Why do people always seem to forget we *have* an expansion forum to not clog the general thread with these discussions? *le heavy sigh* Anyway; I can't speak to FAU, but part of the problem with Avaya this year was that it was comparatively short-notice, due to the aforementioned "bathroom bill" kickback. Considering that NWSL doesn't have conferences at the moment and probably won't until they hit 14 or 16, I highly doubt the other team in the pair would "need" to be further West. I don't think the law itself would be that big of a roadblock for the interested ownership groups or for players. In terms of the players, I would guess that having a spot on a roster is more important that political opinions. However, I will agree that it would still be problematic, but from the league standpoint - similar to the way people have rallied against the NCAA and the NBA and such, I would guess NWSL could/would take a TON of flack to agreeing to expand into a state with a bill like that.
North Carolina's new governor, Roy Cooper, has said he wants to repeal the bathroom law. Exit polls in November showed a majority of NC voters now oppose it as well. But the legislature is firmly in Republican control so a change will be tough and require and changing of hearts and minds.
The question about the NCAA's decisions is different than the NWSL's for some specific reasons. Some states have prohibitions about government-funded travel to states with laws like NC's. In theory, at least, that could have affected state universities' teams' travel. That is not a problem for the NWSL.
Thanks for the move, @Blaze20 ! That actually got me thinking... We now have a definite timetable (6m) on a potential NC NWSL team announcement, and all but two of the last 15 posts (including this one) are directly talking about a Carolina team... With that definite timetable apparently meaning things are in motion with this group like we haven't seen with other candidates, would it be a good idea to spin off a dedicated Carolina expansion thread from this general thread?
I was doing some Wikipedia editing today (some IGLFA tournaments) and thought "I should update the NWSL Expansion page to talk about North Carolina's new effort". Well, someone beat me to the punch - by about two weeks - but North Carolina wasn't the only thing they added. So here are some things to munch on: Earlier this month, there was a report of a new group out of Atlanta interested in starting teams in both NASL and NWSL. Of course, this was announced mere hours before everyone heard the NY Cosmos were going under, which is likely a deathblow to NASL anyway, so whether this group comes up with a NWSL team anyway certainly seems unlikely. It seems like we as a group slept on the San Jose Earthquakes, on two different news occasions. There was a podcast in May where the owner confirmed that they are definitely interested in NWSL, but they just want a training/academy complex built first (so kinda like RSL). Then, about a month ago (last Q of article), they said they were "in week 20 of a 60 week process" on the facilities, putting a potential women's team about two years away.
Atlanta closer to securing NWSL team(& NASL team). No timetable of when a potential team would arrive. All depends on when the complex gets completed. http://www.dirtysouthsoccer.com/201...-soccer-complex-nasl-nwsl-chiefs-vibe-atlanta
The way things are looking now, with all the prospective franchises, the league could have 20 teams in 5-10 years.
I mean, that's certainly possible. Wasn't "Vibe" originally chosen based on a popularity poll anyway? I guess it comes down it whether trademarks/copyrights were filed or not.
Maybe if RSL comes through, we could have: 2018: Salt Lake City & Carolina 2019: Los Angeles & Atlanta 2020: San Jose & Minnesota
Six teams in three years is FAAARRR too much. Not to mention it goes 2 teams farther than the previously stated "14 by 2020" goal.
I just went to look it up again, and I was half-right: there was a poll put out, but that in response to some dislike to "Vibe" as the working name for the team before anything became official. After the poll closed, they apparently switched to "Atlanta FC" https://www.facebook.com/AtlantaVibe/posts/717849294992903
$$$ talks also. If all six groups are highly interested, we'll be at 16 teams. Maybe not 2020, but possibly 2021.
Money may talk, but there's a limit to it, and I would venture that six teams in three (or even four) years is past that limit. For reference, MLS has never expanded expanded at a rate faster than N+1 teams in any given N-year period, even with all the interest they've previously gotten and continue to get. Not only are there a ton of logistical problems if you expand too rapidly, but you run the risk of expansion becoming its own self-destructing beast. Money talking was exactly what fueled the rise and subsequant fall of the original NASL. It would be in NWSL's interest to pump the breaks on expansion enough to make sure that every team involved is in it for the long haul and isn't riding a wave of some sort, be it a rebranding wave, a start-up wave, or the every-two-out-of-four-years "WoSo is suddenly popular" wave. Of all six candidates you brought up, none of them don't have an asterisk by them - some (like ATL and MIN) much larger than others. That in itself should be a sign that accepting even half of them in a short time period is a huge risk.
Maybe add two in 2018. None for 2019(World Cup). Two more for 2020(reaching 14), then two more for 2022. An MLS owned Vancouver team will get pushed ahead of potential bids from Carolina & Atlanta. I think if Atlanta's not in by 2020, the ownership group drops out. 2018: Vancouver & Carolina 2020: Salt Lake City & Los Angeles 2022: San Jose & Minnesota
cancel Carolina as an expansion franchise. Western New York is relocating to Cary, NC prior to the 2017 season. Maybe now Salt Lake City can still get in in 2018 with Vancouver.
I honestly hope this move might bring a club like Toronto FC into the picture for a women's team without another team close to the border. Vancouver does not have a good history and more than one player has spoken poorly regarding their time on the w league team.
Unfortunately SLC has made no overtures of getting an NWSL in the very-near future. (That said, the relocation of WNY came with no warning, soooo...) The recent Equalizer article that went up in response to the Vancouver leak mentioned that Toronto has never said a peep about NWSL (which I guess is better than Montreal, who have outright said it's not even in their mid-term plan).
