Philadelphia Expansion Thread

[dcajedi]

Because there needs to be one, especially as it appears the City of Brotherly Love has been shortlisted by MLS for a new team at Lincoln Field.

[Wallydrag]

It has? I was under the impression it was the exact opposite case.

[dcajedi]

not according to the latest MLS Confidential.

[Paul Nasta]

I guess the question is who is the investor? Is Jeff Lurie realistically interested?

Has there ever been any talk of Comcast investing in MLS?

According to MLS Confidential, the list of expansion candidates can be divided into two groups: big city and small city. The four big cities under consideration are Philly, Houston, Seattle and Cleveland. My bet is that, for the first three of these cities, any MLS team would go in the NFL stadium and be owned by the owner of the local NFL team.

The three small cities are OKC/Edmond, Tulsa and Rochester. Of note is that Rochester is a 'dark horse' because its new stadium will initially have a capacity (12,000-13,000) which is too small for MLS.

Will LFF have natural grass or aftificial turf?

[dcajedi]

Originally posted by Paul Nasta
I guess the question is who is the investor? Is Jeff Lurie realistically interested?

Yes, as far as I know

Originally posted by Paul Nasta
Has there ever been any talk of Comcast investing in MLS?

No, it would probably just be Lurie's money.

Originally posted by Paul Nasta
According to MLS Confidential, the list of expansion candidates can be divided into two groups: big city and small city. The four big cities under consideration are Philly, Houston, Seattle and Cleveland. My bet is that, for the first three of these cities, any MLS team would go in the NFL stadium and be owned by the owner of the local NFL team.

The three small cities are OKC/Edmond, Tulsa and Rochester. Of note is that Rochester is a 'dark horse' because its new stadium will initially have a capacity (12,000-13,000) which is too small for MLS.

Yeah. Apparently the Philadelphia City Council has budgeted for revenue from an MLS team at LFF, which was the tipoff for me.

Originally posted by Paul Nasta
Will LFF have natural grass or aftificial turf?

Grass, thank god.

[mattie g]

Thanks for starting up this thread and mentioning the "MLS Confidential" info. Many of us around here don't get that, so hearing about it is always a good thing.

What, without quoting directly, did it say - if anything - about Lurie's involvement? I know we've all specualted for years now about this happening, but that's all it's been - specualtion. Does this MLS Confidential give any more specifics or additional info, or is it just the same rehashing of the ideas we've all bandied about here for so long?

Paul:

There has, in the past, been talk of Comcast's involvement in MLS, especially when WUSA started up and Comcast got involved with the Charge. WUSA getting involved in a Philly MLS team was also all the rage for a while, but that talk faded when WUSA apparently pulled out of that agreement (it's been discussed around here before).

[Supernaut]

Comcast briefly held the rights to an MLS expansion team. This was part of the MLS-WUSA arrangement following the launch of the WUSA.

I believe that they had one year to excerise their option, which of course they did not do.

Lurie is the current interested party.

[Paul Nasta]

Originally posted by mattie g

What, without quoting directly, did it say - if anything - about Lurie's involvement? I know we've all specualted for years now about this happening, but that's all it's been - specualtion. Does this MLS Confidential give any more specifics or additional info, or is it just the same rehashing of the ideas we've all bandied about here for so long.

MLS Confidential really did not give any new information. Just listed the 7 candidate cities, said something about how the league had 2 different plans for expansion. One dealing with the construction of SSSs, as in C-bus and LA, and the other dealing with cooperation with NFL owners and using NFL stadiums. It also mentioned Minnesota as a candidate. It said nothing about potential investors, however.

[Rickster]

Where has it been written that Jeff Lurie is interested in MLS? Sounds like wishful thinking to me.

[billf]

I hope Philly gets a team. I think it would do well and the Linc looks like it could be a good place for soccer. I just hope Comcast isn't involved in anyway. I don't want any more of my money going into that God-forsaken company.

[Supernaut]

Where has it been written that Jeff Lurie is interested in MLS? Sounds like wishful thinking to me.


