North American Pro Soccer 2019

[Digby]

1 hour ago, Camden Crazy said:

 

 

....in your opinion, bruh.

 

People are allowed to enjoy gambling, drinking, and legal weed if they want to.  Sorry.

 

You can do all those things in more states than not, at this point. 

 

Aside from the Raiders, who are uniquely well-suited as a destination-vacation team, I think there are valid concerns as to the long-term viability of Vegas as a sports market for economic and climate and target-market reasons. Has nothing to do with puritanical thoughts.

[Digby]

18 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

So you've taken the job as GM and head coach but you're not sure you'll be coaching on Saturday? Bruce Arena, everybody!!

From ESPN:

http://www.espn.com/soccer/club/new-england-revolution/189/blog/post/3863865/new-england-is-playing-catch-up-after-being-left-behind-by-the-growth-of-mls

"Tuesday was the most recent demarcation line for the New England Revolution. That day's practice session was Bruce Arena's first since being named sporting director and manager on May 13, although when he'll coach in an actual game is still to be determined.

"I'm about 1 percent of the way there in this project," Arena told reporters on Tuesday. "It's a lot to learn, a lot of things to evaluate. I've patiently tried to get a better feel for things here. I'm getting there, but it's going to take some time.

"Will I be on the field [on Sunday against the LA Galaxy]? I don't know yet. If I think I'm going to be a distraction to the team, I won't do it."

 

WTF!?!?!?!?!?

 

Follow  on:

"Yet Arena's hiring, at least in the short term, was intended to be just that: a massive distraction, be it from a team that has struggled on the field all the way through an organization that hasn't kept pace with the rest of MLS.

The task Arena is undertaking is enormous. Sure, the Revs recorded a 1-0-2 record under interim manager Mike Lapper, but they're still stuck in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, four points out of the seventh and final playoff spot. Is a playoff spot still achievable? Thanks to a postseason format that is even more forgiving this year, of course it is, but it will require more than just a new coach bounce".

 

The Revs are going to be in a weird lame-duck phase for the entire season as long as Arena has to deal with this "first time playing Football Manager" assemblage of a roster; this is coaching-timeline shrug is bizarre as heck but also refreshingly explicit about it.

 

I still think it would make more sense for Arena to be sporting director only, and let one of his proteges handle the on-pitch managing. I'll scapegoat the Krafts' payroll for that decision.

[Camden Crazy]

12 hours ago, Bucfan56 said:

 

Yes. I’m one of those people. But you know what else people also enjoy? Having an abundance of clean water. 

I don’t drink water I’m more of a Pepsi guy

[GDAWG]

12 hours ago, Digby said:

 

You can do all those things in more states than not, at this point. 

 

Aside from the Raiders, who are uniquely well-suited as a destination-vacation team, I think there are valid concerns as to the long-term viability of Vegas as a sports market for economic and climate and target-market reasons. Has nothing to do with puritanical thoughts.

 

Las Vegas is becoming a major league city too fast.  They are not content with one team, they want all 4 plus MLS and they are doing it at a faster pace than most other major league cities.  It took Dallas 3 decades to get all four major league teams plus MLS. 

[Red Wolf]

13 hours ago, Bucfan56 said:

 

Yes. I’m one of those people. But you know what else people also enjoy? Having an abundance of clean water. 

 

Little Rock to MLS confirmed!

[Dilbert]

Ugh. FC Cincinnati just looks more than terrible. First seven minutes of the game on TV and on stream was missed due to technical difficulties and the tv channel showed Elementary during the outage. At this point I would have rather just watched Elementary.

[Brian in Boston]

On 5/29/2019 at 2:56 PM, GDAWG said:

 

 

I was back east attending a wedding on Friday evening. Amongst the other guests at the nuptials was a friend who is an executive with a financial management firm in Boston. He and I got to talking about soccer (we met while playing on a team in a men's league in Boston) and the MLS-to-Vegas topic came up.

