American expansion possibilities

Discussion in 'NWSL Expansion' started by WPS_Movement, Dec 28, 2012.

  1. toad455

    toad455 Member+

    Nov 28, 2005
    I would rather the team be in San Diego or San Jose, let LAFC get their own team in LA.
     
  2. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Does nobody else in this thread get a distinctly CD Chivas USA vibe? No thanks, I think I'd prefer a straight up "Los Angeles" team.
     
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  3. SiberianThunderT

    Sep 21, 2008
    DC
    Club:
    Saint Louis Athletica
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    I think it's been mentioned before... likely way back when Barca first surfaced as being interested in NWSL. Then it eventually came out that they were working with LAFC on an expansion team, and it shifted from a Chivas USA feel to an NYCFC feel, but now that the groups have split (and Barca is apparently still pushing) it's back to the Chivas feel.
     
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  4. toad455

    toad455 Member+

    Nov 28, 2005
    The best situation for the league would be Barcelona gets there team in San Diego in 2019. LAFC and FC Cincinnati get teams for 2020. Seattle and SkyBlue get bought by the Sounders and RedBulls by 2020. League is at 12 teams by 2020 with 7 teams owned by MLS counterparts.
     
  5. SiberianThunderT

    Sep 21, 2008
    DC
    Club:
    Saint Louis Athletica
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
  6. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Well this: "Among the major issues with a Barcelona NWSL team is the idea that Spanish players would get exemptions from the maximum of four international players on each team’s rosters." would be illegal. Under U.S. labor law an employer cannot differentiate between non-U.S. nationalities. An LA based club can't legally treat non-U.S. (green card/refugee/...) Spanish players differently than say Chinese, Ghanaian, or Honduran players.

    There's a reason why MLS teams over the years have developed expertise in getting green cards for foreign players.
     
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  7. holden

    holden Member+

    Dundee FC, Yeovil Town LFC, Girondins de Bordeaux
    Oct 20, 2009
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    Dundee FC
    Hmm... that article makes it sound like LAFC in 2020 is practically a done deal. Does Kassouf know something he's not telling or am I just reading too much in to it?

    Either way it seems like both LAFC and Barcelona are still interested in the NWSL, they're just going it alone now.
     
  8. SiberianThunderT

    Sep 21, 2008
    DC
    Club:
    Saint Louis Athletica
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    Unfortunately reading into it a little bit, I think.


    This just says that LAFC is more likely to enter on its own than enter with Barca; doesn't directly say anything of their likelihood of actually entering.
    "looks like" and "would" say to me that it's all still speculative
    This statement has maybe a little bit of juice, depending on if you see "potential candidates would be ready" as that there are current potential candidates saying 2020 sounds reasonable OR that the league views 2020 as far enough away from now to give any supposed interest time to get things together.
     
  9. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    I would still be somewhat shocked to see another expansion team (a real expansion team as opposed to a psuedo-expansion team like FCKC-URFC) actually happen before the league confirms its current state as a vassal of USSF for the long term, breaks away and becomes an independent league, or similarly breaks away and joins forces with another organization (like the USL).

    Two seasons without a commissioner and rumors of ownership division over the continuation of Federation payouts and Federation Player control likely need to come to a resolution before anyone else buys in.

    It wouldn't be shocking to see an existing franchise take on additional or new ownership (hopefully staying in their current market). I wouldn't rule out a relocation or FCKC->URFC type thing. Hopefully Boston was the last contraction.
     
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  10. toad455

    toad455 Member+

    Nov 28, 2005
    Right now I'd only pencil in LA & Cincinnati for 2020. Nothing else has anything concrete attached to it.
     
  11. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Neither do those, for that matter.
     
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  12. SiberianThunderT

    Sep 21, 2008
    DC
    Club:
    Saint Louis Athletica
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    To be fair, LAFC2020 has some legs to it, as EQZ reported LAFC2020 as what the plan seemed to be after LAFC and Barca split. It's not much to go on, but it's something, and it's more than FCC has - no date has ever been attached to FCC's NWSL plans yet.
     
  13. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Speaking of plans... Whither Boston? Wasn't there an owner lined up who "couldn't take over until 2019"?

    Well, if they could run the team in 2019 before, what would keep them from running a Boston team in 2019 now?

    To be honest, it always sounded a bit sketchy to begin with, but has there been anything from Boston since the Breakers folded? Did the league just walk away from the potential future owner?
     
