Are you sure about Charlotte? They've never been reported to have their entire roster and coaches provided by Colorado
Though already rumored, I'm hearing Portland to Boise and Seattle to Tacoma with serious legs. 2017 or 18
That's why I said "roster managed" and "more or less". A quote from 2015: http://www.crowntownsoccer.com/the-rapids-independence-relationship/ and a quote from Crookham, a Rapids employee: http://www.coloradorapids.com/post/2015/03/27/charlotte-qa-brian-crookham That seems like a closer relationship than most affiliations even if isn't as close as RGV and Reno. If people want to put them in the first category, I won't argue.
Looks like you nailed it. I didn't know of their arrangement. Pretty close to RGV and what Reno/Quakes will be. Only difference is Colorado picks players, Charlotte pays
I wonder who picks the budget for that? Does Charlotte say we will spend $X on players ... if you go over you pay the difference? I assume Colorado can't spend ANYTHING they want and Charlotte is ok with it.
The USOC rule: “Any Outdoor Professional League Team that is majority owned by a higher-level Outdoor Professional League Team shall be ineligible to participate in the Open Cup. The Open Cup Committee shall review and determine team eligibility annually pursuant to this provision and report its decisions to the National Board of Directors.” As long as Colorado doesn't majority own the team in Charlotte, then they are eligible for the Open Cup. RGVFC was eligible last year, they just chose to not participate. Reno has said that they want to participate so they will probably be in the tournament in 2017. If this trend continues then the USSF will probably revisit the issue. But the over-riding aspect is whether or not the teams try to win in the Open Cup or not. That's what led to the decision by the USSF. Some of the MLS2 teams were obviously not really trying to win games. They were trying to keep players from getting Cup-tied which meant they couldn't play for the MLS team.
There is a #USL franchise that is coming to Bham and the formal announcement will come sometime this fall. #USLtoBHAM— Maddux Mullinax (@madduxmullinax) October 27, 2016 Well this is an interesting development
That would be a good market to get into. If they can also get Memphis and New Orleans to buy in and add all three to Nashville, Charlotte, Charleston, and Atlanta2 (in Chattanooga, maybe?). That would represent a nice group of Southern rivals.
http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2016/10/22/mls-usl-partnership-jake-edwards “I think more and more MLS teams are looking at that,” he continued. “Portland are looking at an independent group we’ve put together in Boise. Seattle is looking to partner with a group in Tacoma."
I got it from a more local source. I know Edwards said just recently that USL wants the MLS affiliates to promote their teams better, either in market, or another market. I had received similar info a while back from my birdie about PTL and SEA. A few more also, but my source was unsure the details.
Interesting quote from Edwards out of this article- http://soccer.nbcsports.com/2016/10/28/usls-incredible-growth-continues-but-whats-next/ "No team is allowed to come into the league now without a road map to build a soccer specific stadium of 8-10,000 seats. We now have very active conversations for teams to come into the league in 2019 and 2020 and we are pushing them back because they have to build stadiums and they are committed to doing that."
I wasn't questioning you, I was saying that you were right, even the USL president agrees with you. Part of the plan for D2 that they keep talking about. It's been mentioned before. One reason teams like Harrisburg relocated.
I know the stadium plan isn't new but the 8-10k size seems so. I had the impression before it was more about at least meeting the 5k D2 standards. Making them have to accommodate twice the average league attendance is very ambitious.
I think this is pretty clear evidence of the effect of the partnership with MLS. MLS really found its economic footing when the teams got out of rented stadiums and into their own. By making sure new owners are able to generate profits* immediately, providing they market the team properly, it the best way to ensure that teams stick around. Now that USL has stabilized, it makes perfect sense for them to enact this rule. It helps with their drive toward Division 2, but I doubt it is the driving factor behind it. *Of course, for tax purposes, these teams will never make profits.
Reno is a big question mark right now but the Quakes FO said they won't stand in the way of 1868 competing (which I think was the issue regarding RGV eligibility... Houston didn't want them in the tournament.)