North American Pro Soccer 2020

[Brian in Boston]

Citing the economic downturn triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as community opposition, real estate developer Mark Hall has dropped his plans to build an 18,000-seat soccer-specific stadium in downtown Concord, California. The venue would have played host to a USL Championship side.

Concord soccer stadium project shuttered in wake of post-COVID-19 economic concerns

Developer Drops Plan For Soccer Stadium, Convention Center

[Sport]

 

 

FC Cincinnati's stadium is still being constructed and is starting to come together. 

 

I'm a bit bummed to think that they've probably played their last game at Nippert Stadium and we won't get to have a proper sendoff there because that venue means a lot to the franchise and the fanbase. 

[-kj]

2 hours ago, Brian in Boston said:

build an 18,000-seat soccer-specific stadium in downtown Concord, California

 

I'm sorry, but LOLWUT?!

[MJWalker45]

1 hour ago, Sport said:

 

 

FC Cincinnati's stadium is still being constructed and is starting to come together. 

 

I'm a bit bummed to think that they've probably played their last game at Nippert Stadium and we won't get to have a proper sendoff there because that venue means a lot to the franchise and the fanbase. 

Are they starting in the new stadium next year? Columbus is a bit behind but they were planning to start at Mapfre, then move in during the year next season. How many projects are moving smoother due to less vehicle and foot traffic? 

[Sport]

4 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

Are they starting in the new stadium next year? Columbus is a bit behind but they were planning to start at Mapfre, then move in during the year next season. How many projects are moving smoother due to less vehicle and foot traffic? 

The plan was always to start the 2021 season in the new stadium. As far as I know they're still on schedule, even with the reduced numbers on the crew. 

[Brian in Boston]

2 hours ago, -kj said:

I'm sorry, but LOLWUT?!

Developer Mark Hall had been seeking to build an 18,000-seat soccer-specific stadium - along with a hotel, convention center, and office space - on a 33-acre parcel of land in downtown Concord, California. The site in question is adjacent to the Concord BART station and is bordered by Oak, Laguna, and Galindo Streets.    

[-kj]

Oh, I understood that.

I reiterate:  LOLWUT?!

[Dilbert]

8 hours ago, Brian in Boston said:

Citing the economic downturn triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as community opposition, real estate developer Mark Hall has dropped his plans to build an 18,000-seat soccer-specific stadium in downtown Concord, California. The venue would have played host to a USL Championship side.

Concord soccer stadium project shuttered in wake of post-COVID-19 economic concerns

Developer Drops Plan For Soccer Stadium, Convention Center

The USL East Bay project was going nowhere. Im honestly surprised it lasted as long as it did. If the USL is gonna look at the Bay Area, I would set my sights on the Oakland Roots who are in the fledgling NISA. They are one of the few strong ones, who have decent support.

[Gothamite]

18 hours ago, Dilbert said:

The USL East Bay project was going nowhere. Im honestly surprised it lasted as long as it did. If the USL is gonna look at the Bay Area, I would set my sights on the Oakland Roots who are in the fledgling NISA. They are one of the few strong ones, who have decent support.

I don’t know the Roots’ owners, but the overall quality behind NISA is... less than inspiring.  Are they like the Cosmos, in the “burn it all down so my ‘independent club’ doesn’t have to cooperate with others” camp?

[Dilbert]

7 hours ago, Gothamite said:

I don’t know the Roots’ owners, but the overall quality behind NISA is... less than inspiring.  Are they like the Cosmos, in the “burn it all down so my ‘independent club’ doesn’t have to cooperate with others” camp?

Well anyones ownership is better than the Cosmos but the Roots in their short time have been community oriented. Playing at Laney College, they have drawn close to 5,000 a game. Im not too familiar with their ownership but they are one of the few stable teams that could move on if NISA goes under. (Detroit and Chattanooga are probably the only other stable teams)

[-kj]

From what I was hearing before 2020 really kicked into gear, the Roots were likely to host a couple of NWSL games this year.  (Apparently the Utah Royals aren't doing so hot if they're looking to host games elsewhere).

