Ah. Well hopefully they clean it up. I just don't see "former toxic wast dump" it is a good thing it is being cleaned up and reused.
Soaree, just because I know how to correctly interpret the phrase "Holy Smoke! Pass me a serviette, I spilled some poutine on the chesterfield!" doesn't make me an arrogant or ig-nint american. I actually love Canada to the point that I almost got deported several years ago for rooting for the Otta-wah Senators in the Stanley Cup Final vs. Tampa Bay, a place whose only relationship with ice is that they put it in a drink. And I do indeed know the difference between the Roughriders and the Roughriders, oh wait, aren't they the RedBlacks now, or is that DC United, even though they have hardly any red in their kit. And don't get me started on the "Five Stripes," who will have to change their name when Adidas gives them a new kit design with thinner/thicker stripes. Actually, I've been to Canada many times and I almost moved there, but the company I would have worked for had a hard time justifying a visa for a guy from a shithole country like the Yew-Ess-Ay. My daughter was 3 and would have had to go to French schools, which would have been OK with me, but my Anglophone wife might have struggled in Mun-tree-ahl. But at least I know how to spell your country: C-eh, N-eh, D-eh.
If one goes by CSA (or MSA if there is no CSA), then. MLS now has teams in 25 of the top 40. With 40 also being the number of CSA's over 2 million pop. A. Tier 1: 6 milish or more: 12/12 (14 teams). NY (2 teams, 23.0 mil); LA (2 teams, 18.8 mil), Chicago (9.9 mil); DC/Bal (9.8 mil); SJ/SF/Oak (9.7 mil); Boston (8.2 mil); Dallas (7.8 mil); Philly (7.2 mil), Houston (7.1 mil), Miami (6.9 mil), Atlanta (6.7 mil), Toronto (CMA, 5.9 mil). ---------------------- B. Tier 2: 4 to 6 mil: 4/6. 2 bids. Bids = 2. Detroit (5.3 mil, not including Windsor, NPSL Founders), Phoenix (4.8 mil, USL). Teams = 4. Seattle (4.8 mil), Montreal (4.1 mil, CMA), Orlando (4.0 mil), Minny/St. Paul (4.0 mil). I am sure DET/PHX are at the top of MLS' wish list. If both get in, MLS will have a team in each of the top 18 CSA/CMA's, which is every CSA at 4 million or more, 20 teams total in those CSAs. FWIW, there are 14 CSAs that have at least 1 team in each of the other big 4 leagues (counting CFL), MLS has teams in 12 (NY, LA, Chi, DC, SJ/SF/Oak, Bos, Dal, Phi, Mia, Tor, Minny, Denver). The two missing? Det & Phx. --------------------- C. Tier 3: 3 to 4 million: 2/6. 3 bids. Cleveland (3.6 mil, no bid, negative growth rate); Denver (3.5 mil); SD (3.3 mil n/i TJ at 1.8 mil, bid, NPSL Founders/NISA?); Portland (3.2 mil), Tampa (3.1 mil, bid, USL), STL (2.9 mil, bid, USL). ---------------- D. Tier 4: 2 to 3 mil. 7/16 teams. 5 bids. Charlotte (2.7 mil, bid, USL), Pittsburgh (2.6 mil, no bid, USL, neg growth), Sacramento (2.6 mil, bid, USL), Salt Lake (2.6 mil), San Antonio (2.5, bid, USL), Columbus (2.5 mil), Kansas City (2.5 mil), Vancouver (2.5 mil), Indianapolis (2.4 mil, bid, USL), San Juan (2.4 mil, neg growth), Cincy (2.3 mil), Las Vegas (2.2 mil, no formal bid, USL), Austin (2.1 mil), Milwaukee (2.0 mil, no bid, NPSL Founders), Raleigh (2.0 mil, bid, USL), Nashville (2.0 mil).
So what does all that stat/CSA market size stuff mean for the future? I do not think size (city, MSA, CSA, TV market) is going to be the huge driver of who gets teams going forward. Why? Because MLS has all the big bases covered already. Like the NFL/CFL, MLB, and NBA, MLS is 12/12 in Tier 1 markets (NHL absent in HOU & ATL). Further, all the other Big 4 sports are missing at least one Tier 2 market: NFL/CFL & NHL both absent from ORL, MLB from Orl & Montreal, NBA from Sea & Mon. Ditto for Tier 3 markets. The other point against size driving decisions is that once you take DET/PHX off the board, there really is not that much size difference amongst the remainig cities without an MLS team. Cle at 3.6 million & SD at 3.3 (5.1 mil with TJ) are the exceptions. But have issues. SD is not a great sports town and though Cleveland is, it is football dominant, has negative pop growth, and no bid or USL team. After those two, Tampa & STL are right at 3 mil & the Tier 4 contenders in the mid 2 mils. Point is, size diffetence just is not there. Othrr factors such as ownership commitment, stadium plan, strength of sports/soccer support in the community, amount of (or lack of) competition from other pro spirts teams, and other factors are going to be determinative from here. Look at the last 4 picks. Miami (10th) is the last sexy/big market and that choice was made 5 years ago. But Cincy is 35th, Austin 37th, and Nashville 40th (by CSA/MSA).
I would say "El Tree" is okay since it is a fan selected name similar to 5-stripes for Atlanta. However, referring to the team as "El Broccoli", "Broccoli", various negative wordings for Austin, and the various negative wording for Precourt's name is not okay.
Food for thought (literally)... If you moved Austin FC to Austin... ...Minnesota... Then would they be Broccoli and Spam FC?
