yes, that is the team you are thinking of. http://www.youtube.com/user/KitsapPumasElite/videos?flow=grid&view=0
The Fresno Fuego do not charge for tickets. They are free through a partnership with Univision Radio. Not the best business model if they wanted to go pro. Kenn had them drawing 4,511 in 2011. And around 3,200 in 2012. http://www.kenn.com/the_blog/?tag=attendance
If you don't charge for your product and give it away you have a product with no value. At least charge something.
Not sure if this was brought up yet, but wouldn't this be a problem? http://www.footballshirtculture.com...ounces-united-soccer-leagues-sponsorship.html
As far as PDL with a pro structure in place, you'd be hard pressed to find one better than Des Moines Menace. The owner has very deep pockets (not sure on his willingness to spend). I know they have a USL pro squad as an eventual goal for their club pyramid. Whether this news has them looking to do that more quickly is the question. There has been quite a bit of staff turnover since the season ended. They would be a natural fit for SKC, maybe Fire as well, but Chicago is roughly twice as far as KC (distance is relative in flyover country). I don't think the USL affiliate needs to be particularly close. I beleive many PDL teams survive by housing college prospects themselves, or with host families. I would think that kind of arrangement would continue.
There has been strong interest in the past from both the owner (who sits with fans on the sideline at every game) and the fans. At one point we were thiiiiiiiiiiiis close to getting a sweet SSS built in a great location before a zero hour revote and denial revoked the land deal. I am not sure if he is interested in moving up without the SSS, which includes greater revenue from tickets, parking, and the ability to sell alcohol. But I agree with you. I have long been an advocate of affiliating with KC. We used to play an annual friendly with their reserves before the first reserve league. We played them in the USOC a few times too, with great traveling support. Chicago would work as well, despite the longer drive. Our AAA baseball (I-Cubs) and NBADL (Energy) have longstanding affiliations with the Cubs and Bulls.
That's pretty cool. As for the other stuff on this thread: - Has it occurred to anyone that the reason we have so many PDL teams and so few USLPro teams is that a lot of team owners find it easier to NOT pay players than it is to pay them? - Before we bury college soccer, let's see the academies produce as much international success as we've seen with a 1994 World Cup team made up predominantly of college grads, a 2002 team that had a lot of former college players, all the players succeeding in Europe today ... OK, I sense a blog post coming on ...
I wonder if teams like RSL will help the local PDL team (Ogden Outlaws) with support, upgrade to PRO and 5 reserve players. (Of course since Outlaws dropped out of PDL for 2013, that would be a problem too).
USL Pro Teams: Antigua Barracuda FC Charleston Battery Charlotte Eagle Dayton Dutch Lions Harrisburg City Islanders Los Angeles Blues Orlando City Pittsburgh Riverhounds Richmond Kickers Rochester Rhinos Wilmington Hammerhead Upon further review it becomes clear there is little or no advantage to MLS east of the Mississippi River accrued by the proposed MLS/USL Pro relationship. With the exception of a few East Coast teams, NE, NY, Philly, DC & maybe Columbus, none of the teams are close enough to offer a cost saving opportunity for regional competition. Unless MLS teams significantly expand their roster size, extensively use Academy players or pump more money into reserve team travel the same players will take the field for the same sparse and limited quality competition schedule. Whereas the straws may have been grabbed, the real thought process has yet to begin! This potential move is all about rabbits/hats, hocus/pocus, cost savings and other nonsense! However, the days of a grateful and largely uninformed fan base are gone. Once the dust clears, MLS will have to conclude that they have accomplished little or nothing towards development of young players.
