View Full Version : About MLS and Phoenix
I attended the Interliga matches this weekend in Phoenix. The game between Chivas and Santos was a blast --it seemed more like run-and-gun basketball as the two teams rushed to attack and counterattack. If only more MLS games were like this.
The crowd was totally into it (Natch, since Chivas was playing) and just fun to watch. The stadium ticket lines were packed and long. Official attendence was only 15k, but it seemed like twice that because the crowds were so loud and rowdy. The bleacher section at Bank One was packed to the gills. This would be a great atmsophere for MLS! Bank ONe seemed tight because of the configuration (no upper deck seats were sold).
The 2nd game wasn't as fun to watch (2-1 Tigres over unloved Atalanta) and the crowd wan't into it.
I know that Mexican fans don't always translate to MLS fans, but this was so fun, that there has to be a way to make MLS work in Phoenix.
Bonji
04 Jan 2005, 12:52 PM
Do you have the money for expansion fees and a new SSS? Call back when you find someone who does. Thank you for calling MLS.
G Enriquez
04 Jan 2005, 07:59 PM
Any pictures from the match?
Do you have the money for expansion fees and a new SSS? Call back when you find someone who does. Thank you for calling MLS.
Yawn. Blah blah blah.
I realize MLS has specific guidelines. All I was saying is that Bank One Ballpark worked great for soccer. I think for Phx to get a team, we'd be able to get the $$$ and an owner if the SSS requirement was put off a few years. Not likely I suppose --but Phoenix is a good market for soccer and its a shame that MLS won't go there.
As for pictures, I didn't have the good sense to bring a camera.
But here's a picture from yahoo.
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20050102/capt.pnb10401022247.chivas_santos__pnb104.jpg
Lithium858
05 Jan 2005, 06:15 PM
The stadium should be indoors cause it's too hot otherwise! haha
The stadium should be indoors cause it's too hot otherwise! haha
Bank One ball park has a retractable roof. Its perfect. But it won't qualify for expansion because MLS refuses to consider stadiums that share space with a MLB tenant. But since we are getting a domed stadium in Glendale AZ in 2006, it would only be a 1 or 2 year thing before MLS Phoenix could move to glendale. The problem there isn't sharing space (the NFL cardinals are the primary tenant --and there is no season overlap problem) --its too much space. MLS doesn't like the big stadiums.
So we're back at the start. We must have a soccer specific stadium. Good luck.
Old Man!
13 Jan 2005, 03:29 PM
I don't think Phoenix is where MLS should concentrate their expansion efforts. Maybe someday, but no day soon.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6143100/
"At the opposite end of the spectrum is Phoenix, which already has baseball, football, basketball and hockey franchises.
The study estimated that Phoenix would need another $68 billion in total personal income (TPI) to comfortably support all four teams. TPI is the sum of all money earned by all residents of an area in a given year.
The shortfall does not necessarily mean that any of Phoenix's teams will move or fold. But it is a fairly reliable sign that they can expect continued volatility in attendance and revenues.
Some of Phoenix’s franchises, in fact, are finding it difficult to prosper in their overextended market:
The Arizona Cardinals ranked dead last in the NFL in attendance last season. The Cardinals averaged 36,000 fans per game. Every other team in the league was above 53,000.
The Phoenix Suns fell 4 percent short of last year's average crowd size in the NBA.
The Phoenix Coyotes finished 19th in the 30-team NHL in attendance in 2003-2004."
thepundit
23 Jan 2005, 09:13 PM
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAha. i'm not thinking 15k is substantial enough to merit an MLS franchise, especially when a US side wouldn't draw as well as a Mexican side would with that soccer populace.
o and by the way, the Coyotes are tied for first in NHL attendance this year. :(
Sundevil9
27 Jan 2005, 08:00 PM
I don't think Phoenix is where MLS should concentrate their expansion efforts. Maybe someday, but no day soon.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6143100/
"At the opposite end of the spectrum is Phoenix, which already has baseball, football, basketball and hockey franchises.
The study estimated that Phoenix would need another $68 billion in total personal income (TPI) to comfortably support all four teams. TPI is the sum of all money earned by all residents of an area in a given year.
The shortfall does not necessarily mean that any of Phoenix's teams will move or fold. But it is a fairly reliable sign that they can expect continued volatility in attendance and revenues.
Some of Phoenix’s franchises, in fact, are finding it difficult to prosper in their overextended market:
The Arizona Cardinals ranked dead last in the NFL in attendance last season. The Cardinals averaged 36,000 fans per game. Every other team in the league was above 53,000.
