No, she may be being smart. I dont think she thinks a team is currently viable and it doesn’t have much to do with the MLS team’s situation. She looked at four California teams that folded early because they couldn’t make a go of it. She doesn’t want to use her money to grow the league. She wants to wait until its a sure thing maybe by all the MLS affiliated teams succeeding economically. The only trouble with that is that sure things are more expensive to buy into. I just dont buy the script that Mia is following some sort of precedent that the other MLS teams did in deciding whether to add a women’s team. The Paulson situation is too big a counter to that argument. Going back to 2001 when the Timbers were a division 2 team under different owners doesn’t have anything to do with Paulson or the current organization any more than Say, the Sol has to do with Mia.
Louisville takes the lead in the backstretch: https://theathletic.com/1135701/2019/08/13/ (sub required) As the nine-team NWSL has pursued expansion, much focus has been paid to the possibility of MLS teams getting involved with women’s franchises of their own. As it turns out, the next NWSL team could have its ownership roots not in MLS, but in the USL. According to multiple sources within the USL and NWSL, Louisville is leading the list of 2020 expansion candidates for the women’s league. Louisville City FC’s ownership group has been in talks with NWSL leadership about expansion and is currently waiting on the league’s decision, per sources. If granted, the new Louisville NWSL team would be the only first-division professional team in the city. An NWSL spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A big part of Louisville City FC’s pitch involved the team’s soccer-specific stadium in the up-and-coming Butchertown neighborhood, located near downtown. The venue, recently dubbed Lynn Family Stadium, will have a capacity of 14,000...
The Louisville U women averaged 1121 fans per home game last year. That's not great, but it's not bad for Division I. If the new stadium is in center city as is said to be the case, and it is easily accessible from surrounding areas, then Louisville sounds like it might be a good location. It's not a tie to MLS that's critical. It's rather a tie to a team that already has the personnel infrastructure in place that matters since it can allow the team to run on on a much more efficient financial cost basis. I like what I'm reading on this.
Here is a video tour of the inside and outside of their new stadium under construction with plans to open in March 2020. It is the 2nd picture down that is the video. https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2019/03/video-details-new-louisville-city-fc-stadium-plans/
Yeah, I still want a Los Angeles team. Sorry. Too many east coast teams for some odd reason, nothing from the west coast.
Louisville east coast? Not quite. Growing up, I thought Pittsburgh was out west. But, it definitely is odd that California doesn't have at least one team. Apparently, so far no one who's credible wants to take on fielding a team there. What are the reasons?
East? Maybe. East coast? LOL Yeah that's a silly statement to make at all when talking about Louisville, or anything vaguely Midwest.
An ownership group has to step up in California. I'm sure the current owners will not turn away a solid group wanting to bring a team to California. Mia Hamm seems to be talking about bringing a team to LA but so far her and her husband have not put their money where their mouth is.
I think you're right. What I'm wondering is why a solid group has not stepped up. Are they thinking something about locating a team in California that is causing hesitation? Or does the League have someone they like that they've arelady lined up but who isn't ready to start yet?
I mean, NWSL and LAFC have been courting each other even since LAFC's ownership group has come into existence. I think if they wanted to pull the trigger, they'd be in - you certainly can't say they're not a solid group. And I bet that fairly public courting has put a damper on anyone else trying to wedge into the picture. I don't fully agree with LAFC's reason for waiting so long (I think the level of NWSL finances is on such a lower level than MLS3.0 finances that it shouldn't be taking this long) but it does make at least a little sense.
LAFC should really jump on getting a team soon. I understand wanting to wait, but 2021 should be their target. Build a team in time for 2023 when they'll get another WC boost.
Totally agree... If they want in, they should be playing before the next C'CAF Championship. Granted, even NWSL expansion so far (including the relocations) has been announced less than a year before the respective teams kick off, so LAFC can still get another full calendar year of MLS experience under their belt before announcing and still be in for 2021... But I'd prefer more lead-up time.
What "lead-up" time do NWSL teams really need? The Courage did fine on three months. I think the Royals had less.
The nice thing about being associated with an existing organization is that a lot of lead-up time isn't needed, sure. In both of those cases, though, the organization was inheriting an existing NWSL team. For a team getting built from scratch, I would think that people involved on the inside would like to have time finding a coach, preparing for the expansion draft, courting players beforehand, doing college scouting, doing international scouting, and really getting marketing efforts going.
An interesting point I read in a comment on AllForXI's expansion article that I wanted to share: I know that, in general, lower-division support doesn't map directly to pro support; we've seen it a lot in MLS expansion. At the same time, we here in NWSL-land have had the "NCAA attendance might actually be somewhat predictive" discussions, so might the same be said of UWS? Thoughts?
Very interesting question. As one who has thought NCAA attendance might be predictive, I can't think of a good reason why UWS attendance might not be predictive. I wonder if the dynamics are different than for men. Perhaps part of the question may be, "Where is there a significant demographic slice that values women's sports (or soccer, at least) as much as (or more than) men's sports (or soccer)?" Unusually high women's NCAA or UWS attendance might be indicative that that demographic slice is well represented in the area, suggesting it might be fertile territory for a NWSL team.
Curious how close Cincinnati is towards a team? There's a Twitter page updating on their "mission". Could Cincinnati be 2-3 years down the line?
Interesting... I assume you mean https://twitter.com/NWSL2Cincy ? To me, it doesn't look like they've mentioned anything directly about progress toward an NWSL franchise in a long time. That said, they did retweet one of Tannenwald's articles back in July, which I remember reading but didn't remember it saying anything about expansion, when it clearly does: Neither ATLUTD or FCCincy were mentioned in the more recent Equalizer article about expansion, so that (combined with the fact that the Cincy Twitter account hasn't mentioned anything substantive in a while) makes me think Cincy isn't particularly close to getting an NWSL franchise. But I could very well be misreading things.
Some news Wednesday morning from Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas via @lequipe. OL wants a U.S.-based franchise. And it's in "advanced" talks with two #USWNT players. "You have to accept that they're there only part of the time," he admits. https://t.co/G0SbO80AUq— Paul Kennedy (@pkedit) August 21, 2019
Merritt Paulson ***loves*** to leak news. During fan Q&A, he just said 3 teams coming to NWSL: 2 in 2020, 1 in 2021.https://t.co/gmOiqWrE1G https://t.co/gRc2cS60nn— Susie Rantz (@SusieRants) August 22, 2019
“I’ll give you a hint: we have a team in the Southeast and a team on the West Coast that have committed to next year.” #BAONPDX #NWSL— Luke Fritz (@LukeFritz64) August 22, 2019
2 for 2020 and 1 for 2021 seems a bit backwards in terms of scheduling, but hey I'm not gonna complain much if it happens. We know(ish) that Louisville is in for 2020; I'd guess that LAFC might be the 2021 team. That said, in the quoted thread, he says one of the 2020 teams will be out west, while the other two are both Southeast teams. So maybe LOU+LAFC for 2020 and ATLUTD for 2021? I don't know any other markets that have been discussed previously that would fit those descriptions. (Unless one of the other Cali teams is jumping ahead of LAFC)