This is why I was saying dont sleep on a minnow like Nashville. All it takes is a logjam at Miami, St Louis, San Diego, Detroit, and they slowly move up the list. They get that budget passed while the others continue to dither.......they might get that 28 spot.
Sure, but as San Diego is showing, just because you have the mayor on board doesn't mean city council will go along with it...
another excellent point. I guess this is why it was smart business for MLS to cast a wide net of 12 cities. Its gonna be tough getting four (five if you include miami) over the finish line. Sacramento and i guess Tampa are the only ones truly shovel ready. San Antonio (stadium expansion via city approval), Nashville (city council vote), and Cincinnati (SSS at one of 3 different sites) are the ones that have the capacity to be immediately shovel ready after one significant final hurdle. I dont include Detroit because their snails pace politics for that "one step" is going to drag on. And Miami is well........Miami. Raleighs gotta get their head out of the dirt and do it quickly if they wanna be taken seriously. Time to crap or get off the pot, find your stadium location and join the party.
Well, MLS didn't cast the net wide. They opened the bidding process and 12 groups bid. But I definitely give MLS credit for reading the market correctly by announcing they would let in 4 teams. Given the number of bidders, that's enough teams to give each market hope they could make it but few enough to create intense competition.
According to Jeff Berding, the Newport location is shovel ready now. No politics necessary, the state already has an agreement in place. No vote necessary. Said if mls votes they will start construction there immediately. The other side of the river is where the team wants to be tho. That's why they have 3 locations picked out, trying to haggle with city council to stay on the north side of the river (although it doesn't matter, Newport location sits directly opposite of Great american ballpark and PB Stadium)
Also, this is cool to see. The local 40 k student university (UC) has really embraced FCC, the fan base is kind of bummed the mls is making us move. We get it, but it still stinks.
word, so I guess given all that current favorites should be Sacramento, Cincinnati, Tampa, Miami, and proooooobably San Antonio rounding out the current race to 28 with Nashville sizing up the first slip up.
Tennessee has a lot of fan support down there. Kind of caught me off guard. Appalachia has caught soccer fever
Nashville isn't anywhere near Appalachia. Charlotte would be the closest. Perhaps you're thinking of Knoxville?
while Charlotte is a nonstarter and Raleigh is twiddling their thumbs not understanding the urgency (or caring), nashville would bridge a big geographic gap and add another team in the south. actually heres a little blurb on raleigh, could be doing the quiet minnesota approach http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/luke-decock/article155982829.html
Not that MLS is stopping at 28 but remember that Miami already has a spot. They're not part of the "four" open spots. If I had to ballpark it, I'd say that the top four are: 1. Sacramento 2. FC Cincinnati (if what I'm reading/hearing about the stadium is true) 3. Tampa 4. Phoenix But it doesn't matter since MLS is going to 30 or more.
just made a quick google and found an interesting read and edited my post. They are playing their cards close seems.
I wouldn't put money on that happening anytime soon (or even the next 20 years). With that said I think we see your #1 and 2 get selected this year and spots 3 & 4 not selected until 2018 or beyond. My thought is Nashville/Detroit and a western/mountain team
IMO MLS' order of preference could be: 1.) Phoenix 2.) Detroit 3.) Charlotte or Raleigh 4.) Tampa 5.) San Diego 6.) San Antonio 7.) Sacramento 8.) Cincinnati MLS and its' Media partners are looking for markets that move the TV/viewership Needle. The reality is that once Miami comes into the league, there really aren't any MUST be in markets outside of Phoenix and Detroit. An argument can be made that a third team in NY and LA, and a second team in Toronto and Chicago would do more for the leagues media presence then adding teams in perceived secondary markets.
Oh God it's college football realignment all over again. I hate ESPN.... Rutgers in the big ten... -_- So cincy will get invited, win the league 5 times in 7 years, then get kicked out. Life in the Midwest sigh
That Voice of San Diego piece explains things pretty well. Long story short, everyone wants the entire Qualcomm site for themselves and folks aren't interested in sharing. FS Investors claim to have had a deal agreed with SDSU but then a coup in the halls of the Aztecs brought in new leadership who shit all over the ideas that FS had based it's proposal on. http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...e/sd-sp-acee-soccer-city-sdsu-0523-story.html
Once a team is in, they stay in unless they go out of business or move. We do things the right way here and don't kick teams out of leagues.
Technically we didn't get kicked out of the big east. ESPN bribed Syracuse to leave and then the exodus was on. We got left holding a bag full of trophies. Tickles me pink to watch UofL get the financial death penalty over the prostitution for players scandal. Anyways.... Whether we make the mls or not life goes on. We're having a lot of fun in the usl so I don't think it will doom us. Drew 70 k soccer fans to nippert stadium last week between the 3 games. Was a good week of soccer
That didn't happen.............. Syracuse's leadership at the time decided to be proactive and make the conference switch for economic reasons, as they saw the writing on the wall. They didn't want to get left behind for Football reasons. Also, the ACC had approached Syracuse back in the early aughts to make the move until UVA pitched a fit and got VTech selected instead. Cuse went to where the best money was for them. Rutgers did the same exact thing...........though athletically it hasn't helped their performance being in the B1G, Plain and simple it was a business decision.
The Big East was in the middle of negotiating a media contract. The Big East told ESPN they were shopping it to fox. ESPN retaliated immediately; went to the acc and Syracuse. Syracuse took the money and ran. The Big east crumbled as they lost their New York market bargaining chip. Syracuse continues to suck at football with a slightly bigger check.