St. Louis news looks very good. Cash. Good PR. City has been a soccer hotbed for decades. No NFL or NBA teams there. Female ownership group.
It’s time to make it happen #MLS4TheLou pic.twitter.com/YzkKDKHMsR— Jim Kavanaugh (@jimpkavanaugh) October 9, 2018
Some region. I'm 5 hours from Audi Field, 6 1/2 hours from Mercedes Benz Arena, 7 1/2 hours from MAPFRE Stadium, and 10 hours from Orlando City Stadium. Good to know I'm covered.
Hmmm. Let me guess. Bristol, TN/VA? Wilmington, NC? Greenville, NC? Knoxville, TN? PM me if I'm in the neighborhood.
San Jose has a team. I don't. I'm in a 2 million metro area, roughly the size of both Austin and Cincinnati, bigger than Nashville and growing much, much faster than any of those.
Wow. I'm a bit surprised that you're closer to Washington than Atlanta. By the way, I have an extra ticket for the United vs. Toronto game on October 17th if you want to experience Audi Field in Section 130.
With no traffic after games, the straight drive from RFK is actually under four hours. During the day, or on weekends, I usually have to add an hour, most of that loss from Fredericksburg north. If I recall, my driveway to RFK Lot 8 is just under 270 miles. I used to shoot 1/3rd to 1/2 of DC's home games back in the day when gas was a lot cheaper, and photo licensing rates were a lot higher. I think my last trip to DC was for the SheBelieves Cup a year and a half ago. The ass kicking that France administered to us. http://andymead.photoshelter.com/ga...ited-States/G0000Xap0BoxD_jM/C0000MmhFPPUb3Zw
So, With Miami, Nashville, and Cincinnati. Austin looking like they're in. Columbus sounding like they're saved. And St. Louis putting together a strong team of owners. If you assume that St. Louis is a lock, then thats it, 28 teams, we're done. Has MLS said they will go beyond 28? Would MLS really pick Sacramento over these St. Louis owners? Does it matter what happens in San Diego anymore? Does the Ray's purchasing the Rowdies matter anymore? Should Phoenix calm their ambitions now?
I can guarantee one thing.. And that is that MLS is not done after 28 teams as long as there are still ownership groups willing to join the league.
I agree but I think expansion will be put on hold for at least 4-6 years (if not more) after team 28 starts.
Meh. I think expansion will be put on hold until the next time a multi-billionaire comes knocking.. If we assume that Austin and St. Louis are filling the 27th and 28th slots, they've still got Detroit and Sacramento wanting in...
So you think MLS will say no thank you to a hundred and fifty million dollars, most likely more, for the next four to six years or more? if San Diego comes up with a stadium this November, do you think MLS says no, talk to us in 6-8 years?
If San Diego comes up with a stadium I doubt Austin and/or St Louis gets in as easy. And yes I think MLS will turn down money to hold at 28 teams for a while.
With Columbus getting the "expansion" team that will be the Crew as we know them, this means Precourt has moved his franchise rights to Austin. They have a stadium deal nearly agreed upon with Austin. Austin IS in. If both San Diego and St. Louis have stadium deals at years end, does MLS say no to one? Maybe they can say no to $, but can they say no to one of those markets? To Detroit? In 8 years San Diego may not be what they can be presently. I can't see MLS saying no to them. Perhaps award them teams next year to enter the league in 4-8 years?
I truly believe they will say no as you can't just keep adding teams for one and as you said current ranking of cities can change.
San Diego isn’t coming up with an MLS stadium. The SDSU Aztecs measure is polling far ahead of SoccerCity (and above the 50% needed to pass). Unless SoccerCity’s guys can work something out with SDSU, it’s over next month in SD.
Everyone has the right to an opinion, but no chance. 32 teams MIN. 34 or 36 would not surprise me. 23 = Columbus stays (check) 24 = Cinci plays in 2019 (check) 25 = Nashville starts (2020/21) (check) 26 = Miami starts (2020/21) I think Miami is done but the stadium/start date is still iffy. 27 = Austin (2021) (for now) 28 = ???? I think Austin is planned, but not a done deal yet. They are not over the line yet, and PSV is, well, PSV.
First, congrats to Crew SC. Now, let's get back to hating each other. Second, MLS has a lot of choices. Austin might be the undiscovered country although, if you know your Shakespeare, the undiscovered country is death. But, it's got a lot of positives and it would be a good thing to be first pro league to get into an area that doesn't already have pro sports. It's got college students, grad students, young professionals, hipsters and high tech nerds -- in other words, the kind of potential season ticket holders that MLS desires. St. Louis had a vibrant soccer tradition and would be relatively near potential rival cities like Cincinnati, Kansas City, Nashville, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Chicago. With the Rams leaving town, MLS would fill a gap in a relatively big city that has only major league baseball and hockey teams. It would fill a big hole in the Midwest because it seems that Detroit isn't ready. Milwaukee and Indianapolis may never be ready. If St. Louis has the necessary financial and local government backing, I think it's in. And, next you've got San Diego, Phoenix and Tampa Bay which are located in high growth areas with lots of Hispanics. The only thing is that Hispanics, as an ethnic group, are no longer as central to MLS' target fans as they once were. Phoenx probably is the best bet of the rest because you have to wonder if San Diego and Tampa Bay really are good sports towns overall. Finally, it seems that Sacramento has become the latest Rochester. So long, we hardly knew ye. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.
I've taken MLS seriously about their stated goal of 28 teams believing that their focus now is team valuation (fewer teams + better league = higher valuation & more $$). What the "Columbus back-track" shows is that if you can get enough billionaires willing to take a pile of money and set it on fire in an SSS, you're in ! There's no way they will turn down credible ownership groups in Phoenix, San Diego, Detroit (or Raleigh). I hope St. Louis works. But I'm afraid that Sacramento might get left out because they are 1 billionaire short to be invited to the dance. Which is a shame. If ever a team from USL deserved a call up from MLS, it is Sac Repub FC. But as Clint Eastwood said in "Unforgiven", Deserve has nothing to do with it. A 32 team MLS is realistic (and a 34 team MLS is possible). Which on one hand is really great to give more people access to teams. But it probably makes the goal of an American league becoming a top 10 league in the world harder to attain. Concentrating talent among 28 teams probably makes for a better league than spreading talent around 34 teams.
News flash Andy: it is a big country. Mapfre is not SE & I never said it was, so I do not know what you are on about. LA is a long way from Vancouver but they are both west.