2019 NPSL Members Cup (formerly Founders Cup) Weeks 1-3 Home team first, times are ET. Streams? Maybe. Saturday, August 10 Milwaukee Torrent v. Napa Valley 1839 8:00 pm Chattanooga FC v. New York Cosmos 8:30 pm Saturday, August 17 New York Cosmos v. Milwaukee Torrent 7:00 pm Detroit City v. Chattanooga FC 7:30 pm Saturday, August 24 Napa Valley 1839 v. Detroit City 10:00 pm Chattanooga FC v. Michigan Stars 8:30 pm The six teams will play 10 regular season games this fall. The Members Cup season ends on October 26. There will be some sort of playoffs.
Wait, the Michigan Stars are part of this!? OH man.... I guess the indoor facility the Bucks played at needed a new tenant.
That's a good question. To stretch out the season? Stadium availability? The voice in their heads says so? They do have a few weeks with 3 games later in the year but mostly only two on each weekend.
The NPSL schedule says that they will be playing at "ULTIMATE SOCCER ARENAS - OUTDOOR." I thought that their only outdoor field was an American football field but they may have added another one.
First results: 2019 NPSL Members Cup (formerly Founders Cup) Weeks 1-3 Home team first, times are ET. Streams and recaps via MyCujoo at https://www.npsl.com/calendar/2019-npsl-members-cup/ Saturday, August 10 Milwaukee Torrent 2-0 Napa Valley 1839 Chattanooga FC 0-1 New York Cosmos Saturday, August 17 New York Cosmos v. Milwaukee Torrent 7:00 pm Detroit City v. Chattanooga FC 7:30 pm Saturday, August 24 Napa Valley 1839 v. Detroit City 10:00 pm Chattanooga FC v. Michigan Stars 8:30 pm
Chattanooga drew an announced 3,500, which is not out of line from their normal crowd. Have not seen an official number for Milwaukee, but it has been described as a "great crowd" and a "big crowd" and looked like this:
It’s official. Detroit and Chattanooga are heading to the NISA this spring. Cosmos are on an island by themselves. https://www.nisaofficial.com/news/2...ttanooga-fc-detroit-city-fc--oakland-roots-sc
That simplifies things for the Cosmos greatly. They can now add all they championships they want to the storied history of the club(TM) without all the messiness of having to play and win games.
They kinda thought of themselves as uniquely special compared to everyone else already, soooo... Perfect!
And they hook you right offthe bat: "Coming off of a successful Board of Governors meeting....." I'm trying to envision what an UNsuccessful Board of Governors meeting might look like; fistfights over the shrimp at the buffet table? Rocco Commiso making armpit fart noises during the tournament presentation? Don Garber and Mark Abbott bursting into the room, laughing hysterically and throwing water balloons?
DCFC made a profit on a $1M budget a couple years ago only because they: Didn't have to pay players Had an extended (home) playoff run Left the state of Michigan twice all season Those conditions will not be replicated in a higher/smaller league. Do they have more financial resources now? (They should, it's a PLS thing.) Okay. Will they (in theory) have more home games/opportunities to generate revenue? Probably. Could they charge more for everything now and therefore generate more revenue? You'd think. (This is where the Beer & Scarf brigade kvetches about the good old days when things were cheaper, as if the plucky little club they found was always going to stay little and plucky.) Are their expenses also going to go up? Certainly. Will revenue get close enough to expenses to make it "work?" Maybe. But the woods are littered with the bones of clubs that had healthy-looking attendance figures, because it's expensive to do this. I think these two clubs have done it smartly, building gradually. Whether they are intoxicated by their own success and think they got this, no problem, I can't know. But the P&L for them both HAS to be different. Likely (but not guaranteed) to be worse, maybe better but definitely different.
On one hand, they've looked like one of the great business success stories in lower level soccer and seem like they type of people with the creativity and smarts to get this done. On the other hand, they seriously tried to join the NASL as it was barreling toward a cliff only two years ago.
I wonder if we will ever know the real story of what felt like a Hail Mary that would have made Drew Pearson proud. Hard to fault the moves they have *actually* made to this point. And if they are truly ready for the pro level (they've outgrown the NPSL despite, you know, never actually WINNING the NPSL), this is their current Best Realistic Chance.
DCFC To Become Pro, Join New League In 2020 https://971theticket.radio.com/articles/dcfc-become-pro-join-new-league-2020
So NISA will have its own competition this fall, but they won't know if they've been granted divisional status until February, which seems a bit late.