More importantly, from that same link the sale of the Bills could top $1 billion. The Bills are estimated by Forbes.com to be worth $870 million. Wilson paid $25,000 to launch the Bills in 1960; he died in March at age 95. Talk about making a profit. On a serious note, if a team in Detroit doesn't involve the guys who run Detroit City FC it's not worth doing.
Get off of this claptrap. What is this "Detroit City FC or nothing" bit? Duggan knows what he's doing. And he have said in the past that he has kept DCFC updated on what is happening.
Agree ... let's wait 5, 10, 20 more years for the DCFC to get financing or a stadium, or some big investor because they're the only ones that know how to do it and if it's not grassroots with a couple of buddies who bought some kits and put on some locals it's not as good as if someone else does it! (sarcasm)
The same type of people who like a band until others discover it. The same type of people who not only have preferences, but who feel it's incredibly important that you know exactly what they are and why.
The real issue here is this extremely vocal minority is spreading the perception that there's no room for two teams. It's frustrating to be in market, hearing the ludicrous comments when honestly this city has both the population and soccer appetite to support at least a USL PRO team and an NPSL squad. If they would cooperate it would go a long way for the city's growth. I'm a big fan of DCFC and support them at least a few times a year because soccer is welcome in this city, and USL PRO isn't going to ruin or dissuade that.
Not a tangible update on the USL Pro expansion, but after seeing the release on the new Red Wings arena I'd love to see the Duggan group work with the city to get the rights either from Illitch or whomever to develop out the Brush Park district (either southeast or southwest sections, based on current house) on the other side of 75 to keep building out the city center. In addition, this stadium could be for both the potential USL Pro team as well as DCFC who says here (http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140718/SPORTS07/307180099) they're looking forward to seeing any updates from Duggan & co to expand their capacity (currently, for reference, in a HS football stadium the blue "Cass" area of the map). This would likely never happen but the Olympia family of parking garages and lots surrounding these could also be incredibly useful and be potentially positioned as an incremental revenue opp to Illitch... Here's the sketch from the District Detroit website http://www.districtdetroit.com/mediakit.html
I'd be extremely shocked to see a stadium in the Brush Park area. That's a very historical district where much of Detroit's wealthiest residents once lived. I believe there are plans to rebuild that area with the stately Victorian homes that once existed there (some remnants remain). I'd think the Cass Park area would be a more likely candidate for a small soccer stadium.
Every time I ask Dan Duggan about the pro team, he says "in progress." This week, he is knee-deep in hosting the PDL SF's and F coming this weekend. (I've been messaging with him tonight on putting together the webcast.)
So the ManU/Real Madrid game came and went without an announcement in regards to a USL team in Detroit as was previously hinted. I suppose Dan Duggan may have been a little busy with his Bucks winning the PDL Championship, but I was still a little disappointed. Odd quote at the end of an article about the Bucks' win: http://www.freep.com/article/20140803/SPORTS18/308030169/michigan-bucks ...so then what's the hold up?
So how long into 2014 can this go before they say it's not happening for 2015? I know the deadline in June was more of a soft deadline, but there has to be a point that they say there's not enough time to get it done. Hopefully there'll be more news shortly. (Yes, I'm new to soccer fandom.)
Considering teams spring up all the time (LA2 has the record, but they cheated a bit) yes its still possible. I am fairly certainly they have until early in 2015 to be "too late". But is it even possible to get a stadium built between now and April?
Bucks win PDL championship...and people think DCFC is the one who should get the pro team. Interesting.
USL meetings at MLS All-Star: http://www.uslsoccer.com/home/827539.html My quick guess is that they would play at Wayne State for one year, while the final stadium gets planned / built. WSU got 9,000 to watch a Detroit Lions practice, so they can handle the crowd. (I had wanted to attend to pick the brains of my WSU contacts, but had family commitments.) [Incidentally, the WSU stadium is designed to be expandable to a "horseshoe" with seating on three sides, if WSU had wanted to go to I-AA (or whatever they call that now) football.] I also wonder if the Bucks would build a stadium at 5K and have it expandable to 18K. Land usage is different if you ultimately want 18K.
Few things on this portion specifically - WSU originally had rejected this idea because they have turf and to have soccer lines would be a major challenge. The additional factor that can't be overlooked is if Duggan does get USL buy-in by end of August, they could likely fast-track something by using his brother's Mayoral status to get permits pushed through to build before winter arrives. Still holding out hope up here! Editing to add one more note... If the stadium doesn't get built, I can see them playing year 1 at Oakland University north of Detroit, but they'd have to have plans in place to eventually move it downtown to get the approvals. One other note, Duggan has repeatedly said if he doesn't have a final announcement to make, he won't make it. here's hoping we have an announcement in the next 30 days.
This article says there were 1,000 people at the game. Didn't see an attendance number on the pdl website - anyone know if this number correct?
http://www.buckssoccer.com/home/827520.html "After four minutes of added time, the Bucks held on and the celebration began in front of a huge crowd of over 1,200 loyal fans that have not only followed the team all season, but have waited to witness this title on home turf for nearly two decades."
I went to both the game in Ann Arbor and the two Bucks games (Friday and Sunday). The estimate of 1,200 for the final is probably tickets sold. The facility only holds about 2,000 maximum and wasn't nearly full. Somewhere around 1,000 would be a good estimate of people actually at the game. The Mayor of Detroit was among the attendees. There has been silence on all fronts regarding any professional team launching for the 2015 season.
Ok, so the current MI Bucks organization is already in place. But I think their model is a little different from say LA2 or any other MLS team adding a USL Pro team. They view it more as a purely development item or more of just a expense. But with the Bucks, they will be very much dependent on selling sponsorship and tickets. So I think they would need more lead time then a MLS team. But this is USL, so it's never really too late to get started. LOL
Any Team in Detroit faces huge challenges. The city is bankrupt so you will not get any help from the city or the county on a stadium as they have way more pressing issues to deal with such as trying to come up with payment plans to offer its water customers so they don't have to turn off the water. Any team has to more than likely do it in the suburbs and build from there if they expect to get any help. Detroit is the one major metro area and major city I can't see any kind of professional footy team coming to in the next 10-15 years, let alone being successful and profitable. I hope i'm wrong here but the situation is bleak within the city limits of Detroit, unless a team and investor comes along and says they wanna help Detroit get out of bankruptcy with the start of the new franchise, but who would wanna start off with that crutch?? It'd be nice for the people of Detroit to have professional footy as an option though
Honestly great to see this enthusiasm for Detroit, If any city in the US needs it, it's Detroit, but everything takes money. Realistically do you think you can get that big of crowds at a Div 2 college football stadium were alcohol is not allowed to be served in central Detroit with no attractions immediately around the stadium??? Being that the stadium is smaller for college football, that could be advantageous for setting it up on match days. Wayne State stadium isn't in downtown, you'd have to walk through midtown or Cass corridor but you could walk a couple of miles to Comerica park/fox theatre and that district to eat or have a drink afterwards, some possibilities are there. I believe serious footy fans will show up if they truly love that team, but to get the casual fans or try to get your club to grow, you've got to put a decent product on the pitch and offer some attractions to see as well so the fans enjoy coming back. Not sure fans will want to go to Wayne State to watch a match and spend time and money afterwards on a consistent basis, and the club doesn't wanna lose money. Those stadium plans would have to be a done deal and everything in place and as you stated, only play at wayne state for a year or less, any longer and I don't think it helps the club long term
Location is important, but I'm fairly certain other public facilities have approved alcohol sales for teams in the past. It's not impossible.