[bosrs1]

On 5/16/2020 at 6:55 PM, Dilbert said:

Well anyones ownership is better than the Cosmos but the Roots in their short time have been community oriented. Playing at Laney College, they have drawn close to 5,000 a game. Im not too familiar with their ownership but they are one of the few stable teams that could move on if NISA goes under. (Detroit and Chattanooga are probably the only other stable teams)

 

Yep, Roots are the cream of the NISA crop and USL would do well to snatch them up. Will have the dual benefit of solving their Bay Area problem, as well as dealing a fatal or near fatal body blow to NISA seeing as the Roots account for near half the fans of the league.

[Brian in Boston]

On 5/15/2020 at 5:18 PM, Dilbert said:

The USL East Bay project was going nowhere. Im honestly surprised it lasted as long as it did. If the USL is gonna look at the Bay Area, I would set my sights on the Oakland Roots who are in the fledgling NISA. They are one of the few strong ones, who have decent support.

Just to be clear, Mark Hall still retains ownership of the territorial rights to a USL Championship club in the East Bay. At this point in time, the public posture of Field Court Ventures - a division of Hall Equities Group - is that they "will continue to search for a suitable venue for a Bay Area location" for said USL Championship  soccer franchise. I've seen a variety of price points attached to a USL Championship franchise fee over the past couple of years, with the latest valuation being the $10 million that Los Angeles Times staff writer Kevin Baxter mentioned in a piece he wrote last month. Mark Hall doesn't strike me as the type of person who is simply going to walk away from this venture at a loss. That being the case, the questions become:

* Has Mark Hall truly washed his hands of involvement with the ownership and operation of a USL Championship side?

* If so, what value will he - in conjunction with the powers-that-be at USL headquarters - attach to his franchise rights in the East Bay?

* Is Oakland Roots ownership willing - indeed, able - to meet said price?      

[FiddySicks]

On 5/18/2020 at 7:59 AM, bosrs1 said:

 

Yep, Roots are the cream of the NISA crop and USL would do well to snatch them up. Will have the dual benefit of solving their Bay Area problem, as well as dealing a fatal or near fatal body blow to NISA seeing as the Roots account for near half the fans of the league.

That’s not going to happen for several different reasons. Mainly that Roots doesn’t seem to have much of a desire to join the USL. 

 

I’m not exactly sure what they’re doing out there, but they apparently have a LOT of capital to work with (or, they’re acting like it, anyway) for a team in such a low level league.  Some of the numbers they tossed at the guys on my support staff to leave Republic for them were pretty astonishing. I even got an offer at one point to do some freelance work for them that seemed too good to be true (It was). It almost feels sort of fishy, in a way.

[Gothamite]

Possible that they’re throwing around all the money they have.  You don’t save for a rainy day if you don’t plan to be around.  Seems unfortunately common for a lot of these sketchy “independent” clubs. 

[FiddySicks]

Don’t get me wrong, what they’re doing has been pretty successful and they have a LOT of very qualified people working for that club. They at least seem to have built a more stable foundation than some of those other renegade clubs. But there has to be some sort of tech money funding that from someone who wants to remain as quiet as they can. That’s the only way I can explain them being competitive with even the Earthquakes for support staff. It’s very weird. 

[Brian in Boston]

1 hour ago, FiddySicks said:

But there has to be some sort of tech money funding that from someone who wants to remain as quiet as they can. That’s the only way I can explain them being competitive with even the Earthquakes for support staff. It’s very weird. 

 

About a a year-and-a-half ago, I recall reading that Steven Aldrich had been introduced as the Oakland Roots lead investor. At the time, Aldrich was Chief Product Officer with GoDaddy. He's a Stanford MBA grad and has kicked around tech for awhile... VP at Intuit, CEO at a couple of other companies. In any event, he's the "money" face that Roots co-founders Benno Angel and Edreece Arghandiwal trotted out. It's the Bay Area, so I don't doubt that there are silent partners from tech providing additional funding.   

[TheGrimReaper]

https://twitter.com/yiddo_alex/status/1263542295632240641?s=21

 

apologies, forgot how to embed it properly on my phone. funny diss towards MLS for it's identity crisis(es).

[Digby]

14 hours ago, TheGrimReaper said:

https://twitter.com/yiddo_alex/status/1263542295632240641?s=21

 

apologies, forgot how to embed it properly on my phone. funny diss towards MLS for it's identity crisis(es).

 

First use I've seen of Twitter's turn off replies view function, and it's a tweet that asked for replies.

[sky1324]

3 hours ago, Digby said:

 

First use I've seen of Twitter's turn off replies view function, and it's a tweet that asked for replies.

That's the joke.