North American Pro Soccer 2019

[DG_ThenNowForever]

2 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

I'm sure the team and MLS could force the issue though.  

 

I'm sure the league would much prefer a team in Chicago proper rather than one in Bridgeview, and the team name is a fair trade if it's really coming to that.

[gosioux76]

38 minutes ago, Wings said:

 

I could definitely see backlash against dropping the Fire name because of the importance of who & what it represents. 

Of the early MLS names, I always felt the Fire worked well.  As a general proponent of more Euro-styled names, I'm OK with fire. It would be nice to see that market turn successful. 

[4_tattoos]

Whoa. If true, does that reignite the chances of that proposed 20K+ seat soccer stadium being built in Chicago? Just for the (rebranded) Fire instead of a USL club?

[JackieMoon]

I'm a huge FC Cincinnati fan, but their tv contract was a really dumb move. I can watch any MLS match I want on ESPN+ or Fox Sports, but the one I can't watch is my hometown team. 

 

Guess I'm going to have to rig up an antenna just so I can watch 64

[Kramerica Industries]

11 hours ago, dfwabel said:

Inter Milan and MLS look to be in a trademark battle.

 

 

 

 

There's only one team aside from Internazionale that anyone might think of when they hear "Inter", and that's SC Internacional from Porto Alegre, Brazil. If you're not from Brazil, and perhaps even if you are, Inter means the team from Italy. 

 

Which, I guess, still contradicts Internazionale's argument, to an extent, but if Inter Miami (who have, very specifically, used the city name alongside Inter, whereas the Italian club itself doesn't do that [it's the English-speaking world that does it]) really thinks anyone, even in the U.S., is going to associate the Inter brand with them at all, in really any capacity, they're mistaken. It's not going to work. Not even in South Florida, because if there's as vibrant a footballing culture as you may expect ('cuz, you know, Hispanics and football and stuff, right?), surely they know who the hell Internazionale and, thus, "Inter" is.

[Dilbert]

21 minutes ago, sohiosportsfreak said:

I'm a huge FC Cincinnati fan, but their tv contract was a really dumb move. I can watch any MLS match I want on ESPN+ or Fox Sports, but the one I can't watch is my hometown team. 

 

Guess I'm going to have to rig up an antenna just so I can watch 64

Yeah the Flo Sports deal was horrible for people in any viewing area. Columbus was not supposed to be blacked out on ESPN+ for FCC games but apparently they are according to some fans which makes no sense seeing as how that is the Crews market. Flo is a horrible quality, and way to expensive for the quality its putting out. Im guessing DC United fans have also had similar issues.

 

Funny side note with the Flo deal is when the two clubs (Cincinnati and DC) that use Flo meet for the first time, the game will be nationally televised and not on Flo.

[Gothamite]

Fortunately, that won’t be a problem for long, as MLS is reportedly moving over to a league-wide television contract in a season or two. 

[Digby]

Chicago Fire strikes me as arguably the single best brand in terms of recognizability and aesthetics from the early MLS years and I feel it would be a shame to lose that. But maybe it's been poisoned by years of being terrible out in the faraway suburbs. (Says the guy who's come around to a ground-up rebrand of the Revolution.) Also legitimately surprised they'd get out of that lease deal. It's weird that that first wave of soccer-specific stadiums was so needed at the time and now it's become an albatross for the league, albeit not quite on the scale of the original NASL's financial misdeeds (I hope not, anyway).

 

Also the Chicago women's team has already got the flag branding down perfectly, many times over. Too late!

[FiddySicks]

I kinda think MLS will do just about anything to move past the original naming structure the league had in place. I think it’s unnecessary, but when was the last time we had an expansion team/rebranding that used an actual official nickname? I think there are a few in charge here who are actually kind of embarrassed of the league’s early history, and they seem rather motivated to separate themselves from it. I get it to an extent, but I also think it should be embraced and celebrated more. 

[Sport]

Chicago Fire has one of my favorite brands in the league. It's too bad they've soured it in the local market with slapstick management and a stadium way out in the burbs. 

 

If they must rebrand they should follow the Crew route and tack an FC or SC onto the end of it and stick with the fire station badge. The Arizona Hotshots would be a good starting point. 

[Kramerica Industries]

I'll just say that, while it's certainly not the common naming structure over in England, there are teams like Queens Park Rangers, Bolton Wanderers, Wycombe Wanderers, Wolverhampton Wanderers (what the hell with "Wanderers"?) that, it would sure seem anyway, have a nickname used in their official team name, so much like when Brits give North Americans guff for use of the word "soccer" when it's a word they themselves invented, it's not like every MLS team must follow British (and, more broadly, European) name models, because even the Brits don't always follow them. 

 

Because it's almost as if there's more than one way of doing things...

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Wolverhampton Wanderers go by Wolves anyway, so the whole thing is screwed.

 

But the glut of "cities" and "united" will likely age pretty poorly. Or, maybe even not. Do nicknames really even matter?

[RichO]

1 hour ago, McCarthy said:

Chicago Fire has one of my favorite brands in the league. It's too bad they've soured it in the local market with slapstick management and a stadium way out in the burbs. 

 

If they must rebrand they should follow the Crew route and tack an FC or SC onto the end of it and stick with the fire station badge. The Arizona Hotshots would be a good starting point. 

What kills me most is it's not even "way out" Bridgeview is an inner-ring suburb. It's just the worst possible place they could have landed. Their temporary stint in Naperville was probably more accessible. Chicago fans can understand bad management, that location has been their biggest albatross.

 

[Brian in Boston]

13 hours ago, 4_tattoos said:

Whoa. If true, does that reignite the chances of that proposed 20K+ seat soccer stadium being built in Chicago? Just for the (rebranded) Fire instead of a USL club?

I wouldn't think so.

