MLS Expansion Thread

[Gothamite]

Yeah, PGE was a poor fit for baseball. Makes sense to create a soccer/football stadium out of it.

As for Portland getting an MLB team, I don't think the new Beavers stadium has anything to do with it. A lack of teams ripe for relocation combined with a enthusiasm for additional expansion on MLB's part are greater culprits.

Plus, I don't think Portland really wants a team. If they do, they should be sending mash notes to Lewis Wolff.

[STL FANATIC]

I think that's more or less the point though Goth. They don't have their eye on a team. If they did, they wouldn't have committed so much money to MLS and minor league ball teams... money that could have gone towards an MLB team.

Of course, you're also probably right that MLB wasn't real likely to be looking that way any time soon anyways.

[Brian in Boston]

Don't think I really offended anybody, so I'm not sure an apology is necessary, but if I did I apologize.

I can't speak for anyone else, but you didn't "offend" me... so no "apology" necessary.

[StarrDogg]

ah just give Montreal & St. Louis expansion sides for 2013 or 2014

then you have a nice set up of two 10 team conferences

East

Chicago

Columbus

D.C. United

Kansas City

Montreal

New England

New York

Philadelphia

St. Louis

Toronto

West

Chivas

Colorado

Dallas

Houston

Los Angeles

Portland

Real Salt Lake

San Jose

Seattle

Vancouver

Then you will have these great rivalries as well:

East

Chicago-Columbus

New England-New York

DC United-Philadelphia

Kansas City-St. Louis

Montreal-Toronto

West

Portland-Seattle-Vancouver

Colorado-Real Salt Lake

Chivas-LA-San Jose

Dallas-Houston

[TalktoChuck]

ah just give Montreal & St. Louis expansion sides for 2013 or 2014

then you have a nice set up of two 10 team conferences

East

Chicago

Columbus

D.C. United

Kansas City

Montreal

New England

New York

Philadelphia

St. Louis

Toronto

West

Chivas

Colorado

Dallas

Houston

Los Angeles

Portland

Real Salt Lake

San Jose

Seattle

Vancouver

Then you will have these great rivalries as well:

East

Chicago-Columbus

New England-New York

DC United-Philadelphia

Kansas City-St. Louis

Montreal-Toronto

West

Portland-Seattle-Vancouver

Colorado-Real Salt Lake

Chivas-LA-San Jose

Dallas-Houston

I'd rather see the MLS go with a single table style league rather than conferences. I think it would make for better rivalries and more intense playoff runs.

[CZzyzx41]

I'm disappointed that the MLS has gone on this long and Milwaukee, San Diego and Rochester apparently aren't even on the map for teams when they've proven in the past to have large rabid soccer fan bases. Am I alone here? I mean here we're on the border for chrissake! there's NO Mexican teams that want to hook up a little connect with a San Diego franchise?

[StarrDogg]

I'm disappointed that the MLS has gone on this long and Milwaukee, San Diego and Rochester apparently aren't even on the map for teams when they've proven in the past to have large rabid soccer fan bases. Am I alone here? I mean here we're on the border for chrissake! there's NO Mexican teams that want to hook up a little connect with a San Diego franchise?

I always thought Chivas USA should be in San Diego

[TalktoChuck]

I'm disappointed that the MLS has gone on this long and Milwaukee, San Diego and Rochester apparently aren't even on the map for teams when they've proven in the past to have large rabid soccer fan bases. Am I alone here? I mean here we're on the border for chrissake! there's NO Mexican teams that want to hook up a little connect with a San Diego franchise?

I always thought Chivas USA should be in San Diego

I agree. Chivas would be better suited in SD IMO.

[OMMF]

Which one draws better? The Timbers seem to put a lot of butts in the seats at PGE, and they're a "minor league" USL-1 outfit. With an MLS team, I imagine the growth will be near Seattle's; of course, the USL Sounders drew for crap.

Besides, PGE lays out better for soccer than baseball. I imagine a new stadium for the Beavers will be much nicer.

Seattle is an oddity when it comes to cities. It's not big enough to be considered a big city but certainly not small enough to be a "minor-league" town. Seattle fans are fickle and by fickle I mean bandwagon jumpers. If a team isn't winning, the city doesn't support it. Also, Seattleites will tell you that they don't follow minor-league sports. See the Sounders attendance. Even when they were winning, Qwest Field was way too big of a venue for them to play in. With none of the professional teams succeeding the past year, it was natural for the city to turn to the Sounders because it was the newest professional team and it came with somewhat-low expectations. Throw in support by a "normal" guy like Drew Carey, the Sounders were kind of set up to succeed at the box office from the start.

ETA: As a San Diegan, I would love to see San Diego get an MLS team. Qualcomm isn't going to work as a venue, though.

[Mac the Knife]

I'd actually think a four-division structure would work best:

Eastern - D.C., New England, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto

Central - Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City

Western - Chivas, Colorado, Los Angeles, Salt Lake

Northwest - Portland, San Jose, Seattle, Vancouver

Of course it isn't perfect, but it'd be workable.

