North American Pro Soccer 2018

[Red Wolf]

1 minute ago, Crabcake47 said:

I think Baltimore could use an MLS team. 

 

entire world laughs

The Baltimore MLS Colts. Let's make it happen!

[Crabcake]

5 minutes ago, Red Wolf said:

The Baltimore MLS Colts. Let's make it happen!

Only two rules: 

 

1. No Irsays

2. No Mayflowers 

[Gothamite]

2 hours ago, 4_tattoos said:

You guys are talking about 40 club deep MLS. Exactly which cities are you guys imagining come into the fold to get to 40 clubs? My cut off for all thing North American pro sports in 32 teams, thank you NFL.

 

There’s a good number of major-league cities not yet represented in MLS: Baltimore, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Cleveland, Detroit, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, Indianapolis, Phoenix, St. Louis, San Diego.  Many of which have deep soccer roots.  Austin might yet be a good choice, if they can keep their ing hands off of the Crew.  And as we’ve seen in both New York and LA, local rivals can boost both teams, growing the market rather than splitting it.  The Quakes could probably benefit from a Bay Area derby, as might the Fire.  Maybe Miami/Orlando/Tampa Bay could be the Cascadia of the Southeast. 

 

The 32-team cutoff is pointless and arbitrary.  Works for the NFL only because two conferences of four four-team divisions works for the NFL schedulers.  That doesn’t have any relevance for soccer. 

[Dilbert]

This article on reddit just recently lined out who could support a MLS, USL Championship, or USL League One club based on metropolitan population. Its rather interesting to see that of the 283 United States metropolitan areas listed only 35 would qualify for MLS. Indianapolis, Cleveland, Austin, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Charlotte, Baltimore, St Louis, Tampa, San Diego, San Bernardino, San Francisco, Phoenix as well as the incoming cities of Cincinnati and Miami would qualify. Meanwhile Salt Lake and the incoming Nashville club would be too small for MLS.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/USLPRO/comments/9ivrk3/these_are_the_283_metropolitan_areas_in_the/

[Gothamite]

21 minutes ago, Dilbert said:

This article on reddit 

 

Yeah, that’s where you went wrong.  

 

The USSF Professional Standards require that in the first division, ”at least 75 percent of the league’s teams must play in metropolitan markets of at least 1,000,000 persons.”  Not two million, as your author claims.  Nashville and Salt Lake City are both comfortably over the 1M mark.  And even if they weren’t, the “75%” portion of the requirement means that a 40-team league could afford to have ten clubs under that 1M threshold.

 

Whoever wrote that reddit piece was grossly misinformed. But hey, Reddit. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

 40-team MLS would clearly be pulling markets from USL, which means the USL lower divisions would need to grow new markets.

 

I don't see how any of that would be a bad thing.

[Red Wolf]

19 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

 40-team MLS would clearly be pulling markets from USL, which means the USL lower divisions would need to grow new markets.

 

I don't see how any of that would be a bad thing.

LITTLE ROCK

[tBBP]

6 hours ago, Red Wolf said:

LITTLE ROCK

This is a total aside, but...Little Rock (as a city) has so much potential to be so much more than what it is at current, to the point that it baffles me how it isn't. (But, I know... civic leadership obviously keeps dropping the ball, etc.)

 

Since the latter half of 2016, I've been making routine trips out there, about every 3-4 weeks (well, both the Jonesboro and Little Rock metros and points between, with most of my work occuring in Little Rock proper), with the goal (albeit admittedly a personal mission) of seeding the ground for my company to either greenfield or brownfield a new LBM operation out there. The market is ripe for it, from what I can discern. But in all that studying and eyeball observing I've been doing, it's like the west side done stole all the shine, almost like how NWA tends to steal shine from LR. I have seen recent projects start up lately, and there seems to be some kind of business/talent pipeline from NY/NJ emerging as well. Why is beyond me, I guess other than to escape the high cost of living out that way--the same way so many from the West coast have found and continue to find their way here into Nashville and particularly Indianapolis--a city I think LR could probably do well to study some, as it's done and is doing a pretty swell job of reinventing itself right now, and just in the time since I left there to now, I've seen quite the spike in commerce and through economy up there, which helps everyone out. I see the same if not more potential for LR, if the right people with the right kind of hearts emerge into the right positions to really press in earnest to move that city forward.

 

 

None of that is an endorsement for MLS, however. Just wanna make that clear.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

7 hours ago, Red Wolf said:

LITTLE ROCK

 

My point is that Chicago 2, Sacramento, St. Louis and whatever else moving up to a 40-team MLS means that Little Rock can join USL III. And the purpose of USL III is not to grease the skids for pro/rel from USL to MLS, but instead to launch pro soccer teams in different markets that can hopefully support them.

 

Unless there's more to this Little Rock story I'm not aware of?

[Red Wolf]

Just now, DG_Now said:

 

My point is that Chicago 2, Sacramento, St. Louis and whatever else moving up to a 40-team MLS means that Little Rock can join USL III. And the purpose of USL III is not to grease the skids for pro/rel from USL to MLS, but instead to launch pro soccer teams in different markets that can hopefully support them.

 

Unless there's more to this Little Rock story I'm not aware of?

100% no. I'm just obnoxious.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

This NYRB/ATLUTD game on ESPN is pretty good. NYRB had a penalty called off and a goal ruled offsides, but just converted a penalty off a handball in the box.

