AFC Toronto, Calgary Wild FC, Halifax Tides FC, Northern Super League

The Northern Super League is Born

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Northern Super League League Has Been Created

ANALYSIS – The Northern Super League (NSL), the first-ever professional women’s soccer league in Canada, was announced on May 28, 2024. Also, on that same day, two more Canadian cities, Montreal and Ottawa, were confirmed to have teams as they join Calgary, Halifax, Toronto, and Vancouver. These six cities will be the “Original Six” heading into 2025. In terms of time zones, it is spread out across Canada, with Vancouver being part of the PT, Calgary is part of the MDT, Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa are part of the ET, and Halifax is part of the AT.

The Northern Super League Has Been Created

Tentatively named as Project 8 Sports, the name that dropped on that same day has changed the name officially to the Northern Super League. The name of “The Northern Super League” noticeable omits the “Women” in the league’s title. This is what Diana Matheson of TSN said about the move (source: Meaghen Johnson of TSN):

“I had lots of great conversations about that,” Matheson said. “Do we just own it, put it in there? Because, of course, it’s so important. We’re creating opportunities for women in this. But it felt more powerful without, and more inclusive that way.”

She also said this in the Ottawa 1200 TSN Radio to AJ And Graham about how the league’s name was created:

“We hired professional help. That was the key, believe me, we tried to come up with a lead name on our own and, and nothing nearly as good as the Northern Super League, I really liked it as well. We worked with an agency called Broken Heart love affair and we just told them what the project was about what Canadian soccer is about. We said we kind of live in this sweet spot between North American pro sport and global soccer. And they brought it to life. And I hope Canadians like it as much as we do. I think it found a way to say Canadian without saying Canada as many pro soccer leagues abroad don’t have the country name that title. I think it’s about soccer without saying soccer and then another the Northern Lights were the inspiration for the colors there. So yeah, I think I think it’s a pretty cool logo and a pretty cool brand.”

READ MORE: AFC Toronto City Team Is A Part Of The Project 8 League

It also shows where the league aims to be as a professional sports league. They feel like they can be competitive with other women’s leagues in the world as well as leagues within Canada as well. This is what Matheson said in the same Ottawa 1200 TSN Radio on Tuesday with AJ and Graham:

“I think it’s realistic that we can be a top five women’s professional soccer league over the next decade.”

Also, as one can see above, there are big plans with the NSL with a minimum salary of $50,000 and a total number of 25 regular season games.

Montreal Confirmed for the Northern Super League

The cities of both Montreal and Ottawa have both been confirmed as part of the league on Tuesday as well. This happened because of Quebec entrepreneurs, Isabèle Chevalier and Jean-François Crevier. This is what Ms. Chevalier said about getting involved with the potential Montreal team at the time (source: Olivier Tremblay of ICI Radio):

“It’s a social movement,” says Ms. Chevalier. “Yes, it’s women’s soccer, but there’s also a movement with that. When we embarked on the adventure, the hockey team had not yet been announced. Now you see the craze, and the timing is right.”

In Tremblay’s article, it was revealed that after consulting with a newspaper back in March 2023 that Jean-François Crevier rang his colleague on this idea of getting a potential Montreal team. Former Montreal Alouettes president Patrick Boivin helped them thanks to his experience in sports management and Amy Walsh, a former CanWNT player, provided her experience as a former athlete.

What was also revealed in the article was that Montreal will play in several venues, as they will not have a permanent home in the inaugural NSL season next year.

READ MORE: Canada’s First Professional Women’s League Announced

Ottawa Confirmed and What This Means for the NSL

There is also Ottawa, the capital city of Canada. Not much is known about Ottawa right now, but there has been speculation that Hokulani Limited (as mentioned by news aktuell), was set to own a NSL team for next year. However, it is unclear if that aim came to fruition and if they are in fact the ownership group of the Ottawa team.

This news also means a few things worth mentioning. First, Ottawa and Montreal being rewarded NSL teams means that both cities will have two professional women’s sports teams in their cities. Both their other pro women’s sports teams play in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) with both teams drawing well within their own cities. In addition to that, Toronto also has a PWHL team, meaning that all the PWHL Canadian markets now have a pro women’s soccer team.

Second, it means that the three Canadian MLS markets will all have a professional women’s soccer team, as Toronto and Vancouver have been already confirmed. Third, it means that all five of the top six Canadian cities by population now have a pro women’s soccer team according to Statistics Canada in 2022.

Also, according to this same data, Edmonton, which is ranked fifth overall in metro population, is the only big six metro population to not have a pro men’s and/or a pro women’s soccer team. Halifax, the other city in the league, ranks 12th in metro population size.

Finally, it shows a growing trend of sports leagues coming to both Montreal and Ottawa. The Ottawa Black Bears will be the nation’s capital entrant in the NLL, and the first time they had an NLL team since 2003. As for Greater Montreal, an exhibition game was played between the Toronto Rock and the New York Riptide (now the Ottawa Black Bears) at Place Bell in Laval, Quebec. There has also been rumours of a potential Montreal NLL team as seen in Adam Levi’s article for Inside Lacrosse.

What This All Means for Women’s Sports in Canada

READ MORE: Six Cities Plan To Start In Project 8 League Next Year

2024-26 will mark the new beginning of professional women’s sports in Canada. The PWHL got going first with six cities getting teams, with three of them being Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto. There is then the pro women’s soccer league coming up next year with the NSL.

This league will also likely mean participating in the CONCACAF W Champions Cup with the best leagues in Concacaf like the NWSL, Liga MX Femenil, and potentially also the USL Super League. There is then the Toronto WNBA team coming, which was confirmed by Shireen Ahmed of CBC Sports on May 10, 2024 and was officially announced by the Toronto WNBA ownership group on May 23, 2024.

It is remarkable to think that Montreal and Ottawa would get two pro women’s soccer teams in two years while Toronto will get three pro women’s sports teams in three years with the WNBA team starting play in 2026.

Note: Since the announcement, Calgary has revealed their team name and logo, as well as Halifax and Toronto. Also, Sportchek was announced as the fifth sponsor of the Northern Super League. The other four sponsors for the league are Canadian Tire, Door Dash, Air Canada, and CIBC.

Photo Credit: Northern Super League’s Facebook Account on May 28, 2024.

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