Fan Forum

Discussion in 'North Carolina FC' started by longballer, Apr 11, 2012.

  1. longballer

    longballer Member

    Aug 10, 2005
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Tomorrow's the big day. I hope there's a good crowd.

    I'm a disappointed, but not surprised, there hasn't been anything in the N&O about it. No preview. No advertisement. Nada. Is anybody with CASL or any of the other leagues talking it up? What are people hearing out there?
     
  2. teucer

    teucer Member

    Dec 17, 2009
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well, I know CASL at least mentioned it on their Facebook page, but I don't know how well they're pushing it internally. I'm on XL Soccer World's mailing list (having played for a little while in one of their adult rec leagues but drifted away after being sidelined by a fracture) and haven't heard a peep about it from them.

    We'll see how it goes. Midweek at lunch time is a very challenging time to get much of a crowd, but I hope everybody that can go does.
     
  3. CHHSfan

    CHHSfan Member

    Oct 30, 2010
    Chapel Hill
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I've heard about it on 99.9 because they'll be there, but not anywhere else. Hopefully there is a video, because I can't get there.
     
  4. teucer

    teucer Member

    Dec 17, 2009
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Just shy of an hour. Here's hoping for a great crowd.
     
  5. longballer

    longballer Member

    Aug 10, 2005
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Random observations:

    I got there late. It seemed like a good crowd. Curt Johnson said there were five different Chambers of Commerce there.

    I thought the audience questions were decent.

    I was surprised to learn, from Downs, that travel costs weren't as big of a drain on a team's budget as some would have us believe.

    The panelists all heaped praise on WakeMed SP.
     
  6. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I did read on twitter that operating budgets for D2 teams were around $2 Million.

    https://twitter.com/#!/RailHawksFC/status/190491430626660353

    "Desire to expand to west coast and mid-west like San Diego, Phoenix and Indianapolis."

    https://twitter.com/#!/RailHawksFC/status/190490691246366720
     
  7. teucer

    teucer Member

    Dec 17, 2009
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Though they did comment they're looking for a stadium twice as big as WakeMed will be after this season ends.
     
  8. longballer

    longballer Member

    Aug 10, 2005
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    FWIW, here's some press coverage.

    Text:

    MLS President: Soccer can work in Southeast
    http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/ml...s-president-mark-abbott-soccer-work-southeast

    MLS in the Triangle a possibility, not imminent
    http://www.wralsportsfan.com/soccer/story/10976146/

    Major League Soccer to Triangle: Not quite yet
    http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/04/12/1997530/major-league-soccer-to-triangle.html

    Video:

    MLS leaders discuss Southeast expansion
    http://www.wralsportsfan.com/rs/video/10973632/#/vid10973632

    RailHawks Fan Forum
    http://www.wralsportsfan.com/rs/video/10975323/#/vid10975323

    Jennings: Gauging MLS interest in Raleigh
    http://www.wralsportsfan.com/soccer/video/10977272/#/vid10977272
     
  9. CHHSfan

    CHHSfan Member

    Oct 30, 2010
    Chapel Hill
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Thanks for the links. If nothing else, it got the Railhawks out in the media 2 days before the home opener. Good to hear some answers on what we need and what we should expect from future NASL and MLS expansion.
     
  10. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That was my question. :D

    I was surprised, too. I thought that the notion that MLS was pushing an unbalanced, rivalry-heavy schedule to reduce travel costs was overblown, that it was a minor factor and the league has other reasons for this. That answer nailed it down for me. It's not even a minor factor, it's not factor.

    The answer said that in NASL, the average team's travel budget was about 10% of that about $2M figure, and (here was the interesting part) that the travel budgets only vary about 20% within the league. IOW, the difference between Edmonton's travel budget (presumably the largest one) and the smallest budget that the eastern teams have is only 20%. So travel is NOT an obstacle to putting a team in San Antonio or Phoenix or whatever.

    Presumably the MLS teams' travel budgets are bigger, but their overall budgets are much "more bigger." Since it's not an issue in NASL, it's REALLY not an issue in MLS. To me, that means MLS is going so heavily unbalanced for one of two reason (maybe both.)

    1. Increase away support. If NY gets two extra games against local rivals at home, and that boosts their gate 1000 each time, and the average fan spends $50 bucks, that's $100,000. Not a huge deal, but meaningful.
    2. They want to boost rivalries to have something to sell to their own fans. Concomitantly, rivalry games are a threat to sell out which will drive season ticket sales.

    In light of the Gals' local TV deal, it's possible they're trying to ensure a few extra games being played in the same time zone. If DC United swaps a couple of Pacific games for Eastern games due to the unbalanced schedule, that makes their TV package marginally more attractive.

    Getting waaaay off Railhawk-centric conversation, but even spinning this in a positive way, I just don't see swapping a small handful of interconference games for intraconference games as being real lucrative. I know it's easy to spend OPM, but I'd rather the league work to build the integrity and importance of the Shield and therefore the regular season, than to so dramatically unbalance the schedule for marginal revenue increases.
     
  11. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This reporter got confused. SD, Phoenix, and Indy were referred to as possible NASL teams, not possible MLS teams.
     
  12. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    But MLS Limits travel supporter tickets teams have to make available to 500 (they may be more in the PNW).
     
  13. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That's not true.

    The 500 number comes from one particular circumstance. If NYRB supporters want to buy 1000 tickets to go to Gillette, they'll get them.
     
  14. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    The travel thing shouldn't have surprised you. Once you get on a plane, it's basically the same cost.

    The density of teams needed to reduce costs (buses instead of planes) is just not practical in a national professional league covering the U.S. (much less Canada).

    MLS has always said the desire to reduce travel distance has more to do with the players than the money. The added travel time affects the athletes, especially the return trips after the game.

    -----------------
    I'm just glad that Abbott was pretty definitive about both SEM (never going away) and Pro/Rel (not in the foreseeable future). It won't shut anybody up, but it'll make it easier to tune them out.
     
  15. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah, but I was thinking more about motel stays and per diems for food. I was thinking short road trips would mean 1 night, if that, and only a couple of meals. While Edmonton to Cary would mean two nights and several meals. Those kinds of costs, I was guessing, would double (more or less) for Edmonton.
     
  16. msilverstein47

    msilverstein47 Member+

    Jan 11, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  17. 1860

    1860 Member

    Feb 4, 2009
    Victoria
    Club:
    TSV 1860 München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
  18. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I am not a fan of 3rd party ownership. So this part does not sound good to me.

     
  19. msilverstein47

    msilverstein47 Member+

    Jan 11, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    enm007 repped this.

Share This Page