 

According to what my friend has heard, the impetus behind this latest effort to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to "Sin City" is being spearheaded by Seth Klarman, the head of the Baupost Group, a Boston-based hedge fund. Klarman is bullish on the league's prospects. He's apparently ready to step-up as the key figure in an effort to build a 60-some-odd acre mixed-use development surrounding the site of Cashman Field, current home to the Las Vegas Lights of the USL Championship. As part of the plan, Baupost Group would use its considerable financial assets to help bankroll the construction of a 25,000-seat domed stadium to replace Cashman, along with the building of apartments, condominiums, and hotels on surrounding parcels.

Apparently, the hope is that the Las Vegas City Council is going to meet this coming Wednesday and vote to grant city leadership the right to enter into an exclusive 6-month negotiating agreement with Renaissance Companies, a firm representing Baupost Group on the project. My friend said that he's heard that Klarman is prepared to formally notify MLS of his interest in securing an expansion franchise as soon as the city council approves the negotiating agreement. Then, during the 6-month negotiating period, the parameters of a formal development agreement would be hashed out. Once the development agreement is formally entered into, Klarman would purchase Las Vegas Lights FC from the team's current owner, Brett Lashbrook.  

Frankly, I dont know that Las Vegas will successfully support NHL, NFL, and MLS franchises long-term, but this guy Baupost certainly seems intent on having a Major League Soccer side join the pro sports mix in the city.

[GDAWG]

14 minutes ago, Brian in Boston said:

 

I was back east attending a wedding on Friday evening. Amongst the other guests at the nuptials was a friend who is an executive with a financial management firm in Boston. He and I got to talking about soccer (we met while playing on a team in a men's league in Boston) and the MLS-to-Vegas topic came up.

 

According to what my friend has heard, the impetus behind this latest effort to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to "Sin City" is being spearheaded by Seth Klarman, the head of the Baupost Group, a Boston-based hedge fund. Klarman is bullish on the league's prospects. He's apparently ready to step-up as the key figure in an effort to build a 60-some-odd acre mixed-use development surrounding the site of Cashman Field, current home to the Las Vegas Lights of the USL Championship. As part of the plan, Baupost Group would use its considerable financial assets to help bankroll the construction of a 25,000-seat domed stadium to replace Cashman, along with the building of apartments, condominiums, and hotels on surrounding parcels.

Apparently, the hope is that the Las Vegas City Council is going to meet this coming Wednesday and vote to grant city leadership the right to enter into an exclusive 6-month negotiating agreement with Renaissance Companies, a firm representing Baupost Group on the project. My friend said that he's heard that Klarman is prepared to formally notify MLS of his interest in securing an expansion franchise as soon as the city council approves the negotiating agreement. Then, during the 6-month negotiating period, the parameters of a formal development agreement would be hashed out. Once the development agreement is formally entered into, Klarman would purchase Las Vegas Lights FC from the team's current owner, Brett Lashbrook.  

Frankly, I dont know that Las Vegas will successfully support NHL, NFL, and MLS franchises long-term, but this guy Baupost certainly seems intent on having a Major League Soccer side join the pro sports mix in the city.

 

So in less than a decade, Las Vegas is going to have three major league teams? 

[MJWalker45]

3 hours ago, Brian in Boston said:

 

I was back east attending a wedding on Friday evening. Amongst the other guests at the nuptials was a friend who is an executive with a financial management firm in Boston. He and I got to talking about soccer (we met while playing on a team in a men's league in Boston) and the MLS-to-Vegas topic came up.

 

According to what my friend has heard, the impetus behind this latest effort to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to "Sin City" is being spearheaded by Seth Klarman, the head of the Baupost Group, a Boston-based hedge fund. Klarman is bullish on the league's prospects. He's apparently ready to step-up as the key figure in an effort to build a 60-some-odd acre mixed-use development surrounding the site of Cashman Field, current home to the Las Vegas Lights of the USL Championship. As part of the plan, Baupost Group would use its considerable financial assets to help bankroll the construction of a 25,000-seat domed stadium to replace Cashman, along with the building of apartments, condominiums, and hotels on surrounding parcels.

