Don Garber said today that 3 of the 4 expansion franchises are "already spoken for."

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This blows me away. Atlanta must be crazy. First giving Blank a new stadium and now the Braves (again).
Downsizing Turner again for soccer is probably doable, but then you are looking at , I feel, a different ownership group than Blank, because he wants everything at 'his' new place. I don't think there is (and tell me if I am wrong) another ownership group speaking about Atlanta and whether they would want to pay a entrance fee, then pay to convert the stadium to soccer and pay to run a team. And I didn't realize Turner was that far from the Subway. Hard to believe the Olympic stadium was not closer to the rail system.

I still think there are better markets than Atlanta after Orlando and Miami.
-Carolina has recently expanded SSS in a growing state and lots of colleges with a history of soccer. No MLB.
-Indy- you sell 7,000 ST in D2 before your first kick, impressive. No MLB or NHL competition.
-St Louis- soccer history, but needs a proper stadium and ownership. Instant rivals to KC,CHI,CBUS & Indy
- Has anyone thought about Hartford/Renscher Field(?) Holds around 35k I think, grass. National team history.
Great location wedged between 2 NY teams and NE, even Montreal not that far. Could make for quite a few traveling fans.

 

Why wait for expansion? I'd like to see the Revs move there right away.

 

That would probably require new ownership as Kraft wants them to keep playing at his place.
The coolest thing for fans in the area would be new Rev ownership with a SSS actually in Boston and an expansion franchise in Hartford . I think the region could support it.

 

you know that this is actually a negative for the team, right? it makes them ungoogleable... a search for "new york city" will bring up 873m results for the city itself and only ~1 million for the team.

 

but what does that have to do with their worldwide brand power? I mean, the differences between Harrison, New Jersey and a lot of New York City proper are mostly just semantic... someone from overseas or even from the rest of the country could easily cross between the Bronx and New Jersey and not know which jurisdiction was which.

Put another way, in the 80's and 90's the Yankees threatened to move to New Jersey several times while trying to get a new stadium deal. If NYC hadn't caved, it could've easily happened. In that situation, the team with those uber iconic NY hats would no longer have been playing in New York City... would that have changed the power of their brand in your estimation?

 

It´s hard to know about Yankees in particular, but considering how NY Rangers are desperately keen to stay in MSG location it is an issue for sure.
And yes, you simply can´t beat having the NY skyline as background for a global reach. It´s so iconic and no doubt something that Edelman and Droga5 intend to use to the limit IMHO.
But it´s actually rather funny that no journos have looked into the business/sports/marketing ties between Red Bull, The Cosmos OG and the NYCFC OG.

 

Better markets in terms of potential fan base? ehhh maybe... but Atlanta brings with it more TV money and secures the last big market MLS doesn't have. Its a strategic move that makes sense. I'd compare it a bit to the NYCFC deciscion, it makes sense for future league growth, and also is in a good position to succeed even if it is "less established"

 

I wonder if the fact that the Madison Square Garden Company owns the Rangers has something to do with that.

 

The best way of having NY skyline as background is to live in New Jersey...

 

No doubt!

 

It's a little bit different than that. It shows more of a racial divide. Baseball parks aren't exactly packing in black people, certainly not in Atlanta.

 

Have you not read anything? Atlanta has nothing to do with new Braves stadium. It's outside the city.

No its not and its never going to happen.

Atlanta's public transport is the worst. And there was a recent vote where people voted against expanding it.

http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/atlanta-votes-down-transportation-tax

We could have invested in our city and infrastructure and brought it even closer to being a World Class destination for people to live and work but it didn't happen.

 

The MSG Company just spent a billion dollars renovating their arena. I think that has a lot to do with it.

Certainly they want to stay in the city, but that's not the only reason this is a big deal.

 

You know that the City want MSG to move I assume..MSG got ten years from now to sort something out

 

That's very different. The current location of MSG is better than the location of practically any other stadium in the world.

Were the stadium to be moved, and Manhattan removed as an option, then New Jersey would be as good a location as anywhere else in the city.

Personally, I've always argued that downtown Jersey City beats any non-Manhattan location in the city, even the Atlantic Yards.

 

But given that there´s already entrenched teams in New Jersey I doubt that either NYCFC or NYRangers would like to consider moving there..and in the case of NYCFC it would be ludicrous given their name.

 

Uhhhhhh...... Not really. See: A bunch of other "New York" teams.

It would be ludicrous because they've said from the beginning that they want to play in the city.

I think based on what we've heard its more likely they play in Yankee Stadium permanently rather than move to New Jersey.

