MLS Expansion poll

[ken0sha]

Soccer by Ives has a poll about where expansion should occur next and some interesting comments follow. Obviously I would have a bias to Portland and Vancouver. Let's keep the three PNW/Cascadia teams together.

http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/10/where-should-ml.html

[Nerroth]

I'd sooner go for the two Canadian teams - the Impact and Whitecaps - though I would like to see Portland follow suit in a future round.

[PG Tips]

I'm still blown away why Portland is even mentioned as being a suitable candidate for expansion. Their bid involves renovating a baseball diamond and then sharing it with the University football team. That's a fact as owner Paulson has said so.

Then on top of it, they require public funds to build the stadium and then require public funds to vacate the baseball team to a brand new stadium, all paid for by the City. The only thing that will be privately paid is the expansion fee. Portland and Oregon tax payers on the hook for everything else.

Vancouver and Montreal's bids are all privately funded, stadium and expansion fees, with concrete plans already in place. They have support from their civic, and Provincial governments as well.

Vancouver does have the stadium issue but at least they will temporarily play in $200-300m retractable roofed and redone BC Place until their new one is built. Portland's bid with that renovated baseball park is their only option.

[Eckstoss]

I'm still blown away why Portland is even mentioned as being a suitable candidate for expansion. Their bid involves renovating a baseball diamond and then sharing it with the University football team. That's a fact as owner Paulson has said so.

Then on top of it, they require public funds to build the stadium and then require public funds to vacate the baseball team to a brand new stadium, all paid for by the City. The only thing that will be privately paid is the expansion fee. Portland and Oregon tax payers on the hook for everything else.

Vancouver and Montreal's bids are all privately funded, stadium and expansion fees, with concrete plans already in place. They have support from their civic, and Provincial governments as well.

Vancouver does have the stadium issue but at least they will temporarily play in $200-300m retractable roofed and redone BC Place until their new one is built. Portland's bid with that renovated baseball park is their only option.

Exactly when and where will Vancouver's new stadium be built? I didn't know those details had been finalized and approved.

Like a lot of cities Portland's bid involves both public and private funding. Why does that bother you if there is public support for it?

"Renovating a baseball diamond"? True baseball does play there now, but PGE park was originally built for track and there would be no sign of baseball after the renovation.

Isn't the whitecaps plan to share BC Place with other sports too. And, how close is that to the MLS optimal 25k capacity?

I personally wonder how Vancouver is still in play with no guarantee of ever getting out of an oversized football stadium.

And I don't know, you just seem upset. Is it because of the results of the poll referenced in this thread?

[PG Tips]

Exactly when and where will Vancouver's new stadium be built? I didn't know those details had been finalized and approved.They haven't. But, a temporary stopgap in BC Place until a new stadium for the club is more than suitable. Their intention and main focus has always been new digs. They do own property on the waterfront already, they need to swap it with the Port. The plot they want from the Port is 2/3rds smaller than theirs, but the Port is playing hardball. But they will build a stadium with private funds and have the backing of the City and the Province of British Columbia.



Like a lot of cities Portland's bid involves both public and private funding. Why does that bother you if there is public support for it?Public money doesn't bother me, it's that MLS or any similar business prefers private funds because when you involve the taxpayer funds or the process of getting those funds can be lengthy and be shortcoming. A P3 model works just fine though, similar to Vancouver's Canada Line metro project. But Paulson's requirement of public funds is not a small amount, the majority of his bid hinges on those public funds. To add to it, PGE Park a few years ago was renovated in the millions of dollars with public funds. They're still paying that off.




Isn't the whitecaps plan to share BC Place with other sports too. And, how close is that to the MLS optimal 25k capacity?Their plan is to play temporarily at BC Place(62k seats) sharing it with CFL grid-iron team. How is that different than Seattle(67k seats) who permanently share with the NFL? Even PGE Park will permanently share with the University grid-iron team. Renovated PGE Park will also temporarily share with the Beavers baseball team until their new digs is built. The Miami bid involves sharing a 45k seat stadium with a university football team either temporarily or permanently. The difference with Vancouver it that they already have the plans and the ambition to build and play in their own stadium. Some bureacratic red tape is the only thing standing in the way.


I personally wonder how Vancouver is still in play with no guarantee of ever getting out of an oversized football stadium. Again, how is it different from Seattle or a Miami bid? Vancouver at least has plans. You could say also say how could Portland get a franchise knowing they will permanently share a pitch with a university football team with no guarantee of getting out of that?


And I don't know, you just seem upset. Is it because of the results of the poll referenced in this thread?No, I just wanted to shine some light on the Portland bid. Around MLS message boards there seems to be an inherent lack of facts about the bid. Hey, I'm not against Portland getting a franchise. I want them too as well as Vancouver and Montreal. But I don't see how their bid is better than Vancouver's. At the very best you could arguably say it's at par. I could say however, the one thing is how revenue is controlled at BC Place.

[mednus]

MLS can't let Vancouver in! Your Youth program is just to BIG!!!!!!!

MLS Youth Initiative is
Each team will be allowed one team of up to 18 players in each of the following age groups on its Home Grown Player List:
Under-25, U20, U18, U16, U15, U14
http://www.mlsnet.com/news/mls_events_news.jsp?ymd=20061110&content_id=78269&vkey=mlscuppr2006&fext=.jsp

Vancouver Whitecaps Youth Initiative
Mountain WFC U16B, U15B, U14B, U13B and U16G, U15G, U14G, U13G
Coastal WFC U16B, U15B, U14B, U13B and U16G, U15G, U14G, U13G
Surrey WFC U14B, U13B and U14G, U13G
and adding for 2009
Okanagan WFC U16B, U15B, U14B, U13B and U16G, U15G, U14G, U13G
http://www.whitecapsfc.com/youth/

This is way to many Youth teams and doesn't even include your teams in the PDL , PCSL and goodness knows what else! Your system is just way to BIG and we just can't have something like that in this league.