MLS Expansion to Chucktown

Discussion in 'Charleston Battery' started by A Hugh Jass, Jan 23, 2010.

  1. A Hugh Jass

    A Hugh Jass Member

    Nov 15, 2009
    Myrtle Beach
    Club:
    Fulham FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    with the MLS expanded and looking to have a team in the south do you think battery will get a look or is the club to small to be given a shot?
     
  2. Mikey mouse

    Mikey mouse Member

    Jul 27, 1999
    Charleston, SC
    Club:
    Charleston
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    not going to happen here. Charleston metro area is just too small. somewhere around 600,000 people. cant find the link, but someone had posted a table with the highest attended teams in MLS and USL based on metro population of the city where they played and Charleston was near the top.

    Now in 20 years when the US has won a world cup and soccer is hugely popular in the US, then maybe....
     
  3. A Hugh Jass

    A Hugh Jass Member

    Nov 15, 2009
    Myrtle Beach
    Club:
    Fulham FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    i understand that charleston isnt as big as Seattle, Houston, or LA but i could see it working if the Prom/Reg thing got worked out. idk it was just a thought i had this morning at 630
     
  4. Mikey mouse

    Mikey mouse Member

    Jul 27, 1999
    Charleston, SC
    Club:
    Charleston
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    LOL usually most people have bizarre thoughts after a long night (of course I guess you could have just been coming in from a night out!)

    I think Charleston has always been competative against MLS teams. Last years win of Chivas showed that. Chivas was in form and started most of their starts. Battery won a convincing 3-1. Plus being the underdog always makes those victories much sweeter!

    I'd love to have Charleston playing in the top flight in the US, but the reality in the US is that soccer isnt a money making business. We are lucky to have an owner that is in it for the long haul and has absorbed alot of monetary losses over the years. I dont know if he (or many people) could handle the type of losses it would take to launch an MLS team

    anyhow with the Carolina Challenge Cup and the US Open Cup, the Battery gets their fair share of MLS teams. I dare say I've watched more games with MLS teams than some supporters that have an MLS team in there own city....

    Still it is nice to dream.....
     
  5. Mister Obvious

    Arsenal
    United States
    May 20, 2006
    Charleston, SC
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    nnot to mention the MLS franchise fee in the neighborhood of 40 million.
     
  6. A Hugh Jass

    A Hugh Jass Member

    Nov 15, 2009
    Myrtle Beach
    Club:
    Fulham FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    i have $5 for the cause
     
  7. DavidP

    DavidP Member

    Mar 21, 1999
    Powder Springs, GA
    It never ceases to amaze me, but what part of "pro/rel will not work in the US, and will never happen" do people not understand? (you're not the only one, so don't feel bad :D) This horse has been beaten beyond recognition.

    I'd just like to see the Battery get back up to D-2 soccer myself. They were good for the league. Maybe if D-2 eventually goes regional...
     
  8. A Hugh Jass

    A Hugh Jass Member

    Nov 15, 2009
    Myrtle Beach
    Club:
    Fulham FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    why wouldnt pro/reg work here? i think it would. it would have to be diffrent than england's pro/reg but pro/reg all the same
     
  9. Mister Obvious

    Arsenal
    United States
    May 20, 2006
    Charleston, SC
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    everyone who has paid those huge franchise fees would not get their money back, if their team got relegated. it would work in USL maybe, but look at us, the travel costs and higher player salaries left us in a deep hole.
     
  10. RevHammerBat

    RevHammerBat Member+

    Jul 1, 2008
    London
    Club:
    Charleston

    Can people at least talk about it....I mean seriously...you only pop up to bash someone for talking about it. It doesnt cease to amaze me how negative you are in general
     
  11. shealygg

    shealygg Member

    Jul 5, 2008
    South Carolina
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    This is because everyone from Atlanta seems to think they know more than everyone else about everything... My best bud's from there... Just the way it is....just sayin'...;)
     
  12. Sandon Mibut

    Sandon Mibut Member+

    Feb 13, 2001
    I love Blackbaud Stadium and love the bar in it even more. Charleston is a great city; I'd love to retire there. The Battery are good on the field and seem to be better off it.

    But there are easily 40 markets more readily suited for MLS than Charleston. In the SE alone there's Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, Charlotte, Orlando, Nashville, Raleigh, Jacksonville, Birmingham, Norfolk, Memphis and New Orleans that are all signifigantly bigger than Charleston.

    Then there's the logistics. Blackbaud would have to be expanded at least three times it's current capacity. That's doable but it would be tight. Then there's the parking issue. Blackbaud is on an island and already parking is tight.

    Then there's the access. Because of said island, there aren't a lot of roads in and out. I imagine that getting 15-20K in an out of that little island would be a complete mess.

    Then there's the fact, as already mentioned, that it would cost big-ass dollars to get in AND that Charleston is much, much smaller than every other MLS market. I think the smallest market in MLS right now is Salt Lake and it would seem like Chicago compared to Charleston.

    As for pro-rel, three things to consider why it won't work. First off, the first and second divisions aren't affiliated. Hell, the second division isn't affiliated right now!

