On a rare occasion something intelligent, coherent and real world can come from WWC, but mostly, I think most people just ignore.
http://www.empireofsoccer.com/report-carolina-railhawks-to-rebrand-announce-bid-for-mls-56054/ Along with his MLS ambitions, Malik also seems prepared to go public with his interest in bringing an NWSL team to the area after flirting with the possibility by meeting with NWSL leadership during the summer. No timeline or name for the potential women’s team are mentioned in the leaked release, but EoS reported in September that Malik had trademarked Carolina Courage, the name of a former women’s team that played at WakeMed in the WUSA.
They can lobby all they want, but until they get a MLS franchise, can they be considered a serious candidate.
I don't think not being an MLS city instantly makes you a non-candidate. There was talk from Indy a while ago as well as fan talk of Sac, both of which I think are MLS-level organizations that could easily run an NWSL team just as well as an actual MLS team could. I would take a gung-ho lower division organization over an wishy-washy or unorganized MLS organization any day.
Met @FCBarcelona leadership to discuss @NWSL and other U.S. initiatives. Visited La Masia today and will attend Clasico tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/5YFJHqVd3L— Sunil Gulati (@sunilgulati) December 2, 2016
Sure they can. They can't control whether or not MLS will let them in to the fraternity. But I think they are going to have to have MLS calibre infrstructure (I don't just mean a stadium, but all the backend stuff too) to compete with the MLS teams that are interested.
so it seems right the the two frontrunners are still Los Angeles & Salt Lake City. The longshots are Carolina, Sacramento, Indianapolis & St. Louis. Hopefully we get LA & Salt Lake for 2018 & then two more for 2020.
Heck no. SLC has been mostly silent for ages, and the most recent thing we heard from them is that they're in no rush. Similarly, the last we heard any news about LAFC was that - - - - - With the exception of Carolina, all of these aren't even longshots any more. Like LAFC, Sac never voiced immediate interest, just that it was a long term plan. Indy was basically dead months ago when their stadium deal fell through completely, and now NASL is in crisis, so don't expect any movement there. The STL group I mentioned earlier was and that's exactly how it's playing out, with the competing (original) MLS expansion group having recently been back in the news as ownership and detailed plans were revealed, along with news that the Foundry group was essentially being 100% ignored by MLS. So it's going nowhere. If anything, the only real movement we've seen from anyone in the past two months has been the Railhawks/Courage group. So if we want to label anyone as a frontrunner right now, it'd be them. As for not-likely-now-but-likely-future candidates, that's where you'd put LAFC and SLC, probably along with FCD, SJ, and maybe Minny or Sac.
I just hope that whoever the next expansion clubs are, they they get a longer run up than just months from when they are officially announced to when they begin play. So if they want a new team to begin play in 2018, then January 2017 should be the absolute latest to announce it, so they have at least 1 year to prepare for the draft.
NWSL brass usually have a meeting in late Spring, I think that's probably a significant enough run-up time. Clearly December (HOU) and October (ORL) are too late, and I would say August probably is too, but if the team is in place by June or earlier, (maybe late April/early May to beat out the start of WPSL/UWS,) that seems like enough to me. It's not like there's an incredible amount of playing for scouting that the future-draftees will be doing from January through April any year.
Well I mean there's more to preparing for the college draft than just scouting college players. Hiring the coaching staff, possibly scouting WPSL/UWS, scouting the NWSL for the expansion draft (this is something I thought both Houston and Orlando did very poor at), and seeing what internationals they can acquire. Basically they need to be as set roster-wise going in to the college season so they know what they are looking for.
Along with a name change, North Carolina FC (formerly Carolina Railhawks) announced today that they will pursue getting an NWSL team: "Since taking over the team, Malik has advocated for a multi-team organization. To that effect, he also announced his desire to be awarded a first-division National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team to the Triangle in the next three to six months." They will also pursue an MLS franchise in the next 12-18 months. Full announcement: http://www.northcarolinafc.com/news...-carolina-fc-announcing-a-new-state-of-soccer
Well, awarding a franchise in 3-6 months would mean 11-14 months of lead-up until they actually start play, (7-10 months of lead-up before the draft,) so that works IMO. As I said a few posts ago, they certainly seem to be the only team actively pushing for NWSL, so they're the frontrunner right now. If NWSL wants to expand two-at-a-time, I would say they have 5-8 months to encourage another group to actually step up.
They will have to get in line for a MLS franchise. There are several other candidates that have shown they are in a better position to get a franchise.
I can see Paulsen actually using this to try and get other MLS clubs to commit for 2018, especially in the West.
The Carolina D2 males team owner claims that he wants a NWSL, probably for 2018. "We are creating an NWSL team within the next six months. NC has the potential to be the strongest state for a women's team" - @stephenmalik pic.twitter.com/6smV9eqxMS— North Carolina FC 🏆 (@NorthCarolinaFC) December 6, 2016
With the local universities, other jobs and opportunities in the market and relatively low cost of living, it easily could be a good team overnight.
still hoping LA & Salt Lake come through. Would love to see: 2018: Salt Lake & Carolina 2019: Los Angeles & Minnesota 2020: Sacramento & Toronto
I agree on 2018. A team I'd like to see, soon, is Vancouver. The Vancouver-Seattle-Portland link is really strong and it would make a great three-team rivalry. I don't know about Sacramento -- not saying "yes" or "no," I just don't know. I'd really like to see a team in the Bay Area, in the Stanford/Santa Clara/San Jose area.
Positive news out of North Carolina. There is professional WoSo history there with the WUSA Courage, a strong tradition of college soccer with UNC, Duke, WF, an educated populace in the Triangle region, and a tailor-made stadium in WakeMed. Sort of disappointing to lose the RailHawks moniker (albeit a fictional animal) in favor of the generic NCFC, but the trend in American soccer is to mimic English club names, so... The future MLS club announced plans to build a 24,000 seat stadium, no indication of where yet. Wonder if the NWSL team would use it, or continue using WakeMed. Personally I like smaller, fuller venues over large, emptier ones. The College Cup is always the best atmosphere, for example, when at WakeMed or College Station. This year, at Avaya Stadium, and FAU Stadium a few years back, it was echoey and sort of sad looking. Assuming NWSL wants to expand in pairs, the other team needs to be Western, likely either LAFC or Salt Lake. LA makes sense because 2018 is when the men's team launches.
I suspect that North Carolina's notorious LGBT "bathroom law" will be a roadblock to any professional teams wanting to locate in NC. Quite a few players will probably refuse to play in NC until that law is repealed. Bruce Springsteen, the NBA all star game, the Women's college cup, and a host of other people and companies have cancelled events in NC because of the law.