No, only that people always assume that people with money have absolutely no qualms about spending it. "Ah, they've got the money, what does it mean to them?" That's not the case. You rarely get to be wealthy (or, more properly, to stay wealthy) without money meaning something to you. The costs of running a PDL team aren't that great. But it doesn't have to mean they feel the PDL is "beneath" them at all. Maybe they simply don't know what they're doing. That's just one possibility. Almost nothing in this entire Cosmos saga has given anyone but the myopic fanboys optimism that this group knows what it's doing (at least when it comes to the on-field stuff...they're apparently doing great at selling Cosmos gear in the inner city).
Real Maryland plays in Rockville, DCU U23 as far as I know should be playing at the Soccerplex in Boyds/Germantown - not in the District of Columbia (it's already a problem for DCU playing at RFK, I don't think they'll be willing to dish out other money for their youth team to play in the District)
I think PDL is tremendously interesting, last July I was in El Paso for a long week-end, and while I was there I was able to see (I obviously had planned for all of it) Chivas El Paso vs Laredo Heat, last game of the regular season; the game was nice, technically very acceptable, the crowd (2200) excellent, the whole athmosphere great. Tickets were only $4, water $1 and beer $2. The game ended 0-0 and Laredo kept that advantage point with which it won the regular season. El Paso had a group of some ~10~15 fans with drums etc. which I joined in the second half. I had a lot of fun. I am probably going to see some DCU U23 games this year, they should be in the Real MD group, and I am particularly looking forward for that "regional derby"
Yeah, from what I understand the new owners are Saudi and pretty much flush with cash. I suspect that they're really after the 2nd MLS slot in New York that Dandy Don has earmarked. It remains to be seen if they can be bothered with upholding the promise from the previous ownership group of running a USL PDL expansion franchise this season. My guess is no, but we'll see shortly.
Not an expansion team for this year. But it looks like there will be a new team in Cape Coral FL in 2013 and they will be playing a limited schedule this year. http://www.news-press.com/article/2...oming-Cape-Coral?odyssey=mod|newswell|text||p
Interesting. And I just suggested the Fort Myers area for a possible future Orlando replacement in USL Pro in "wishful thinking".
Huh. Interesting. I used to live in Fort Myers. The area has changed a bit. Wonder where they're going to play in Cape Coral. If they were making the announcement at City Hall yesterday at 3pm, I wonder why USL didn't put out a release on it. Maybe it'll be listed in the PDL schedule release once that comes out.
Ah, USL hasn't announced it yet because they haven't even applied to USL yet: http://www.cape-coral-daily-breeze....anes--to-play-exhibition-season.html?nav=5011 And from their website (which is a hot mess, by the way): (Emphasis mine.) Oy. Bless their hearts, but this is exactly the type of thing that happens far too often.
Sounds familiar. Sounds like the Scorpions. Fort Myers has hosted the Florida Everblades in the ECHL for the past 13 years. They've been doing league average attendance (just under 5k). It's a bit down historically, but it works for D-3 hockey. I think the area can pull off up to D-3 soccer. I don't know where in Cape Coral they can host it, but there's no readily-available places (beyond high school stadia; FGCU counts as one, too) in Fort Myers either. There is a sports complex in the Trafalgar area. There's some sort of development going on at Trafalgar Parkway at the sports complex. Don't know what it is, but there's space for a stadium on either side of the entrance road to the complex.
Not 100% sure, because I don't know if anyone else used it but,..... City of Palms Park in Fort Myers might be empty this year, as the Red Sox are moving into their new training facility. I was never clear on exactly what "new" facility was being built, but it was my understanding that it would be a 'complete' new site. With fields and a stadium for both the major league and minor league players. Then the stadium would double as the home field of the Gulf Coast League Red Sox. If that is the case then, last year's tenants would not be using City of Palms Park. Edit: I was thinking in terms of stadium. But, also becoming available would be the adjacent practice field or one of the five practice fields a mile or so east.
I'm not 100% sure ECHL hockey is a good predictor of PDL soccer performance, but maybe it is. And the story claims they're going to play at Cape Coral High School, which is...a high school. The Red Sox are moving? Already? Isn't City of Palms Park less than 20 years old? Man, Spring Training is a scam. So they're moving this year to something called JetBlue Park at Fenway South? All I can see is it's in Lee County, which is important, and here's why: The place the Twins have trained since 1991 is in Lee County, but not in Fort Myers (different municipality). If the Sox' new park is also in Lee County and not Fort Myers, Fort Myers might very well try to lure another team to their park. And while that wouldn't necessarily preclude it being used by a pro or PDL soccer team, it might make things more problematic.
Red Sox were contracted to stay at City of Palms for another 8 or 9 yrs. But wanted out early. Sox were talking to Sarasota, but Fort Myers came in with a package to keep them in the area. Don't know the ins and outs, but don't think anyone is coming into City of Palms Park this season.... And really not 100% sure about anything.
JetBlue Park is "mini-Fenway". Dimensions will be the same. So Fort Myers now has FOUR spring training facilities, with two of them empty. They could always remodel City of Palms Park into an SSS. They can get good dimensions up the third base line, which would be a N-S orientation.
No, it's too late for another MLB team to move to City of Palms for this spring training, which starts in a month. My question is the municipality overseeing the new place. If it's still Fort Myers, they will have built two spring training complexes in twenty years and will leave the second one sitting there (at least for now). Arizona has built a boatload of new complexes, they're unlikely to get someone from here to go there. Maybe the Pirates would leave Bradenton after all these years, maybe not, don't know. But if you're Fort Myers, it makes a lot more sense to try to attract the economic impact of spring training than a low-level soccer team. It just does.
Hey, where did the Fire start a relationship with a club in FL? I could go look it up, but being a little lazy right now. Would it be worthwhile for them to turn one of the empty stadiums into a MLS spring training site? I know your not going to get the out of town fans, but probably better then a boot to the head. LOL And maybe rebrand the PDL team that MLS team. There seems to be some squirm room on home grown player development location.
Yes, I'm counting Terry Park. It's Terry, Hammond, CoP and JetBlue. Though I finally looked up Terry and it was effectively destroyed by Hurricane Charley. Discounting Arizona, three is still a lot for one place, though.
Okay. Terry Park hasn't been used as a spring training facility since the Royals left in 1987, the year before I got to Fort Myers and 17 years before the Hurricane. It was bypassed not long after the Royals left when a new wave of facilities began being built (Hammond being among that vanguard), and was never ever going to be a spring training facility for Major League Baseball again after that. Trust me, spent many, many nights at Terry Park.
I remember a couple of other prospective clubs for this year that I haven't seen any news on; one in Aurora IL and the other in Fargo ND. I guess they weren't able to put everything together. I would like to see the return of a PDL team in MN. That mght break up the trip to Winnipeg a little. Or my ideal location would be Duluth MN. That would really help with breaking up the trip to Thunder Bay and you wouldn't have to play them two nights in a row when traveling there.
LOL probably the same time as Thunder Bay. But I guess enough that they have a team in the North Woods Baseball league (one of the college summer leagues). I know it's out there, but only place near enough to Thunder Bay that I can think of having a team to break up travel and reduce enough of the back to back games there. Although I can tell you the drive from Duluth to Thunder Bay has a great view along lake Superior. From what I remember it's about a 4 hour drive. Adding to my list of things to do when I win the all time record Powerball / Mega Million lottery. LOL
I would bet against a PDL team in Fargo anytime soon. USL contacted the biggest youth club there (Tri City Storm) and they have no interest nor resources to make it happen. Another party had expressed interest in the local media last fall, but I've heard nothing since.