I hope they will be able to get San Diego Sockers name or something like that in spite of a horrible San Diego FC or a spanish name
I know but MASL is not such a healthy league so they could buy the name rights and bring it back to outdoor soccer
It would be good to keep an eye on Albion as well in this NASL conversation. They waltzed through their NPSL season opener this weekend. https://www.soccernation.com/a-win-and-a-message-albion-pros-off-to-a-flying-start-in-npsl/
If I'm the NASL I'm more concerned with their ability to sell tickets than their ability to win on the field.
That and if it comes down to Wilt or Albion, I don't like Albion's chances. Wilt is on the verge of making his announcement in the next few days and he's connected to the future of NASL up the ying yang. Albion as relatively small time outsiders don't have a prayer unless NASL is feeling saucy and decide to drop two team in SD since Wilt is going north. It would be vintage NASL to figure Albion can have the south bay and put two teams in the region (ignoring USL and MLS are both targeting central/south San Diego as well).
The league's health isn't relevant to the Sockers health per se. If the Sockers are still playing and financially sound they're not going to give up their name just because an NASL team wants it. Besides, the Sockers name has little history outside. Inside it's got a 14 championships and over 30 years of history behind it. The name is where it belongs, indoors. Besides, the NASL team should come up with a better name than Sockers anyway. Not all the old NASL names are really worth salvaging, and Sockers is one of those that is better left behind.
I'm a big Sockers fan (the name) so I'd hope that the MLS team snaps it up instead of the NASL team. It's going to take a pretty penny anyway to wrestle it away from the Sockers.
While I am curious to see what happens if there are two NASL teams in SD, I don't think that is a smart idea. From everything I have read I like where Albion is coming from where they are local, they already have a connection with the community, it is a natural progression of their business, and its further away from the potential OC team. As you said though, the north side team has the better connections, the big names, and I would guess more money. I think trying to get the two groups to merge would be the best option, but I doubt that happens.
I actually don't have an issue with two NASL teams in SD. They are so far apart that they won't be cannibalizing each others fan base. Corporate sponsors are a different thing but I doubt these NASL teams will get many large companies anyway. I am sure there are enough local car dealers, insurance folks and local eateries to fill the void.
Well the other issue Albion has too is a stadium. Not only do they not have as much money, as far as we know, they don't really have any place to play that's appropriate for a D2 team. As Wilt has pointed out when explaining their rationale for using a modular stadium, San Diego is very much lacking in outdoor venues that would work for D2 and up. Really the only options are Torero Stadium and Qualcomm. And the latter isn't long for this world, and the former is owned by USD. Neither of which is in North County or the South Bay as well. So if Albion want in, they're going to have to build their own venue on top of everything else as well just as the Wilt/Demba Ba group is doing. Albion's one advantage appears to be having a youth system already in place. But as we've seen many times elsewhere, having a youth system is hardly a per-requisite for a team to get started, or to succeed. The Wilt group could very easily get a youth program up and running in short order to support their team.
They may go after it. But it's not an ideal location as many have pointed out access wise as it's 7 miles from the 805 (with no mass transit access). And they'd still have to build a stadium at the site as none currently exists there.
I doubt anybody will go with it, but of the 5000 suggested names in the MLS SD Facebook poll, I kinda dig San Diego Conquistadors. Will be interesting to see if Mind Soccer Groups bid goes with San Diego in the name or brands around the North County area, or just SoCal in general. California Surf would even work there. I like San Diego Conquistadors for a team name somewhere from UPSL up to MLS. Michael Collins mentioned to me they might not use Orange County in OC NASL's final name, and were open to ideas. I wouldn't be surprised to see a fan vote on both OC NASL and Mind Soccer Group team names since Peter Wilt is doing that for Chicago. Albion's name would almost certainly have Albion in it
I'd hope the SD team wouldn't go the cop out route that the North County Battalion did when they rebranded in USL to Southern California Surf. I get wanted to appeal to the broadest audience. But at the same time the name should express some loyalty to the area they actually represent. Not a super region that really is devoid of too much actual meaning for those who live there. North County, San Diego, or the city they actually land in would all be much more appropriate geographic monikers.
Doing something like that in the top tier where you might actually draw significant amount of fans from the region is fine, but doing that at a lower tier where the vast majority of your fans are going to be coming from a 10 mile radius of where you play is having delusions of grandeur.
California Surf were not such a great team and lasted just a few years...for Chicago I hope they will be the Sting as in the old days
I think the odds of Chicago Sting as the name are low. I expect an identity tied to being the City's team. Chicago Municipal FC or Chicago City SC, something like that. Fans will get to vote on the final name based on the prior updates.