Now hold on. It's a long time rule that you can't call the elder LA team "The Gals" for example, although that always seemed pretty harmless to me but if you want to run the place like an old maid librarian or an elderly nun, your deal. But since when is an owners name off limits? "Thous shalt not say anything remotely amusing on my board" is one of the biggest traffic killers imaginable. You'd burn down the forum if you could be named King of the Ashes. It's not trolling to mock an owner, unless the reader is romantically involved with him or something. If I call the Sounders owner "Joe Goth" will Seattle fans get a case of the panty twists? Shit no, they'll just think it's stupid. But according to YOU, that would not be permitted. And if a fan of a team - or in the case of Austin, a fan of a non-existent team - finds "Fratboy McDaddysmoney" or "Tony Two Chins" or "Queso Boy" to be wildly offensive then there's something very wrong with him.
http://www.espn.com/soccer/major-le...o-build-a-team-stadium-and-fanbase-begins-now From the ESPN article: "I know that there are ongoing discussions with Hispanic/Mexican leaders in town, like the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the people associated with the local Mexican leagues in town," said Tristan. "I think the newness will draw people in, but it's up to Austin FC to make sure they come back. I know I'll do everything in my power so that kids from East Austin, Manor and other Hispanic areas have the chance to go to games. That's my goal." Others like Jorge Iturralde, the former sports anchor at Telemundo Austin and former host of the popular local radio program Club Deportes, agrees that marketing is key but that much of Austin's FC success with the Hispanic community will depend on whether the team can lure a big Mexican national team name to town. "I think it comes down to the first squad that is presented and the marketing efforts of the club," said Iturralde. "The squad has to be attractive for the Mexican fan. If not, the only time you'll see the Mexican fan at a game is when Carlos Vela and LAFC are in town or Gio [Dos Santos] and the LA Galaxy. They're not going to spend $200 to bring their families to watch Austin play Real Salt Lake or somebody like that." This is outstanding! This is how to hit the ground running by the local die hards in Austin. And direct from the former sports anchor at Austin's Telemundo station no less. Basically, the line of thinking from him as some futbol die hard and follower of the beautiful game for his entire life, a guy like Iturralde demands Precourt and his FO better deliver specific players from specific nations because other than that, why would anyone bother to go watch Austin FC play league matches on a nice Saturday night out on town. I don't know flaco, perhaps the very fact that the jersey sez Austin on it smart guy. Or that in a few years there will be Austin area youth products, Latino barrio boys from the East End looking to get paid to play and make a name for their home town team. To springboard their career to Europe. All of this flies over the head of some of these media types that say they love the sport but really are in it for their own agendas. Osea, his thinking goes, I must have my football MY WAY or I won't go support my own local team. I think most of us get it, if your FO does not scout well and certainly does not find ways to groom local youth talent for first team action than as the years go by, yes, a fan base can be seen to not go all in for season tickets and merchandise like they once did. But to have right off the bat, this blatant sentiment from a leader of a huge market to be tapped is already on record as saying there are criteria and stipulations for their die hard following to be counted, man o man, have fun satisfying that type of "die hard" soccer fan. Just let them show up and get their money on LAFC Night with Vela in house. When my buddies and I started up the hinchada in Houston that very first season, we began with tailgating and cold beers and handshakes to any and all that turned up to the game. It worked. My suggestion to Austin and their folks, go long on being Austin, all weird and shit. Never mind the gimmicks and area sports anchors demanding named players "or else."
How 1.0 of them. Also, on the second reading, rather arrogant on the part of Mr. Iturralde to assume the Mexican community = the Hispanic community. If he's assuming that Minnesota United is just going to have a bunch of Scandinavian lads on it, he'll miss out on Darwin Quintero. (Now, two years ago, he might of been right, but I digress...)
In terms of market size on the othet end of the spectrum, MLS & MLB are the only leagues that do not have a team in a market BELOW 40th/2 million. The NFL has the Packers, Bills, Saints, and Jaguars. NBA has Memphis, OKC, and New Orleans. NHL has Buffalo + a lot of the Canadian teams (Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, etc) as does the CFL.
. . . when it comes to Super Bowl LII viewership, the city of Buffalo is ranked No. 1 in total viewership according to NBC Sports, which released the top metered markets for the Super Bowl. Buffalo came in at No. 1 with a total of 56.4 percent of households with a television tuning into the game, edging out the markets of the two teams vying for the Super Bowl: Philadelphia (56.2) and Boston (55.9). . . . https://www.buffalorumblings.com/20...f-buffalo-no-1-for-super-bowl-viewership-2018
Fun Fact(s): While Jacksonville may be the largest city by land area in the contiguous United States (no really, look it up), it's dwarfed by FOUR Alaskan city-boroughs (S to L): Anchorage, Wrangell, Juneau, and Sitka. Juneau itself is the largest state capital by area, the only state capital to directly border another country, and one of two (with Honolulu) to not be connected by road to the rest of North America. TMYK
CSA population, yes. MSA is about half that size. SLC is something of an oddity, in that the CSA population is so dramatically larger than the core metro (most often associated with MSA stats). Of course, that region is also growing really, really fast, so it has that going for it, as well.
The SLC CSA pulls in the Ogden area to the north and the Provo area to the south, which pretty much doubles the core SLC MSA population. Pulling in the Provo area population, at least, is quite relevant to RSL, as the stadium is at the south end of Salt Lake County, which forms the MSA boundary. It's about a 30-minute drive from downtown Provo; Orem is closer, and there is a string of suburbs along I-15 almost the whole way in between. And I think they're all considered the same market for TV purposes.
Plus, if memory serves, you can take a combination of commuter / light rail from Ogden, Provo, and points in between and end up a couple of blocks from Rio Tinto Stadium.