There's gonna be a lot of good players to field two new expansion teams in 2018. Predicting top notch talent available in the 2018 Expansion Draft. Each current NWSL team will only be allowed to protect no more than 10 players, with 2 new teams needing players. Top Unprotected players (2018) Boston: Amanda DaCosta, Christen Westphal, Brooke Elby, Amanda Frisbie, Sammy Jo Prudhomme Carolina: Darian Jenkins, Lianne Sanderson, Michaela Hahn, Claire Wagner, Eddy, Erceg, Rowland/Eckerstrom Chicago: Stephanie McCaffrey, Jen Hoy, Alyssa Mautz, Morgan Profitt, Courtney Raetzman, Katie Naughton FCKC: Amy Rodriguez, Stephanie Ribeiro, Alexis Schaferr, Yael Averbuch, Alex Arlitt, Brianne Reed, Katie Bowen Houston: Nichelle Prince, Chioma Ubogagu, Mel Henderson, Becca Moros, Lydia Williams, Bianca Henninger Orlando: Jasmyne Spencer, Dani Weatherholt, Kaylyn Kyle, Maddy Evans, McKenzie Berryhill, Aubrey Bledsoe Portland: Nadia Nadim, Mallory Weber, Hayley Raso, Tyler Lussi, Mana Shim, Kendall Johnson, Reynolds, Betos Seattle: Kiersten Dallstream, Lindsay Elston, Elli Reed, Rachel Corsie Sky Blue: Maya Hayes, Tasha Kai, Meehan, Tiernan, Lytle, Stanton, Shawna Gordon, Coco Goodson, C. Rampone Washington: Cali Farquharson, Solaun, Joanna Lohman, Doughery Howard, Estelle Johnson, Kleiner, Wys Portland, Chicago, FCKC, and Carolina will probably be hit the hardest in the expansion draft. Due to this, they need to have the rule that a current NWSL team cannot lose more than 3 players overall in the draft. And all 10 teams above must lose at least one player in the expansion draft. This means that if the expansion teams are in the 9th and 10th rounds of the draft (etc.), and neither of them has selected any player from a particular team yet, then one of the new teams must select an unprotected player from that given NWSL team (which means in the 10th round, the expansion team may be forced to select from one current NWSL team above). Also, when a current team loses a player in this draft, they get to protect one additional unprotected player. Here's how the expansion draft could go: Expansion Team-A goes first. Expansion Draft: Team-A: Amy Rodriguez, Christen Westphal, Chioma Ubogagu, Yael Averbuch, Kaylyn Kyle, Havana Solaun, Katherine Reynolds, Cali Farquharson, Katelyn Rowland, Mana Shim Team-B: Michelle Betos, Stephanie McCaffrey, Darian Jenkins, Brianne Reed, Dani Weatherholt, Joanna Lohman, Elli Reed, Maya Hayes, Brooke Elby, Alyssa Mautz Players lost to an expansion team Boston: Christen Westphal, Brooke Elby (they protect Amanda DaCosta) Carolina: Darian Jenkins, Katelyn Rowland (they protect Lianna Sanderson) Chicago: Stephanie McCaffrey, Alyssa Mautz (they protect Katie Naughton) FCKC: Amy Rodriguez, Yael Averbuch, Brianne Reed (they protect Katie Bowen, Alex Arlitt) Houston: Chioma Ubogagu (they protect Becca Moros) Orlando: Kaylyn Kyle, Dani Weatherholt (they protect Maddy Evans) Portland: Mana Shim, Katherine Reynolds, Michelle Betos (they protect Nadia Nadim, Tyler Lussi) Seattle: Elli Reed (they protect Rachel Corsie) Sky Blue: Maya Hayes (they protect McKenzie Meehan) Washington: Cali Farquharson, Havana Solaun, Joanna Lohman (they protect Estelle Johnson, D-Howard)
Buried in other recent news: http://equalizersoccer.com/2017/01/24/the-lowdown-amanda-duffy-and-the-growing-nwsl/ Maybe Sky Blue's owners are finally admitting they're not ideal for the league. But it does make me wonder that DL says "more teams", plural... I can't imagine a swathe of relocations being good for the league's image. Nor can I image NWSL pulling out of the cities any stretch-relocation-candidates are currently in, i.e. CHI, BOS, & DC - those are some pretty big markets to leave out in the cold. =-S
Well, relocation doesn't necessarily mean change of ownership. Sky Blue may have been pressured to move further out from NYC to make room for a team there, over to Philly, say. Another thought, though: long shot, but could bringing on Amanda Duffy foreshadow NWSL to Louisville?
Yeah. A while ago I suggested that SBFC move to Camden. They'd still be in New Jersey, but they'd be just a short trip over the Ben Franklin bridge for Philly residents. It might not be the ideal stadium shape for soccer, but apparently the minor league baseball team that played in Campbell's Field on the Camden waterfront has relocated to Connecticut, so the stadium would be available during the summer... Just like Plush signaled that Colorado was joining the league?
It's been quiet in this thread for about a month, but there was a flurry of news out of Atlanta today: http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/...e-new-200-million-atlanta-sports-city-to.html http://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt-...lt-stonecrest/Stu1VgHuWy8ZC3CPW19YaJ/amp.html http://www.dirtysouthsoccer.com/201...city-announcement-nasl-nwsl-atlanta-expansion Big takeaway here, aside from the fact the group isn't dead, is that their target for the women's team is now 2019 instead of 2018. Make of that what you will. Maybe no expansion at all next year, then LAFC+new ATL team in 2019?