North American Pro Soccer 2017

[Sykotyk]

3 hours ago, Gothamite said:

I had family in Connecticut at the time, and remember the sense that the whole thing was an elaborate farce, and that only the governor wasn't in on the joke.  

 

Yeah, I know they weren't that serious, but had Connecticut ponied up 100% of the funds for a stadium, I can't believe they wouldn't have moved.

 

6 hours ago, Digby said:

@Sykotyk I say this as someone who grew up there and loves Providence dearly that it would never, ever happen. As far as I know Providence would be the smallest home market in the big sports minus maybe Green Bay. There's a reason it's been Boston or bust, because there's no sense in leaving Foxboro unless it's for the growth and legitimacy that would come with being a proper Boston team. Providence is fantastic and has a great soccer history, but it's a minor league town.

 

the infamous Hartford move, I think, ultimately ended up just being a leverage move against the Mass statehouse. I think the Pats would've screwed themselves real good if that actually came to pass.

 

Yes. It is a small city. But right now, Gillette is 28mi from Boston, and 25mi from Providence. 53mi from the urban core of Boston sounds bad, and it is, but given that the Revs (and virtually every other Boston-based team) has marketed themselves to the whole of New England, they might actually gain a fan base distinct from just being a 'Boston team'.

 

And looking over the DMAs, Providence is bigger than Buffalo and directly behind New Orleans and Memphis.  The other thing to remember is that Northeast DMAs cover much smaller territory than DMAs further out west. For instance, in MA, Boston/Manchester and Providence/New Bedford are two separate markets. Yet, out west, a span of 50 miles would probably easily be one market.  Cleveland-Akron-Canton is one market, Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne is one market, etc.

 

Though they would call Providence it's own market, it would still greatly influence the Boston market if a team were located there. Just as I'm sure Worcester, Springfield, Hartford, Concord, Manchester, Portland, and even Augusta would be huge draws for other Boston area teams yet each one being their own markets.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Orlando City Stadium looks gorgeous on TV. It also looks hot as hell in Orlando; they just showed a shot of the stadium where the only people sitting down (at halftime) where in the shaded areas. Yikes.

[HedleyLamarr]

1 hour ago, DG_Now said:

Orlando City Stadium looks gorgeous on TV. It also looks hot as hell in Orlando; they just showed a shot of the stadium where the only people sitting down (at halftime) where in the shaded areas. Yikes.

It's supposed to be in the mid-to-upper 80's in Atlanta tomorrow, and there's a 3pm game against DC United.  It's also supposed to be muggy as hell.  And we don't have the benefit of shade or any sort of roof at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

 

Already sounds uncomfortable.

[Cosmic]

1 hour ago, DG_Now said:

Orlando City Stadium looks gorgeous on TV. It also looks hot as hell in Orlando; they just showed a shot of the stadium where the only people sitting down (at halftime) where in the shaded areas. Yikes.

I don't know if it's true every day, but it's been horribly dry in Central Florida lately... people are saying online that the humidity has actually been tolerable. Could be nice.

[Berlin Wall]

Does the stadium have a standing section? I didn't know it was allowed in the MLS.

[StaatsBrett]

Wisconsin really needs a facility for soccer because the only stadium capable of fifa regulations is miller park now miller park is nice and stuff but it's a baseball stadium either camp Randall remove some of the side line seats and switch to what greenbay has for a field  or Lambeau field does the same by expanding the playing field and other miscellaneous things

[twi]

I heard the ESPN top play came from the Rowdies game last night. Neither here nor there but thought it was kinda neat to see it live. 

[Norva]

8 hours ago, Berlin Wall said:

Does the stadium have a standing section? I didn't know it was allowed in the MLS.

 

Yes, the supporters section is standing room only.

[Gothamite]

9 hours ago, Berlin Wall said:

Does the stadium have a standing section? I didn't know it was allowed in the MLS.

 

It's allowed - San Jose was the first to incorporate safe standing on a limited basis. Orlando has instituted it for their entire supporters section, which I expect to see on all new soccer stadiums going forward. 

[Gothamite]

Looks like the Rowdies ballot measure has passed overwhelmingly.  Unofficial results are 87% to 13%, the Rowdies get their lease and can develop the stadium for MLS.  If they get an expansion slot. 

