North American Pro Soccer 2020

[WJMorris3]

The Utah NWSL franchise is being sold and is heading back to Kansas City.

 

Dear Lorde. Now they'll never be Royals... (Royals...)

[Dilbert]

5 minutes ago, WJMorris3 said:

The Utah NWSL franchise is being sold and is heading back to Kansas City.

 

Dear Lorde. Now they'll never be Royals... (Royals...)

Technically the first KC team folded. Their players were allocated to Utah.

 

Sad that Utah is losing its team, but also good to have Kansas City back. Now if they'd just come to Cincinnati.

[Digby]

48 minutes ago, Dilbert said:

Technically the first KC team folded. Their players were allocated to Utah.

 

Sad that Utah is losing its team, but also good to have Kansas City back. Now if they'd just come to Cincinnati.

 

What a mess this franchise lineage is going to be in the history books. Seems like a significant loss for the league; hope KC 2.0 figures something out the first crowd didn't.

[GDAWG]

1 hour ago, WJMorris3 said:

The Utah NWSL franchise is being sold and is heading back to Kansas City.

 

Dear Lorde. Now they'll never be Royals... (Royals...)

 

So does this rule out Ryan Smith buying RSL and RSLII?

[MJWalker45]

36 minutes ago, Digby said:

 

What a mess this franchise lineage is going to be in the history books. Seems like a significant loss for the league; hope KC 2.0 figures something out the first crowd didn't.

I guess the idea is that they don't want to deal with Hansen at any level and that's why this is happening because he owns so many other game day pieces other than the teams.

[GDAWG]

Utah Soccer LLC Transfers Ownership of Utah Royals FC to Group in Kansas City, Kansas | Real Salt Lake (rsl.com)

 

Quote

SANDY, Utah (Monday, December 7, 2020) – Utah Royals FC has entered into a mutually beneficial transaction with the National Women’s Soccer League that would permit the team to play in Kansas City for the upcoming 2021 season. This transaction provides clarity on where our remarkable and talented women will play soccer next year, while enabling new ownership to re-establish the Utah Royals FC name and franchise at Rio Tinto Stadium two years from now, in 2023. 

Our hearts are full of gratitude and appreciation for the support and passion our fans have shared with us over the years. We hope to carry on the rich tradition of the Utah Royals FC with leadership that shares our mission to provide prominent world class resources for female athletes. To this end, we prioritize cooperation with the Leagues to ensure a smooth transition to new ownership, and we pledge our unwavering support for bringing Utah Royals FC back to Rio Tinto Stadium as soon as possible.

“We love the Utah soccer community and have been honored to work with these world-renowned professional women athletes,” said owners Dell Loy and Julie Hansen.  “We will truly miss our athletes who have become our friends. We lend our full support to new owners who can continue our vision to have the women’s team equal to the men’s team in time, facilities, and resources and who can help shepherd the team into a new era of growth and success.”

Vice President of Soccer Operations Rob Zarkos commented “I would like to thank the players who gave their all to this community, the staff who worked to make it happen and the fans who supported us every step of the way. You are Utah Royals FC.”

 

[Brian in Boston]

In last Friday's Boston Globe, sports columnist Tara Sullivan's piece on the New England Revolution ('We're pretty excited and enthused.' Robert Kraft pleased his investments in the Revolution have paid off) contained a statement from team investor/operator Jonathan Kraft that leaped out at me..

"We want to build the stadium," Jonathan Kraft said. "We don't like failing and we clearly failed at doing that. The training center made a statement."

If you're not familiar with the ins and outs of the Revolution's soccer-specific stadium saga, trust me when I say that this quote - in particular, the portion that's underlined and rendered in red - is nothing short of earth-shattering. It represents as straightforward an acknowledgement and acceptance of the inability to get a soccer-specific stadium built for New England's MLS club as Jonathan Kraft, Robert Kraft, and/or team president Brian Bilello have ever delivered.

This wasn't the typical "we've made progress on a number of sites", "we're committed to doing it", "we're as optimistic as we've ever been", "for the last 12 years we've been working on this", or "we are working hard on it". Rather, it was out-and-out ownership of the fact that, to date, the organization has failed to deliver a home of their own to the New England Revolution and the club's supporters.

Getting such a facility built - particularly if one hopes to do so in the Greater Boston urban core - will not be easy. The City of Boston's small amount of land area when compared to other major American municipalities, the relative dearth of developable parcels within the urban core that are large enough to accommodate a stadium, the NIMBYism brought on by the proximity of residential neighborhoods to what developable land is available, and the historical resistance of both state and local government to commit finances to the construction of sports facilities will all combine to make such a venture both expensive and difficult for the Krafts. 

All of that said, here's hoping that the candor and humility in Jonathan Kraft's comment bespeak a commitment to finally doing whatever it takes to get the job done. 

      

[Dilbert]

43 minutes ago, GDAWG said:

This transaction provides clarity on where our remarkable and talented women will play soccer next year, while enabling new ownership to re-establish the Utah Royals FC name and franchise at Rio Tinto Stadium two years from now, in 2023. 

 

So the Royals are pulling an Earthquakes-Dynamo move.