[BB61]

I'd actually think a four-division structure would work best:

Eastern - D.C., New England, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto

Central - Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City

Western - Chivas, Colorado, Los Angeles, Salt Lake

Northwest - Portland, San Jose, Seattle, Vancouver

Of course it isn't perfect, but it'd be workable.

What about a five division structure once they expand to 20?

Eastern - D.C., New England, New York, Philadelphia,

Central - Chicago, Columbus, Toronto, Montréal/Ottawa

Midwest - Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, St. Louis

Western - Chivas, Colorado, Los Angeles, Salt Lake

Northwest - Portland, San Jose, Seattle, Vancouver

Teams play division foes four times, play everyone else once and play a second game against one team in each of the other divisions for a total of 32 games.

Division winners get a bye into the Quarterfinals, next six teams playoff for the right to join them.

or...

Division winners get a bye into the Quarters, second place teams and third place team w/ best record playoff for Quarters bid.

[Brian in Boston]

Once MLS gets to 20 teams, I'd be willing to bet that it splits into a pair of 10-team conferences... let's say MLS East and MLS West.

Teams would play each team in their conference twice - home and away - for 18 matches. Teams would play each team in the opposite conference once - 5 as home games, 5 as road games - for another 10 matches. The 28-match schedule for each team would alleviate some of the fixture congestion that has cropped-up for MLS clubs with the addition of U.S. Open Cup, SuperLiga and Concacaf Champions League matches to their schedules.

Once MLS likely expands to 24 teams, the league goes with a pair of 12-team conferences and adjusts the schedule accordingly - i.e. 22 matches against in-conference clubs and 12 matches against the teams in the opposite conference for a 34-match schedule.

[Gothamite]

I'm disappointed that the MLS has gone on this long and Milwaukee, San Diego and Rochester apparently aren't even on the map for teams when they've proven in the past to have large rabid soccer fan bases. Am I alone here? I mean here we're on the border for chrissake! there's NO Mexican teams that want to hook up a little connect with a San Diego franchise?

I do seem to recall that San Diego was one of the sites considered for Chivas. And doesn't Rochester have its issues?

Milwaukee... they don't seem to want a team very much. The city has a great soccer culture, including youth involvement. It has been speculated that the market may just be saturated, and if the Bucks then the city would persue an MLS team.

[Your Name Here]

I find it hilarious that people are proposing promotion/relegation and in the same thread proposing that Rochester and Montreal should be in MLS. Oye, if Rochester and Montreal move up to MLS, there won't even be a USL-1 to which clubs could be relegated. The league would be finished. I really don't know how many more of these expansions it can survive.

I know that this topic was put to rest, but I must point out that MLS would not exist if not for the cavernous pockets of Phil Anschutz. If not for his generosity, the league probably would've folded five-six years ago. That's the experience that is informing MLS.

[-kj]

I know this is the MLS expansion thread, but there's rumor that a USL-1 expansion team for 2010, FC New York, is being announced on April 1.

[Lee.]

I'm disappointed that the MLS has gone on this long and Milwaukee, San Diego and Rochester apparently aren't even on the map for teams when they've proven in the past to have large rabid soccer fan bases. Am I alone here? I mean here we're on the border for chrissake! there's NO Mexican teams that want to hook up a little connect with a San Diego franchise?

I do seem to recall that San Diego was one of the sites considered for Chivas.

And yet, I seem to recall that Chivas was looking at LA, Chicago, Dallas and New York as its base of operations, mainly because they didn't want to shell out for their own stadium, or play in a football stadium. My selective memory tells me that MLS gave Chivas the franchise, then the search was on for a suitable location, suitable meaning "new soccer stadium that we don't have to pay for."

[Brian in Boston]

And yet, I seem to recall that Chivas was looking at LA, Chicago, Dallas and New York as its base of operations, mainly because they didn't want to shell out for their own stadium, or play in a football stadium. My selective memory tells me that MLS gave Chivas the franchise, then the search was on for a suitable location, suitable meaning "new soccer stadium that we don't have to pay for."

Los Angeles was always Vergara's preference as the home market for CD Chivas USA. The league, at various points, tried to steer him towards Houston, Chicago and San Diego.

[Gothamite]

I'm not saying San Diego was ever the preferred location for Chivas USA, only that it was one of the sites considered.

[Brian in Boston]

I'm not saying San Diego was ever the preferred location for Chivas USA, only that it was one of the sites considered.

The league definitely would have preferred that CD Chivas USA set-up shop in Houston, San Diego or Chicago.

[Lee.]

I'm not saying San Diego was ever the preferred location for Chivas USA, only that it was one of the sites considered.

The league definitely would have preferred that CD Chivas USA set-up shop in Houston, San Diego or Chicago.

That being said, and keep in mind that I haven't looked at attendance figures at all, do you suppose Chivas is cutting into the Galaxy's attendance at all, or are they drawing two separate sets of fans?