Roster sizes would have to increase from 35-40 Teams would have to specify 10 players who are reserve team players. 10 reserve team players + 5-10 first team fringe players + =15-20 players for a reserve team, with the potential to factor in academy standouts. I think MLS would have to restructure their player contracts and the meaning Developmental, Developmental Reserve, or w.e
this trend will have a less immediate impact, but I would argue a greater impact over the next 20 years than the beckham rule. This will change the game here. we get that college talent playing almost 24/7 in conjunction with more local talent that is more visible (because of a wider network of teams)... wonder if there will be a limit on the amount of affiliates you can have? I am sure MLS will try to make this fair.....yaaawn. Sounders could parnter with Spokane Spiders, Bellingham United (owned btw by the guy that makes Ruffneckscarves), Kitsap, etc...exciting stuff.
you know whats the most amazing thing to me is that these USL pro and some PDL teams are getting decent attendance figures. Not massive, but the fact that there are attendance figures for teams in the PDL in the US in mind boggling. shows the depth of the game is increasing. I know some places have had good attendance at lower levels for years, but it appears to becoming more commonplace. great to see. Whether their own identity helps with this or being affiliated in name/brand with MLS teams will help is something I am not sure about.
I've been gone, so i'm not sure how well they do now, attendance wise. I know at our home opener there were 11k, and the Fresno Bee put season average at around 6k. Not sure which is correct, but either way that 4,500 is more than USL average, no? 3,200 probably is as well. And the drop was because of the team losing 6 players to pro contracts. It can be argued that the exact opposite would happen with the team gaining 26 pro contracts lol They sell the full stadium season tickets to Univision for somewhere between 100k-120k, and Univision gives them away. That same model could work with a pro team as long as Univision thinks it is getting its money's worth in advertising, which would exponentially grow if the team went pro.
Yes, NCAA changed some rules a couple years back (excluding hockey) that players can maintain their college eligibility playing/practicing with pros just as long as they receive what you described (expenses), just can't receive a paycheck. There's quite a few players in college this season that played in reserve games earlier this season: Javan Torre, Bradley Bourgeois, Jalen Robinson to name a few.
I know all about that. I am curious about USL-Pro's rules though. For instance, MLS has a minimum Salary plus the Players Union would freak the hell out. But does USL-Pro? I don't know about USL-Pro's player salary rules. I also don't know about any potential Players Union issues etc. Even the MLSPA might have an issue with the concept.
I doubt the MLSPA would have an issue with if they didn't during the reserve league season the past 2 years. Not sure about USLPro salary rules.
No min salary in USL Pro, but as MLS appears to be paying the salary of loaned players, I imagine MLSPA wont have an issue. This past season the Battery had an amateur suited up for a match. The Battery signed two keepers at the beginning of the season, one suffered a season ending injury in preseason. the other broke his hand a couple games in and was out for the remaining season as well. In comes Andrew Dykstra, on loan from DC United. But as DC didn't want him cup tied for the US Open Cup, a fourth keeper was brought in but of course a second keeper was needed for matches so in comes one of the Battery's US developmental Academy players Joseph Wichmann, a 17 year old Junior at a local High School. He was the second keeper for The Battery's entire USOC run in 2012.
There is going to be a big difference between past reserve league games and the new proposed format. At least I see it as a big difference. Not saying the MLSPA will push one way or another on the issue in USL-Pro games or not. And we don't exactly know the format yet going forward. Sounds like the first year each USL team will get to play against at least two MLS teams? Probably guaranteed exhibition games. And those won't count towards any standings. Then after that MLS teams might actually be fully taking part in the league. Mikey mouse, thanks for that info.
Why doesn't anyone else see this? This new thing doesn't do the same thing that the Reserve Division does. They serve two purposes. It doesn't sound like these new spots are part of an MLS team's 30 man roster. That's the clarification we need. Are these spots 31-35 or 26-30? If they're 31-35, I seriously doubt MLS will keep the cap of "5" very long. I also expect we'll see the emergence of "two-way contracts" where a player makes different amounts depending on whether he's with the MLS team or the USLPro team. That the question I want to see one of the journalists here ask. Are we talking about roster spots 31-35 or 26-30 (24-28)?
Haven't read the whole thread yet so maybe someone has mentioned this but they've already said that Antigua will be exempted from the system. That team was founded explicitly to provide outside experience to Antigua & Barbuda players being groomed for their national team (and with a population of only 81,000 people, calling them a "national team" is sort of like entering East Texas Baptist Teachers College in the SEC, but I digress) and wouldn't be interested under any circumstances, but it's a format that USL Pro is interested in maintaining and even expanding, and it's good for everyone. One would hardly have thought this possible.