Joe Banner, Jeff Lurie's business partner (and I think he is GM of the Eagles) has publicly stated their interest in bringing pro soccer to Philadelphia.

In the mid-90's, they toyed with the idea of bringing an A-League team to Philadelphia.

Banner recently remarked in the Inquirer that the upcoming Man-U exhibition at LFF was a trial run for bringing MLS to Philadelphia.

[Minnman]

Originally posted by Supernaut
Where has it been written that Jeff Lurie is interested in MLS? Sounds like wishful thinking to me.


Joe Banner, Jeff Lurie's business partner (and I think he is GM of the Eagles) has publicly stated their interest in bringing pro soccer to Philadelphia.

In the mid-90's, they toyed with the idea of bringing an A-League team to Philadelphia.

Banner recently remarked in the Inquirer that the upcoming Man-U exhibition at LFF was a trial run for bringing MLS to Philadelphia.

The only things I've read (and I don't claim to be an expert on the matter) on this issue make it hard to know whether Lurie/Banner have any interest in investing in MLS themselves or just having Lincoln Field used as the home stadium for an MLS franchise in Philly.

If it's the former, well, I suppose that MLS would be interested in exploring the possibility. If it's the latter, well, no one at MLS HQ is going to ask me, but I pray their reponse is thanks, but no thanks. Which stadium owner wouldn't want a new tenant for their facility.

[Fury2]

Would the Linc be the longterm home, or a suitable home until a soccer stadium was built?

Either way, Philadelphia needs a team, and we need them to be called the Atoms and wear the Fury's colors.

Unless the small cities sneak in the back door, Philly will get a team. The Barcelona game on August 3rd will draw very well, and Lurie and Banner will be motivated to become more aggressive.

[dcajedi]

Originally posted by Fury2
Would the Linc be the longterm home, or a suitable home until a soccer stadium was built?

My impression is that it would be the longterm home, and if they only use the lower bowl, and Lurie's the owner-operator, it doesn't really matter past that.

Originally posted by Fury2
Either way, Philadelphia needs a team, and we need them to be called the Atoms and wear the Fury's colors.

I know I haven't been here for all that long, and as a result I don't know all the history of the 'Atoms' name, but I would be really impressed if the team was called Philadelphia Union FC, and the jerseys were blue and green hoops for the home, and white with blue and green borders for the away jersey. I think it would be a big step but an impressive one if new MLS teams were to take a step away from the traditional 'mascot'-style names, and since the Union FC name was the original name for the Philly-area franchise, and conveys the idea of being a team for South NJ, PA, and DE (in addition to sticking one in the Metros' eye for not being able to really unify NY and NJ), that would be cool. And the jerseys would be a nod to the city's Irish-Scottish heritage.

Originally posted by Fury2
Unless the small cities sneak in the back door, Philly will get a team. The Barcelona game on August 3rd will draw very well, and Lurie and Banner will be motivated to become more aggressive.

I definitely agree with you here, and I really hope that people who go to this game take pro-MLS banners and posters and such. Seeing lots of those in the stands would surely have a positive effect.

[Chesco United]

Please don't have the new team wear the Fury's jerseys. A thing of beauty it is not. I am perfectly fine with bringing back the Atoms' unis and name. I think a team at LFF will struggle for media attention, unless Lurie spends the ad bucks. Lurie was rumored to have borrowed a large sum from mommy (tens of millions, IIRC) to buy the Eagles. I'm wondering how much extra dough he has.

[USRufnex]

Originally posted by Fury2

Unless the small cities sneak in the back door, Philly will get a team. The Barcelona game on August 3rd will draw very well, and Lurie and Banner will be motivated to become more aggressive.

I believe the opposite to be true... I'd be more worried about big cities that will try to "sneak in the back door."

Rochester already has a proven fanbase at over 10K per game year-in and year-out at a baseball stadium. The Rhinos will be first tenant in the new PaeTec Park.