 

http://enr.votepinellas.com/FL/Pinellas/68824/186348/en/summary.html

 

 

[Burmy]

5 hours ago, Gothamite said:

Looks like the Rowdies ballot measure has passed overwhelmingly.  Unofficial results are 87% to 13%, the Rowdies get their lease and can develop the stadium for MLS.  If they get an expansion slot. 

 

http://enr.votepinellas.com/FL/Pinellas/68824/186348/en/summary.html

 

 

With THIS kind of results, a solid fanbase, and exactly $0.00 in taxpayer money going towards this project...at this point, the MLS would be crazy NOT to let the Rowdies in.

[dfwabel]

45 minutes ago, MBurmy said:

With THIS kind of results, a solid fanbase, and exactly $0.00 in taxpayer money going towards this project...at this point, the MLS would be crazy NOT to let the Rowdies in.

Edwards' assets could be frozen

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/st-pete-entrepreneur-bill-edwards-dogged-by-lawsuit-seeking-to-freeze/2311321

[Gothamite]

Yeah, I don't think Tampa Bay is exactly a slam-dunk.  Even with this one vote.  

 

And even without the cloud over Edwards, there are still several other strong bids. But this does help.  

[Brian in Boston]

17 hours ago, Gothamite said:

Unofficial results are 87% to 13%, the Rowdies get their lease and can develop the stadium for MLS.

While garnering 87% of the votes cast is impressive, it isn't quite as awe-inspiring when one realizes that less than 17% of active registered voters in St. Petersburg actually bothered to head to the polls for this referendum. Still, a win is a win.

Further, yesterday's referendum simply granted the St. Petersburg City Council the authority to negotiate a lease of longer than 5 years for the Tampa Bay Rowdies' use of the city-owned Al Lang Stadium site. To the best of my knowledge, negotiations regarding the details of such a lease have yet to begin. That process starts now... though, as others have pointed out, Tampa Bay Rowdies owner Bill Edwards has other - ahem - matters of import to address.     

[TBGKon]

The vote in St Pete for the Rowdies was a low risk high reward vote. 

 

17% of active voters voted but lets be honest, this election was setup very quickly and not during a normal election cycle, so its tough to have the word get out.

[dfwabel]

1 hour ago, AstroBull21 said:

The vote in St Pete for the Rowdies was a low risk high reward vote. 

 

17% of active voters voted but lets be honest, this election was setup very quickly and not during a normal election cycle, so its tough to have the word get out.

Edwards also paid for the election

[Gothamite]

18 minutes ago, Brian in Boston said:

Tampa Bay Rowdies owner Bill Edwards has other - ahem - matters of import to address.     

 

Yep.  Which could tilt the balance away from the Rowdies and on to one of the other strong bids.

 

I can't think of another expansion round in any sport that had this many ownership groups openly competing for spots.

[Sykotyk]

On 5/3/2017 at 2:11 PM, Gothamite said:

 

Yep.  Which could tilt the balance away from the Rowdies and on to one of the other strong bids.

 

I can't think of another expansion round in any sport that had this many ownership groups openly competing for spots.

 

This really is unprecedented. Even the NFL in the 90s and the NHL/NBA mega 90s expansions didn't have a one-time thing like this. Plus, this looks like it could be the last four for quite a while whichever teams get in.

 

The closest, would probably be the NHL when they added Columbus, Atlanta, Nashville, and Minnesota. But, I don't remember how many other markets were truly viable. Since Canada is in play for MLS, it opens up that many more markets (similar to NHL), and means that where we are now in terms of teams, there's still a lot of 'big markets' still untapped.

 

Baltimore, Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Raleigh/Charlotte (pick one), Miami, Tampa/St. Pete, New Orleans, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, St. Louis, San Antonio, San Diego, and Phoenix when most people think of sports team locations. Plus there's still the extant possibility of Canadian cities such as Ottawa, or Edmonton if things really go right that are markets that might be able to maintain major league teams.

[Gothamite]

I think the Canadian cities are pretty much off the table if the Canadian Premier League gets going.  But you're right - there are a lot of potential American cities that could join MLS in the future.  

 

A decade from now I think MLS will be closer to 40 teams than to 28. 

[2001mark]

TFC's win over the Sounders I hope is seen as the focal turning point towards another Finals run. 

All or nothing.