North American Pro Soccer 2018

[FiddySicks]

I think I'm gonna be sick. 

[Gothamite]

The Season Openers have been announced:

 

 

 

 

Interesting for NYC fans - we just traded our first-ever draft pick Khiry Shelton to Kansas City for Saad Abdul-Salaam.  And now we'll be facing them in the first match.  Good drama.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

LAFC and Seattle swap home and homes. Not sure if they're trying to force a rivalry, but that's pretty fun.

[4_tattoos]

So DC United has to find a temporary home venue until Audi Field is ready & get a new TV deal. Didn't American Sports Network shut down? DCU was in the first year of a deal with ASN this past season before Sinclair gave it the axe.

[tBBP]

On 12/15/2017 at 1:10 PM, MBurmy said:

The announcements are coming by year's end...plus they'll be done IN the winning cities.

So SRFC posts a press release or sends you an e-mail inviting you to a "Major Announcement," you'll know exactly what it's for.

 

Welp--this came through my news feed earlier... (copy/pasted)

 

Quote

 

You are invited to attend a special event Wednesday where MLS2Nashville and guests will make a significant announcement about the future of soccer in Nashville.

 

WHO:
John R. Ingram, Nashville Soccer Holdings, LLC
Don Garber, Commissioner of Major League Soccer
Mayor Megan Barry
Governor Bill Haslam
 
WHEN: Wednesday, December 20, 2017 at 4pm
 
WHERE: Country Music Hall of Fame, 222 5th Ave. South 
 
Enter on the 5th Ave. Entrance, and follow the signs to the event.

 

 

For the record, I 100% saw this coming. This really sucks for whichever other city gets left out. But at the end of the day, $$$ talks--and ultimately, I know that's what tipped the scales in Nashville's favor.

 

Also...contained within that story was also this, via Sports Illustrated...

 

 

MLS Announces Nashville Event Where it's Expected to Accept Expansion Bid

Major League Soccer is coming to the music city.

 

The league all but confirmed Tuesday morning that the Nashville bid fronted by local billionaire John Ingram and supported by the Wilf brothers, who own the Minnesota Vikings, has been accepted. MLS commissioner Don Garber will join Ingram, Tennessee governor Bill Haslam and Nashville mayor Megan Barry at an event Wednesday afternoon at the Country Music Hall of Fame, where they’ll announce the city’s entry.

 

Ingram and the city plan to build a 27,500-seat, $250 million stadium at the Fairgrounds Nashville site just south of downtown. Their bid was considered a long shot when it was unveiled in January.

 

“I think it’s fair to say we’re an underdog,” Ingram told SI.com at the time.

 

But Nashville’s cultural appeal, Ingram’s wealth, the public-private stadium partnership (which includes 10 acres for mixed-use development adjacent to the arena) and stumbles by early expansion favorites combined to leave Ingram as the clear front-runner as MLS owners met last week. The league intended to name two teams this month, but Nashville is the only confirmed expansion entrant. That’s an indication of the strength of its bid, as well as a few remaining questions surrounding the other three finalists—Cincinnati, Detroit and Sacramento.

 

As the league continues to evaluate those three, it’s possible a decision and/or announcement could be delayed until after the holidays.

 

As of Tuesday, it was unclear when Nashville’s MLS club will begin play. The league originally scheduled the two teams named this month to kick off in 2020. They’d be clubs No. 25 and 26, joining after David Beckham’s Miami outfit and Los Angeles FC entered as members 23 and 24. But only the latter is ready. Coach Bob Bradley’s LAFC will kick off in March and then open Banc of California Stadium on April 29 against Seattle. The Miami project has taken far longer than anticipated. While this month’s recruitment of investors Jorge and Jose Mas has solidified the ownership group, a stadium construction timeline and MLS entry date are impossible to peg.

 

So MLS will have just 23 teams next season. It prefers an even number, and the quickest way to accomplish that would be to ask an expansion side—for now, that’s Nashville—to start a year early. Nashville SC will launch its USL team in 2018, so a technical infrastructure will be in place. Could it spend a year in the second tier then play a 2019 MLS slate at a temporary venue? That’s a question the league may ask in the coming days.

 

That might also give Cincinnati, Detroit or Sacramento a longer runway. All have their obvious positives, but none submitted a bid as complete as Nashville’s.

