'I think we're probably in a 60-day window right now to making that decision (on expansion)': Q&A with CPL commissioner Mark Noonan

A lot has changed since CPL commissioner Mark Noonan last addressed the league's media ahead of the playoff final in Calgary.

For starters, CPL matches are scheduled to be broadcast on TSN. There's also been significant discussion around potential expansion, with the league's plans to add two clubs for 2026 at a crossroads. Mix in a healthy dose of player transfers — be it Grady McDonell's sale to Club Brugge, Emil Gazdov to CF Montréal or Matteo de Brienne to GAIS — and it's plain to see that this past off-season was also an extremely busy one.

And with the regular season just around the corner, The Wanderers Notebook's publisher and editor, Josh Healey, had a chance to interview Noonan on Tuesday afternoon. Here's the result of their conversation.

JH: Hello Mark, we're about to kickoff the seventh CPL regular season, which is hard to believe. How are you feeling with the start just around the corner this weekend?

MN: I'm feeling great. We've made a bunch of progress on the field, we've made a bunch of progress off the field. You've probably noticed we added some national broadcast distribution with TSN, our first match will be Saturday, the rematch of last year's final with the two trophy winners from CPL in Forge and Cavalry.

And, obviously, your local team (the Halifax Wanderers) are going down the road to Ottawa. We're doing something we needed to do in Ottawa where we're reversing the camera angles so the cameras this year will actually be facing onto the crowd versus the mostly empty seats on the other side of the building. It really should create a great atmosphere for viewing. Wanderers fans who can't make it to Ottawa will hopefully enjoy a better ambience watching their team on OneSoccer.

JH: That's obviously something that's been asked for for a long time. What goes into making something like (the different camera angles) happen? It's a little change but it's also big in terms of how the broadcast looks for professionalism.

MN: It's not as easy as we make it sound.

In that building we've got permanent LED infrastructure on the side that we used to shoot towards. You can't move that, there are other tenants in the building. What we've had to do is do a static install on the other side, test all the camera angles and ensure we're not shooting into the sun and things like that. The boards have to be visible. There's a cost involved that wasn't insignificant. But it's the right thing to do to professionally present our sport. Atlético Ottawa does a great job in their atmosphere and we need to make sure it comes through in the broadcast.

JH: I know it's their Pay What You Can match so I expect it'll be pretty full to kickoff their regular season.

MN: And hopefully good weather!

JH: That always helps too, that always helps too.

You alluded to earlier about some of the changes to the broadcast rights. Of course, there was an announcement that TSN and OneSoccer were partnering to air CPL matches throughout the month of April. At this time, can you share how that came together?

MN: It's something that we need to do, particularly heading into a World Cup year.

We're a baby in the grand scheme of things but because of the issue with the CRTC and getting OneSoccer carried on the broad platforms in this county, and we're still working very hard on that file to make it happen, we decided we're not going to wait any longer. We needed to broaden our distribution both from a CPL standpoint but also for the Canadian national teams, particularly the men's national team heading into the World Cup. We need this country to fall in love with soccer over the next 440 days and it's all forms of soccer. And so we decided, with TSN, who is the FIFA World Cup host broadcaster, that we'll work together to make that happen. I expect you'll get some more news to come in the following weeks.

JH: That was going to be my follow up question: can we expect this partnership to continue beyond April in terms of having a match of the week aired on TSN?

MN: Stay tuned, Josh, is all I can say at this point.

JH: Fair enough. Over to everyone's favourite topic, expansion. This is, of course, something I've reported on quite extensively. In January specifically, CPL vice-president Marni Dicker said to the City of Kingston council that the league had, and I quote, 'selected two of the municipalities and there are six other municipalities up for grabs.'

Can you share where the league is in terms of its stated goal of expanding potentially to two cities for 2026 and where we sit with that?

MN: We're making great progress on a number of different fronts, including the cities that Marni had mentioned.

The debate we're having right now — and I'll be incredibly transparent and candid — is does it make sense to launch a new club in 2026 with the World Cup (grabbing) the attention that year? Would it get lost? We're going to have to adjust our schedule to work with the World Cup matches. Are we better off announcing, having longer to sell tickets and sponsorships and the other things you need to do in the community, and launching off the back of the World Cup in 2027? So we'll announce where the teams are going to go but we're saying we're going to delay kickoff (for them) in 2027 so it doesn't get lost in the focus of the World Cup.

That's the debate we're having right now. We haven't come to any conclusions. We're making really good progress on expansion. You'll see tomorrow we have an announcement in Québec City. We've obviously stated we need to get into that province and we're making some progress. You'll hear about it tomorrow.

JH: Focusing on the expansion piece a little bit, depending on where you land on that dilemma you mentioned, if you are having a club, two clubs, kickoff in 2026, is there a line in the sand where you either have to do it or hold off until 2027? Have you guys set that deadline to make your decision?

MN: Yeah, the longer the lead time you have the better. We're getting close to either launching and saying we're going in 2026 or we're going to push to 2027. I think we're probably in a 60-day window right now to making that decision. We'll make it when we're ready.

But I think you're right. We're getting close to making a decision and I think, again, we're 30 to 60 days away.

JH: Okay, so to clarify and ensure I completely understand, regardless of whether those clubs go in 2026 or 2027, the plan is to still announce those new locations so that they have the runway?

