Three hours away is pretty far in that area. Granted it probably depends three hours in which direction, but I was born and raised 3 hours from Nashville, and Nashville might as well have been in California. Apart from the occasional Vanderbilt football/basketball tidbit as it related to the wider SEC, I never heard anything Nashville-related unless it was also national news for some reason.
There's actually a lot of truth to that. And the Memphis media is so busy covering crime or creating drama that they can't pull their heads out of their butts long enough to see that there are other things in the world. Still; I hope it happens.
I've lived in Michigan since 1977. I've been involved in soccer as a player, coach, and referee. I attended Detroit Express games at the (Pesky) old Silverdome. There is NO WAY that MLS at Ford Field works. I can't think of anything less cool, less hip, less new than that. In addition, most of the discernible soccer energy in Detroit is negative to the MLS bid. I'm talking about those lovable Detroit City FC Supporters. Who might actually riot in the streets if Detroit is awarded an MLS team. Build a new state of the art Soccer Stadium downtown and there is a chance for success. Fling open the doors to Ford Field and the only thing you will hear is the faint echo of the Silverdome PA Announcer screaming "THIS IS TREVOR FRANCIS" banging around a mostly empty stadium....
Maybe I'm overthinking this, but the fate of the Detroit bid will tell us a lot about MLS moving forward. You have the other 3 bids that more or less have the same strengths and weaknesses. (The Cincy-Columbus thing is a bit strange, but outside of that, I think the point holds.) Then you have Detroit, which is an entirely different beast. It's not an apples to apples comparison, so if Detroit is chosen, then you know MLS likes oranges, and if they don't, you know MLS likes apples.
MLS is always in love with whatever worked last. There's a long list that I'm certain you know as well as I do. They're now in love with Atlanta and I think they really want to see Atlanta in the Detroit bid. But I just don't think it's there.
What evidence was there that Atlanta would be Atlanta before it was awarded the bid? (not a rhetorical question)
I'm not sure there was any really. We had Terminus Legion doing get-to -gethers to show support and the Silverbacks were drawing decent crowds even in a bad situation in regards to stadium and ownership, but until season tickets started being sold nothing was really blowing the doors off. A big key to Atlanta has been everything SINCE the team was announced. Great FO moves, great coach hiring, great academy set up and choice of leadership there. Fantastic and exciting signings and all made possible by Uncle Arthur. A lot of people were excited about what Arthur Blank could do and the fact that his son was big into the game and it was a connection for those two had people hoping this would not be Kraft 2.0, but there wasn't much concrete. He followed through though. I'm not sure the ownership of the Detroit bid can be put in the same conversation as Blank in regards to the type of owner they have show to be in other sports.
Dude sat in front of me on the bus in Salt Lake on Monday that matched this description. Mostly. His ink extended over most of his face, and he was wearing a really sweet duster so I don't actually know what was written on his tank top. It was probably awesome, though.
First, that isn't what I said. I never said they needed to fill it to capacity week after week. In fact I didn't say they needed to at all. What I actually said was that in the biggest market in the country they bring in 22k. How you don't see that as extremely underwhelming is what is "ludicrously stupid". Then you try to make this a sensible argument by saying Atlanta doesn't sell out the full capacity of their stadium. So you want to say that a city of 400,000 selling basically every seat made available is some how in the same realm as a city of 8mil pulling in 22k and can't sell out the downsized capacity. Talk about ludicrously stupid. Then you talk about how there is stuff being done to change the stadium situation, it just takes time. We've heard that before, in New England. So again, I do not think NYCFC is the disaster you think I am calling it, but the decision to put that team in that city over other bids was a joke and they have done little to change that. Which brings us back to the actual topic. Bids on MLS and who deserves them this time. I'll not be goaded back into this discourse further as we've already had too much of an aside here as it is.
LOL you are the one with your panties bunched over sticking up for poor nycfc. Atlanta and Seattle fan support and ownership kick their ass in every way imaginable. So next time you would do well to not bring them up when defending nycfc. Its just silly.
In Indianapolis, I saw a shirtless guy who was two thirds tattoos walking down a street in 40 degree weather... wearing an eight foot python. He was convinced it liked daily walks.
There wasn't much. Mercedes Benz Stadium was designed to close off the 200 level as well as the upper deck. It was 2017 before they officially said the normal MLS capacity was 42500, not 29500.
Actually, you did explicitly say that NYCFC failed to fill their stadium to capacity as if that was some sort of indictment against them. We can go back and check the logs, but its there. So everything else you wrote is now is nothing more than a strawman argument.
Ummm. If my pointing out facts to you and destroying Jonesta's arguments is somehow interpreted as me having my panties in a bunch, then I don't know what to tell you. Just because someone doesn't agree with you, and it turns out that someone is 100% correct, that doesn't make them irrational or upset.
I said, specifically, that they play in a baseball stadium. They also do not fill said baseball stadium. Fact. If a simple fact causes you fits that is your business. The "indictment" I placed was that 22k in a city of 8mil is not good. How you can argue otherwise is laughable, but you clearly live in a different world with egbert souse. The only reason to touch this argument is because you actually think you have somehow "destroyed" my argument by parsing out lines of statements and then placing your own motivations behind the words. You are a delusional fool.
I don't think this equates to what we've seen, but here's what we did have: - An on-again, off-again legacy of pro teams stretching from the old NASL chiefs, various minor league, women's, and indoor teams, and at the time of the MLS push the Silverbacks were in their own 5k stadium. - The Terminus Legion and the MLS2ATL push began getting folks together for viewing parties and helped push the 'Back's attendance to near sell-outs for the last couple years before MLS. - Hosted a variety of international matches and friendlies, with an average of about 45k+ depending on the teams involved. Some matches involving Mexico and other big brands would pull in 60k+. - The usual tons of youth soccer teams, academies and more around the metro area. - A metro population of 5M+ becoming more and more international by the day. I never thought 42k+ on a regular basis would come about, but there's another aspect that mattered - The city was starving for a sporting identity. Atlanta literally has the worst ratio of championships to years with pro teams among major cities, with none of the established teams making the city their own. I'm not saying United fills that void, but it meant the audience was receptive to something original and built around the fans. This is a case of being gifted an opportunity and making the most of it. Thus far.
This is not difficult. Sacramento is the clear leader in everything save the size of the market. Proven support. Stadium ready to go/already started. IN. Nashville next. Stadium ready to go, I believe. Good, growing market. Helps the league footprint geographically. No proven local team support. Good for US matches. IN. Clearly the plan has been to pull the Crew to Austin for a while now. Replacing them with Cincy and/or Detroit became a thing recently. Cincy is third. Stadium is not fully funded & they do not gave a locale. Close. Plus the Crew move just got a lot less certain (though I don't think a Crew move is a prerequisite for Cincy getting a team). Leader for the next round once stadium is finalized. MLS is going to want a big city team to add. LA is one. But Sac & Nash do not check that box. Nor does Cincy. Or Austin. Miami does. If they happen. Detroit is the biggest city left without a team. Leader for #4. -------------------- Anywho, take Sacramento & Nashville now. Wait & see how Miami, Columbus, & Austin shake out, then decide on the next two (or three, or one, depending).