[GDAWG]

1 minute ago, Dilbert said:

 

So the Royals are pulling an Earthquakes-Dynamo move.

 

Sounds like it.

[DustDevil61]

21 hours ago, Dilbert said:

Technically the first KC team folded. Their players were allocated to Utah.

 

Sad that Utah is losing its team, but also good to have Kansas City back. Now if they'd just come to Cincinnati.

#ThanksDellLoy

 

Happy for Kansas City, but gutted for my home state. Even though I’m not a huge fan of RSL or Royals, it hurts to lose them.

 

I guess this is what it’s like for a passionate fanbase to suffer from the words and/or actions of an insensitive owner, right?

[MJWalker45]

1 hour ago, Brian in Boston said:

In last Friday's Boston Globe, sports columnist Tara Sullivan's piece on the New England Revolution ('We're pretty excited and enthused.' Robert Kraft pleased his investments in the Revolution have paid off) contained a statement from team investor/operator Jonathan Kraft that leaped out at me..

"We want to build the stadium," Jonathan Kraft said. "We don't like failing and we clearly failed at doing that. The training center made a statement."

If you're not familiar with the ins and outs of the Revolution's soccer-specific stadium saga, trust me when I say that this quote - in particular, the portion that's underlined and rendered in red - is nothing short of earth-shattering. It represents as straightforward an acknowledgement and acceptance of the inability to get a soccer-specific stadium built for New England's MLS club as Jonathan Kraft, Robert Kraft, and/or team president Brian Bilello have ever delivered.

Taylor Twellman mentioned this during the game yesterday after mentioning that the last game at Mapfre would be the MLS Cup Final. He's probably wrong though because the new stadium is supposed to open in June next year and having the Crew play 3 months on the road next season probably won't occur. I've always felt that if Kraft really cared, the Revolution would have had their own stadium by now. Maybe not necessarily in Boston, but at least built. 

[AustinFromBoston]

If the Revs didn't lose what feels like 6 straight Finals and became a dynasty along with the Patriots, maybe they'd have their own place. 

[MJWalker45]

7 minutes ago, AustinFromBoston said:

If the Revs didn't lose what feels like 6 straight Finals and became a dynasty along with the Patriots, maybe they'd have their own place. 

Until Arena came in and actually started lighting a fire under the current bunch, it looked like the Revolution were only there to fill up dates at Foxboro/Gillette. 

[AustinFromBoston]

11 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

Until Arena came in and actually started lighting a fire under the current bunch, it looked like the Revolution were only there to fill up dates at Foxboro/Gillette. 

Seems people forget The Revolution were a pretty dominant team in the early-mid 2000s. 
A lot like the Patriots, except the Patriots actually were able to win championships while the Revs were more like The Bills. 
 

I don’t doubt that if they had won a few titles and became a dynasty alongside the Patriots, they would be a lot more popular. 

[MJWalker45]

1 minute ago, AustinFromBoston said:

Seems people forget The Revolution were a pretty dominant team in the early-mid 2000s. 
A lot like the Patriots, except the Patriots actually were able to win championships while the Revs were more like The Bills. 
 

I don’t doubt that if they had won a few titles and became a dynasty alongside the Patriots, they would be a lot more popular. 

It's not that the Revolution weren't dominant. The issue seemed to those of us on the outside that the Kraft's were doing the bare minimum when it came to supporting the team. I do know the city of Boston threw up plenty of road blocks too but the fact they weren't moving into a SSS when everyone else seemed to be able to get it done.

[Digby]

ah, this old chestnut. I think the Krafts' poor stewardship manifested itself more on the field than in the stadium search. Seems like even when they've tried tried, they just blew it at negotiations and figuring out how to actually get things done. (See also the old Seaport stadium plan for the Patriots.) That tow lot idea floated a couple years ago seems like the last good idea for a city Revs stadium; otherwise I sincerely do not see where you would put it at this point. Honestly I'm resigned to it never happening at this point, unfortunately.

 

Nice thing about this little playoff run, though, is that we got the requisite one "why you should pay attention to the Revs" article per Boston media source, never mind that none of them pay attention to the Revs.

[Digby]

2 hours ago, Dilbert said:

 

So the Royals are pulling an Earthquakes-Dynamo move.

 

True except the new Dynamo are also the old Dynamo. Kidding, sorta, no idea if the new KC team will bring back the old FCKC brand and history, though it might be nice to not have nearly half of NWSL championships belonging to defunct teams.

[nickp91]

I'm super excited about NWSL back in Kansas City

[GDAWG]

So why is it Seattle and Atlanta don't have the same issues as The Revs or NYC FC when it comes to their stadiums?

[DG_ThenNowForever]

1 hour ago, GDAWG said:

So why is it Seattle and Atlanta don't have the same issues as The Revs or NYC FC when it comes to their stadiums?

 

What do you mean?

 

There was once shared ownership of the Hawks and Sounders the way there is Falcons and United, which goes a really long way to not worrying about stadium issues.

 

Given the choice, Seattle fans would prefer an SSS. However, there's no reasonable path for one in the city core, so Lumen Field (eye roll) is the best option.