Quote ="wrencat1873"There is a fundamental issue behind planting new clubs in virgin territory, without any infrastructure underneath.
Toronto have doe a fantastic job on the promotion of the sport, better than any club has managed in the UK and I expect that Ottawa will do likewise.
However, Toronto, having spent big for the first few years and gained promotion to the top flight are now showing severe trauma in their model of a SL club.
Their squad, despite still being the most expensive in the league, is wafer thin and lacking in enough quality to compete.
They are now having players who aren't on the wage bill (apparently) and the lack of any academy or reserve side has left them massively exposed.
Again, there seems to be an issue with these clubs being "Canadian" but, basing themselves in the UK, which makes it impossible to employ local players (even if there were any).
Time will be the judge on this experiment but, between those that are backing the N. American venture, there has to be a way found to put down proper roots and find a way to engage their youngsters to want to play.
Toronto generated plenty of hype but, they just havent delivered - no TV deal, no Football converts, no local born players - they aren't a Canadian side in anything but name and possibly wont be for the foreseeable future.
As I say, I really hope there is a way to develop RL in N. America but, I dont think that what we are doing is the right way.'"
I agree with some of your points, but you can't expect instant Canadian players to play a sport which they probably haven't heard off before TWP formed 4 years ago. They have been doing a lot of community work to try to entice young Canadians in the Toronto area to become fans of the sport. If they keep on doing this, they will eventually get Canadians into the sport. A TV deal was secured at the end of January. Ottawa will no doubt learn from the mistakes created by TWP.
