A team must have a dedicated ownership, a facility to generate revenue, a TV deal and a stable league. In women's soccer, former professional and national women superstars are leading the charge of a league that is growing. The Northern Super League for women has done all those things. This was was the inaugurals year with six teams and Winnipeg had already been announced as the seventh team with Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex as home.
The women's national soccer team got its start back in 1986 at that facility and over the years, it has hosted a number of men's teams and still does. However, the two pitches have only 2,000 seats and 750 seats. Not nearly enough. It is curious that the University Stadium (formerly Pan Am Stadium) wasn't used which has 5,000 seats but it could have to do with how to monetize it. Too many teams suffer because they need to be able to extract every dime from a facility and the university is the one that owns the place now along with whatever concessions. It also has its own teams using the facility.
Built in 1991, the Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex has been the go to for Winnipeg's soccer needs and been the place to act as FIFA training pitch and host to various sports events like the Canada Games. It fit the needs accordingly. In recent years it seemed like it was on a long list of city facilities in need of a purposed and an upgrade. The arrival of a professional national women's team was the right time to go to funders to do the job.
The new NSL team has no name yet. That will come later when the kit and marketing of tickets happens. In the mean time, the facility gets FIFA turf, lights and covered stand seating for 4,500. The federal government has been announcing spending on recreational facilities all over Canada and investing in athletes as well. It is part of generational spending on areas of the country that may have not seen investment between 30 and 50 years.
Soccer, despite thoughts to the contrary, is the most popular and accessible of sports in Canada. And yet we have only in recent years started to build indoor facilities so we can play year round. The outdoor facilities are usually small and shared with other sports such as football. Compared to the UK, Australia and the U.S., we have tiny facilities. That isn't an exaggeration. We may think we are big supporters of sports but compared to others, we are not.
The Valour FC really needed their own facility and revenue stream to succeed. How bad is it in Canada? Well, the Vancouver Whitecaps struggle with good crowds because they don't own their facility. In Toronto, the Toronto FC shared a football stadium with the Argonauts with Rogers owning the whole thing. It is a very small stadium for such a big city. Still, the federal government doesn't seem to be interested in helping Rogers, a massive corporation, from receiving a new building from the taxpayers.
Which brings us to Winnipeg. The expansion of women's soccer has exploded. The government sees it as an opportunity to get people active and a point of national unity. However, Winnipeg wasn't going to be ideal unless it could expands its misery small success complex. Moving yet another team, albeit female, into Princess Auto Stadium seemed a recipe for failure. That might one day be the future but it isn't there now. The right team for the right facility has to be the goal.
The Ralph Cantafio Success Complex is the right facility and getting the right pro team. By this time next year, the NSL should see success in Winnipeg. And soccer will continue to rise in the province as a result.
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