http://cityislanders.com/club-news/city-islanders-announce-august-28-friendly-vs-philadelphia-union/ HARRISBURG, PA- On Thursday, August 28th the Harrisburg City Islanders (9-9-7) will welcome their MLS affiliate Philadelphia Union (7-7-9) to Skyline Sports Complex.
http://uslpro.uslsoccer.com/home/829167.html Player of the week. Corban Bone was traded to the Hammerheads and what was the big change that is resulting in an almost 25% increase in attendance?
Wasn't Bone on loan from Philly? Oh yes http://uslpro.uslsoccer.com/common/mobile/mobile.html?jobid=72013&nogames=Y#a829480
Question from Philadelphia Union Training Facilities Thread. Who are the owners of HCI? Does the Union own part of HCI and if so what %?
I think its more like the HCI owners use the Union as consultants and partners but I do not believe Keystone (Union owners) own any of HCI.
Thanks for a great season. Hope they figure out the stadium funding so that this franchise has a better place to play.
Is Eric Pettis the sole owner of the team now? I thought previously there was a small group of owners. Maybe he's the lead of the group. I don't live in the area , so looking from a distance.
I wonder what this means: Another thing I'm hearing is that Philly likes the idea of having its own USL Pro team. Some executives want to cut ties with Harrisburg— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) November 4, 2014 I don't know if the Union has the financial resources to start it sown USL Pro team though, would be a Richie Graham project I think— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) November 4, 2014
For those who didn't see this article on the Union/HCI catch all thread. http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/20...-relationship-with-harrisburg-city-islanders/
Thanks for adding this here. I don't usually go to the Union area, so hadn't seen this. This brings up a lot of interesting questions. I hope the team doesn't get bought and moved to the Philly area. To me that would be the worst cast scenario.
Pros and Cons: If the relationship between City Islanders and Union changes http://www.recklesschallenge.net/pr...hip-between-city-islanders-and-union-changes/
This certainly suggests that the City Islanders plan to carry for the coming '15 season. A few posts up, @Lancaster FC linked to an article with the owner talking about expanding the stadium on City Island and investing more money in the team in order to get better results. Sounds good to me. If the Union were to start their own USLPro side (Union2), I wonder how much that would hurt City Islanders, or if some other MLS club would decide to partner with Harrisburg?
Harrisburg, PA, January 22, 2014 – The Harrisburg City Islanders are pleased to announce their final professional team tryout scheduled for February 18 and 19. http://cityislanders.com/club-news/islanders-announce-final-pro-team-tryout-february-18-19/
Relocation news????? http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2015/02/11/greer-stadium-potential-uses/23261311/ "Eric Pettis, majority owner of the Harrisburg City Islanders, a club in the United Soccer Leagues, met with Nashville officials in the fall about the possibility of moving his team to Nashville, perhaps to Greer. His goal is to stay in Harrisburg, but the club's ownership team has been unable to move forward on getting a new stadium there."
The "fan-owned" legions of Nashville FC (NPSL) won't like that. But if I was the owner of the City Islanders and I was looking for a market, Nashville certainly has to be one of the most attractive. Still pretty risky. I don't think any of the h-burg ownership has ties to there.
How do you see the state of things with the Harrisburg City Islanders right now? There has been a lot of conversation in Philadelphia about Harrisburg's lack of a stadium that matches other USL facilities. There have also been rumors of the team possibly practicing in the Philadelphia area during the week to strengthen the ties between the Union and City Islanders. Well first, let's understand that their affiliation partnership with the Union - driven by Nick [Sakiewicz] and Eric Pettis - has been the model that pretty much everyone has followed, and it has evolved into where we are right now in terms of the partnership between the two leagues. Both of those guys and those two clubs deserve a great deal of credit. Their affiliation relationship has evolved over time. It's no secret that the Harrisburg City Islanders need a different and better venue to play in if a USL club is going to be sustainable in Harrisburg. The stadium on City Island maybe 10 years ago was adequate. It will be inadequate going forward if the City Islanders are going to be able to keep pace with where the direction of the league is going. I'm not speaking out of school. Eric knows that. They've produced stadium plans. Their ability to get that done will go a long way toward what [happens] going forward. In terms of the relationship we speak regularly with both the Union and the City Islanders. It continues to be mutually beneficial for both. You look at last year, when the City Islanders got to the [USL PRO] final. Guys like [Pedro] Ribeiro, [Jimmy] McLaughlin and even [Antoine] Hoppenot, in the championship run, played significant roles in that. They made the players around them better, and at the same time it gave them meaningful game minutes in big-time games in great environments. And with the investment that the Union have in player development, which is almost unmatched - it's at least as good as anybody's in MLS - that part of things makes a lot of sense. I'm sure they can speak more to the specifics. They're considering all kinds of scenarios going forward that will allow them to continue a relationship which has been really good and a model for the league. We're working really hard to try to make sure that the City Islanders can stay in Harrisburg and be playing in the type of venue that will alow them to make things work, and that would benefit the Union. Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/...vision-2-sanctioning.html#tpxufUP1zKErYZ0s.99
Per MLSsoccer.com http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2015/02/11/greer-stadium-potential-uses/23261311/ "An owner of a professional soccer team from Harrisburg, Pa., has met with Metro officials to pitch relocating to Nashville and making old Greer Stadium its new home." If you read the whole article, it doesn't look like Harrisburg relocating is the best shot, and this does seem like it could be a ploy to get Harrisburg to pony up for the renovations at Skyline. http://www.pennlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/02/if_the_harrisburg_city_islande.html This could get really interesting really quick, especially if he were to link up with owners at Nashville FC. That would get the ownership group more capital, a semi established brand and fan base. If I remember, Nashville averaged over a thousand fans a game, but I'm having trouble verifying those stats since Kenn redid his blog
The problem with linking up with Nashville FC is that the leader of that club has stated that he has no interest in any situation that isn't completely supporter owned, which will be a problem when it comes to that club going pro. As USSF professional league rules sit now, I don't think there is a possibility that a 100% supporter owned team can exist. So if you want professional soccer in Nashville, Nashville FC wouldn't be the team to hang your hat on.
Also i hope they get a better name than Nashville FC. Kind of boring and generic. Whatever happened to the Nashville Metros