 

St. Louligans Won't Stop Until St. Louis Has MLS Team

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2013/11/st_louligans_soccer_st_louis_mls.php

 

With David Beckham headed to the 305, there’s only one question left…where will they build a new soccer stadium in Miami?

http://www.schwartz-media.com/with-david-beckham-headed-to-the-305-theres-only-one-question-left

A brief history of Miami’s recent paparazzi frenzies includes local appearances by Peyton Manning (flirting with the Dolphins in 2012), Steve Wynn (eying a possible Miami Beach casino in 2011) and LeBron James (surveying American Airlines Arena in 2010).

Like I said, brief.

But nothing compares to the media storm set off when news leaked that David Beckham was touring possible venues for a new MLS soccer team last month. Now comes this little nugget of intel: Reuters is reporting that Beckham favors the development of a brand new, privately-funded soccer stadium in the urban core.

Rather than placing his stadium in some far off suburb where land is cheap and traffic is a non-factor, it sounds like Becks is hell-bent on being right in the thick of things. Salud!

Architecture students from the University Miami are already on the case, developing initial stadium designs as part of a course this semester. You can get a sneak-peek at what they’re working on here.

All of this begs the question, ‘what lucky plot of Miami land is in Becks’ bull’s-eye?’ (It also begs the question, ‘can MLS succeed here?’, but we’ll save that for another post. No need to rain on this parade).

Here are our top five site-specific nominees, with a nifty map for our visually-inclined friends:



Watson Island – Like PNC Park in Pittsburgh or AT&T Park in San Francisco, a soccer field on the water overlooking the downtown Miami skyline has an opportunity to be one of the country’s great sports venues. We all know Watson Island has been the site of broken dream after broken dream, but there’s something about this that just makes sense. It could even satisfy the folks who campaigned for a bay front Marlins stadium, to no avail. Plus, there’s ample room for parking and water taxis can operate from downtown and Miami Beach. The stadium could even be part of a large mixed-use project, with retail, hotels and the like.

Miami World Center/Overtown – The old Miami Arena on this site experienced its share of problems and no doubt traffic and parking were problematic. But that was 30 years ago and there’s big plans a’ coming. Namely, the Miami World Center megaproject and another mixed-use project nearby that will include multiple transit links. When it comes to in-fill sites that won’t take up valuable water front space, this may be our best bet. And development planned for surrounding streets – shops, hotels, condos, offices, a convention center and more – will bring much needed infrastructure and street life to the neighborhood.

Bayfront Park: Multiple visions for a new sports and entertainment venue in downtown Miami’s front yard have been floated over the years, but this one is actually viable. Here’s why: soccer stadiums are typically far smaller and more compact than most major sporting venues. Making this work probably means demolishing the underutilized Bayfront Park Ampitheater to make room for our futbol pitch, but let’s be real, who’s going to miss it? Plus, the addition of 20,000 seats in a brand new stadium would make for a pretty attractive outdoor concert venue that could complement the nearby American Airlines Arena.

Parcel B: Ah, yes…the notorious third rail of Miami’s urban core. In case you aren’t familiar with Parcel B, it’s that often-talked-about-but-seldom-used spit of land wedged between American Airlines Arena and Government Cut. As far as sites with untapped potential in this town, Parcel B ranks right up there with Watson Island. So, what’s the problem? For one thing, the traffic mayhem that could come from MLS games and HEAT play-off games happening concurrently may be enough to take a pass (both occur during the summer months). Still, chatter that a Cuban-American History Museum may be destined for this site means Parcel B (B is for Beckham?) is back on the table and if that’s the case, its hard to believe Becks won’t have a look-sy (or is it look-see? look-sie?).

Florida East Coast Railway slip: Okay, okay, we admit this one is iffy. Marginal at best. And while we risk jeopardizing the environmentalist segment of our readership, we owe it to you to lay out all the options we could think of. And besides, this is a non-binding blog, so roll with it. We know the arguments against this: there’s no need for infill; we’ll ruin the sight lines; where oh where will we dock the fancy boats; the criticisms go on and on. But let’s be real: you can count the number of mega yachts you’ve seen docked here in the past five years on one hand. So why not fill it in (we hear PortMiami is looking for a place to dump its dredged earth), build a waterfront soccer park, and bridge the gap between Museum Park, the Arena and Bayfront Park.

 

I have another: it will be the "Miami Beckhams"?

 

So many Beckham's... piercing into my soul... I'm... can't form... sentences... full.

 

You are absolutely obsessed with that name aren't you? Do you have it tattooed on you yet?

 

Well, except that Atlanta has a relatively large number of decently well off black people (being essentially the capital of HBCU education) . . . who still avoid living in that dot-free zone.

My name is Mikhail Prokhorov, and I do not endorse this message.

 

Sure. I lived there I know that. My point was Braves ticket buyers =/= people with disposable income for sports.

Big demographics difference between Braves and Falcons games.

Falcons are roughly 70-75% white crowd. Depending on the game (NOLA Saints) even less. Braves are 90-95% white crowd.