A group of Canadian business execs yesterday unveiled a
"blueprint for what it believes will be a viable pro soccer
league that would be named" the Canadian United Soccer
League (CUSL) and would start in 2002, according to Tony
Maraschiello of the TORONTO SUN. The CUSL would feature
eight Canadian teams in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver,
Calgary and four cities "to-be-determined" and would play an
"interlocking" schedule with the A-League. Maraschiello
reports that all teams would be owned by the league, which
will operate with a C$20M budget to start. About C$17M
would come from corporate sponsorships, "taking the pressure
off teams to generate gate revenue." Maraschiello writes
that the "most interesting part" about the proposal is its
possible association with some of Europe's top soccer clubs
such as Portugal's Benfica, Italy's Lazio and the
Netherlands' PSV Eindhoven. These clubs "supposedly will
allow the CUSL to use their names and jersey colours"
(TORONTO SUN, 11/16). The CP's Neil Davidson writes that
the 2002 start date "could be pushed back and the league
could kick off with just" six teams. The group's business
plan calls for a loss "only in the first year of play,"
based on average paid attendance of 2,500 (CP, 11/16).
