If the pro clubs do not lead the way in development, we can for get it. All the pro clubs, NASL and USL alike. Simply, this pay to play system in the United States is ethically wrong. The pay to play structure contradicts everything that football is about.
Hi PAOK: I have been to Toumba on a few occasions. Thousands of under cover thrylos fans all through out Saloniki. As it should be. Ellas though is my favorite team.
All too true. The problem is - most pro clubs are fighting to establish legitimacy or just keep their doors open... They don't have the resources, time, people, etc. to try to create a new system....
That's why you ally with an existing system. Over time, if you're successful, you can acquire and integrate that system.
I hope he's willing to pull it off. I wonder if they come in if a couple more midwest groups might come forward. I wonder if St. Louis could get some additional investment to move up. Or if Des Moines would again consider moving up. But for them, no real reason to move up. Since they are doing well in the PDL. And moving up would probably mean more of a chance to lose money. I think a D3 team could make it in the Chicago area. I'm thinking either way north burbs like Libertyville or far northwest like Hoffman Estates or Crystal Lake area. I think you could get the 1,500 to 3k avg you would need to survive. Now if I could just win the Powerball this week. LOL
Convincing the nearby PDL teams to move up would be a great thing, but I don't see it happening. At least not here. What do the Menace gain by moving up to D3? Way back when we were looking at building a stadium and moving up, it was to D2. D2 (NASL) can be marketed here since it is the closest thing to being AAA level. Des Moines recognizes and embraces its AAA status, for the most part. We've had AAA baseball forever. Our NBADL team does well enough. Our AHL team wasn't a disaster, despite having the shittiest owners possible; that team folded because of the owners' actions, not the rent or fans. If the Menace ever look at moving from the PDL to the pro ranks, it seems that NASL is much more likely. But even then, what incentive does Krause have to make that move? He's making money at the PDL level and the fans love the team. I just had a thought: Given our consistent success at the gate over the last 15+ years, is Des Moines considered a desirable market by either the USLPro or NASL? We draw better than teams in both leagues. I believe the current stadium meets - or is fairly close to meeting - USSF standards. It does have field turf and football lines, but the turf was just replaced last year.
I think Des Moines would be an attractive market to the NASL, as long as it could show the right circumstances and meet the USSF requirements. Being in the heart of the midwest would be a very attractive selling point. The longevity of their organization and the size of the fanbase would be plusses as well. I think the league perceives itself as being beyond the days of its teams playing on turf football fields though. Edmonton will be the lone team in that situation next year. I'm going to assume the Cosmos will want to paint the lines off their field for their return. Would be a bit embarassing otherwise in my opinion. Then it just comes down to ownership and meeting the standards.
I agree with the football field. I do not like watching soccer there at all. Football, sure. I coach the school's lacrosse team and we play there from time to time; it works for lax. But it is just not right for soccer. My hope is that a move up could reignite the Liberty Bank Stadium plans. They were so close, but were denied with a zero hour re-vote in another suburb, just off the highway in the heart of the (rich) soccer communities. The area is developing now and would have been a great place for the stadium. Sigh. Since Hofstra dropped football, I am surprised that the field hasn't already been recovered with lines for soccer and lax only. The football lines were supposedly one of the issues that the Lizards had with playing there... That and apparently the location is far from the base lax crowd. I've heard the same about the soccer community too, but I don't know enough about soccer in Long Island to say for sure.
My "alma mater" saw fit to charge me rent while I was in boot camp, what makes you think the cheap basterds are going to pay for a new rug? From what I've heard, they still host high school football so they still probably want the permanent lines.
Fair point. And come to think of it, that turf was only a couple of seasons old when they dropped football... I wonder how much they make from that. Just as a curiosity. I would say it seems silly, but Drake University (which still has football) in Des Moines rents their stadium to a high school, and two other colleges in the metro paid to renovate nearby high school stadiums for their use. So I guess it's more common than it would seem.
Sweet. Lax lines are far less intrusive than football lines. Hofstra has clearly made a statement about which sport is the most important to the school, based on the line coloring.
I used the Cosmos situation to make a point about the difference between what the USL and the NASL are looking for in expansion. Where others wandered too after that isn't my fault.
USL Pro President Tim Holt just tweeted this morning that an expansion team for 2014 will be announced today.
Where? All I saw was.. "Looking forward to making a major USL PRO announcement later today..." https://twitter.com/USLPrez/status/275617622018621441
Exactly. Could be something as earth-shaking as Jimmy Dean sausage is now the official breakfast food of USL-Pro. Best to wait and see.