 

Detroit is a top 15 media market, and its bid is backed by multi-billionaire NBA owners Dan Gilbert and Tom Gores. But MLS was hoping they’d follow through on a potential soccer stadium complex in downtown Detroit, and their decision to partner with the Ford family and play at the Detroit Lions’ Ford Field has been received with less enthusiasm.

 

Cincinnati is a smaller market with a large, rabid fanbase and wealthy investors in Carl Lindner III and Scott Farmer. But among FC Cincinnati’s three potential stadium locations, the one that’s furthest along—Oakley—may be the least attractive to the league. MLS might want to gauge the probability of FCC nailing down a proposed site in the city’s West End neighborhood, which is much closer to downtown—before making a decision.

 

Sacramento Republic has been in the chase the longest (since 2014). It has an established fan base and brand and a strong stadium plan. Lead investor Kevin Nagle, however, doesn’t boast the financial heft of his competitors. While the late entry of multi-billionaire Meg Whitman shored up Republic’s ownership group, there still may be questions concerning the level of her participation and the group’s long-term financial viability.

 

MLS very well could decide sooner than later, but there are mechanisms in place that could give the board of governors a bit more time to ensure it makes the best call. Meanwhile, Nashville has met the league’s criteria and will be able to celebrate its once-unlikely triumph on Wednesday.

[dfwabel]

1 hour ago, 4_tattoos said:

So DC United has to find a temporary home venue until Audi Field is ready & get a new TV deal. Didn't American Sports Network shut down? DCU was in the first year of a deal with ASN this past season before Sinclair gave it the axe.

Sinclair turned their fully owned ASN into their current partnership with Campus Insiders and 120Sports called Stadium.  It rebranded their OTA digital ASN stations as Stadium in August.

[4_tattoos]

2 hours ago, dfwabel said:

Sinclair turned their fully owned ASN into their current partnership with Campus Insiders and 120Sports called Stadium.  It rebranded their OTA digital ASN stations as Stadium in August.

Okay well regional DC United games aired on the local ABC station here as well as a local cable network (both owned by Sinclair) last season. Guess that will remain the same just under Stadium instead of ASN.

[Sport]

Nashville getting the first bid means somebody's gonna get hosed. I'm kind of hoping it's Sacramento's bid this time around because I'd feel terrible for them to get stuffed again and who knows who will be more prepared with a stronger bid in the next round of expansion. The Nashville bid has me nonplussed because it's basically telling Sacramento and Cincinnati that their soccer support these past few years didn't really matter all that much. Nashville could turn out to be Atlanta, and I'm hoping it is, but it could also be Dallas. Why not go with the two markets who you know will be Atlanta? Also, there's no fanbase in Nashville to spurn so rejecting them wouldn't come at a high cost to potential fans, but you leave out Cincinnati and Sacramento and you're turning down actual, living, breathing soccer fans who would've been MLS merch/ticket/TV package buyers. I'm half expecting Detroit to get the other bid because Dan Gilbert. 

I can go either way for Cincinnati's bid at this point. I'm growing more disheartened with MLS every day I read about this expansion process and with what they've done to the Crew. I want my city to get it because it'd be more fun to have a team than not, but it's also not essential. 

[Wings]

So the SRFC ownership group isn't uber rich enough for MLS.

[TBGKon]

Nashville has always been a little hub of support for the US national team, as Im pretty sure that any qualifiers and friendlies played there seem to have solid support and fanbase.

[tBBP]

20 hours ago, Wings said:

So the _________ ownership group isn't uber rich enough for MLS.

 

That's essentially what I see is going on. I'm convinced that's what pushed Nashville's bid to the forefront--well that and Nashville having all its other ducks in a row.

 

...Either way, I'm NOT looking forward to the dumbness that will ensue from the coming stadium construction and the inevitable traffic snarl that's going to come with it (even more than what we already have to put up with), on top of all the other proposed public works projects on the docket and the 80-100 people per day that keep moving up in here (and their cars adding to an already ridiculous traffic problem) and all the big-city attractions Nashville keeps putting up and advertising to the world with nowhere near the infrastructure to support it all and--like I said I'm just glad I live up north of town, away from all that mess. (And if not for the fact I work about a mile outside the downtown loop I'd probably just stay away from down there altogether. ?)

[4_tattoos]

NYCFC lost a bid to build a stadium in Belmont Park to the NY Islanders. Any other potential sites for them?

