A'jax Orlando MLS bound?

[DANNO49]

I went to the Ajax Orlando website. www.ajaxorlando.us. They are fieldin a PDL team this year. Next year they will have an A League team. According to the website they are building a 20000 plus seat statium in Orlando. Why would they build a statium that big for an A League team?

[Mr. Bandwagon]

Kicks?

[purojogo]

Originally posted by DANNO49
I went to the Ajax Orlando website. www.ajaxorlando.us. They are fieldin a PDL team this year. Next year they will have an A League team. According to the website they are building a 20000 plus seat statium in Orlando. Why would they build a statium that big for an A League team?
ok, I do not see any 20K figure thrown in the articles:

Ajax Orlando Announces New Stadium Complex Concept
The Future... AOFC Home
http://www.ajaxorlando.us./News/64240.html

or here

Ajax Orlando Applies For National Soccer Franchises
A-League Team Would Require New Soccer Stadium
http://www.ajaxorlando.us./News/63126.html
""A key element of the application that we will examine is the construction of a soccer venue that can offer professional amenities to ensure spectator enjoyment. In an entertainment-rich area such as Orlando, it is critical to be able to deliver a state of the art, small soccer stadium to the growing number of soccer fans in the area, especially international fans who faithful to teams like Ajax."

I guess if anything, it would not be a bad idea for these officials to talk to MLS people....However, i think they might already be too busy dealing with Club America, getting a stadium in HArrison, getting SSS fro San Jose and DC United, etc

[Bonji]

I think this design is really something. It combines mixed use development with a soccer ground. Imagine living there and being able to watch matches without leaving your place. Tailgate in your bathrobe. Ok, that is extreme.
I wonder if an MLS team will consider something like this. In my mind it is really smart and could be the wave of the future.

[denver_mugwamp]

Originally posted by Bonji
I think this design is really something. It combines mixed use development with a soccer ground. Imagine living there and being able to watch matches without leaving your place. Tailgate in your bathrobe. Ok, that is extreme.
I wonder if an MLS team will consider something like this. In my mind it is really smart and could be the wave of the future.

I remember when the Toronto Bluejays opened their new stadium, there was a hotel that had rooms with a view of the field. Turns out that the field also had a view of the rooms. There were some pretty racey moments, but I guess it boosted attendance. Hey, whatever gets butts in the seats.

[Bonji]

Also notice how these guys are moving into the professional ranks without the fan fare of Chivas. I like how they are simply setting up a true club in the US, not just coming in and saying they want to be in MLS. They are going to have full youth training system with the PDL team and A-League team. American kids are going to grow up playing for Ajax Orlando and dreaming about making it to Amsterdam to play in the big leagues. There will be a true passion for American soccer bred into these kids, something lacking in MLS right now. If you think about why teams are so popular in American sports it is because the fans' parents loved the team, and their parents loved the team. The New York Yankees and Boston Red Socks are the most popular American Baseball teams because generations of fans have been growing up with them. Most young baseball players in the area aspire to play for them.
In the case of Ajax, youth players will start training with the club at the age of 10. They will strive to make the professional A-League team so that they are playing at the top of Ajax Orlando.
This is a model I hope to see MLS allow in the future. The only problem with single entity league structure is that MLS won't allow kids to grow up playing for one club. I hope someday MLS will get a club structure, once it is financially able to do so.

[Bonji]

They are even starting to scoup MLS for signing talent.

http://www.ajaxorlando.us./News/66519.html

[Saeyddthe]

I'm pretty sure that by 'residential facilities', they mean housing for players, and maybe families etc.
Unless of course they start looking around at the endless 'gated communities/golf resorts' in the area, and start getting ideas.... That would be pretty cool though...:D

And for what it's worth, for a variety of reasons, I don't think they have any plans at all of joining MLS...

[kwdawson]

I live in Tampa, and I would love to go to MLS games in Orlando. I used to live in Ohio so I went to Crew games.

[SUDano]

Originally posted by Bonji
They are even starting to scoup MLS for signing talent.

http://www.ajaxorlando.us./News/66519.html

I don't know but I don't think PDL teams 'sign' players to pay them to play. Someone else could elaborate but I believe PDL will be where Dax plays his summers since he's from Maitland, FL. He couldn't have signed to play for pay since TopDrawer says he 'signed' with UNC for college soccer.

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/Methods/recruitList_html

[Blong]

Originally posted by Bonji
They are going to have full youth training system with the PDL team and A-League team.

The way I understood it, they would enter as a PDL team this season, and then become an A-League team in a year or two. I haven't heard anything about them having both an A-League and PDL at the same time.

[astabooty]

Originally posted by Blong
The way I understood it, they would enter as a PDL team this season, and then become an A-League team in a year or two. I haven't heard anything about them having both an A-League and PDL at the same time.

The PDL team will eventually be something of a reserves team.
Also Ajax Orlando will not join MLS until MLS gets rid of Single Entity. Plain and simple.

[Viking64]

Originally posted by astabo0t
The PDL team will eventually be something of a reserves team.
Also Ajax Orlando will not join MLS until MLS gets rid of Single Entity. Plain and simple.
Which is generally a good thing. The last thing we need is the European teams coming in and treating MLS as a developmental league. The minute someone is good enough to be worth watching...they are gone to Europe. The current situation is bad enough...image if the franchises themselves existed to support the "main" club.