The Phoenix Suns fell 4 percent short of last year's average crowd size in the NBA.
The Phoenix Coyotes finished 19th in the 30-team NHL in attendance in 2003-2004."
Add to that the major NCAA Athletic programs in Arizona State, and to a lesser extent U of A.....further diving the sports entertainment dollar.
It's a tough sell. I loved PHX, but it should be somewhere on the list competing for the #20 MLS Franchise.
seadonkey
14 Feb 2005, 03:08 PM
The stadium should be indoors cause it's too hot otherwise! haha
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahhaahhahahahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahahah! LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My friend,I have heard some good one's in my day but THAT is BY FAR the funniest of them all!!!!! Where do you come up with this hilarious comedy material?!?!?!??!?!!?!??
uclacarlos
14 Feb 2005, 05:51 PM
Seadonkey, why pull out an old thread to ridicule somebody. In comedy there's a thing called timing. Read up on it...
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAha. i'm not thinking 15k is substantial enough to merit an MLS franchise, especially when a US side wouldn't draw as well as a Mexican side would with that soccer populace.
15K isn't that bad. That's what Osasuna drew last weekend vs. ...
Real Madrid.
JasonC
14 Feb 2005, 08:19 PM
The problem with Phoenix is it's overextended with the teams it has now, at least according to the American City Business Journals methodology.
act smiley
15 Feb 2005, 02:50 PM
The difference with Osasuna is they get loaded from the TV rights that everyone pays to watch Real Madrid get lucky.
Freddy Garcia Lives
16 Feb 2005, 02:09 AM
You can throw the Cardinals out of the picture due to a moron for an owner. 70 something years of failure falls squarely on the brilliant family leadership of the Bidwells. Aside from that, Phoenix is still overextended. Though I wonder what peramiters are set for metro area. Phx metro is 3.5 million (6th nationally) but ofcourse within 100 miles doesn't add any to the population like it would in LA or the East Coast. Phoenix could do it if there was a good relationship and revenue deal with the city of Glendale, which I believe owns the new football stadium. But there are still all the issues of sharing. RSL is looking at about $90 to $100 million for a retractable roof stadium (they are throwing around that idea). Same for Phoenix. If they expanded to Phoenix you would have to deliberately cater to the Latino population with the team, Arizona Santos or something. I miss Phoenix but realisticly untill grow catches up with the sports teams (about 10-15 yrs at current expansion rate in the Valley), probably not the best idea. For now stick with Amare and Co.
Guarentee that if not retractable roof, no team, too hot. Whatever that preseason tourney we played in every year in August is any indication, it would be cramps all around, not to mention no one wanting to sit on hot bleachers.
Calexico77
16 Feb 2005, 02:12 AM
No. Bad Idea. Just Bad. No Phoenix. No.
Tuscon on the other hand. . . .
zerorespects
18 Feb 2005, 12:04 AM
No. Bad Idea. Just Bad. No Phoenix. No.
Tuscon on the other hand. . . .
i disagree. i too attended the games, and i think that if we ditched the pathetic coyotes, and put in a real public transportation system, a MLS soccer team would be really successful. most of the people i met at the game were mexican, and they were just happy that there was finally some professional soccer in Arizona. If we got a SSS, it would help the MLS as well.
North Star
01 Mar 2005, 06:02 PM
A stadium would have to be an indoor stadium. A small indoor stadium like some of the Division 1 AA college football stadiums.
Sundevil9
02 Mar 2005, 12:39 PM
i disagree. i too attended the games, and i think that if we ditched the pathetic coyotes, and put in a real public transportation system, a MLS soccer team would be really successful. most of the people i met at the game were mexican, and they were just happy that there was finally some professional soccer in Arizona. If we got a SSS, it would help the MLS as well.
So you're saying for just a few billion dollars worth of facilities an infrastructure it would work?
FreedomJess
16 Mar 2006, 09:40 AM
Has anyone heard at all about MLS adding a team in Phoenix???
I think that it would be awesome; theres plenty of soccer fans here. My guess is that its too freakin hot to field a team but I have a vision of a scaled down version of Chase Field. Wouldn't that be awesome? A soccer specific staduim with a retractable roof.
Minutemanii
16 Mar 2006, 09:48 AM
Have not heard anything regarding that.
I guess I'm real lucky, immediately after I learned there would be an MLS 11 years ago, I also learned we had a team in it. :p