North American Pro Soccer 2023

[GDAWG]

52 minutes ago, 4_tattoos said:

IDK, I can imagine the rugby team getting the boot from Snapdragon at some point. In my mind SD State could become snobby about who gets to use the stadium if MLS and PAC-12 come into the picture.

 

What is the attendance for the rugby team at Snapdragon?

[Brian in Boston]

41 minutes ago, GDAWG said:

What is the attendance for the rugby team at Snapdragon?

Last Saturday night, in their first Major League Rugby match to be played at Snapdragon Stadium, the San Diego Legion sold a league-record 11,423 tickets to the event.

[WestCoastBias]

2 hours ago, gosioux76 said:

But that’s not really the point. If you’re investing $200M+ for a MLS expansion team, would you really want to be the secondary tenant in a college football stadium? 

 

Probably better than being a secondary tenant in a baseball stadium for over 10 years. Or having a temporary erector set stadium with no end of that in sight. Or an NFL stadium that you can't come close to filling. Or having a soccer specific stadium but being so far outside of the city center that no one bothers to go to games. 

 

There's definitely worse MLS stadium situations out there. 

[FiddySicks]

On 2/22/2023 at 3:11 PM, 4_tattoos said:

Sacramento again? Need input from our Sacramento insider on this one. He's made it seem like MLS to Sacramento was completely a lost cause. 

Having seen it up close and personal, I just can’t see how they’re ever going to make it work. The cost for all of this has grown so far out of the realm of possibility for the city and club that I just think it doesn’t make sense to either side any more. There was a very small window where they probably could’ve gotten the bid done, but it wouldn’t really have been that strong of a bid long term and they just flat out missed that window because they weren’t ready. They never really got to a point where they were ready, either. Like, I have trouble really explaining to people just how much of a shoestring operation it all really was.

 

On 2/22/2023 at 7:20 PM, WestCoastBias said:

 

All they need is an investor

Well, yeah. But that’s like me saying the only thing between me and my dream beachside in Incline Village is an investor. 

[Digby]

8 hours ago, WestCoastBias said:

 

Probably better than being a secondary tenant in a baseball stadium for over 10 years. Or having a temporary erector set stadium with no end of that in sight. Or an NFL stadium that you can't come close to filling. Or having a soccer specific stadium but being so far outside of the city center that no one bothers to go to games. 

 

There's definitely worse MLS stadium situations out there. 

Worse in terms of the fan experience and how they look on TV, sure, but unfortunately that’s not the point. The de facto rule for MLS teams now is to not be paying rent to a third party, and to own your stadium and all its attendant extra sources of revenue.

[MJWalker45]

2 minutes ago, Digby said:

Worse in terms of the fan experience and how they look on TV, sure, but unfortunately that’s not the point. The de facto rule for MLS teams now is to not be paying rent to a third party, and to own your stadium and all its attendant extra sources of revenue.

It's the workaround that's let NYCFC look like a joke by playing in Yankee Stadium, and having to play cup games in Red Bull Arena. I'd be highly surprised if a Vegas team without any backing from the Raiders would be allowed to play at Allegiant Stadium. If members from the San Diego Wave were involved in the San Diego team I can see them playing at Snapdragon as well, but is Petco also a potential stop while a stadium gets built? I know it's hosted Liga MX competitions there, but that's a handful of games and not a full league schedule. It does look a bit better than Yankee Stadium, but you still have the issue of just covering over the infield. 

[Digby]

Also worth remembering that a group including Donovan — I think the group that ultimately started Loyal — wanted to bid to build on the old Jack Murphy site only to lose out to the university’s bid to build Snapdragon. I can see MLS not wanting to concede its loss and rent out of spite, besides everything else.

[WestCoastBias]

1 hour ago, Digby said:

Also worth remembering that a group including Donovan — I think the group that ultimately started Loyal — wanted to bid to build on the old Jack Murphy site only to lose out to the university’s bid to build Snapdragon. I can see MLS not wanting to concede its loss and rent out of spite, besides everything else.

 

Not sure what the latest on the San Diego Sports Arena site is but that also was floated around before as a potential spot for a soccer stadium. I don't see where they would put one downtown, unless the Padres want to give up their last parking lot. 

[GDAWG]

2 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

It's the workaround that's let NYCFC look like a joke by playing in Yankee Stadium, and having to play cup games in Red Bull Arena. I'd be highly surprised if a Vegas team without any backing from the Raiders would be allowed to play at Allegiant Stadium. If members from the San Diego Wave were involved in the San Diego team I can see them playing at Snapdragon as well, but is Petco also a potential stop while a stadium gets built? I know it's hosted Liga MX competitions there, but that's a handful of games and not a full league schedule. It does look a bit better than Yankee Stadium, but you still have the issue of just covering over the infield. 

 

Petco recently hosted a college football bowl game:

 

 

[GDAWG]

12 hours ago, Brian in Boston said:

Last Saturday night, in their first Major League Rugby match to be played at Snapdragon Stadium, the San Diego Legion sold a league-record 11,423 tickets to the event.

