Good point. Still its a long shot, but if Benson really wanted an MLS team, he'd get one. I just don't think he's in the race.
Look man I love NOLA, visit often, and my aunt may move there soon, but the guy has somewhat of a point. Demographics - city is way smaller than any city that currently has a MLS team. City is also largely black, and american black people tend to not like soccer. Future Prospects - NOLA has def. rebounded but Louisiana not so much. This whole Grambling State situation has just brought attention to how much the recession hit Louisiana and how crappy the educational system is. Not being rude, just real.
Are you talking about the city itself or the metro area? 1.2 million - smaller yes. Its really not mostly black, its probably 65% white. Plus for an MLS team you would normally include Baton Rouge, the Gulf coast area, etc. Regional marketing, just like they do for the Saints and Pelicans. Grambling is a mess all its own. Poor management does that to any entity. As for the rest of the educational system, I'm not sure MLS concerns itself with educational issues. I still don't see MLS in NOLA, but when people misrepresent what is going on there I feel the need to step in.
Tiny. Pretty large black population. Also I forgot to mention the lack of a sizable hispanic population. Pretty sure the massive public educational cuts have something to do with the situation in Louisiana. Add in the fact that its K-12 education is one of the worst in the country. None of this is helping its economic future prospects.
Add Baton Rouge's 800,000+, Gulf coast population 450,000+ puts the regional area at over 2 million, not large, but large enough. What? In 2000 the city had over 100,000 Hondurans alone. Since Katrina a large number of Mexicans have moved in as well. I don't know how many Mexicans have moved in, but from what I've seen and heard its a pretty sizable number. According to Gov Jindal things are improving, job market is growing, new industries are moving to the area. So you have a great sports town, large Hispanic population, and improving economy - and if Benson wants it, he gets it. I still don't think he wants it.
Ok so we agree. It's not. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans#Demographics Eh. I'd be really surprised if MLS wanted a team in NOLA. Not tryna be anti-NOLA, love NOLA.
That's wiki, I could change it to say its 25%. Plus its the Hispanic market, which is notoriously under valued. Garber would want Benson. He would be the anti-Kraft.
Yeah, that was my reaction too. But, other than that, I'm going to agree with panicfc on this one. While New Orleans may not be the first-choice, slam-dunk, can't-miss market for MLS (like Detroit is ), I do think it could sustain an MLS team. Would NOLA be Seattle or Portland or pre-epic-suckitude Toronto? Probably not, but it probably wouldn't be the worst place to put a team either.
I disagree. If people are worried about Atlanta then they should be scared shitless of NOLA. And there are waaaaaay more places that would make more sense to have a team.
Just checking, but does this mean that Tishoudy has ruined their reputation on BS by defending to the death a single source claim that NO was going to get the team at the expense of all other SW possible teams?
What's the world coming to when you can't trust random people on internet forums anymore? (N.O. by the way is the 45th largest metropolitan area in the US and 51st largest TV market...)
Let's not forget that now-closed thread that was created with, in part, gems like this: https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/will-new-orleans-be-getting-an-mls-team.1994077/
I don't know...I babble on a street corner about big bags of money falling on my lap but all I get is a cup of change and looks of pity. but then some guy Donny Gerber or some s#it does it next to me and he gets millions! WTF!?
From what I understand its inclusion is almost exclusively based on the new Vikings stadium and, despite Wilf's proclamations to the contrary while he was trying to get the stadium publicly funded, the new stadium was not designed with soccer in mind. That being said, isn't the current owner of the MN NASL team quite wealthy? So he could, conceivably, go it alone and build a SSS and get a MLS team.