Apparently, the hope is that the Las Vegas City Council is going to meet this coming Wednesday and vote to grant city leadership the right to enter into an exclusive 6-month negotiating agreement with Renaissance Companies, a firm representing Baupost Group on the project. My friend said that he's heard that Klarman is prepared to formally notify MLS of his interest in securing an expansion franchise as soon as the city council approves the negotiating agreement. Then, during the 6-month negotiating period, the parameters of a formal development agreement would be hashed out. Once the development agreement is formally entered into, Klarman would purchase Las Vegas Lights FC from the team's current owner, Brett Lashbrook.  

Frankly, I dont know that Las Vegas will successfully support NHL, NFL, and MLS franchises long-term, but this guy Baupost certainly seems intent on having a Major League Soccer side join the pro sports mix in the city.

I think he sees this as an eventual corridor between LA and Vegas coming to pass in the next 20-30 years. I can see that in a way similar to how people expect all land between San Antonio and Austin immediately adjacent to I-35 will have something on it by 2035.

[Sport]

On 6/1/2019 at 11:07 PM, Dilbert said:

Ugh. FC Cincinnati just looks more than terrible. First seven minutes of the game on TV and on stream was missed due to technical difficulties and the tv channel showed Elementary during the outage. At this point I would have rather just watched Elementary.

 

I didn't know they didn't have a proper GM until they hired a GM. How very Bengals of them. 

 

I moved and dropped spectrum in favor of Cincinnati Bell and Directvnow, which doesn't allow me to watch FCC games on my64, even though I do get that channel. I was going to subscribe to FLO, but the team hasn't inspired me to make the purchase. 

[Brian in Boston]

Well, it's official: 2019 will be the Charleston Battery's 21st - and last - season at their current stadium home.

B Sports & Entertainment chief Eric Bowman - owner of the Charleston Battery since 2016 - has sold MUSC Health Stadium (formerly Blackbaud Stadium) to Atlanta-based developer Holder Properties for $6.475 million. Holder Properties plans to demolish the stadium to make way for a redevelopment of the site.

While the Battery hasn't finalized plans for a stadium after this season, The Post and Courier newspaper is reporting that the team has been eyeing a return to Stoney Field, a facility that has long served the football program at Charleston's Burke High School and was the Battery's home from the team's launch in 1993 through the completion of the 1998 USISL A-League season.

Charleston Battery's home field is sold, redevelopment to start after the season      

[Dilbert]

6 hours ago, McCarthy said:

I moved and dropped spectrum in favor of Cincinnati Bell and Directvnow, which doesn't allow me to watch FCC games on my64, even though I do get that channel. I was going to subscribe to FLO, but the team hasn't inspired me to make the purchase. 

I absolutely refuse to subscribe to FLO. Even if in a few years when the league television contract is up if the league decides to go to a league wide streaming partner with FLO I still wouldnt subscribe.

[4_tattoos]

4 hours ago, Dilbert said:

I absolutely refuse to subscribe to FLO. Even if in a few years when the league television contract is up if the league decides to go to a league wide streaming partner with FLO I still wouldnt subscribe.

So which TV network is likely to take that chance on MLS in a league wide deal they've been rumored to want?

[Digby]

3 hours ago, 4_tattoos said:

So which TV network is likely to take that chance on MLS in a league wide deal they've been rumored to want?

They’ve already got ESPN+ as the leaguewide replacement for MLS Live, right? Seems like that would be the strong contender. That or whoever runs the college conference networks maybe. Distribution is one thing but centralizing the broadcast production seems like quite a significant lift.

[MJWalker45]

24 minutes ago, Digby said:

They’ve already got ESPN+ as the leaguewide replacement for MLS Live, right? Seems like that would be the strong contender. That or whoever runs the college conference networks maybe. Distribution is one thing but centralizing the broadcast production seems like quite a significant lift.

Probably ESPN, but that may also mean they control the entire thing. I'd rather multiple networks be involved because I think Fox does some things better that ESPN doesn't and vice versa. If it's all under one foof they won't try to improve. 

