Glad to hear that the league is protecting the LA Blues ownership group, who have loyally thrown away money for years in the promise that the league's westward expansion is "just around the corner". Guess it just goes to show that you have to be careful what you wish for. Oh, and also that USL doesn't give a crap about the teams they have, so long as they can keep collecting expansion fees based on their relationship with MLS.
Not to sound like a kiss-ass or fanboy, but I have noticed that I tend to thoroughly enjoy many of your posts. Always nice to see some logic applied to the normal pandemonium that is, Big Soccer.
So USL-Pro started with 15 Lost the 3 PR teams Lost NYFC (and shares of Clip Art dropped...) Added VSI and Phoenix Lost Antigua and VSI So 6 out of 17 are now dead (35% which is actually better than the historical minor league average....) Phoenix is on life support LA carries on! I think Sac will be a nice success, not sure about OKC (the zero to game one in 9 months things are tough...) What's the expression the USL likes to refer to itself as...?
I'm not sure that's been their entire motivation, one (given their ownership is ( a ) well-capitalized and ( b ) none too swift to begin with). I wouldn't exactly go defending LA's owners as if they were just plucky little operators who have been sold a bill of goods. Their particular combination of money, hubris and cluelessness is unique, even for this level.
Just for perspective, the D3 failure rate from 1994-2012 was just a shade under 82%. If both Phoenix and Tampa Bay don't return for 2014, that would mean 47 of the last 57 teams established in D3 had failed (almost 83%). The D2 failure rate, meanwhile, has been about 53%.
BTW, they've added about five times as many PDL teams as pro teams over the last several years, which have far lower expansion fees.
Oh, I've never disagreed with that assessment. The point is that a league is supposed to protect its teams, not throw them under the bus. Whether they're (more than slightly) inept is a moot point.
Ever had a really problematic relative? I don't know that any league has ever - except in a Ted Stepien situation - stepped in for a franchisee's own good, have they? So, no, it's not a moot point.
Do I seriously have to put a sarcasm tag on a post in which I say explicitly that the league does not give a crap about the aforementioned ownership group?
So you're suggesting that if the league had wanted LA gone more than they wanted their franchise fee, that would have been difficult? I guess that's possible. But then USL would also be forced to admit that they have no westward expansion strategy, let alone a single well-run, western club. To my thinking, your loyalty should lie with the people who have already paid you a franchise fee--and who you have duly forced to sign a non-compete clause. By your thinking, the league has a right to stop LA from competing with a USL product, but it has no responsibility to protect LA from competition that will surely doom them. Sounds like a great deal.
No, at this point, I have to admit I don't know what you're saying, either by "protect its teams." I took that as "Save them from themselves," i.e. keep them from doing stupid stuff like throwing $800,000 a year down a rat hole by counseling them and making them listen to reason. The Stepien example is one of someone who was too dumb and too egomaniacal for his own good. This may be a similar situation. And, again, I must admit that we're talking past each other, because I have no idea what you mean by this. Are you saying USL is obligated to fight a potential NASL (or other league) incursion into Los Angeles? On what grounds? Or that they should keep the Galaxy from putting a team there? If that's what you're saying, that they can (and should) balk at any deal by a partner (as MLS is) that would be harmful to an existing member, I can see now what you're saying. But I would also say that none of us (except, probably Blueballs69 yuk yuk yuk yuk) knows exactly what's going on, whether the stories of an LA-based Galaxy DIII team are part of an overall deal that includes compensation or if the Blues - despite holding tryouts, apparently, and again, yuk yuk yuk on that - are even coming back at all, and perhaps (pure speculation) everybody except us already knows this. Perhaps we wait and see. But if you believe that there are three-year contracts vis-a-vis organization's participation in USL Pro (as we've been led to believe), then the Blues' contract is up. At that point, no one has any further obligation to anyone else, certainly no more than Brian McCann had to the Braves or any free agent has. If you ran a league, and you had, in essence, a "free agent team," whose participation contract with you was up, and you wanted to be in that market, you could re-sign that free agent, in essence, or explore other options. IF that's the case (and that's just a guess, based on available information), then it's caveat emptor all the way around, innit? If LA thinks they can get a better deal in another league, and be the westernmost outpost in a league that costs exponentially more to be in, they should take it. If LA has had enough and is going to cash in their chips, then, fine. If USL still wants to be in LA, they then have a responsibility to themselves (and the league as a whole) to explore options in that regard. (Keep in mind that I would imagine as part of the partnership - though I have no inside information - putting an MLS reserve team in a market is not necessarily a better deal for NuRock, because I would be stunned if they made them pay as much to get in as you or I would.) Now, IF (and this is all assuming facts not in evidence), LA is still somehow tied to USL, still wants to be in USL Pro, is still under the assumption that they're going to be in USL and have some sort of territorial exclusivity (in the second-largest market in the country) AND USL and the Galaxy conspire to basically change the locks and put the Blues' stuff out on the front lawn, then, yeah, I think you have a point. But we don't know that's the case or isn't the case. Like most things, I guess we might take the radical step of waiting for shit to shake out before we go pointing fingers.
Maybe, it wasn't just him. I wasn't sure what you were saying, either, and if I've mischaracterized what you meant above, then I'm out of ideas. But if I haven't - and you think USL should not allow the Galaxy to put a team in LA at the expense of the Blues - then my last couple of grafs above are my response to that.
I'm starting to get some positive vibes from OKC Energy. It started this morning when I noticed that the Facebook page for NYCFC has only 20,000 likes. Less than half of what Orlando City has, and even more pathetic considering the NASL!Cosmos FB page has 59,000 likes. So I decided to count up the Likes for the 2nd and 3rd tier teams right now. And I found that OKC Energy has over 13,000 likes already. The only other USL Pro team with more than 10,000 is Sacramento Republic (both of them are on-par with NASL teams, which were in the 10k range). They definitely have a chance to get the jump on the NASL team, assuming their team office proves competent.
It's a measure of brand awareness. Eyes on your brand, even casually or passively. Of course it doesn't translate to butts in the seats. (see: New York Cosmos)
That's just absolutely untrue. Facebook activity is one of the most-used and sought-after market metrics there is. It shows brand awareness and to a degree message penetration. They've clearly already reached thousands with the message that they are the only game in town, despite the reality that there is a team that has already been in town for years and which already has its own supporters group. If OKC FC ever want to get off the ground in NASL, the organization and the supporters need to begin taking nRg's messaging success very, very seriously. Failing to do so will harm both teams. They'll look like Johnny-come-lately, despite their history, and they'll make nRg look (accurately) minor league.
Social media advertising and spending will be above $11B this year. It does matter. A lot. Failure to recognize this and execute an effective media strategy will lose either team valuable points in their key demographics.
Encouraging news out of Sac-Town: USL PRO @USLPRO 2m Congratulations to @SacRepublicFC, which has surpassed 2,500 season-ticket sales ahead of its inaugural season in #USLPRO.
Not a Wiki editor, but Orlando should be listed as Wide World of Sports, and I believe capacity will be 5,300.
I have worked my wiki magic love. Not only did I update our field information (as well as snip the extraneous BS that isn't needed for 2014, and add Sacto and OKC to the map), but I made the team page for 2014, and made the league table for 2014. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Orlando_City_S.C._season
Oh man, I have created the USL Pro page the last two years. I have it ready to go on sandbox and was waiting for the Dec. meeting in Tampa to see if any new teams dropped in. I will put my efforts to your page.