Angus Podgorney
06 Sep 2007, 10:52 PM
Article from ussoccerplayers.com about viability of St. Louis bid.
St. Louis Should Be Successful Mid-Size Exception for MLS
09/06/2007 9:59 AM
By Kevin McGeehan
WASHINGTON DC (September 6, 2007) USSoccerPlayers -- In principle, I’m opposed to any additional Major League Soccer expansion in mid-size cities. The American game is at its strongest in a handful of major cities around the league, such as Washington, Toronto and Los Angeles. It should be a similar story in Chicago and North Jersey when the ownership and roster situations there stabilize. MLS must succeed in those cities for the league to grow.
There was an idea for a time that MLS might succeed in smaller cities where the attention of loyal fans isn’t distracted by more established or successful teams -- the long-promised MLS version of the Green Bay Packers. At Lamar Hunt’s urging, we ended up with teams in Kansas City and Columbus, and almost had teams in San Antonio and Cleveland. Not exactly Green Bay in terms of size, but not exactly first choice for any league with a dozen potential markets.
The problem is that cities like those require hands-on owners who are interested in spending money to promote and improve their clubs, and for a long time those teams floundered for a lack of such owners. Few things are worse than New York playing in front of friends and family at the Meadowlands, except the Wizards playing in front of the same at a minor league baseball stadium next year. The last thing the league needs is another club toiling away in anonymous mediocrity in the Midwest.
Serious fans of the game know all about St. Louis’ soccer history. Nearly half of the players in the United States team that upset England in the 1950 World Cup were recruited from St. Louis. St. Louis University has a rich tradition in college soccer, and the city was host to numerous international games before US soccer hit the big time following the 1994 World Cup. The city’s place in the game has never been in doubt, and if the world were fair, it’s where the Wizards would have been located from the start.
The ownership group seems to get it, though. Many of the new and potential owners that have come to MLS in the past three years have been real estate developers with a tangential interest in soccer. Some of them have picked up an interest in the game, as in Washington, but they’re not absorbing the losses that the league hands them for the good of the game. They’re here for the money.
Jeff Cooper and his St. Louis Soccer United group don’t seem like that sort of crowd. Sure, the city’s proposed $406 million soccer complex will include retail and community development, but what soccer-specific stadium could get built without these sweeteners attached to it? The important thing is that Cooper himself played soccer through college, and presumably understands the importance of the game in the city.
Cooper holds a seat on the board at Brentford Football Club, who play in England’s fourth division (League 2). In 1996, Brentford was bought out by Bees United, the club’s supporters’ trust. If Cooper can take some of the lessons that he’s learned about fan involvement at Brentford and transfer them to St. Louis, he’ll be ahead of many of the league’s established clubs. Cooper has followed Peter Wilt’s lead and reached out to the potential fans in St. Louis through the group’s website, so he’s off to a good start.
It can’t be all peaches and cream, though, and there are some potential problems ahead for St. Louis United. This is a market that lost an NASL team to Anaheim and an NFL team to Phoenix. The same situation could happen with the Blues if Dave Checketts continues his quest to wreck sports teams across America. Both the Cardinals and Blues have been cursed with cheap owners, so as long as Cooper can support the club financially, he should be in good shape.
St. Louis may also be home to Anheuser-Busch and Monsanto, but the list of big companies in the area is rather slim. The club has to ensure these sponsors are on board to support the club and buy the luxury suites the new stadium will certainly have. With Budweiser’s established interest in soccer, the club could be well-positioned for success. Without that big money, the club could be doomed.
Those are two small problems that can be overcome by the right management, and it looks like St. Louis may have it.
St. Louis Should Be Successful Mid-Size Exception for MLS
09/06/2007 9:59 AM
By Kevin McGeehan
WASHINGTON DC (September 6, 2007) USSoccerPlayers -- In principle, I’m opposed to any additional Major League Soccer expansion in mid-size cities. The American game is at its strongest in a handful of major cities around the league, such as Washington, Toronto and Los Angeles. It should be a similar story in Chicago and North Jersey when the ownership and roster situations there stabilize. MLS must succeed in those cities for the league to grow.
There was an idea for a time that MLS might succeed in smaller cities where the attention of loyal fans isn’t distracted by more established or successful teams -- the long-promised MLS version of the Green Bay Packers. At Lamar Hunt’s urging, we ended up with teams in Kansas City and Columbus, and almost had teams in San Antonio and Cleveland. Not exactly Green Bay in terms of size, but not exactly first choice for any league with a dozen potential markets.
The problem is that cities like those require hands-on owners who are interested in spending money to promote and improve their clubs, and for a long time those teams floundered for a lack of such owners. Few things are worse than New York playing in front of friends and family at the Meadowlands, except the Wizards playing in front of the same at a minor league baseball stadium next year. The last thing the league needs is another club toiling away in anonymous mediocrity in the Midwest.
Serious fans of the game know all about St. Louis’ soccer history. Nearly half of the players in the United States team that upset England in the 1950 World Cup were recruited from St. Louis. St. Louis University has a rich tradition in college soccer, and the city was host to numerous international games before US soccer hit the big time following the 1994 World Cup. The city’s place in the game has never been in doubt, and if the world were fair, it’s where the Wizards would have been located from the start.
The ownership group seems to get it, though. Many of the new and potential owners that have come to MLS in the past three years have been real estate developers with a tangential interest in soccer. Some of them have picked up an interest in the game, as in Washington, but they’re not absorbing the losses that the league hands them for the good of the game. They’re here for the money.
Jeff Cooper and his St. Louis Soccer United group don’t seem like that sort of crowd. Sure, the city’s proposed $406 million soccer complex will include retail and community development, but what soccer-specific stadium could get built without these sweeteners attached to it? The important thing is that Cooper himself played soccer through college, and presumably understands the importance of the game in the city.
Cooper holds a seat on the board at Brentford Football Club, who play in England’s fourth division (League 2). In 1996, Brentford was bought out by Bees United, the club’s supporters’ trust. If Cooper can take some of the lessons that he’s learned about fan involvement at Brentford and transfer them to St. Louis, he’ll be ahead of many of the league’s established clubs. Cooper has followed Peter Wilt’s lead and reached out to the potential fans in St. Louis through the group’s website, so he’s off to a good start.
It can’t be all peaches and cream, though, and there are some potential problems ahead for St. Louis United. This is a market that lost an NASL team to Anaheim and an NFL team to Phoenix. The same situation could happen with the Blues if Dave Checketts continues his quest to wreck sports teams across America. Both the Cardinals and Blues have been cursed with cheap owners, so as long as Cooper can support the club financially, he should be in good shape.
St. Louis may also be home to Anheuser-Busch and Monsanto, but the list of big companies in the area is rather slim. The club has to ensure these sponsors are on board to support the club and buy the luxury suites the new stadium will certainly have. With Budweiser’s established interest in soccer, the club could be well-positioned for success. Without that big money, the club could be doomed.
Those are two small problems that can be overcome by the right management, and it looks like St. Louis may have it.