I believe FC Dallas has been looking at a 2018 start date for its 2 team as well, although I haven't seen anything about that in a while.
So possible expansion teams for 2018 so far: DCU 2 Fresno Memphis Birmingham Long Island Grand Rapids Baltimore San Diego Nashville Dallas 2 El Paso
Hopefully USL can beat NASL in San Diego. That's one of the markets that NASL desperately wants and if USL can get a team in place there first it will make things much more difficult for NASL and maybe bring that league closer to folding, which would give USL a chance to grab anyone they wanted.
Do you realize this would result in several teams folding that USL won't take, hundreds of people losing their jobs and tens of thousands of fans losing their teams? What greater good do you think that serves?
Well NASL is setting itself up to be a niche product in San Diego. Wilt has indicated they're interested more in the North County areas of the San Diego region. Which means central SD and the south bay are largely untouched and a USL team in either southern location would have little impact on the NASL team in North County and vice versa. And I don't think USL is beating NASL to the punch anyway, since the NASL team is targeting a spring 2018 launch. Unless USL has a time machine and is putting a team here in 2017 they've already lost the race.
That's a fair point. What I'm getting at here is that the USL is much more attractive due to the regional travel and I think that inevitably NASL is going to struggle to attract good ownership with solid business plans. NASL is hurting themselves and driving themselves closer to failure by trying to plant themselves in places where MLS is or is looking to expand to. The NASL team in Miami has no hope of surviving if Miami Beckham gets their act together--same story in Detroit and San Diego. The Deltas and Cosmos are never going to shine in those heavily crowded sports markets where MLS already has a presence.
Well Miami MLS is a VERY big if at this point. They don't get something done soon they're going to the back of the line. As for San Diego, not sure the NASL team is necessarily doomed to failure. The NASL group appears to be very smart in where they're planning to place the team in North County, in a location that won't put them in much competition with MLS which is planning on being in Mission Valley (and that of course presumes San Diego gets an MLS team which is not guaranteed at all). Can't speak to Detroit, but again they're not guaranteed an MLS team either. At this point NASL can roll the dice on markets that want MLS teams. Only a few of the 12 markets that want MLS teams at this point are going to get them. The rest will be ripe for NASL and USL to pick from. And in this case NASL may have an advantage since they don't have MLS telling them not to put a team there in advance of any decision like USL does.
Hmm can you believe it the Bahamas are an expansion candidate. http://m.tribune242.com/news/2017/mar/13/bahamas-bid-united-soccer-league-team/?templates=mobile
Puerto Rico Islanders (USL/NASL) Bermuda Hogges (PDL) Antigua Barracuda FC (USL) The short-lived Puerto Rico adventure in USL-PRO: Sevilla FC Puerto Rico River Plate Puerto Rico Puerto Rico United Missing any from back in the day?
Calling the Islanders a failure seems a little harsh. Their stadium was renovated and they had to play at worse venue in front of smaller crowds, and the low revenue made them sit out a year, and they just couldn't recover. I'd almost say they're closer to an American example of a team going into Administration. Failure sounds way more like the team was mismanaged, and their situation was more of a culmination of factors they couldn't control, like the stadium situation and economic meltdown.
I did a quick search of cost of flights from various East coast USL cities to Nassau. Round Trip tickets Friday to Sun. we between $300 & $600. Flight times aren't that bad either. Not much different than Ft. Lauderdale/Miami. Far better scenario than Puerto Rico from that standpoint. Stadium is a bit large but would be one of better ones in USL. I wouldn't mind seeing this given a try.
I mean, it does sound like the owners are covering their bases well by getting AEG involved to consult them. And the Bahamas are much closer to continental US than Puerto Rico. And if the USL goes with a Midwest Conference in 2018 or 19, that will eliminate this teams travel to pretty much anywhere that would be a major expense strain. Hopefully any team that might be in USL uses the colors of the Bahama flag. Make themselves unique right off the bat.
Expansion to the Bahamas is a hare-brained idea. The population of the country is less than that of the smallest MSA in the league (Reno). This would add to the travel costs of every Eastern Conference team and contribute very little to the league. A Bahamas team wouldn't last very long, just like Bermuda and Antigua, because the travel costs of zero bus trips and a lot of plane travel is completely unsustainable, given that the club will certainly have low revenues (potential support is small, potential for corporate sponsorship is weak). Hopefully this article is just an attempt by the prospective owners to gin up some buzz. The USL is no longer desperate for new clubs and really should have moved beyond the "a fool and his money are soon parted" method of club/ownership vetting.
I did a flight check too. I was seeing $100 to go from many east coast cities to Miami. I was seeing $500 to go to the Bahamas from east coast cities.
$100 round trip to Miami? Maybe on Allegiant Airways to Ft. Lauderdale (but players could only bring a small carry-on or the price doubles - lol). I've flown down there a couple of times recently from OH (two weeks ago the latest) and no flight (even one way) was that cheap (not even Allegiant - the city bus in the sky). My point was more about the time of travel. It's not that far for most east coast teams especially southeast.
Not really true. Nassau has about 50,000 more people than Reno and there about 115,000 more people spread across the various smaller islands.
What he said is 100% true. You can argue it's relevancy but he said the population of the country of the Bahamas (392,718) is less than the MSA of Reno (450,890), which happens to be the smallest MSA in the league.
Also, the Reno MSA does not include the nearby Carson City MSA, which is another 55k people. It's a small market (even giving Nassau credit for population on other islands) and the average income in the Bahamas is considerably less than that of the US, which means that revenue for a Bahamas USL team will be low. We know travel costs will be high. Come on, guys. Do you remember nothing from Antigua Barracuda?