    Second, is the cost. As already mentioned, the buy-in for MLS is huge. No investor is gonna pay that and then risk going to second division - or minor league, in their eyes - status. Just not.

    As an extension of that, no sponsor or TV network is gonna pay big money to a league that can't guarantee that it will have its biggest markets. In the past couple of years LA and NY have been the worst teams in MLS. Think MLS - or Home Depot or ESPN - wants to be involved in a league without the biggest markets?

    It's a nice dream. But the US is so much bigger than most other countries that it just makes pro-rel a non-starter.
     
  13. RevHammerBat

    RevHammerBat Member+

    Jul 1, 2008
    London
    Club:
    Charleston

    See David...even though I'd love to see a pro/rel system but am a realist to it not happening here...discussion can bring in new ideas that maybe someone who isnt on the boards every 20 minutes or reads every post about a pro/rel system can give them maybe a lil insight into why it would/wouldnt work. For instance, I didnt even think about ESPN's arrangements and television deals and someone new came into the conversation and gave me that food for thought. See conversation and discussion works....bashing someones idea does not ;)

    I would like to see ESPN get the rights for the Open Cup final...if a USL/NASL/or whatever the leagues underneath MLS are going to be called team makes it to the final it could benefit more, maybe, having on there rather than on FSC and their commentators...lol.
     
  14. evan eleven

    evan eleven Member

    Jun 4, 2009
    California
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    yeah i know the pro-rel argument has been beaten to death already but f*ckit i'll bite

    the fact that the US is bigger than other countries is exactly why we need pro-rel. MLS is gonna stop expanding at 20 teams or maybe 24 tops, but there's at least twice that many big league-sized cities in the US, more than any European country. i know soccer isn't popular in all areas of the country yet but in 20 years i'm sure it will be. so the only solution is to have two divisions with promotion and relegation between them. and as for the argument that owners don't want to risk losing their investment with relegation, so long as the league is single entity-run they share the profits and losses, so losses from relegation shouldn't be that big a deal. i know it's gonna take time but i believe we will have pro-rel in the US eventually, maybe in 10-20 years. even Don Garber has broached the subject in the media recently. does anyone have the link? maybe it's in the giant pro-rel thread...
     
  15. king dave

    king dave New Member

    Feb 1, 2008
    Interesting stuff here.
    Can't see MLS coming to Charleston anytime soon, although I would love it.
    But what I could see is a yearly competition, similar to the FA cup in European countries.
    Wherein, the various teams of all the pro-soccer leagues in the US/North America compete every year based on the draw system and the last team standing? Wins the title.
    This would hopefully just give me another good reason to return to Charleston:D.
    KD.
     
  16. Reignking

    Reignking Member

    Feb 16, 2005
    Atlanta, GA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You sound like me :) Tried to get a job there a few years ago but ended up staying in Atlanta.

    Anyway...
    1) MLS in Charleston? Never. It's too small.
    2) Pro/rel? Seriously, go debate this in the MLS threads. It has been beaten to death.
     
  17. Mister Obvious

    Arsenal
    United States
    May 20, 2006
    Charleston, SC
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Our owners are all for pro/rel, but the MLS owners would never allow it.
     
  18. Reignking

    Reignking Member

    Feb 16, 2005
    Atlanta, GA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Of course they are!!! Why pay 40 mil?
     
  19. A Hugh Jass

    A Hugh Jass Member

    Nov 15, 2009
    Myrtle Beach
    Club:
    Fulham FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    how is it working in England then?
     
  20. Reignking

    Reignking Member

    Feb 16, 2005
    Atlanta, GA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Sigh.
     
  21. AguiluchoMerengue

    Oct 4, 2008
    South Carolina
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    if columbia cant even field a pdl team, i dont see how the battery is gone go mls.

    columbia soccer fans are not really into battery, not even into american soccer, they only watch epl.

    maybe if the battery teamed up with columbia and field a pdl team here, then they could get more fans in the columbia area, then you will have more fans coming to the games i think.

    its been discussed before thought that usc does not want any other pro or semipro club in columbia.

    it will be nice to see the battery in mls but i dont see it happening, like i say if people in columbia other than a few soccer players dont know that the battery exist, i dont see how the battery would make it finantially.

    i see everybody here goes crazy for the "panthers" even though i dont think they ever played in south carolina, but the battery is never even the state newspaper.
     
  22. Reignking

    Reignking Member

    Feb 16, 2005
    Atlanta, GA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    What does Columbia have to do with the Battery? You think they will draw fans from 90 minutes away?
     
  23. Mikey mouse

    Mikey mouse Member

    Jul 27, 1999
    Charleston, SC
    Club:
    Charleston
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    there are a few die hard fans that come down. on comes down from rock hill for at least half the games last year. But really no, Columbia isnt market by the Battery.

    I think his point is that if it was to go MLS it would have to market Columbia,
     
  24. AguiluchoMerengue

    Oct 4, 2008
    South Carolina
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    what does columbia have to do with the carolina panthers?
     
  25. Mister Obvious

    Arsenal
    United States
    May 20, 2006
    Charleston, SC
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    NFL is whole different monster.
     

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