Of all of the expansion scenarios I've heard of bouncing around, the one that makes the most sense to me in terms of even schedules is a 27 team league divided into 3 conferences (west, central, east). Each team would play teams in their conference twice(home and away), and all other teams once, totaling 34 season games. Seems like the right number of teams given the expressed interest around the US/Canada in the short term, and would keep a nice number of total games and parity. Those additional 3 team spots could give some breathing room to cities like Sacramento, San Antonio, Minneapolis, St. Louis, etc who are all realistically competing for that final 24th spot as it is now.
Why do you think Garber talks Atlanta or Minnesota now? Because BILLIONAIRES are fighting over the right to get a MLS team there, Billionaire$. In Sac-town, we might be talking millionaires (maybe) fighting between Sac and Elk Grove. Thats the difference.
No hostility. A poster posed the question "Why aren't people talking about Sac"; I was responding. Thank you for allowing my response.
Must have missed that post, didn't see any recent comment asking that. Unless you're talking about falvo, who's comments often leave me scratching my head and bewildered.
His office is a little light on the furniture, so let’s just call it modern functional. There are no plants to water, no fine art hanging on the walls, no bookcases or video collections to dust. But a burger joint, a coffee bar, a restaurant, a book store and the team’s headquarters are all within a 20- to 30-second jog of Broadway. No, not that Broadway, not yet anyway. Sacramento’s latest pitch for a Major League Soccer franchise has far more modest beginnings – a team called Republic FC in the third-tier USL Pro league – but a superstar/celebrity coach. His Serbian parents named him Predrag Radosavljevic, but the world knows him as “Preki,” a feisty 5-foot-9 midfielder who played for a handful of indoor soccer teams, became an American citizen and was named to U.S. World Cup teams, and won a Major League Soccer title and two MVP awards, the latter of which he nabbed at age 40. He also has coached MLS franchises in Los Angeles and Toronto, and fortunately for Republic FC investor Warren Smith he was out of work for a few seasons and awaiting another challenge when the phone rang. Preki’s duties with Republic FC – his challenges, actually – consist of assembling a roster, producing an entertaining product that will attract at least 6,500 to a temporary facility at Cal Expo and schmoozing with the MLS game-changers who will decide which cities are worthy of MLS expansion in the next few years. According to Smith, the co-founder of the River Cats and the driving force behind Sacramento’s latest soccer undertaking, the criteria includes fan support, the quality of the facilities, location and demographics of petitioning cities, with 18-34 the target audience. The competing cities include Minneapolis, Atlanta and San Antonio, with San Antonioand Sacramento having unique appeal because neither is overcrowded with professional franchises. Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/03/27/6275289/ailene-voisin-preki-gives-upstart.html#storylink=cpy
Its actually easier to get to Sac than it is to San Jose. By all means, I'm all for more area teams. When you consider NY getting three teams and they are all within 10-20 miles of one another, I'm all for getting more clubs in NorCal. Wouldn't it be cool if SF, Elk Grove and Sac all had teams? Ok I just woke up from a dream......
How about ... SRFC - In MLS at a downtown stadium, training ground in Elk Grove. SRFC II - In the USL Pro, training and playing in Elk Grove. (Or better yet: all these teams playing and training in Sacramento.)
So your dream is to have the following Northern California MLS teams in the near future (listed in alphabetical order)? Elk Grove Elk Grovers Oakland Oaklanders (Oaklandites?) Sacramento Republic FC San Francisco San Franciscans San Jose Earthquakes -G
21K+ for the SacRep home opener is very impressive. I'm not at all surprised though. Sac areas fans have a love affair with their teams and the support in this market will be strong. They're also all over the news and sports radio. It's actually quite interesting when you compare it to the other NorCal team in MLS, SJ. SacRep is already more impressive in some ways as a 3rd division club.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/04/25/6355033/sacramento-republic-fc-opener.html Impressive. But the key here is what happens to Sac Repub FC once the novelty inevitably wears off down the line. On the face of it, if Sac Repub FC maintains home attendance between 10K-20K average for the next couple of years, talk of Sac Repub FC in MLS is definitely on the table. They would challenge Quakes for NorCal supremacy.
Keeping 2 teams in Los Angeles is such a waste when there are clearly better markets like Sacramento and St Louis. Just move the rebranded Chivas team to Sacramento. It would be so much better for the league.
They won't be able to maintain 10-20k - their stadium seats 8K - at least, the soccer-specific stadium they are currently building which will serve as their home for the first few years. This 20k venue is temporary until Bonney Field is ready to open in June. When your NY team is actually located in NJ and is a shameless corporate advertisement for an energy drink - yes, you have very good reasons to put a second team in the largest city in the hemisphere.
I was saying that there is no reason for three teams. There are parts of the country that are under served.
There will be a drop off after the opener. But Sactown does support their teams. I expect attendance to be in the teens, ~12-15k for the next two games at Hughes. With STH sales approaching 6K, Cal Expo Bonney Field (capacity 8K) games will likely be sellouts for the season.