[EscoDU01]

From the article:
"We hope that, for Dax, this is the first step on the road to the 'big show' in Europe."

If that is not a statement regarding their intentions as a feeder team, I dont know what is. I would not want such a team in MLS.

[B Kaiser]

Something concerns me about the reactions a possible Ajax Orlando elicits.
Whenever Chivas USA announced its interest in buying an MLS team, a posting frenzy ensued about foreign investors in the MLS. True, Vergara stated his intentions of signing a predominantly Mexican/ Mex-American team, but even after the discussions about how most of his team would have to be American-born, people were still upset.
I'd like to ask: If Club America kept the current players, and Chivas fielded the required amount of Americans, why are most excited about Ajax buying into MLS? In my opinion, if we're stating that our investors and talent should be a testament to our "developing soccer nation", we shouldn't be more open to Ajax than we would to any Mexican team. Don't get me wrong- I'm against foreign investors, but that is an across-the-board statement. Unless that said investor's interests are solely on the advancement of MLS and American Talent (which, undisputably, is a big reason for MLS's existence), we should remain independent.
I would be interested in feedback. If we could name an expansion team Ajax-USA, why would it not elicit responses seen and the emotions felt over Chivas-USA? I think that some people have ideas of some grandiose Mexican overhaul, and welcome their European kin (admit it, most of us are European in descent) with open arms.

[dna77054]

Originally posted by B Kaiser
Something concerns me about the reactions a possible Ajax Orlando elicits.
Whenever Chivas USA announced its interest in buying an MLS team, a posting frenzy ensued about foreign investors in the MLS. True, Vergara stated his intentions of signing a predominantly Mexican/ Mex-American team, but even after the discussions about how most of his team would have to be American-born, people were still upset.
I'd like to ask: If Club America kept the current players, and Chivas fielded the required amount of Americans, why are most excited about Ajax buying into MLS? In my opinion, if we're stating that our investors and talent should be a testament to our "developing soccer nation", we shouldn't be more open to Ajax than we would to any Mexican team. Don't get me wrong- I'm against foreign investors, but that is an across-the-board statement. Unless that said investor's interests are solely on the advancement of MLS and American Talent (which, undisputably, is a big reason for MLS's existence), we should remain independent.
I would be interested in feedback. If we could name an expansion team Ajax-USA, why would it not elicit responses seen and the emotions felt over Chivas-USA? I think that some people have ideas of some grandiose Mexican overhaul, and welcome their European kin (admit it, most of us are European in descent) with open arms.

Well said

[Bryan Gividen]

Originally posted by EscoDU01
From the article:
"We hope that, for Dax, this is the first step on the road to the 'big show' in Europe."

If that is not a statement regarding their intentions as a feeder team, I dont know what is. I would not want such a team in MLS.

Why not? Ajax itself is considered a feeder team for the rest of the big clubs in Europe... and they are completely respectable. Why no the same for Ajax USA?

[Blong]

BK-

There are so many differences between Chivas, America, and the Ajax project that I don't know where to start.

First of all, all of the outrage about the Mexican teams using MLS as a feeder to Mexico are idiots. They are idiots. They are........idiots. MLS owns all player contracts. These Mexican owners would not be able to bring players back and forth to Mexico at their will. The main concern with the Mexican owners is that they are likely to run their MLS teams into the ground, on the premise that ethnic pandering is a good idea in the USA. The A-League, nearly invisible to the media as a second division soccer in the US, has franchises open and fold on a yearly basis. Few notice. The MLS, even with its status as the top division in the country, is still on very fragile ground, both financially and in public perception. There remains a significant portion of the general public, as well as mass media, wishing that MLS would just go the way of the WUSA. Many uninformed believe that this is not far off. Having Mexican teams try ill-conceived ethnic experiments with MLS teams is just not a good idea for the current state of MLS. With San Jose, many believe that if the Earthquakes are given a decent chance to succeed, with a stable and committed ownership, they just might. Allow CA to try their luck with their own silly ideas is simply a much bigger gamble, that is almost certain to fail.

If Ajax Orlando were to fail, big deal. Potential or current sponsors of MLS would not be scared off, and the 'MLS is dying' crowd has no fuel.

But Ajax Orlando will likely succeed. Why? They're not trying to cash in on the local Euro scene. They are trying to develop players. They want people to come to their games to see good up-and-coming talent. They want people to be excited about good soccer. If they get to reap the benefits of their work, more power to them--we still get them for our National team, if they are good enough.

[SoccerPrime]

I would like to mention that Ajax Orlando has no official plans to go to MLS anytime soon.

They will have PDL this year and have been approved for A-League next year (2005). They will both teams in 2005.

As a side note, the architectural firm that made the Ajax Orlando Soccer Stadium pic also put a MLS banner on the design. I have been told that it was put there to be "foreward" thinking.

Take that for what its worth.

[Bonji]

I agree that being a feeder team/league is not all bad. Ajax has a great history and is the Dutch conduit to the bigger Euro leagues and teams. There is no problem knowing your role and filling it. Being a feeder team will just mean a quicker change in players, not necessarily talent. After all, without openings in a team how do you discover the new talent? Nat Borchers in Colorado would not be playing in the U-23 Olympic qualifying if an injury hadn't opened a spot. In this case an injury is the same as a player sale.