My, how things have changed. Eleven can show overwhelming support and (therefore) economic impact that we couldn't back in the late 1990s when we went to the city to see if we could get a li'l help. They tried to get us to play at Bush Stadium (which either was just about to become or had just become or had just failed at, can't recall, the 16th Street Speedway). Anyway, the place was a mess infrastructurally (I like what they've done with it now), and the city wouldn't help us in any way because they said "they didn't see an economic impact." (They were right, as it happened.) So our owner was trying to build a stadium on land he thought he owned on the old base in Lawrence, but the land swap got held up by the feds for so long that eventually just staying alive took over and the thoughts of building a dedicated stadium became secondary.
Indianapolis: New MLS-sized stadium planned It's not another MLS expansion yet, but why wait so long – says Ersal Ozdemir, founder of Indy Eleven. His plan of building a new 18,500-capacity stadium is already underway, though the club hasn't even played its first game in the second league. http://stadiumdb.com/news/2014/01/indianapolis_new_mlssized_stadium_planned
As a Fire fan from the start of CF97, IMO there is no better person to build a team from the ground up then Peter Wilt. He was railroaded out of town here because of our shoddy ownership and has deserved this opportunity for a very long time. I'm really pulling for Indy to be awarded a franchise solely because of Wilt. 7000 season tickets sold is a great start. You guys will love Wilt.
Among all of the pro soccer expansion clubs NASL or USLPro Indy and SAC were by far the most successful. Both are also in major league markets with INDy having NFL and NBA. While SAC has just NBA. With the MLS fee set at about 100 million right now all cities vying for expansion are looking to the backing of a major league club in their city. SAC with just the NBA pushed hard and fast to get the Kings backing. INDY as far as I know have not made that type of move as of yet. So I would agree with the 2021 which would be the start of considering another round of expansion past 24 clubs. NBA Pacers also own the WNBA Fever which both play at BL Fieldhouse. whether their would be interest in a MLS team who knows. Colts owned by Zillionare Jim Irsay would he go down the path of other big time pro sports franchises and look to back the Eleven in the future? A reasonable priced SSS that could host many other events could be of interest. Like SAC INDY has Minor League baseball at the big time minor league stadiums that are required now for AAA/AA teams. So as of now Victory Ballpark can host smaller outdoor entertainment events with a seating capacity around 15K.
You said it the key is the $100 million franchise fee. I am not sure there is a local person willing to shell out that kind of money. Jim Irsay has it, but I have seen no interest from him. Herb Simon, Pacers, has the money but he is old school. I really doubt he would be interested in a soccer club, unless he could turn the stadium into a shopping mall. As for the stadium, one will be built. One large enough to host a MLS club. It will also host a variety of outdoor events. Victory Field host virtually no events outside of baseball.
That is the issue right now for Indy with neither of the two big pro sport owners showing no interest. 2021 is awhile away so finding a backer has time. A stadium will likely SSS will likely be built. I would guess a possible smaller stadium like in SA, with phases to expand. For now having strong clubs and owners in the NASL will make it all the better. The NASL clubs are all mostly making some pretty big improvements with plans to become even better.
I've always been wondering why there has been almost zero talk of Indy Eleven making the jump to MLS given their off-field-success. I think their name and logo are awesome too and hope if ever some day they do join MLS, they wouldn't make any changes to it. However, for now it's just good for D2 (NASL) and soccer in the US in general to have teams like Indy Eleven, San Antonio Scorpions, NY Cosmos etc. Those are the kind of teams that can actually make a D2 become a respected league in the future and potentially interesting for people willing to invest into soccer but unable to get into MLS for one reason or another.
