CPL plans include franchise in Edmonton
The Canadian Premier League is starting to pick up steam, and by all indications, FC Edmonton will be on board when the upstart professional soccer circuit kicks off in April 2019.
On Friday, the CPL held an owners meeting in Edmonton, which included FC Edmonton’s Tom Fath.
FC Edmonton is expected to be one of the flagship franchises, which will be revealed individually starting next week.
“It’s a really good bunch of people, both the owners and the CPL staff,” Fath said.
“Definitely there is a movement to all pull in the same direction. We were the Canadian team in the American league before and our rivals were not exactly close. So this has a lot of potential, and we’ve always said we’ve been coming to their meetings for a year and we have to be convinced that it will work and there’s a few ingredients to that. It’s looking a lot more positive than it did last November.”
Brothers Tom and Dave Fath started up FC Edmonton in 2010 and were one of the original members of the resurrected North American Soccer League.
FC Edmonton’s pro team folded with the uncertainty of the NASL after the United States Soccer Federation revoked its Division 2 status. The NASL is on a hiatus while it fights to regain its second-tier status in court.
FC kept its academy program intact, which drew 3,200 spectators Sunday for an exhibition game against Foothills FC of Calgary in the first half of the Al (Alberta) Classico.
The CPL is expected to feature eight teams in its inaugural season.
Along with Edmonton, there are also expected to be teams in Calgary (likely Foothills FC), B.C., Winnipeg, Hamilton, Halifax, Ottawa and North York, Ont. Hamilton and Winnipeg are the two teams who have already been confirmed by the league and will both be owned by the respective CFL owners in those cities.
“As of next week, we will start to do club launches, one a week for the next six to seven weeks,” said CPL commissioner David Clanachan.
“As we do that, we think it’s very important to do it at the community level. I think it’s the community and the supporters that deserve to have the celebration, because in my opinion, they won the lottery being able to get a professional sports franchise in their town.”
A move from the NASL to the CPL should be relatively seamless for FC Edmonton, having everything in place to relaunch their professional team.
One roadblock for FC Edmonton is finding a facility.
They have appealed to the City of Edmonton for full access to Clarke Stadium, allowing them to become the main tenant and to get renovations to the facility, making it more conducive to soccer.
FC Edmonton and the city have met resistance from the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos and the minor football community with the proposal.
There have also been inquires by the CPL on the possibility of transforming Re/Max Field baseball stadium in the river valley into a soccer facility.
The former home of the AAA Edmonton Trappers is vacant most of the year and used in June and July by the Edmonton Prospects baseball team.
The goal of the CPL is to eventually expand throughout Canada with upwards of 20 teams.