Currently Richmond has RVA FC (NPSL) and the Richmond Kickers (USL). RVA FC coming off its undefeated championship season and Kickers going into the playoffs as #1 seed. Kickers now backed by a decent supporter section and decent attendances of around 4-5K. While its not Orlando City numbers Kickers do have a decent following plus its surrounded by colleges/universities that produce many talented players. They play in a old stadium of 22,000 which would probably need a serious make over or a new stadium in the near future. RVA FC is of course made up of college players which means the idea of NASL is quite unrealistic unless they moved up and restarted the entire roster from scratch. Kickers are of course affiliated with DC United right now per USL-MLS agreement. The Kickers have had plenty of success before this season though as winners of the USL 2 and such in the past(plus the US Open Cup). Plus it allows for a VA rivalry between the Calvary and Kickers (Northern VA vs Central VA)
The Kickers do not get 4-5k. They did for their season finale. They have never averaged more than 2800 for a season, usually don't get that many, and, as you mention, City Stadium is inadequate. It seems like everybody gets bored and throws out "Why not this market?" scenarios based on faulty logic, inflated numbers, and, of course, the inevitable "and there's a built-in rivalry!" even though YOU'RE ONLY GOING TO PLAY THAT SUPPOSED RIVAL TWICE. There's a shit-ton more that goes into a rivalry than proximity, but hell if everybody doesn't try to cap their fantasy with the "and look, there's a READY-MADE RIVAL TWO HOURS AWAY," as if you just add water and everything becomes awesome. Get $5M, get a stadium solution, show me an owner worth $20M who is going to step up and THEN show me how Richmond, Virginia helps the NASL accomplish anything.
Really the first 2, not sure what the 3rd one means. But you are spot on like usual. I know this hurts to hear for people that want their teams to "move up". But Kenn is right, unless you have the owner worth 20 million dollars willing to invest, then you do not have a chance to move to NASL. You can talk about how your city would make a good market for expansion and talk about that, but unless you guys get a rich guy/gal that meets USSF D2 standards, it is all just hope and dreams.
Also, since soccer is what it is in the US and Canada, if those teams are successful in those leagues... why mess with a good thing? Support them, and then see if they outgrow.
Richmond has real possibilities. Metro Area exceeds 1.2 million wih no current major professional sports and there are a good number of TV sets (57th among U.S. TV households). There are three major components to supporting major professional sports: 1. Market (Population & TV households) 2. Facilities (Eg., Stadium, arena...)) 3. Ownership. Your market is adequate for a NASL franchise. A stadium & ownership group will get you there. You would become the smallest market granted an NASL franchise. Oklahoma City currently holds that distinction. 1. Markets: Metropolitan population figures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas U.S. TV Households: http://www.tvb.org/media/file/TVB_Market_Profiles_Nielsen_Household_DMA_Ranks2.pdf You are 1/3 on your way. Get that stadium built and the ownership group will fall in place. Richmond is a city which has corporate support with around four Fortune 500 companies. That's more Fortuen 500 companies that over half the cities in the NBA. Fortune 500 companies by state: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2012/states/VA.html
Well it is great that Richmond has some support building up, it's all true. You've got to have a owner and a better stadium. Best way to get a stadium and potentially a big money owner willing to go after the NASL? Attend the games, support the team, buy the gear, help make it a big deal. There is great potential in Richmond, but until you start averaging something like 5k or more a game over an entire season, the investor interest probably won't happen
Big Leagues don't neccessary require that you meet a certain attendance on the minor league level; however, it does help advance your efforts.
Richmond has an NASL-sized market, but is not an NASL city given their current team's setup. The Kickers were D2 for almost ten years and voluntarily dropped to D3 immediately after nearly winning the old A-League because the owners thought D3 was more in line with the size of their fan base as well as the size the budget they felt they needed to keep the club to in order to stay solvent.
Soccer is an untapped sports market in the U.S; simply put, they haven't explored all the areas which might benefit the sport as a whole. Rochester is one of those markets which comes to my attention. Other cities like Albuquerque, Louisville, Richmond, Tulsa and Wichita where there are no current MLS or NASL teams could be a diamond in the rough. These cities are approaching or have exceeded one million in MSA population. The key will be an ownership group and a facility. Many of those cities mentioned are two thirds there.
You do realize that there are USL Pro teams in some of these markets already? I am kinda glad NASL doesn't seem to be like USL and are trying to create new markets instead of engaging in pro soccer cannibalism.
I'll say this: Richmond makes more sense then Loundon County does for NASL. IMO, the Calvery will be a one season team and move some place else. Hey, maybe they'll head to Richmond.