Oklahoma City/Edmond and Tulsa have been given 6500 and 7500 season ticket deposit mandates from MLS. Bob Funk/Express Sports will be spending millions to expand a small existing stadium into one that will satisfy MLS. Tulsa's Mayor LaFortune is pushing a soccer specific stadium that would cost $35 MIL... a proposed re-fitting of Tulsa's Skelly Stadium (ala SJ's Spartan Stadium) may muddy the waters a bit.

These are (literally) concrete proposals. They have taken/will take alot more effort from OKC, Tulsa, and Rochester than that required of a big market city that may treat MLS as an afterthought to its NFL team and as a way to increase revenue from a new stadium.

MLS has already let cities in through the "back door"-- ownerless franchises in large markets like Dallas or markets like San Jose and Tampa got in more because of a decades-old NASL pedigree than anything having to do with a grassroots Columbus-type effort.

MLS is already in 7 of the top 8 markets: Philly is the only one left.

I hope Philly gets a team. That market is too big to ignore. Miami couldn't draw flies to Lockhart in Ft. Lauderdale-- yet over 40,000 are expected for the US/Argentina game in the Orange Bowl... You guys may get a great crowd in Aug. for the Man U game. But that in and of itself will not guarantee a successful franchise.

I'd rather have Garber say a polite-- no thank you, you're not ready yet... that have an NASL-style repeat of the Philadelphia Fury and Houston Hurricane franchises.

[Fury2]

OK, I dated myself a little bit. We used to go to the Vet and watch the Fury all the time. Although they were not a great team, and they certainly didn't draw well, the league was great. There were so many world stars, and not all past their prime. But if we could be lucky enough to get a team in Philly, I would embrace the name regardless. As a lifelong AS Roma fan, I have to hold out some hope for the Fury colors.

The August 3rd game is just important because it will have an impact on Lurie and Banner. I agree that the crowds at these friendlies do not indicate long term support of an MLS franchise, but if it is an impressive atmosphere, the ownership candidates will be swayed to proceed. Based on history, it is not a given that an MLS team will go over big. This is a blue collar, red-white-and-blue sports town, and the sports media feeds that. But the soccer community is much larger than it was 20 years ago, and if it's handled properly, the fifth largest market in the US can have a successful franchise.

Lastly, I have a good friend in the Chicago Fire front office, and his feeling, and it is only that, is that Philly is on a much shorter list than we have been discussing.

[USRufnex]

Originally posted by Fury2
OK, I dated myself a little bit. We used to go to the Vet and watch the Fury all the time. Although they were not a great team, and they certainly didn't draw well, the league was great. There were so many world stars, and not all past their prime.

I'd been to NASL Roughnecks' games (thus the USRufnex screen name) but hadn't really been in a "time warp" since this past summer... the first time Tulsa surfaced in expansion talks.

If you watched many NASL away games on tv, you noticed it was a real crapshoot. The old outdoor Met was rockin' more times than not for the Minnesota Kicks while I remember a game against the Atlanta Chiefs (a young Victor Noguiera in goal) that was so quiet you could hear "a rat pi$$ on cotton."

The CBS affiliate in Tulsa announced the MLS exhibition game at Skelly Stadium this way:

"You're invited to party like it's 1979!"


But if we could be lucky enough to get a team in Philly, I would embrace the name regardless. As a lifelong AS Roma fan, I have to hold out some hope for the Fury colors.


Best unis in the league.


Lastly, I have a good friend in the Chicago Fire front office, and his feeling, and it is only that, is that Philly is on a much shorter list than we have been discussing.


If you heard that from the somebody at the Fire front office, does that mean AEG may step in at some point?

If memory serves, all was quiet in Chicago until they actually got an expansion team.

[Fury2]

The unis were good. I actually have a replica that I wore as a kid. I'm saving it for my son to wear. I also just found a company that makes the replica, and I'm
ordering one.

About AEG, my friend used some discretion with details,
but he didn't deny me when I suggested it. I think it's also a case, as you mentioned earlier, of Philadelphia being too major of a market to ignore. Of course, that could be a bad thing if the issue is forced.

[Celsion]

How does the media treat soccer in Philly? Do you think they would support and cover an MLS team?