  14. SiberianThunderT

    Sep 21, 2008
    DC
    Club:
    Saint Louis Athletica
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    IIRC, the owner that would've been ready by 2019 was part of the initial discussion, i.e. before the draft, when it looked like the current owners were still gonna try to tough 2018 out. That's why the "not until 2019" was mentioned. It certainly sounded iffy to me at the time, too. And that owner did eventually balk, but I forget it that happened before of after the current owners realized that 2018 wasn't going to happen. That's why there was a "save the Breakers" scramble, as fans and other interested parties tried to see who could fill the void. I'd have to do a good dive back through the EQZ reporting to see what the exact details were.
     
  15. SiberianThunderT

    Sep 21, 2008
    DC
    Club:
    Saint Louis Athletica
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    #1115 SiberianThunderT, Nov 1, 2018
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2018
    Speaking of plans... we missed this last week, but apparently Inter Miami FC has them:

    IDK what to make of this one. An optimist would read this Tweet as "it's when, not if, Inter Miami NWSL happens". But even that optimistic look would have to consider that Inter Miami's record of "getting things done in a timely manner" is spotty, to say the least. X-D
     
  16. luvdagame

    luvdagame Member+

    Jul 6, 2000
    is this, as the saying goes, a "next 60 to 90 days/months/years story?
     
  17. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Nobody trying to market a new organization is going to come out and say "no" to anything. Whether it's pro/rel or a women's team.

    When the StubHub Center (nee Home Depot Center) opened in 2003, one of the locker rooms had a sign that read "future women's team" or "future WUSA team" (I can't recall the exact wording 15 years later). That sign had nothing to do with the eventuality of the 2009 LA Sol. It was just leaving opportunities on the table.

    LAFC, Cincinnati and Miami being "interested" is just a place holder. I'd read it as them being "not uninterested".
     
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  18. toad455

    toad455 Member+

    Nov 28, 2005
    Miami needs to get it's own act together before thinking about a NWSL team.
     
  19. McSkillz

    McSkillz Member+

    ANGEL CITY FC, UCLA BRUINS
    United States
    Nov 22, 2014
    Los Angeles
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    LAFC better be getting a woman's team and not pretending they are. I don't care if it's from Barcelona, Kentucky, Antarctica or the Bermuda Triangle. If it's revealed they were just teasing, I'm going to withdrawal my support of their team and the MLS.
     
  20. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    I hope you're telling them, and not just us.
     
  21. holden

    holden Member+

    Dundee FC, Yeovil Town LFC, Girondins de Bordeaux
    Oct 20, 2009
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    Dundee FC
    I take it as a good sign for LAFC's interest in WoSo that the USWNT friendly in Los Angeles will be at Banc of California stadium, and not at StubHub Center like it has traditionally been. Not saying it means anything for their NWSL expansion. But they must've done something to incentivize US Soccer to hold it there rather than a larger stadium that is part of their national training center.
     
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  22. toad455

    toad455 Member+

    Nov 28, 2005
    Atlanta United just won the MLS Cup with a league record 73,000+ fans in attendance. If a NWSLteam can get just 10% of that it would be great for the league. Maybe Atlanta United will consider a NWSL team soon?
     
  23. SiberianThunderT

    Sep 21, 2008
    DC
    Club:
    Saint Louis Athletica
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    Unfortunately, I don't think there's any incentive for ATLUTD to try for NWSL at the moment. They already have two teams using their fancy new stadium, so they probably aren't hurting to fill dates, especially with the kind of attendance they're getting. Not to mention that the Benz would be awful for NWSL - it's just too freakin' big. Someone would have to convince them that they really could get Thorns-level attendance numbers because I don't think ATL's ownership group is interested in losing money on WoSo.
     
  24. toad455

    toad455 Member+

    Nov 28, 2005
    Is there a smaller stadium they could play in? KSU Stadium where they played during the WPS? The Atlanta Beat drew well during their days, so I have to imagine a NWSL team backed by their MLS counterpart would also draw well(or better).
     
  25. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Why would they take on the rent? They do have their training center in Marietta that ATL2 and the academy teams use, but they'd almost certainly have to build more structures to house a women's team out there, and that facility isn't really designed for 5k crowds on a regular basis. Additionally, the facility cuts all lights at 11pm due to local noise and light pollution ordinances. That was an issue at the MLS Homegrown game as weather threatened to delay the game past 11pm - which would've led to cancellation.

    There's no way they could afford to open MBS for NWSL games, and they'd have to pay someone else rent, and they'd have to build training facilities.

    I could see it eventually, but not in the near term.
     

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