'There’s not a better time to be invested in the CPL': Commissioner Mark Noonan hints at expansion plans

While a lot of the focus on matchday-1 was pointed on the two teams getting set to play a final on Saturday, naturally it was also a good time to talk about the future of the league, which is what commissioner Mark Noonan looked to do in his annual commissioner’s address.

There, he hit on several topics, reflecting on a landmark 2024 and looking ahead to 2025. 

Among those topics, of course, was expansion, as the CPL has remained at eight teams since the arrival of Atlético Ottawa in 2020, with Vancouver FC’s arrival and FC Edmonton’s departure the only other movement we’ve seen since. 

With the league’s continued growth, many are wondering if the league could be ready to support more new markets, and based on Noonan’s comments, it feels like they’re closer than ever to expanding the league for the first time since his tenure began, as he explicitly referenced some achievable targets for the 2026 season. 

“I believe there's not a better time to be invested in the CPL specifically and Canadian soccer generally,” he said. “We have laid an incredibly solid foundation, and we're going to build a beautiful house on top of it. In the near term, our goal is to add two new teams for our 2026 season, and we were in discussions with several potential investor groups and municipalities, with markets of interest, in alphabetical order Edmonton, Laval, Kelowna, Kitchener-Waterloo, Quebec City, Saskatoon, several in the Greater Toronto Area, and Windsor, among others.”

That’s quite encouraging, as not only have many felt that the league is overdue to expand, but to do so into specific markets in provinces such as Québec and Saskatchewan, making it interesting to see him reference cities in those provinces by name. One has to imagine that one of those markets has to be top of mind when using that 2026 date as a reference. 

Otherwise, a big subject Noonan spoke about in his address? The development of young Canadian talent, which may prove to be the true bedrock of this league. 

Ultimately, the CPL’s creation was all about allowing young Canadian talent to play and develop in their own backyard, and it feels like that’s happening at a better rate than ever. 

Looking at the stories of players such as Kwasi Poku, Shola Jimoh, Tyr Walker, Grady McDonnell and more this season are just a few of many examples of what the league can do for youngsters, and it feels like a bigger wave is coming off the back of that. 

And that’s huge, as it’ll only bring more eyeballs to the CPL if players continue to get sold for record fees like Poku was, or if players like Jimoh get more opportunities with the CanMNT while still in the league like he recently did. 

Because of that, while expansion remains a key mandate, so does ensuring that teams have the tools to develop young talent, helping fill gaps in the player development pathway that didn’t exist before in this country. 

“Heading into 2024, we implemented new roster rules aimed at ensuring even more opportunities for young Canadian players,” Noonan noted. “Our exceptional young talent initiative gained considerable traction, we better optimized our developmental roster by making youth players a subcategory, and we moved any age category requirements on international players to ensure that players coming to Canada from around the world complement the development of our young domestic talent.”

“Importantly, we continue to support the U21 minutes initiative to ensure these young players get on the field and are simply not filling out rosters and being stockpiled for the future.”