It's more or less the idea that MLS expansion wants to head to marquee markets first and foremost. Having a stable foundation in offbeat locales does present some logical fears, but if the Indy Eleven proved one thing, the fans of Indianapolis have gone a long way from the days of the woebegone Indiana Blast. I mean, who else can prove that they sold out every home game in their first season and blew away the average attendance for the NASL? We need to work on building an actual stadium (Carroll is fine, but we need something that can be used for soccer events, but also for other field tournaments, concerts, and swap meets) and ensuring that we are able to maintain the fans, especially in a market where there are two professional teams. But, for now, I feel very optimistic. As of right now, Indy is a perfect fit for the NASL and I'd rather build a reputation for being a big fish in a little pond then go head-first into the unknown and crash & burn. The NASL needs markets like Indy and San Antonio to build a reputation and credibility in order to entice players that there are more options in North Ameica.
Still alot of things to work out with financing and the legislature, but there is a proposal for a stadium for those who haven't seen it yet. http://www.indystar.com/story/sport...um-indiana-legislature-indianapolis/22454537/
Looks really great and is it true that the price tag is just 82 million? With no MLB or NHL in Indy. To go with the huge support the eleven has gotten so quickly the future may look bright to one day move to the MLS. I like and agree with the no rush approach. Continue to solidify the Eleven in the NASL. Get the stadium funding done in a timely fashion ensuring it becoming a successful and well backed project. When the stadium is in place pursue some non NASL matches that would be of great interest with higher levels of soccer. waiting until the post 24 team expansion that will begin in the 2020's. Giving the time to put together a great proposal with solid financial backing
To clarify i was speaking of the MLS expansion to 24 in this round pre 2020. Starting in 2020 is when they will begin looking at another round of expansion. with 32 looking to be the ultimate standard for the other 4 major league sports the MLS will look to follow the standard
There's no Standard for a League's size in the US. The size of a league is determined by what the economic market can sustain. Economics determine the size of a league. If the NFL can sustain more then 32 teams............it'll grow to larger then 32 teams. Same with the other leagues. The NBA, MLB and NHL have 30 teams. So 32 is clearly NOT the standard. Only the NFL has 32 teams. Further there can be arguments made that BOTH the NBA and NHL have too many teams.
Considering the TV contracts that the NHL and NBA bot have, I don't think it can be argued there are too many teams in either leagues. Professional leagues in the US is about TV footprints.
Frankly, that doesn't explain why the NBA has teams in Salt Lake City, Indy, Memphis, Portland, New Orleans, Oklahoma City & Sacramento and why the NHL has teams in Columbus, Nashville, Winnepeg, Ottawa & Edmonton. Each league could lose, say, 4 to 6 teams without seriously affected their T.V. footprint, IMO.
Kinda moronic post, actually. Each one of those teams have tv contracts that are collectively worth millions to the NBA/NHL. Each one of those teams sell millions in NBA/NHL licensed merchandise.
NHL is looking to expand to 32 even though there are still a couple of Markets that clearly are not doing well. Phoenix and Miami. Atlanta's 2nd try was a bust. NHL has a nice Fat TV deal with Sportnet Canada now so having teams in those Canadian Markets makes much sense. Some of those market sizes are much smaller than any US market would be given a club. However, NHL is the main sport in Canada and most cities it is clearly the biggest league going. So everyone is watching. CFL is second in most cities distant but still a solid second. 3 markets in Canada Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver will be the only 3 markets the MLS will hit as they have the similar numbers to major and mid major US markets. There are troubled teams in every major sport. There are still plenty of markets to shift teams around
I really don't see your point. How are leagues like the NBA and the NHL which periodically relocate teams as financially stable as, say, MLB, which almost never relocates teams? How is the NBA better off with small market Oklahoma City than it was with Seattle? How is the NHL better off with small market Winnepeg than Atlanta? Why would both leagues be better off by culling 2 to 6 of their weak sisters? The NHL, in particular, carries six teams (i.e., Miami, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Columbus, Dallas & Phoenix) that it could easily contract without affecting its broadcast and cablecast income - which is where the owners really make their money. Two problems with over-expansion are financially unstable ownership resulting in team relocations and talent dilution resulting in uneven competitiveness among teams.
Yea they had major internal ownership issues on top of mounting financial loses. So when the ownership group broke up there was no real cry from the Atlanta Community to keep the Thrashers in Atlanta. No ownership group took an interest and the True North got the OK to purchase an relocate a team back to Winnipeg.