[dfwabel]

11 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

Probably ESPN, but that may also mean they control the entire thing. I'd rather multiple networks be involved because I think Fox does some things better that ESPN doesn't and vice versa. If it's all under one foof they won't try to improve. 

But the sale of the Fox RSNs to Sinclair puts their future presentations and business model in flux for both Fox and Sinclair. What's the future of Fox Sports Go now?

 

 

FloSports announced another round of funding today and the majority investors are major: Discovery, Bertelsmann, the WWE, and the Fertitta Brothers.   If Discovery takes a controlling interest by the time negotiations are to begin, FloSports might be a legitimate platform as Discovery already has GolfTV running, which is an international streaming service which already has the PGA Tour, European PGA Tour, and Olympics rights. 

 

 

[Dilbert]

Currently ESPN + is the league wide out of market streaming service. I know DC and FC Cincinnati have local streaming through FLO. Rumors are that FLO may be pushing for a league wide. Some teams are only on streaming services (DC on FLO, LAFC and Chicago on YoutubeTV) others have deals for streaming and over the air or cable deals (Cincinnati on FLO and WSTR; Seattle on YouTube TV, KCPQ,KZJO and Root Sports Northwest; Orlando on WRBW and YouTubeTV)

 

The league wide national broadcast partner in the USA is currently Fox Sports (primarily on FS1) and ESPN with Spanish broadcasts on Fox Deportes, ESPN Deportes, UniMas, UDN, and UniVision. In Canada its TSN, and TSN2 and TVA Sports in French. The Canadian contract is through 2021, the United States is through 2022

 

Each team also has their own broadcast agreements with either an over the air, cable and/or a streaming partner. Most teams have been advised not to make any television or streaming deals beyond the MLS league contracts. Rumors are the league wants to take control of each teams television and streaming rights and streamline it throughout the league, likely eliminating local tv partnerships.

[MJWalker45]

10 hours ago, Dilbert said:

Currently ESPN + is the league wide out of market streaming service. I know DC and FC Cincinnati have local streaming through FLO. Rumors are that FLO may be pushing for a league wide. Some teams are only on streaming services (DC on FLO, LAFC and Chicago on YoutubeTV) others have deals for streaming and over the air or cable deals (Cincinnati on FLO and WSTR; Seattle on YouTube TV, KCPQ,KZJO and Root Sports Northwest; Orlando on WRBW and YouTubeTV)

 

The league wide national broadcast partner in the USA is currently Fox Sports (primarily on FS1) and ESPN with Spanish broadcasts on Fox Deportes, ESPN Deportes, UniMas, UDN, and UniVision. In Canada its TSN, and TSN2 and TVA Sports in French. The Canadian contract is through 2021, the United States is through 2022

 

Each team also has their own broadcast agreements with either an over the air, cable and/or a streaming partner. Most teams have been advised not to make any television or streaming deals beyond the MLS league contracts. Rumors are the league wants to take control of each teams television and streaming rights and streamline it throughout the league, likely eliminating local tv partnerships.

That only makes sense if they plan to schedule games in a manner similar to the NFL. Are there any new stadium openings in the next 2 years? The NFL can do this because for the most part everyone plays on Sunday. With leagues that play throughout the week local broadcasts are still necessary.

[GDAWG]

2 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

That only makes sense if they plan to schedule games in a manner similar to the NFL. Are there any new stadium openings in the next 2 years? The NFL can do this because for the most part everyone plays on Sunday. With leagues that play throughout the week local broadcasts are still necessary.

 

FC Cincinnati opens their new stadium in 2021.  We also have the expansion teams in Austin, Nashville and Miami (assuming of course, Miami actually plays).  Columbus will also have a new stadium within the next few years. 

[MJWalker45]

16 minutes ago, GDAWG said:

 

FC Cincinnati opens their new stadium in 2021.  We also have the expansion teams in Austin, Nashville and Miami (assuming of course, Miami actually plays).  Columbus will also have a new stadium within the next few years. 

Austin's stadium will be 2021 as well, I just hope these other stadiums are able to open on Week 1 instead of week 10 or 13. That's been the biggest pain with scheduling lately.