Sébastien

How unacceptable that is remains unclear. They have been receiving yearly exemptions to operate in US leagues since day one, as I understand it. And clearly, as we learn, the bureaucratic process of renewing the exemption is... lengthy to say the least. That would mean that, assuming the timelines remain the same, the Fury would not have been able to sell tickets or sign players, every year, until the new year? Or that you can't offer contracts longer than one year? That seems unreasonable to me. I don't think any team could survive long-term in a market under those conditions. There's a lot to be upset about with the Fury, but this seems way off the mark. And, as far as we know, the three MLS teams do exactly the same thing whenever their exemptions need to be renewed.

In this CP piece, we finally get an idea of season ticket sales for the Fury: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-fury-usl-cpl-concacaf-1.4946137 "That's news to the Fury, who have already sold 1,500 season tickets and have signed a dozen players for next season."

I've been looking for any indication about it throughout the last season, but couldn't find anything. From random threads and people's comments though, I think it was in the 2,500 range. I'm certain we won't hear any more details next season, but I am bloody curious to know how their renewal drive went, as, anecdotally, I know there are at least a few on this board who didn't renew, myself included.

True, though the Fury also tried to sell Gagnon-Laparé as "speedy", so I would take the clubs' description of players with a good grain of salt

On Reid, having watched most Fury home games this year, he was far from solid. He is very quick, but continuously tries to dribble through the defence, rarely with any success. Wasted possession much too often, and gave up on the ball too early as well. A very frustrating player to watch. Hardly ever played over 60 minutes. That being said, his performance did improve towards the latter part of the year, and he was clearly hindered by terrible coaching decisions and formation, which had the front wide players run into the corners of the pitch with no support and nobody running into the box for a cross, or at most, only the CF. Probably the best comparison I can make is Simeon Jackson's time with the CMNT when put on the wing. You feel there's more, but all you really feel like you're getting is frustration. And you question how the coach can possibly think this is a good idea.

I will wait for more details before I agree. I have so many questions, and this article has about zero answers. Literally all we know is that CPL is buying the league. What does it mean for both leagues? That remains very unclear.

Oh, I will absolutely continue to go to games as well. But with their decision to stay in USL and the terrible style of play for three years running, without any promise of change with Popovic remaining, I definitely will not be attending close to as many.

Sadly no. When I wrote to the club to let them know that I was not renewing my season seats, the rep made it quite clear that there was no change coming.

Just throwing that out there, but it seems that their increase in promotion coincides with TFC being officially eliminated from the playoffs. Now I'm wondering if that wasn't the plan hope all along and it ends up being the smarter move...

Agree with you that the three sections that are at either end and behind the end lines will be quite painful. As the Fury have shown, the sight lines from those types of sections in a CFL stadium are extremely poor. That being said, in this type of setting, I still think you need to put the supporters' group at the end. When the Ottawa Supporters were in section W, I know the swearing and other didn't bother me, but getting a ticket in section X, Y and Z automatically meant that you had an obstructed view (if any view at all with flags) of the action. I think it's fair to make a section general admission and let people know that people will be standing, chanting, waving flags, etc., but that shouldn't impede the visibility from other sections in the stadium, which section W absolutely did, and what moving supporters closer in Winnipeg would likely do.

The Fury coach saying that he hopes he can transform the roster between now and the start of next season, and blaming its current composition for the lack of success this season. Doesn't sound like a team too worried about keeping their roster intact to me.

Just to correct a few matters: The Government of Québec ended up paying the vast majority of the cost of the actual stadium, on top of the RIO basically giving away the land (sure he does not own it, but doubtful he would have built it had he had to find the land in the first place). I also understand that the idea of the stadium "not being his" is because he took the decision to put in place a non-profit (which has its own advantages) to own the stadium. Lots of great information here on how Saputo asking taxpayers for more support is pretty ludicrous. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/sports/1129753/joey-saputo-impact-montreal-mls-taxes-ville-montreal-chronique-martin-leclerc

Frankly, if they could somehow get the Canadian rights to the African Cup of Nations, I would be hard into that.

It's going to be Brennan, isn't it...

I find the argument of the USL being a "stable league" is pretty disingenuous. In 3 years, will USL still exist? Probably. But teams keep being added and removed from the league, with a huge number of them going to D3 next season, and many of them existing only as MLS farm teams. Its only form of stability seems to be its existence.