the CPL, Beirne spent time in senior executive roles with TFC, the Raptors, Ottawa Senators and Brighton & Hove Albion prior to its promotion to the EPL.
Additional CPL franchises are expected to be established in the coming months.