Canucks4Ever
Well-Known Member
To be honest, there actually are some legitimate flaws in that hypothetical structure.
The biggest thing is that the VMSL are not interested in entry straight to Premier. It was a stretch to allow it for Div. 1 and it is only a two year window. The FVSL have gone a different route for a number of reasons that have been discussed. The VMSL in no way feel that they "need" Abbotsford or any other team. They have a very competitive and ambitious Div. 1 and they are comfortable promoting from within. If they make an exception for say "Abbotsford" (who may be fully happy where they are in the FVSL fwiw...), who do they make the exception for next? Sooner or later you end up with a similar structure as the FVSL where promotion means nothing because they let in teams to Premier directly, so why put in the effort to earn a spot?
Beyond that, the 14 team league structure is not at all ideal, as evidenced by the current VMSL Division 1 structure. If you do not have a balanced schedule, it is difficult to say that the best team is crowned champion. In Division 1, currently, Group B appears to be much stronger than Group A. Columbus is running away with Group A, but would they be as successful in Group B? Meanwhile, someone from Group B is going to get relegated when, arguably, the four worst teams in the division are all in Group A.
Dividing the groups geographically only exacerbates this issue, because instead of grouping the teams based on some calculation pertaining to the previous season's results, you are now arbitrarily sectioning teams off based on location. So if the "Valley" portion that contains CMF, BB5, Abby, Coastal etc. has the stronger teams, odds are that West Van or Croatia or some other team from the "Metro" side will cruise to the title each year, despite possibly not being the best team, but simply by benefitting from extra games against weaker sides.
Furthermore, what happens if next season the two promoted teams are Metropolitan and Greencaps? Those are two clear "Metro" division teams based on geography. So one of the Metro division teams gets shuffled over to play in the "Valley" division and then you have both promoted teams on the Metro side? Again, not ideal for parity in your top division. A geographical split is something that the FVSL does in its lower divisions and it often leads to one group being much stronger than the other.
Also, not that it really matters, but it would be a 19 game league schedule, not 21.
So, in summary, your proposed format appears to, somewhat ironically, create several of the challenges the FVSL currently faces that you are trying expressly to overcome...