 

According to Chicago Alderman Brian Hopkins - he ran unopposed in the 2019 aldermanic elections and represents the ward in which the proposed stadium would have been sited as part of developer Sterling Bay's Lincoln Yards mixed-use project - a public survey found that 53% of respondents were opposed to the stadium's construction, 25% were undecided about the venue's inclusion in the development, and 23% supported its construction.

Further, Hopkins himself was skeptical about whether the traffic infrastructure within the Lincoln Park and Bucktown neighborhoods would be capable of supporting a 20,000-seat venue. As he told the Chicago Sun-Times back in January :

"There would have been many other events besides soccer matches. Concerts and other things. In order to justify the cost of building such a structure, it became clear that it would need to be used somewhat regularly. That just put an undue burden on the neighborhood. There didn't seem to be a way to solve that. 

And Sterling Bay didn't put up any sort of fight in the wake of Hopkins' rejection of the stadium component of the Lincoln Yards project. The company's spokeswoman, Sarah Hamilton, issued an almost immediate statement that said:

"While much of the feedback has been positive, Alderman Hopkins and residents have been very clear: they do not want a stadium. And we want to say, 'We heard you loud and clear.' We have removed the stadium and broken up the entertainment district, allowing for assorted smaller venues throughout Lincoln Yards where all independent music operators will have the opportunity to participate. We have also heard the desire for improved transit and infrastructure in the area, a desire we share."  

Subsequent to Hamilton's statement, Sterling Bay revised its plans by replacing the soccer stadium and entertainment district with a large park and low-rise buildings.

Bottom line? A Sterling Bay-built, 20,000-seat soccer stadium as part of the proposed Lincoln Yards development certainly seems dead. It is the victim of a textbook wielding of the Chicago political tradition dubbed "aldermanic privilege" - the unwritten, unspoken agreement by which aldermen grant one another the final say over such things as the issuing of permits, as well as the enforcement of building codes and zoning rules within their own wards.

Hopkins' constituents - both residents concerned about traffic congestion and the owners of independent music venues concerned about being squeezed out by a global entertainment entity - let him know that their votes were contingent upon being heard with regard to specific components of the Lincoln Yards development. Hopkins, in turn, wielded aldermanic privilege to pressure Sterling Bay into dropping the components his constituents opposed, while promising the development firm that he would champion the overall project.

 

[floydnimrod]

1 hour ago, DG_Now said:

But the glut of "cities" and "united" will likely age pretty poorly. Or, maybe even not. Do nicknames really even matter?

 

For a league whose fans love to go on and on about how *organic* their team and following is, the league also loves to just be a knockoff replica of what's happening in Europe, specifically England.

[Dilbert]

4 hours ago, McCarthy said:

Chicago Fire has one of my favorite brands in the league. It's too bad they've soured it in the local market with slapstick management and a stadium way out in the burbs. 

 

If they must rebrand they should follow the Crew route and tack an FC or SC onto the end of it and stick with the fire station badge. The Arizona Hotshots would be a good starting point. 

Technically they are already known as the Chicago Fire Soccer Club or Chicago Fire SC as their official team name. Its just not on the logo and no one really seems to use it and just call them the Chicago Fire. Does anyone really call the Crew Crew SC since they changed? For the most part all Ive heard is just Crew.

[MJWalker45]

38 minutes ago, Dilbert said:

Technically they are already known as the Chicago Fire Soccer Club or Chicago Fire SC as their official team name. Its just not on the logo and no one really seems to use it and just call them the Chicago Fire. Does anyone really call the Crew Crew SC since they changed? For the most part all Ive heard is just Crew.

MLS calls Columbus, Crew SC. SiriusXM announcers do as well when reading promos but in open discussion it depends who's speaking. 

[Brian in Boston]

The Fort Lauderdale City Commission has unanimously approved and signed-off on an interim agreement with Inter Miami CF's investor/operators that will allow the prospective Major League Soccer franchise to begin preliminary work at the 64-acre, city-owned Lockhart Stadium site while a permanent deal is negotiated.

Under the terms of the interim agreement, Inter Miami can demolish Lockhart Stadium and the adjacent Fort Lauderdale Stadium ballpark, salvage Lockhart Stadium bleachers where possible, conduct soil testing, assess environmental damage, and begin designing and planning the proposed soccer complex.

Inter Miami CF's plans for the site include the construction of an 18,000-seat, canopied stadium that will be the team's home field for its first two seasons in MLS. Following Inter Miami's move to the proposed Miami Freedom Park stadium on the site of the Melreese Country Club in Miami, the new Fort Lauderdale facility would become home to a USL League One club affiliated with the MLS side. Additionally, after Inter Miami's matches are moved to Miami-Date County, the Lockhart complex will remain the team's training hub, home to a 30,000-square foot facility that will include a gym, medical and rehab space, meeting rooms, dining facilities, and a parking garage. The training facility will be shared with the USL side and a youth soccer academy.

Amenities available to the public will include four regulation soccer fields that can also be used for other sports, a maintenance building to serve said fields, a running trail, public park space, a playground, a dog park, and room on which the city could build a community center.

David Beckham has wrecking ball ready for Lockhart Stadium        

[Gothamite]

3 hours ago, fnz said:

For a league whose fans love to go on and on about how *organic* their team and following is, the league also loves to just be a knockoff replica of what's happening in Europe, specifically England.

 

Never listen to anyone who uses the word "organic" to describe a business venture.  Ever.

[Red Wolf]

If anything, soccer snobs complain about MLS not being organic enough. No promotion and relegation and all that. These are usually the same people who will say things like, "this is the difference between a club and franchise" as if that's a real difference that affects fandom, ignoring that most of the European clubs referenced have existed for 100 years versus the oldest MLS franchises being 23 years old.