 

I enjoy everything about Red Bull -- and by everything I mean their best-in-the-US soccer stadium, BWP, and their consistency -- and if it can't be Seattle, I'd be fine with them winning MLS Cup. They're a well-run franchise that doesn't compromise on quality and their fans deserve trophies.

[Camden Crazy]

On 9/29/2018 at 10:58 PM, Crabcake47 said:

I think Baltimore could use an MLS team. 

 

entire world laughs

 

As someone trying to relocate to the Baltimore area who doesn’t really watch football anymore, please baby jeebus let this happen.

[Crabcake]

14 minutes ago, Camden Crazy said:

 

As someone trying to relocate to the Baltimore area who doesn’t really watch football anymore, please baby jeebus let this happen.

Oh yeah, I’d love this so much. It’d be great to have another pro team in Baltimore, but it wouldn’t happen for a long time. 

 

IIRC a big part of the expansion process is a SSS. As of now a Baltimore MLS team could only play at M&T Bank Stadium cause if they haven’t built an arena for an NHL or NBA team, they sure as heck aren’t building an SSS. Another thing is that for a league that’s not that big right now, MLS might not feel like it needs another team between D.C., Philly, and New York. 

 

But yeah, I’d love to see this happen. To be able to go to soccer games as easily as I go to baseball games would be awesome, as I’m only like a 30 minute drive from the city. 

[Brian in Boston]

The Tampa Bay Times is reporting that Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays are set to buy the United Soccer League's Tampa Bay Rowdies from businessman Bill Edwards. 

Tampa Bay Rays to purchase Rowdies soccer club

[MJWalker45]

4 hours ago, Brian in Boston said:

The Tampa Bay Times is reporting that Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays are set to buy the United Soccer League's Tampa Bay Rowdies from businessman Bill Edwards. 

Tampa Bay Rays to purchase Rowdies soccer club

Would they be looking to build near their stadium too?

[Gothamite]

Edwards has a very good plan to renovate Al Lang already.  I understand he has health problems that may be necessitating the sale. 

[Gothamite]

10 hours ago, Crabcake47 said:

IIRC a big part of the expansion process is a SSS. As of now a Baltimore MLS team could only play at M&T Bank Stadium cause if they haven’t built an arena for an NHL or NBA team, they sure as heck aren’t building an SSS.

 

That’s the would-be ownership group responsibility to pay for.   Cities shouldn’t be shelling out any money for these.

 

If a Baltimore MLS team shared ownership with the Ravens, then the football stadium becomes an option.  If not, then they’d need their own stadium plan.  Surely that isn’t impossible. 

[TBGKon]

5 hours ago, Brian in Boston said:

The Tampa Bay Times is reporting that Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays are set to buy the United Soccer League's Tampa Bay Rowdies from businessman Bill Edwards. 

Tampa Bay Rays to purchase Rowdies soccer club

Very interesting to see where this goes....

[Brian in Boston]

On 10/1/2018 at 8:54 PM, AstroBull21 said:

Very interesting to see where this goes....

 

Well, here is what we know in the wake of this morning's press conference announcing the Tampa Bay Rays' purchase of the Rowdies.

* Bill Edwards, former owner of the United Soccer League's Tampa Bay Rowdies, said he was selling the team because it's time he "moved on".

* According to Matt Silverman, Tampa Bay Rays president, the USL team "will be operated as a separate organization" from the Major League Baseball franchise. Silverman went so far as to say that the two teams "[r]emaining separate is integral".

* Silverman also said that moving the Rowdies to Major League Soccer is not a top priority for ownership. "It's not something we categorically rule out, but it's not a part of our plans," he said. "We're very happy with the Rowdies' standing in the United Soccer League. We think it's a great fit for the team and the venue we play in. We made this decision that we are going to be in the USL for a long time."  

* The sale won't become official until October 11th, at the earliest. This is because the St. Petersburg City Council next meets on that date, and the council must approve the deal due to the fact that the Rowdies' lease to play at the city-owned Al Lang Stadium must be reauthorized.

* The Rowdies' existing agreement with the City of St. Petersburg stipulates that only the soccer team can play at Al Lang Stadium for the duration of the current lease, which runs through the end of November 2020. That said, Edwards indicated that his sales agreement with the Rays includes a clause that calls for the Rowdies to play at Al Lang Stadium "for at least five years".      

* Edwards' event company, Big 3 Entertainment, will continue to produce concerts at Al Lang Stadium.

Bill Edwards: Rowdies will stay in St. Petersburg 'for at least five years' under deal with Rays

Meanwhile, with regard to the Rowdies continuing to seek the Major League Soccer expansion opportunity that Edwards had set his sights on, Ian Thomas of Sports Business Journal has tweeted, "I've had multiple sources tell me that the Rays ownership group is not interested in further pursuing the spot."

Ian Thomas - Twitter - 7:56 AM - 2 Oct 2018  

[Dilbert]

Some minor soccer news over the past couple of days

 

El Paso USL Championship club unveils branding as El Paso Locomotive FC

 

Although not officially unveiled yet. USL League One will have a club in Riverside, California that will be partially owned and backed by AS Roma for 2019.

 

Yesterday FC Cincinnati talked about their plans of launching their development academy, they mentioned that they plan on applying for a NWSL womens soccer club to compete in their new stadium in a few years. FC Cincinnati hosted the US womens national team last year against New Zealand in front of 30,596 at Nippert Stadium. Many of them cheering on a fan favorite Rose Lavelle, who is from Cincinnati. Many of the FC Cincinnati supporters have said that they would love to have a NWSL alongside the mens club, so I think it would definitely be supported in Cincinnati.