If we're talking best approach as far as attendance goes, I think it's obvious that it's hybrid. RGV are likely fudging some numbers but Reno consistently hung around 8th in attendance all season... and that's from the smallest market in the league... in a baseball stadium. If Tacoma FC ends up drawing numbers then watch for most affiliations going forward to be hybrid. I've been saying it since midseason: hybrid is the future of USL/MLS relationships.
I started to pencil out 4 conferences for USL 2 (west, central, south and east) , there are a lot of nice geographical bunching and i came out up with 10-11 in each grouping. I did some crazy other pipe dream stuff associated with demise of NASL and birth of CPL Assumed Ottawa and Edmonton went to CPL Assumed San Francisco and Puerto Rico were gone Assumed NASL Orange County and San Diego would not come to be. NCFC already came over to USL, so went the next pipe dream level and brought over INDY, NYCosmos JAX and Miami So here is my USL D2 Super League ! Please note, includes all rumors, fantasies and some humor But you got to admit, its one heck of a D2 to support under MLS Then if the USL D3 comes to be, I think most of us would be in soccer heaven. WEST (10) Tacoma (for Sea) Boise (for Timbers) Reno (for SJ) Sacramento (for now MLS?) Fresno (for Van) Las Vegas Phoenix OC FC LAG 2 San Diego (if so inclined) CENTRAL (10) Real Monarchs Colorado Springs San Antonio Austin (if it goes USL at all) RG Valley OKC Tulsa Swope Park St Louis Rochester (Minn) SOUTH (12) Miami Fc ( I know, total long shot) Orlando B Tampa Bay Jacksonville Charleston Birmingham Memphis Nashvile (for now ,MLS ?) Atlanta Charlotte Raliegh Richmond EAST (11) Indy 11 Cincy Louisville Pittsburgh Harrisburg Rochester Toronto 2 (not sure if they can go to CPL?) Bethlehem NYRB 2 NY Cosmos (I know a wild dream unless they still wan to keep playing) Hartford (if they get expansion team)
By the looks of it, it seems like they will be trying to compete against the Fire instead being its affiliate.
Ambitious project for sure. That would be about the biggest purpose-built USL yard, yes? Curiouser and curiouser.
So this is a USL team competing against an MLS team. What is stopping San Diego from moving from NASL to USL despite the MLS bid?
RETRACTABLE ROOF? Jesucristo. It’s too bad soccer has failed here without pro/rel (or so I am told by college juniors).
Chicago USL will never happen. Far more likely, if that stadium actually gets built, is that they'll entice the Fire to it without the USL team ever playing. Either way, I hope that stadium gets built, because I can walk there.
Or maybe a plan to bring this team eventually to MLS and allow the Fire to move to another city. Say Columbus for example.
Starting to wonder the same thing. I mean MLS to San Diego seems to be on life support at this point anyway. This Chicago club is competing against an actual long established MLS team. (Frankly the whole "no USL due to MLS" always seemed a bit ridiculous anyway. I mean there's USL teams in or around many MLS cities, and not all of them are "2" teams. And the SD USL team would be almost 40 miles away on the other side of the county if they continue to build where the currently NASL team is building.
My first thought was....what is his real end game? Soccer was one of the last things I was thinking about. It's a blessing and curse to think like this.
Guarantee you RGV is fudging it's numbers. I was there and maybe they had 1000 in the stands, but they reported 6700.
Is Reno hybrid? I did not know that. It seems reasonable that if you have a dedicated front office that actually can devote time to selling that one product, they'll do a better job of it than someone who just has the attitude that whoever shows up, shows up because it's a team-side thing that's just to develop players. But it's all about what the goals of the parent club. The goals of some here (aesthetics with regards to attendance, for some reason) may not dovetail with the goals of the organizations actually footing the bills. (Not to mention you may not be able to find a partner who shares your vision, has a decent market and stadium solution and all the other things to be able to make such a partnership viable.)
We are indeed a hybrid. It's been a good relationship with SJ. They stay out of our business, send down a player here and there, and have provided us with the excellent coaching duo of Ian Russell and Eric Bucchere. 10/10, would affiliate again.
===================== The more and more I read stuff, see the generally poor attendance of MLS2 teams, now seeing Vancouver affiliates with Fresno, I think the affiliate system is the way to go. Now not know knowing all the exact rules (unless its posted somewhere), maybe we need to update those rules to make the system work better. The comparison of course is MLB & AAA baseball. I am sure they have quite a set of rules- too different than what soccer could /would need ? = Unless there a huge change at USSF and its relation with MLS, we are not probably going to have pro-rel in my lifetime. Too much many has been invested by the MLS owners and I can understand why they would not want to drop a level. But with USL3 coming plus PDL, it would really not seem that hard to put a 4 level pyramid with affiliations from top to bottom for soccer. PDL > USL3 > USL2 > MLS. (and the academies under the PDL) Could you imagine 32 MLS teams, each with 32 USL2 , 32 USL3 teams and 32 PDL teams ? 128 teams is a lot. Remember, besides developing players, we are also developing owners and building fan base at all 4 levels. Other dumb question. Does FIFA have any say as to whether Pro-Rel is a requirement of soccer leagues in countries around the world? Just as much does it have any say as to whether playoffs are ok ?
There are folks who have been making the case that FIFA does have that power. Maybe they do. The wording of the statute is somewhat ambiguous. But they leave most things concerning the setup of each country's competition to those countries and federations. As for playoffs...you know that old joke that goes, "How do you know when a Deadhead has been in your house? He's still there." ? As long as playoffs go on (here and in Mexico and in Australia and maybe other places), you can probably infer they're okay with playoffs.
Yeah I'd say if playoffs were a real issue with FIFA, they wouldn't have let MLS get away with it for 21 years.
The whole concept that "FIFA" controls leagues should've been put to rest ages ago. How many teams in the Premier League? Serie A? Didn't FIFA mandate 16 team first divisions 15-20 years ago? Seriously. Let's just stop with all the "FIFA" crap with regards to league composition and structure.
In August 2006, the FIFA Congress passed an edict that top-flight leagues should have no more than 18 teams. Hasn't exactly been implemented.
.....Blatter at his zenith. Wanted less league games so more international games could be played, and his cronies could make more money. All under the guise of player safety. Western Euro governments told him to Fk Off. He had zero right to dictate anything in their country. FIFA can bully the weak and corrupt....otherwise they've got no leverage. I laugh deridingly at people who think FIFA can force things on MLS here. I unabashedly let them know what they are....young, naive, ignorant, emotionally unstable or just plain stupid.
Irony being that UEFA has imposed it's own version of that with the never-ending national team league starting up.