his point isn't irrelevant, but I would point out that the Cascadia teams cover two countries and two states. Not exactly the same thing, despite their geographic proximity. Although it does give some people in Florida the ever so faint hope that one day we too could have a trio of MLS teams within a short drive of each other.
Ugh ... don't get me started. In one of the other many discussions about this I actually broke down the "triangles" that already exist within soccer here (or close proximity markets) and then compared them to the DAL/HOU/SA area. Summation: it kicked the crap out of this excuse.
Bottom line. If you have an owner with a check that won't bounce and a stadium to play in, you are in. If you don't, keep dreaming.
And ? It's about population and where it's located. Being in another state or different country matters not in this instance. The League serves all of the people involved.
actually, its pretty much what Bluesfan said it was in the post above yours. Don't get me wrong, I could care less if you got MLS if it was a good fit for the league. But with the league still working hard for a 2nd NYC team, no teams yet in all of the southeast and two teams already in the great state of Texas... it's just probably gonna be a while. So sit back and enjoy the ride.
And back to attendance... Railhawks announced a sell out of 6,500 for their match against the Galaxy, with the possibility of opening the newly construction North stands pending town inspection & approval on Friday. North stands would increase total capacity to 8,048. I'd imagine San Antonio sells out (the stadium that is -- not the fanbase like some others teams) . Any word on some of these other NASL/USL teams hosting MLS?
Most states don't have three of the top 24 biggest metropolitan statistical areas in the US. I doubt very seriously MLS considers how many teams are in a given state when deciding where to expand, especially when the state in question has the second-largest population in the country. For all the reasons you could rule a given market in or out, "there's already two teams in that state" isn't one. I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE! Feels good to be able to lord that over other people, doesn't it?
Again, no. You're potentially in. We're no longer at the point where MLS has to expand. This is not a 2003 situation, where they'd have let Dave Checketts turn the siren on while he rode in the car and basically do whatever he wanted if he'd just invest in a team. After #20, there's no compelling reason MLS has to accept anybody who has "a check that won't bounce and a stadium to play in." But if some multi-millionaire guy in Omaha got a burr up his butt and wanted a team, there's no guarantee he would get one. And sometimes people who appear to be suitable owners turn out, after you give it some time, to not be.
Even though I'm not good at figgerin', I do see your basic point about it being too early to tell in terms of any team's attendance erosion over a small sample. I just have to check to see if anybody has had a four-game opening run like this before, I just haven't had time.
True about the location needs to make sense, too. I guess I am assuming that if you can build a stadium and cut a check the size that MLS is looking for that you would have the good sense to pick a decent market. What I grow weary of is people thinking that they live in a great market and therefore MLS is eminent. You are right, MLS is at the point now that they can (and should) be choosy.
Right. Everybody seems to think their city "deserves it" or "deserves it more" or something. "Deserves" has nothing to do with it. (I don't know how you'd define that anyway...do big markets "deserve" teams just by virtue of being big? How much does a history of good attendance for a pro team count for, and what counts more, an MLS team that failed or an NASL team that lasted back in the day? A lower-level team or national team crowds? For friendlies or qualifiers? Men or women? Do the people behind the goal with the scarves "deserve" an MLS team? More than the people who would buy club seats? When you actually try to define it, it starts to break down. And anything you can come up with, you probably wouldn't have come up with "Salt Lake City deserves a team" if you were doing your math back in 2002, but, lo and behold, there they are and with a stadium to boot.)
This. My city deserves a team. Yours probably does too, for most values of you. That and a buck would've gotten you a cup of coffee, back before Starbucks. MLS doesn't care what you as a fan and your city as a fanbase deserve, they care about seeing a solid business plan from a solid ownership group. Nor do I think they ought to care about anything else, if they and the professional sport in this country are to thrive.
Division 2 Code: 27.7% complete Year Avg Median %<2K %>10k 2002 2395 1805 55.1% 1.4% 2003 2672 1594 56.2% 2.7% 2004 3503 2939 29.0% 1.6% 2005 3739 3162 26.1% 4.3% 2006 4326 3355 6.5% 4.3% 2007 4098 3960 23.9% 4.3% 2008 4736 4215 15.6% 8.9% 2009 4409 3874 17.8% 8.9% 2010 4587 3569 32.7% 12.2% 2011 3347 2764 22.6% 6.5% 2012 3911 3041 25.8% 6.5% Median-33%: 2027 Median+33%: 4055 <MED-33%: 8 / 25.8% >MED+33%: 10 / 32.3% This weekend, home games in Tampa Bay, Fort Lauderdale and Edmonton. All measures will go down again, unless there's some Memorial Day Weekend bump (and good weather) from the Florida teams. San Antonio's average is still above 10k. Their next non-Open Cup home game is in June, so we'll get that fifth data point then and see what the math tells us. In the mean time, maybe they can beat Houston and really grab the city's attention. And the average and median are still solidly better than last year. Considering the loss of Portland and Montreal, things actually look pretty good. Here's hoping that Atlanta hasn't pissed off too many fans.
Upper level under construction on the East side will bring capacity to 10k. Also, there is a section along east side that's been closed all season where they are doing work for the tunnel to locker rooms (I think?). Drops capacity temporarily by about 500 I think - some of the best seats too!! Still haven't heard if the North stands passed inspection today to open for Tuesday night. Anyone heard any news?
Well I don't think they moved the game up a day to make a positive difference or expecting some kind of bump, but rather to avoid a let down. USA vs Scotland in Jax, holiday weekend, etc etc. I think moving it to Friday helped keep attendance on pace with our average, vs a potential poorly attended Saturday night game. Maybe one day they'll move the team from downtown St. Pete and we can have different expectations
No, I'm sure they didn't move it expecting a bump. Nobody gives up a Saturday night date - even on a holiday weekend - if they don't have to.
