I realize that it could seem like this is a better thread for the MLS in section in general or something, but I am curious about Red Bulls fans in particular. If this thread has already happened, feel free to link me to that/delete this one. Articles like this are making it increasingly clear that NY2 might become a reality. The city is behind it, according to that article a majority of Queens residents are behind it (though some Queens residents and the USTA oppose it), and we know that Garber has long been behind it. So long as the financing works out, it seems like a strong possibility. Please don't let this thread devolve into a discussion of the Cosmos name/brand/franchise/philosophy (unless your answer to the question would turn on this). Nor do I want to discuss whether this is a good move strategically for the league, as opposed to some other city getting a team, since I'm pretty sure people are talking about that on BS already. I am more curious about how many NYRB fans would consider supporting NY2, whatever the team may be. I'll be frank: I am relatively young and only became a soccer fan a few years ago. Supporting the USMNT after the drama of World Cup 2010 was an easy decision. When I learned that my local team in MLS was named after an energy drink, I have to admit I had some reservations. Over time, I came to set that aside and love the team. The way Henry responded to the fans' initial skepticism by becoming one of the best players in the league was inspiring. At the same time, I grew up not too far from where they are considering building the NY2 stadium. I feel like something like this is long overdue for the community. If a truly "local" team came about, I would find it really difficult not to switch my support. I never attended an away match in DC. I haven't been an NYRB fan through many eras of coaches. I never had strong connections to New Jersey. So maybe that's why I am easily swayed. I am wavering between #1 and #3 in my poll, but if you pushed me, I would pick #1 (while always having a fond place in my heart for the team I first supported). What about you?
I'd stay with the Red Bulls for sure, but I would feel no malice towards NY2 besides of course the fact that they'd be an Eastern Conference team competing with the Red Bulls. If they managed to move farther in the playoffs than Red Bulls I'd probably root for em, I'm NY above all else.
Would you say the same about Rangers/Devils/Islanders, Mets/Yankees, Giants/Jets, and/or Knicks/Nets?
Jets are the only other team I follow passionately, and I cheer for the Giants any time they aren't playing the Jets. It'd be a bit different for NY2 though since they'd be in our division.
This is an interesting point, and one I hoped would come up. I could be misinterpreting you, but if I understand what you're saying, I would turn the question to you: don't you think context does matter? What I mean is, the Mets and Yankees have a longstanding historical rivalry. Whether you like one team or the other has come up in normal conversation with other New Yorkers for years. I remember Bleacher Report running one of their ridiculous articles -- why Liverpool fans should hate Man U or something like that. A bit silly, but it raises the idea: there are historical reasons and specific events that lead to rivalries happening. When I talk to people who know much more about American sports than I do, they seem to think for instance, to take from your examples, that supporting the Mets and Yankees is a lot less possible than supporting both the Giants and the Jets. I've gotten asked to choose between the former two much more often in life than the latter two. How the teams have done in the past and when they tend to play each other matters a lot. Now I'm not saying that proximity can't lead to a rivalry, since it almost inevitably does (especially since in this case, the teams would barely be over an hour and a half apart). But I'm saying that an instant rivalry [it's either this one or that one] wouldn't exist just by virtue of NY2 being there. I don't know, maybe it inevitably would. But I think you are underestimating countless factors other than proximity that go into making a rivalry.
Well I feel a New Yorker and particular Queens, where I have a option to live around Atlantic and Queens Blvd if I decide to back to the city, and Possible I will root for a local team if they start doing the right things....
I've invested too many years in this organization for me to quit---i refuse, and i must be there when they finally win SS, MLS Cup, or USOC and if they should ever win CCL i would go bananas. That having been said I would probably follow NY2 on tv. I don't hate them and i would be curious to see what another organization would be able to build in this area. Would i ever go to see them live? That would be much tougher for me considering the distance and my lack of a car. It would take something big for me to schlep my booty to queens. I live much closer to Red Bull.
No never. Im from Jersey. I don't like NY at all. If this team never started off as NY/NJ I would have never followed them. The fact they call themselves NY bothers me more then being Redbull.
I fallow all the teams, and I watch around 8 games and more a week, all they are on the air some how, so I watch them and like to have a little better know how of the team and the league in general.... I enjoyed the Metros one years before they first game and since them have been fallowing them game by game with out missing one alive, MLSLive or in the tube, but if they found a team on any of the borough of NYC and special on Queens I will be there, because I will be living like 15 blocks away and walking I will make it in lest than 1/2 an hour, that don't mean that I will forget my Red Bulls, hell no, but I will fallow thee NYC one.....
RBNY/Metrostars for life. I can't see myself changing being a jersey boy and following the team for a decade. I've invest too much time, money and (most of all) emotional distress to quit now. I wouldnt be against NY2 until it came to the point where lines are drawn due to many battles between the teams, then RBNY would have my full support. For newer fans I couldn't blame them for thinking about switching if they are ran better and are closer to where you live. However I will always be in this relationship no matter how abusive it is
Ah, the season's over. This thread idea (not always with a poll) seems to come round every year. Pretty much anyone who's still around and bothers to post will stick with the team they've been with, otherwise most have been driven away or are posting in the Cosmos forum already.
This I agree 100% --the silly season is now upon us. I now get the sudden urge to post this 80's classic given a modern twist. The words of the song strangely fit this debate......
Sorry, didn't know. I thought it'd be appropriate now that there are more concrete plans for a stadium. I am still an NYRB fan and didn't post it because I'm fed up with NYRB or something. I posted it because we now know the location for sure and I was wondering if there were others who would feel a more personal connection to NY2 based on that. I also don't know if it's been officially settled that it's the Cosmos.
Oh, it is more appropriate this year than most and it has NOT been established that MLSNY2 is the Cosmos. Since '93, New Yorkers have been promised a second team. Every year, after MetroBull disappoints, people start dreaming about a shinier, better named, better managed team, that feels 'proper' or 'connects with the community' or does better (some/any) advertising. It was worse when Red Bull bought the team, bad when FCNY was starting, and bad whenever a Cosmos rumor floated. Now that the Cosmos actually have some fact (playing at Hofstra with our ex-COO), the dreamers have to start dealing with reality rather than how they think a 'club' should be. Mostly as I said before - pretty much everyone already posts where they'll support. It's Thanksgiving week. Enjoy the turkey.
your avatar is funny--of course the turkey is for thanksgiving--but it could also be interpreted as saying (rightly) that the team has been a turkey this year.....
Lets see continue supporting a team that is an insult to soccer fans and a team who's shirt i can't even wear because it disgusts me and who murdered my favorite team (Metro)...or support a new team that respects local soccer fans and gives them something unifying to rally behind and timeless that i can be proud of? What a difficult choice.
Lets be honest here. That new brand has revamped " metro" and has injected serious money into the organization. Although the results haven't been showing eventually it will catch up.. Would we be any different than New England or Chicago if we remained "Metro"?
I would be happy for a second NY team in terms of perhaps a rivalry developing but no, I would not supporting NYRB/MetroStars. That is, however, without considering whether the idea of adding a second NY team is good/bad, which is a totally different discussion altogether.
You see, given your geographical location, I think that is a great. Red Bulls are NJ team, not a New York team. I say, give NYC the team that it deserves; rebrand RBNY as a true New Jersey team. A team in NYC, a team in NJ - that would be ideal IMHO. I would even travel to Harrison to watch the NY2 (or NY1 really) team win, lose or draw against RBNY.