Virginia Calvary to Richmond? Richmond would definitely be a fallback option since it has a metropolitan area the size of Oklahoma City and a lot more capital to spend on sporting events.
Well yeah except there is already a USL Pro team thats been there for over 20 years. Besides that, it makes perfect sense to start a new NASL club there.
Well, I wasn't thinking in terms of moving the Calvery to Richmond but more like them investing in the Kickers and bringing them up to D2 level. Let the Calvery go back to being a bad idea on paper.
If I remember correctly the Kickers used to be a D2 club & they self-demoted. I think D3 is working better for them.
A well marketed club in Virginia Beach area is a better idea for the NASL since a stadium sits basically unused. With that said, i think the NASL is done on the east coast until you see places like San Diego, Calgary and another western city or two. Still think we will see one more team for 2015 though.
They didn't "demoted" themselves to D3, USL got demoted to D3 when NASL organized and claimed the D2 slot. With the split up of USL because of the NuRock ownership issue, Richmond sided with USL in the conflict. Remember that USL was trying to hold on to its D2 status and make the NASL split a breach of contract (or some other legal dispute when the sued). So I don't think it is fair to Richmond to say they demoted themselves to D3. They were a D2 level club for most of their existence. EDIT: Charleston had self demoted (USL-2) but that became moot when all of USL became D3. I think that is who you were thinking of.
I could be wrong but I think the Kickers placed themselves in D3 before the NASL split, the so-called USL-2.
Richmond went to D3 (then named USL-2) in 2006, four years before the split. Charleston moved down in 2009 when they saw the split was coming and with the future of D2 soccer uncertain (USSF didn't approve either NASL or USL in 2010, they ran the league and didn't make that decision until Feb 2010) They Battery owners wanted to prepair for the upcoming season without the getting involved in the dispute.
They actually did. Continuing a long tradition of clubs seeking the right level. Years prior to the nastiness between USL and the TOA. Richmond wasn't involved in the conflict, having dropped to D3 some years prior. Richmond has actually played as many years at the D3 now as D2 (they were originally an amateur club, won the Open Cup as an amateur club), but it is completely fair to say the Kickers self-relegated. Because they did. Richmond PDL (or equivalent) 1993-1995 (3 seasons) Richmond D3 1996, 2006-2013 (9 seasons) Richmond D2 1997-2005 (9 seasons) Richmond has been a non-D2 club for most of its existence now.
You guys are right, I had the Battery and the Kickers flipped around in my memory. My bad. I still think Richmond is a more viable NASL town then Loudon County. Just because the ownership group of the Kickers doesn't have the resources to go D2 does not make Richmond a bad market.
Jeff Causey is raking in the Revs color commentator bucks. He could do for the NASL Kickers what Pele is doing for the Cosmos. I like Richmond. It is a nice little city. I was surprised to see their MSA had that many people.
At first blush here, it appears like it could be possible that the Cavalry is failing Loudoun moreso than the other way around. Loudoun does have the second-highest median household income of any county in America (and Fairfax County - Virginia's most populated jurisdiction - is right next door and also very affluent). That in and of itself is no guarantee of anything, but it does mean there are suburbanites with money there (and, presumably, many hyphenated-Americans who work in DC). I don't know that Richmond is "a bad market," nor do I think anyone is characterizing it as such. It should certainly be able to support a D3 team. The Kickers simply don't appear to have the resources to consistently and effectively succeed at the gate in that market (at least by appearances - they are still in business, after all). The Cavalry's problems seem to include a lack of actual experience doing this, an organization that is going to try to split resources between a baseball team and a soccer team (the Lehigh Valley Steam and New Orleans Storm would like a word with you), a problematic stadium situation and a lack of moves that would tend to engender confidence in the front office.
Bump Some news So Richmond city council has made it known it wants to improve the area of City Stadium with possibly a new stadium (residents said its the only thing they will go for. They don't want some major shopping mall or something.) Kickers plan for the next 3-5 years was a 10,000 seat 4 side stadium (kind of like WakeMed). Now with the city potentially backing them this might speed things up. So if the Kickers get a 10,000 seat stadium at the site of city stadium (basically cream the old stadium) do you think NASL throws a offer?
This will be a giant step toward NASL or possibly MLS for Richmond. Why(?): A. You have the 'market.' 1. You have 1.3 million in Richmond's metropolitan area. 2. You have four Fortune 500 companies in Richmond, more than any of the NBA markets of similar size (Memphis, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Salt Lake City). 3. There are no Major Professional Leagues operating in Richmond. B. You will need a stadium capable of being expanded to meet the minimum of 18,000-22,000 range. C. You're need an ownership willing to invest $150-175 million for an expansion franchise.