[Gothamite]

21 minutes ago, 4_tattoos said:

NYCFC lost a bid to build a stadium in Belmont Park to the NY Islanders. Any other potential sites for them?

 

One minor correction - NYCFC deliberately tanked its bid.  There isn’t anyone who thought that they wanted that site, or would have built there had they gotten it. 

 

The general consensus is that this was their introduction to Empire State Development, to show that they have grand plans and the means to fund them. Now they’ve laid some ground work for the next bid, established some relationships and hopefully made a favorable impression.  Cynics have also suggested that ESD encouraged them to bid so that the Islanders wouldn’t get it by default, but even if that’s true it helps establish a relationship between the club and the state agency, which is itself an objective good. 

 

But Belmont was never a possibility.  If NYCFC builds out of the five boroughs, and therefore off the subway line, it would be a clear and unmitigated disaster for them. They could use that land for training, or academy space, or virtually anything except a stadium. 

 

Now, as to where they are seriously considering, there are three sites they are looking at right now, reportedly in the Bronx and Queens.  But they will not say anything else until they absolutely have to, be it part of a public bidding process like this or just sending out invitations to the groundbreaking. 

[dfwabel]

The eight finalists for USSF president.

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2017/12/20/16/12/20171220-news-official-slate-of-candidates-confirmed-for-2018-us-soccer-presidential-election

 

 

Paul Caligiuri

Kathy Carter

Carlos Cordeiro

Steve Gans

Kyle Martino

Hope Solo

Michael Winograd

Eric Wynalda

 

Bio link: https://www.ussoccer.com/about/governance/2018-us-soccer-president-candidates

[FiddySicks]

23 hours ago, McCarthy said:

Nashville getting the first bid means somebody's gonna get hosed. I'm kind of hoping it's Sacramento's bid this time around because I'd feel terrible for them to get stuffed again and who knows who will be more prepared with a stronger bid in the next round of expansion. The Nashville bid has me nonplussed because it's basically telling Sacramento and Cincinnati that their soccer support these past few years didn't really matter all that much. Nashville could turn out to be Atlanta, and I'm hoping it is, but it could also be Dallas. Why not go with the two markets who you know will be Atlanta? Also, there's no fanbase in Nashville to spurn so rejecting them wouldn't come at a high cost to potential fans, but you leave out Cincinnati and Sacramento and you're turning down actual, living, breathing soccer fans who would've been MLS merch/ticket/TV package buyers. I'm half expecting Detroit to get the other bid because Dan Gilbert. 

I can go either way for Cincinnati's bid at this point. I'm growing more disheartened with MLS every day I read about this expansion process and with what they've done to the Crew. I want my city to get it because it'd be more fun to have a team than not, but it's also not essential. 

 

MLS keeps talking about "getting this round right" but they're precariously close to this being another disaster. If nothing else, it's been a total pissoff to a LOT of fans. 

[Digby]

No decisions on the next expansion team/s until sometime next year. Sounds like Sacramento still hasn't met MLS's ownership requirements.

 

https://www.si.com/soccer/2017/12/21/mls-expansion-timeline-don-garber-cincinnati-detroit-sacramento

 

Seems unfair to everyone who's built that club up, but charitably I can sympathize with MLS if the goal is to avoid another small-timer like Precourt getting into the club.

[tp49]

According to local media in Sacramento, the issue with the Sacramento is money.  It appears Meg Whitman and her husband pulled out of the group of investors and it is unknown whether the group was in trouble with her in the picture or not.  From a press conference earlier today Kevin Nagle and Mayor Steinberg said the amount needed to satisfy MLS was "significant" but they are hoping for more time to get things done.  

 

So, if you're a billionaire and want to be lead investor in an MLS expansion franchise, give SRFC a call.

[Breakwood]

Bigger implosion; FC Dallas or Sacramento's MLS bid?

[Nyk33]

I honestly don't know if I feel worse for San Antonio or Sacramento as far as MLS expansion bids go....

[GDAWG]

10 hours ago, Breakwood said:

Bigger implosion; FC Dallas or Sacramento's MLS bid?

 

Living in Dallas, I can say that FC Dallas is rarely mentioned.  When they are, it's usually because their stadium is being used for something else, like the Frisco Bowl College Football Game.  Sometimes, they will show highlights but the brunt of the sports coverage in Dallas is devoted to a segment to one of the big four.