Just saw this today: Edmond, OK, to get a pro soccer team? Basically, the USL is courting Edmond, Oklahoma (north of Oklahoma City) as a potential home to a team, to start in 2009. Guess that would be our derby, eh? Now all they need is a millionaire or two!
I find far more interesting the comments toward the end of the linked article: Now San Antonio is a derby I can get behind. I keep hearing rumors about a San Antonio team here and there, though my one contact down there (who seems like he ought to have heard something) hasn't heard anything. He was of the opinion that it's more likely that El Paso would move back up. Those that have followed the USL for a while may remember that El Paso was USL-1 at one point. Man, a San Antonio - Austin derby would rival Seattle - Portland, IMHO. Plus, we're closer together. I have 'fond' memories of the Lone Stars - Pumas games. I hated those bastards. BTW, SA gets a team, and chapulin will probably become the enemy Back to the point of Edmonds, though. Seems like a good idea, but the whole sense I got was that the USL is fishing and hoping for something. Right now, Edmonds getting a team is as likely as Atlanta getting an MLS team. It's a nice idea, and one part of the equation is in place (for Edmonds, it's a good stadium), but there are several other variables that are unknown.
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According to adoptedsooner, who wrote the original article that started this thread, While El Paso's a pretty far piece away, an in-state rival would be quite nice.
Hey I have more info on possible teams in SA and Phoenix. Will be posting it on my blog here and at www.myspace.com/oksoccersource.
The last post should have looked like this, but I messed it up: Hey I have more info on possible teams in SA and Phoenix. Will be posting it on my blog here and at www.myspace.com/oksoccersource tomorrow or Friday.
Yeah I know. Sorry about that. I'm just trying to double check the facts and everything. Plus some of the sources have been hard to track down. The blog is new so I'm still getting the word, but I'd love to see any of you newly minted Aztex fans to join up. By the way, has anyone started an Aztex myspace page yet?
I do have a newly minted Aztex blog: http://aztexan.net (not aztexan.com, that's a hot sauce company )
adoptedsooner has updated his blog, and things remain vague in San Antonio. As to the Boston group interested in buying a team -- my suggestion would be Providence/Fall River. Fall River is one of the most storied names in the early early days of US soccer. Montreal would also love to have a team a little closer to them... and at the rate things are going, we're going to need a Rochester replacement. Checking out the Phoenix MLS expansion board, there was a link to some news in November about the group that adoptedsooner cites, and they appear to possibly looking at Tucson for their USL-1 team. I would think that El Paso would like that.
Yeah sorry if some of it seemed vague. I didn't get to put everything into that blog. I did talk to the Phoenix people and will try to have an interview or something up soon. Both they and the El Paso folks are pretty forthcoming. However, the Boston group seems to be just as likely to get a team but can't/won't talk yet. Lastly, the Edmond prospects are looking alright, but the process may be slow for a couple of months. It's one of those things where I know names and what not, but don't want to either scare anyone off or provide something that's not in stone yet. Thanks for reading the blog though.
According to sources, they want to have 16 teams by at least 2010. For a few reasons I think this means they are aiming for something more like 20 and possibly 24 teams over the next few years. Based on what I have pieced together from a variety of sources, this is how I think it will shake out. Cities likely to join as 13th, 14th and 15th franchises: -Phoenix (ownership has said as much, working on a story with them) -San Antonio (ownership issue is cloudy, but signs point to Citrus Capital who is based out of Boston, but has ties to Houston) -Omaha (behind the scenes ownership, but sources say the bid revolves around Morrison Stadium at Creighton Universtity.) Then, they'd have to pick from a long list of cities for the 16th team: (in no particular order) Tampa Bay Boise Birmingham Tulsa Oklahoma City Albuquerque Memphis Sacramento St. Louis These have all been mentioned at some point and various sources have said the league has a master expansion list. The list is mentioned here: http://newsok.com/article/keyword/3185131/ Hope that wasn't too windy for y'all.
I'd vote for San Antonio, OK City, Tulsa and Albuquerque. That'd really boost the area in and around Texas.
I probably should have mentioned El Paso too. They are talking about going back up to USL1 in 2009 or 2010. Having teams in Austin, Phoenix, San Antonio and Albuquerque would help.