 

So Torero Stadium is out of the question for the rugby team then.  

[Brian in Boston]

5 hours ago, WestCoastBias said:

 

Not sure what the latest on the San Diego Sports Arena site is but that also was floated around before as a potential spot for a soccer stadium. I don't see where they would put one downtown, unless the Padres want to give up their last parking lot. 

In September of last year, the San Diego City Council entered into an exclusive, two-year negotiating agreement with the developers of the proposed Midway Rising project. Said development calls for the 48.5-acre site surrounding/adjacent to Pechanga Arena San Diego to become home to 4,250 units of housing (including 2,000 affordable and 250 middle-income homes); a 450,000-square-foot arena (with a capacity of between 14,500 and 16,500 people) to replace the current facility ; a 200-room hotel; 250,000-square-feet of retail space; a 9.4-acre public plaza; and an additional 11 acres of parks and open space scattered throughout the project.

[BrySmalls]

On 2/22/2023 at 6:03 PM, GDAWG said:

 

 

One suggestion is to increase the League's size to 40 clubs, dividing them equally into two groups of 20 clubs each, and introduce a promotion and relegation system.

[WestCoastBias]

41 minutes ago, BrySmalls said:

 

One suggestion is to increase the League's size to 40 clubs, dividing them equally into two groups of 20 clubs each, and introduce a promotion and relegation system.

 

I'd go 40 teams with 20 team eastern and western conferences that don't play each other until the MLS Cup Final, aside from CCL, US Open Cup, and the new Leagues Cup.

[Sykotyk]

2 hours ago, BrySmalls said:

 

One suggestion is to increase the League's size to 40 clubs, dividing them equally into two groups of 20 clubs each, and introduce a promotion and relegation system.

No team operator would agree to be a second tier team without some compensation. If there were some type of annual allocation to the relegated team from the promoted teams they might. But even then, that's a non-starter for most.

 

[Brian in Boston]

3 hours ago, BrySmalls said:

 

One suggestion is to increase the League's size to 40 clubs, dividing them equally into two groups of 20 clubs each, and introduce a promotion and relegation system.

Under such a scenario, it would prove very interesting to see the response of those investor/operators of the MLS  clubs designated for assignment  to the second tier of play during  the initial introduction of a promotion/relegation system. I think it’s safe to say that we’d quickly learn just who was willing to invest in soccer out of a true appreciation - indeed, a passion  - for the sport, as opposed to those who were willing to pony-up because they were banking on securing a spot in a closed-system pro soccer venture similar to North America’s other top-tier pro sports leagues.

[Digby]

A comically MLS start to the season with LAFC v Galaxy in front of 75,000 people at the Rose Bowl having to be postponed due to freak LA snowstorm. Bummer!

 

as I type this I see it’s rescheduled to July 4th. Which is brilliant but also makes me wonder: why don’t we have a full leaguewide slate of games on that day? That and the Wednesday after the MLB ASG. 

[WestCoastBias]

37 minutes ago, Digby said:

A comically MLS start to the season with LAFC v Galaxy in front of 75,000 people at the Rose Bowl having to be postponed due to freak LA snowstorm. Bummer!

 

as I type this I see it’s rescheduled to July 4th. Which is brilliant but also makes me wonder: why don’t we have a full leaguewide slate of games on that day? That and the Wednesday after the MLB ASG. 

 

Would of been a nightmare to attend (parking lot is a golf course) if played and I doubt many would of shown up anyway due to all the rain, definitely would not be a record breaking attendance like what they planned. Good call by MLS/LA teams

[Rockstar Matt]

1 hour ago, Digby said:

A comically MLS start to the season with LAFC v Galaxy in front of 75,000 people at the Rose Bowl having to be postponed due to freak LA snowstorm. Bummer!

 

They're saying this is a generational type of storm in terms of it's severity and rarity. My neighborhood has flash flood warnings for the first time that I can remember. LA as a whole has it's first blizzard warning since the 80's. The mountains near LA are expected to be hit with upwards of 8-10 ft of snow which is basically unheard of here. Pretty good call to reschedule it all things considered. Not only would it be difficult to fill the stadium with fans, even just a few thousand, the field itself would be muddy and unplayable (it could possibly even have a small amount of snow).

 

For LAFC, it's definitely a bummer not to be able to open our title defending season in what was looking like would be the biggest domestic game in LA soccer history (in terms of fan attendance), but on the flip side it only feels right to play our first game as champions back at the Banc.

[tBBP]

I got an intelligent question—well maybe:

 

Just why does MLS start its season in February, anyway? Didn't the MLS Cup just wrap in like October or something like that?

 

(Admittedly I've never known how MLS' seasons work, and I've long since given up on trying to figure out its playoff system )

[GDAWG]

1 hour ago, tBBP said:

I got an intelligent question—well maybe:

 

Just why does MLS start its season in February, anyway? Didn't the MLS Cup just wrap in like October or something like that?

 

(Admittedly I've never known how MLS' seasons work, and I've long since given up on trying to figure out its playoff system )

 

I think MLS is in preseason.