MLS Expansion

never happening. sorry

 

Wouldn't that be 40+ games??????

 

Fuking expansion drafts are gonna suck both those years.

 

1 Billion Dollar Stadium
Might I add it is a BEAUT!!!!!!!!

http://newstadium.atlantafalcons.com/

 

MLS has officially crossed over into NBA/NHL overexpansion territory. Steven Goff wrote a post the other day about this and I agree with him for the most part.

Color me very skeptical about all of these new teams' success probabilities on the business and attendance side, other than NYCFC, which will succeed in part at the expense of RBNY, thus merely shifting some dollars in that market.

Just feels like MLS is jumping the shark

 

When do we stop? 50? 100 teams? 5 divisions, 20 teams per division with promotion and relegation?

If MLS wasn't signing a huge TV deal soon, I would begin to think it was a ponzi scheme.

 

No to football lines, and plastic pitches.

 

I think MLS stops after #24 for quite a while (if they are sensible they will, anyway).

If MLS doesn't pick San Antonio as #24 it will really screw up my theory on what their strategy is.

 

NHL tried the same expansion for TV technique in the 1990s and it didn't work then either. Soccer is different from hockey but the same structural hurdles exist in terms of growing ratings

 

Atlanta?

Atlanta ????

I may be in the minority here but I just don't see it ending well in Atlanta for MLS.

I'd have rather seen San Antonio get an MLS franchise before Atlanta. Same with Minneapolis.

 

League is going to keep growing - They have to play to the American Market even if it's not the same way the "World" soccer market wants it.

If there is no club in Florida what makes a kid or an adult fan want to watch a MLS game?

Same in Atlanta -

San Antonio footy fans (small TV market as aforementioned) have two teams with Driving Distance to choose. (Although I would love for them to be in MLS)

 

I fail to see what's fundamentally wrong with Atlanta....

 

Good for them.

 

Nothing is fundamentally wrong with Atlanta.

However, it never has been, nor do I ever think it will be a hotbed of soccer in this country.

Furthermore, the Atlanta market is competing with quite a bit else in terms of sporting options. The MLS club will be competing with the SEC, and NASCAR (not to mention their NBA, NHL, MLB, and NFL franchises) amongst others for fans, viewers, TV time slots, etc...

I'm not saying it can't work and I get that MLS has to go where they're going to have an owner that is committed vs. another market where they may not have that at present.

What I'm saying is that I think that there were other markets that made much more sense for an MLS franchise than Atlanta.

That said, best of luck to them.

(Edit: Another city that I think would have made great sense for MLS would have been St. Louis. A bit of soccer history there I think.)

 

Nothing most other viable markets aren't competing with, nor what most current MLS markets are having to deal with. MLS has made it work in just about every market. Atlanta can work, too.

This is where we disagree. Atlanta is essential for a large(r) TV deal. Maybe it won't matter for the one they're about to announce, but say in 2020 when it comes up again, they can point to a new, successful Atlanta franchise to raise the $.

Agreed. I would personally love to see St Lo and SanAn in MLS. But the Twin Cities would make more sense at this point.

 

Atlanta is a poor mans Houston in terms of following its teams, attendance, ratings etc. Florida pro teams struggle across the board.

 

i'm with the anti-Atlanta crowd. i used to joke that i taped every Tecos game, so that i can save them for when i needed to nap on a sunday afternoon. they haven't even taken the field but i'll bet you that in 3 years a New England Revolution@atlanta game will be studied in medical journals as a magical cure for isomnia.

 

If they are sensible they would have stopped at 20.

 

I agree with Newtex-it's about markets especially with TV money (remember when they used to pay ABC to televise matches?) the future holds.

But with that said-you also need a stadium and an ownership with deep pockets. Neither of which San Antonio or Detroit have. St. Louis? Ask Steve Ralston-it ain't happening. They can't even support a third division team. Just because it's the "hotbed" of the sport it doesn't mean they can support a MLS team. The Baltimore Bayhawks (MLL) played in Baltimore and couldn't draw a crowd and that is the most lacrosse crazy city in the country.

I do agree that I am skeptical about Atlanta but the only thing that has me somewhat positive is the fact that it's got NFL ownership involved.

Don't forget that-it does wonders. Ask Seattle. Ask the Denver Outlaws (MLL). Denver's lacrosse teams almost annually draws more on average than their MLS counterpart. Bowlen owns the Outlaws and I knows for a fact that having a Denver Broncos STH list sure helps when selling tickets. So I think Atlanta can make a go of it. My worry is when the new building smell wears off and Atlanta fans go back to who cares about soccer-it could be a disaster.


Anyone remember FIFA 96? MLS is looking like the old US league team list. We just need New Orleans now

 

im waiting with baited breath (not really-for those not used to my genius wit) to see how they jump us from east to west-west to east every year there is an expansion team.

 

I wish SA would get a team for selfish reasons.