I do know a little more about the San Jose situation because I live here and attended some of the city council meetings. The 2008 Quakes were technically an expansion club as they had no prior players (well maybe one or two) or association to the AEG ownership group that moved the previous club to Houston. They had a somewhat connection to fans but they ended up playing in Santa Clara University's (10k seats) Buck Shaw as opposed to San Jose State's Spartan Stadium (30k) and they virtually started the club from scratch. There was a time, from 2005 after the club moved to Houston to at least the end of 2012 when no one even believed it would ever happen. Owner Lew Wolff kept promising to a point that he would build the stadium and when the initial renderings came out in September 2009, the excuse that was used for the delay of construction were permits , gripes from residents and getting a sponsorship deal on the stadium. They finally broke ground at the end of 2012 or rather 5 MLS seasons but it seemed to take forever.
Sounds like typical fan impatience. Buying land and building stadiums is a complicated process that rarely goes smoothly.
There's some space on the corner of Ezzard Charles and John St. I still think that if you could get around the city's stupid parking requirements, you could build a 18,000 seat stadium in the parking lot just north of the casino.
Their complaints were petty to say the least. One resident started a petition about how there would be too much fan noise etc. They complained on how their 7-10 year old kids would get cranky if they were not in bed during the summer months by 9PM. The main argument they used was because their condos are located right across from the Amtrak rail lines which is adjacent to the stadium. The thing is, you also had Santa Clara University and the Quakes other stadium Buck Shaw located around the block from them as well. Then you have a freeway on the other end and the San Jose Airport runway where planes are constantly landing and taking off. When they came up with their arguments in front of the city council, they all looked kind of stupid with their complaints and it was kind of funny in the end looking at their faces when the council voted 12-0 for the stadium. I mean we are talking about a total of maybe 15-25 events (with no concerts or fireworks show) in an entire year so their gripes were pretty ludicrous.
Either Cincy has been starving to watch soccer or someone somewhere is a marketing/ ticket selling genius. Either way, aside from Sacramento, I don't think I've ever seen these types of numbers for a non MLS team. Its great to see! Crowd count: FC Cincinnati breaks USL record, again
Major league ownership is a big part of it. It drew media coverage and public awareness. Cincinnati is lucky to have a ready-made stadium available that doesn't artificially limit capacity. Buzz got attendance, which generated buzz and more attendance creating a virtuous cycle. But its also a market ready to be exploited. There are a fairly large number of youth and adult teams in the area. Lots of former players. Lots of awareness of the game. The planets aligned. A choir of the heavenly host sang. Plenty of good clean living. Happy thoughts. There may be a drop off in attendance to Sacramento levels if hopes for MLS are dashed. On the other hand, if they get into MLS, they will probably fill Nippert. (Part of the reason I'm afraid of MLS requiring a SSS is that a new SSS will likely have a capacity ca. 25k, which is the current attendance. Nippert's current capacity is just over 40K, and will be expanded when UCincinnati joins the Big 12).
I think Sacramento could have continued their initial attendance numbers but then they moved to Bonney Field which has a capacity of only 11,442. If and when they get their own SSS, I'm sure we will see bigger numbers from them.
My point is that I would imagine a USL Cincinnati team and USL Sacramento team having similar attendance levels, if all things were equal. It would be surprising if either FC Cincinnati or Sacramento maintained attendance levels if MLS was not likely to happen.
Hey guys, I usually just quietly read and laugh but I feel obligated to jump in. Carl Lindner (owner) was the head of the board for the University of Cincinnati a month before announcing FC Cincy. Obviously he had to resign given they had worked out a stadium deal. From what the school has told its highest donors, Lindner and the school have an agreement if the MLS happens. Lindner pays for the first few rows to be removed and pays part of the cost to complete the upper bowl and he will essentially have free rein with the stadium. A you scratch my back we scratch your back deal. UC has aspirations to be in a power 5 league, the stadium seating capacity and lack of space for the stadium has been a sticking point for leagues. They did just do a 90 million dollar upgrade to the stadium but to complete the upper bowl would cost another 100 million. Given the school has spent around 2 billion over the last 16 years updating virtually every building on campus, they have welcomed this soccer team with open arms. At times it seems the school is helping run their marketing. It's outstanding team work that is rarely seen in the world today. That being said, mayor cranley has 100% backed the soccer team and the city has floated ideas for stadium locations IF nippert is a sticking point. It probably won't be paid for publicly but I would expect it to be paid for via the issuance of bonds and the city will probably given them heavy tax credits which is a back door way to help finance the stadium without having a Paul brown stadium funding fiasco. Long winded, I know. I'll return to my corner now lol
Sounds like a cool plan. Wishing them luck. Any plans for an academy coach? Maybe one of John Harkes former USMNT teammates?
It makes sense that the U of Cincinnati would do all it can to help if it increases the chances of Big 12 expansion. Of the prospective candidates they are definitely in the top two but nothing is a lock, not even expansion itself. Anything to improve the university's football stadium and broadcasting capability is especially relevant. This puts pressure on FC Cincinnati, though, to make something MLS-related happen sooner rather than later, while their interests are so well aligned.
The original time frame FCC gave UC was that they expected to make the jump or at least have a spot promised in 8 years. Obviously UC has their eyes on b12 expansion but the goal has always been to make damn sure everything is ready for 2025 when all the conference media deals expire and the musical chairs start again. No one anticipated the city going bonkers over this team so quickly. I'm not going to lie, MLS or not this is so much fun to be apart of the building of a new club. Like how many people in the world can say they were there in the stands when it all began with their respective clubs?
Just announced that FC Cincy will be playing an EPL team @ nippert stadium July 16th 2016. They will announce the team tomorrow on the evening news. I'm going to lose my shit if it's Liverpool
They have an open date that week. Liverpool is owned by the same people that own the Red Sox. Lindner family owned the Reds so they would have to know each other. It just makes sense. I can dream, right?
Cincy 1st team accepted into MLB, and probably last team to be accepted into MLS. With the enormous German cultural connection in the Cincy area, why did it take so long for soccer to explode in Cincy?
Old German population. And it was just waiting, bubbling under the surface. We have a humongous youth soccer population and have for a long time. The right ownership with the right location at the right time. That and we just can't bring ourselves to ever root for anything in Columbus. Ever.
MLS, Carl Lindner III give takes on FC Cincinnati's huge attendance numbers - Cincinnati Business Courier
It sure is considering the Crew usually always have a friendly/exhibition with a team from one of the bigger Europe leagues. In recent years weve had Stoke City, Crystal Palace, West Ham Utd, Wigan Athletic, and Valencia. This year all we got was Veracruz from LigaMX.