MN: We're going to announce when we're ready to announce. We may announce we're pushing to 2027 but we may not announce what the markets are because they are several markets that are contending for the opportunity.

But also, there are a couple markets that may want to start in 2026 so we're having those discussions. I think the most important thing is we have to figure out 2026 in the next 60-days and whether we're going to launch any teams, one team, two teams, or announce at some point this year for a start in 2027.

JH: Thank you for that.

You touched on Québec City there earlier. It's long been a location that the league has had discussions around. You recently met with the mayor for Québec City. Can you just talk about the progress that's been made in la belle province over the last year and a bit?

MN: We need to be in that province. Everybody knows it. But with any expansion city, if you don't have the conditions to be successful, you're not going to be successful. We're in the process of having discussions in the key population centres there. You know, the Québec Citys, the Lavals of the world, and seeing if we can come up with the right equation.

It's no secret that we have a lot of respect for (Ligue1 Québec side) CS Saint-Laurent and what they've done in Laval and whether they can be a CPL club in the future, who knows. It's possible. They've done a great job developing their product and their players, many of which are playing in our league.

There's a lot of reasons to want to be in Québec but we have to have the right conditions to be able to expand. I got to work on my French, too.

JH: That's alright, I can help you out. It comes in handy when half of Halifax's roster is from Québec.

So, salary cap. You mentioned when you were last in Halifax that it was going to go up. Can you share when that news will be out and any roster rule changes?

MN: We continue to increase our salary cap. It's important our players are fairly compensated based on our economics as a league right now. You'll see that we're trying to acknowledge that but we're also, in the grand scheme of things, an incredibly young league and need to continue to develop the revenue stream to pay players.

JH: Speaking of players, I know you guys don't talk about CBA negotiations but I wanted to ask if there's anything you can provide as an update between the league and PFA Canada?

MN: I think you hit the nail on the head in the beginning. We don't talk about it, we have an agreement with our players not to talk about it publicly until we're ready to say something so that's what I'll say.

JH: Fair enough, just a few more questions, Mark.

Recently, Derek Martin of the Halifax Wanderers was on a podcast talking about how, unless there's progress in the stadium situation here (in Halifax), they may have to explore other options. He was very ambiguous but I wanted to ask if there's any update you can provide in terms of where the Halifax Regional Municipality is leaning as it pertains to a permanent stadium and how that may impact the CPL and the Wanderers?

MN: Derek is the closest to things on the ground and I would take what he says as the best information.

From our perspective, the Wanderers have earned their place in that market. The amount of attention they bring to Halifax, the visiting supporters they bring to Halifax, the fact that our games are broadcast in 40 plus markets, everybody is looking at Halifax, the gameday experience and everything the Wanderers do in the community.

They've proven the concept but does Halifax want to be known as a soccer city around the world? With this great club and awesome operator in Derek, this is an opportunity for Halifax to showcase itself as a phenomenal city, we all know it's a great city but we put a lens on it, light up these cameras and tell the world about it. We think that has great value. We think that what the Wanderers do in that community, to uplift and inspire the next generation, to provide people with an incredible release in these challenging times when they come to a match, there's so much good.

But there's the economic reality of running a professional sports league. When you have to build your stadium every match, that doesn't lead to great outcomes in the long-term. We really need to work with the city to get that figured out.

JH: Perfect. Second to last question, I know you've got a few of these lined up today.

MN: I think this is my third or fourth interview today.

JH: I just wanted to ask about player movement, specifically this off-season. There's been a lot of players who have been sold. Does that change the conversations clubs and the league are having around with the world as it pertains to Canadian talent?

MN: You're starting to see us participate in the global player transfer market and that's a great thing because these young players are seeing CPL as a league of opportunity. In our system, these guys are playing games of consequence against real men and getting recognized for their accomplishments. We're starting to show that there's a pathway from CPL to more established leagues. Now, we need to make sure when we transfer these guys that they do well in their new clubs and CPL is going to get a reputation for developing great, young talent, moving them on at the right time for the player and the right time for the league, and re-invest that in the next group of players.

We're seeing more and more of that, which is a testament to the quality of the league, but also the unique opportunity we've created with things like the Exceptional Young Talent rule, which (Vancouver FC's) Grady McDonnell was signed under or Shola Jimoh from York United. These rules and regulations we're implementing is showing young Canadian talent that there is a great pathway through CPL to achieve your dreams, whether that's to the national team or through transfer. The fact that 73 per cent of our minutes go to Canadian players is also (important). You're going to play in this league. We have the U-21 minutes rule that every coach has to play Under-21 Canadians for at least 2,000 minutes a year. They have to get on the field. They're taking it and running with it.

JH: Thank you. That's all the questions I've prepared ahead of time. Is there anything you'd like to highlight we didn't talk about?

MN: One thing I really love about our league is every game matters. Last year, 111 out of 112 matches actually mattered. When you go to the last day, all but two out of the eight placements were decided. No matter what, we have such great competition in our league. The fact that we've got three trophies to compete for. We're going to be as strong as we've ever been on the field this year and it's going to be fun to watch.

JH: As always, thank you for your time, Mark.

MN: Thank you, Josh.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Cover Photo Credit: Canadian Premier League