Aztex Playoff Thread

The Aztex beat the Ocala Stampede 3-2 tonight in a great match that cemented a Southern Conference Final meeting with...Orlando City $occer Club U23's. I cannot wait for this match (KO Sunday at 4:00 CST), as it would be beautiful to blast the Lions. We then have a good chance of having the semi-final match for the full PDL tourney in ATX!!! Come down to Lion & Rose Sunday for the "watch" (aka Listening) event. I promise, you'll enjoy listening to our boys take it to the Lions, and at the same time, laughing you're butts off at the ESPN announcers and the Ocala PA guy (if they show up).

 

Reminds me of this selection from the renowned National Art Museum exhibit, "Immaturity, Grudges & Googly Eyes: A Retrospective".

 

A Painful way to end the season at the hands of the odious OC$C. But these last three months provided an opportunity for us to support a team again. One that is local and has the interest of the community and city as a core value. 9 months is a long time to wait until next year but for our team, Austin's team, It's worth the wait.

 

Yes agree disappointed to lose after beating the top dogs earlier. PD said we didn't play that well, and they deserved the win. Personally got over the Orlando thing, that's just the way things work financially here in the US sometimes. With the enthusiasm and support we have in Austin for soccer, I can see us getting back to USL level very soon.

 

As disappointed as I am in the loss, I'm consoling myself by remembering that OC$S U23s were the Central Florida Kraze, who have been around since 2005 and finished either first or second in their division most of the time. So, for a first-year team, we have acquitted ourselves quite well. While it seems like a long time to next season, we can follow our new boys as their college seasons start up in just a few weeks. But that's probably a reason for a new thread

 

Any idea what the chances are for a move to USL-Pro next season, or a timetable for announcements about next year? It was a really fun season, all too short!

 

I dont think a move up to USL for next season is feasible for many reasons, but in a couple of years quite possible. All depends on finances of course, we all know the fan support is there !

Any other opinions, rumors on this?

 

Almost 5 minutes after the PDL team was announced in 2011, the question of whether a Pro team would return soon. At this point, I've not heard anything beyond the point of, "Professional soccer is very likely to return to Austin". There have been so many reasons why this is a very common believe; the position of Austin in soccer TV ratings, the success of the Aztex both in the 1.0 and 2.0 versions, the proximity of the San Antonio Scorpions to ATX, etc. There continue to be challenges in my mind (and this is my opinion only):

1. Although it's quieted down, the long term sanctioning of US Division II and III soccer needs to be put to bed. NASL is doing a good job of putting product forward in Division II, the latest being the announcement of the NY Cosmos coming in 2013. However, I feel that USSF has to remove the year to year sanctioning, at least to the level that it becomes a rubber stamp. Once done, Austin can make a decision on the right league to go to.
2. We need an investor to come forward and be willing to invest multiples of millions of dollars over multiple years. And to lose some of that. To give you an idea, many soccer teams in this area at the professional level have lost 6-7 digit sums in a single year. Someone has to have the love but also the resources to handle that.
3. As much as House Park has served us well for this season and in the past, a stadium has to be found that will, in the longer term, fit the needs of a professional soccer team. Very likely, this is going to mean a SSS (yet multipurpose) facility sometime in the first 3 seasons. Where is difficult to say, but I believe that no one with the resources will be willing/able to put it in downtown.

If pressed, I would say that in the next 3 years we'll at the very least have an announcement on the arrival of professional soccer team. There are things that I see and have heard that address all of the above except #1, and I believe that has to be resolved for many reasons beyond Austin's pro future.
Are these the only updates and/or opinions? No, so I yield the floor to others to expand from their viewpoint...

 

Figured I'd address this one, since I spent way too much time paying attention to the whole D2/3 split when it went down, and am still paying attention, at least on the attendance side of things.

Here's what I understand as far as sanctioning goes: leagues are officially sanctioned every year. It's just that with some of them (MLS, for example) it's a formality.

As far as the NASL goes, I think that there's still plenty of questions about it. It's certainly moving in the right direction with every team being in decent to very good stadium situations, and most have improving attendance. The worry is that attendance isn't improving quickly enough.

Not that there aren't questions about the USLPRO. It's a have/have-nots league. The things that I could have mentioned about Edmonton (how much longer can they lose that much money?) can be said about LA, and, to a lesser extent, several other teams. But, just as with the NASL, there are a number of teams now with good to excellent stadium situations and solid attendances. The plus that the USLPRO has is that they don't have the requirements that the USSF has put on the NASL.

Now, all that aside, I don't think any of it matters to the theory of the Aztex going pro. The travel would be almost as bad for an Austin team no matter which league they were in. The only positive thing economically for USLPRO over the NASL is the shorter season... though I've seen some comments to the effect that a longer season is actually better -- more games = more revenue. And while I can see the sense of it if you're drawing 10k to a game, when you're only pulling in 2-3k, I don't see how that can justify playing for another month.

And league stability, while it's good, I don't think it's as critical at the lower division level in the US. We're not Rochester, who had dreams of MLS. We're Austin, a city with a spotty history of teams, and who got 1500 to show up for games against Laredo and El Paso and other more geographically nebulous opponents. I think #2 and 3 are the only things that really matter. If Austin gets a lower-division-level-deep-pocketed investor and can make things go long-term, then the league doesn't matter. Charleston, Richmond, and Rochester are the franchises that I think of when I think of this, teams that have been in multiple leagues over the years, and are still here, drawing well and doing their thing.

Now what we do know is that there's a new USLPRO team starting in Phoenix next year. And LA will supposedly be around. One more team might be enough of a base for Austin to be part of the west. The Annual Meeting is usually one side or the other of Thanksgiving. If we were to make a go of it for next season, things should have to be in place before then.

 

Orlando is closer to Austin than Los Angeles. Rochester is 100 miles further than San Francisco. And Seattle 50 miles less than Edmonton. Just for perspective. Austin could join an USL East or USL West.

I don't mind supporting a PDL team until if and when all things fall in place for a professional team.
What I don't want to see is a premature move a la the Cleveland Citystars from a few years ago.

I also think the the MLS Reserve league conundrum still needs to play out and will change the landscape of one or both lower division professional leagues.

 

Right there with you on the 'no CityStars experience, please'.

And you have a very good point regarding the MLS Reserve League. I would put that as #1 in place of Matt's 'D2/3 sanctioning stabilization' -- if it were actually going to happen. I have doubts about how serious MLS is about expanding their Reserve League season.

Combining with the NASL or USLPRO seems like a very natural thing, and an obvious outgrowth of the USSF Development League teams that nearly every MLS team has now.

I suppose you could meld this with the 'D2/3 sanctioning' as a 1 and 1a, because while they're not the same thing, each has a huge impact on the other. And maybe that's why MLS is holding its cards close on this one. Whichever way it goes, there's sure to be lots of negotiation. It's probably going to take a while.