Is Detroit about to get a USL Pro team?

Looks like Detroit is ready to make a move to either the USL or NASL. Which league depends on how much money they can get.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/articl...ootball-club-looks-to-kick-it-up-to-pro-level

 

Hipsters are the perfect people to continue cultural appropriation, but they don't have the stomach to see it through

 

well I guess we're in for another battle like that here in OKC

 

With one side having what will be a two-year head start.

 

Are we confident that Duggan's group isn't one of the potential financial backers ... and the downtown SSS stadium isn't associated with his involvement? If I were USL, I'd be pushing Duggan to see if there is any sort of common ground on a joint effort ... seems like the way to keep the NASL out of that market.

If I'm the NASL market, I'd go for the DCFC group pretty hard and help them in any way to get financial backing.

 

That's a pretty good article about DCFC. I thought the author was unbiased and just reported what the options the club has for moving to a professional side. I wish them luck in Detroit whatever route they choose!

 

That article from Crains really is top notch writing. You know, a year ago I would have loved to see DCFC in the NASL. But not now. Looking at it as if I were an investor, USL is a smarter option not just because it's cheaper in terms of entry fee, operating cost and player salary, but the travel cost side of the operating costs would be reduced due to the conference play of the USL and the fact that there are already some teams fairly close to Detroit, like Pittsburgh, Louisville and St Louis, compared to Indianapolis and Ottawa in the NASL. Add in the rumors about a team in Cincinnati, the hype coming from that team in Milwaukee, (lots of hot air, admittedly) and Des Moines saying they're looking into moving up in 2017 or 18, and the USL makes far more sense

 

Where did they say this?

The last conversation I had with them was that moving up was unlikely.

 

I've got the article linked on here somewhere, but that's on the old USL Expansion thread. I do remember it does say a move up is not guaranteed, but they are considering it for 2017 or 2018. Probably waiting to see how all the USL expansion shakes out in the Midwest before really diving in. If you dig around in the old USL thread you should be able to find the link. It's from over the winter

 

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/articl...looks-to-launch-expansion-pro-team-in-detroit

Duggan still trying to get usl team off the ground

 

If Duggan really is pushing for a team, this is going to be interesting to watch. Could turn into another Tulsa, but with a different outcome. It gives the USL quite a bit to think about.

Going with Duggan gives you some unique pros and cons. He is the owner of one of the oldest and most successful teams in the PDL, a consistent winner, and his brother is the mayor, giving him a supposed leg up on a stadium. But the team has always played in Pontiac, and hasn't drawn anything near the type of crowds USL would want, and the brand wouldn't seem strong enough to gain traction in a market that already appears to be pretty firmly behind DCFC, both in the community and the media.

Going with City gives you a built-in fan base, locally and nationally, and a solid, pre existing media presence. However, if you go with them, it's going to be a brand new ownership group that may or may not have experience running a team of any kind.

Giving it to Duggan is also a nice reward for a long standing PDL franchise, while taking City from the NPSL, the un-official 'little brother' of the NASL would be a nice shot across the bow from the USL to the NASL.

Either way, each group has advantages and disadvantages. One is starting from scratch with brand presence, the other is starting from the ground up with a deeper pocketed ownership group.

 

Agree with all of this ... it seems like each has what the other needs to fill out a complete "profile" for coming into a league. Will be a shame if they can't work together in some way. But like we've seen in other communities ... that doesn't always (ever?) happen.

 

Like how the Athletics had a stadium configured for soccer, and the Roughnecks had the owners? Yeah, if they had come together, they could have played in nice, sold out stadium for a couple of years while working on a Downtown SSS, rather then a baseball field. Oh well.

And for all we know, DCFC ownership could be talking to Duggan about moving up. I doubt they have the same qualms about working with Duggan as some of the fans do. It's not like fans will walk away from DCFC if that happens, and if they do, they aren't the kind of fans any team would want

 

actually both the Athletics and Roughnecks play in a baseball stadium the Athletics play in The Tulsa Drillers old stadium and the Roughnecks play in the Drillers new stadium. Both were configured for baseball

 

My last conversation with them was over the winter. At which point it made little sense for them. The presence of other clubs and "how all the USL expansion shakes out in the Midwest" isn't going to sufficiently change their revenue expectations, which is what would have to change given the radical difference between not paying players and, you know, paying players.

I remain skeptical, given their circumstances could not have changed that dramatically.

What I find in the old USL Expansion thread is you acting as if Des Moines moving up was a fait accompli and someone who actually lives in Des Moines asking you if you had a link.

Then, this past winter, there's you thinking they could do it and you speculating that they could do it with Chicago's help. (Which Andy rightly called you on.)

If you've got it linked somewhere I can't find, I'd like to see it.

But the bottom line is this: Des Moines has <600,000 people in its metro and a AAA team and an NBDL team and an indoor football team and an AHL team. If you've got them actually, on the record "considering it for 2017 or 2018," I'm happy to read it. But I'm not finding it.

The team has actually not always played in Pontiac.

From 1997 to 2001, they played in Saginaw.
In 2002, they played in Plymouth, Birmingham and Saginaw.
In 2003, they played in Plymouth, Berkeley and Saginaw.
In 2004, they played in Saginaw.
In 2005, they played in Berkeley.
In 2006 and 2007, they played in Rochester Hills.
They moved to Pontiac in 2008.

 

But you know the Bucks history goes further than that. I hope they call the new USL
team Detroit Motors FC

 

You guys might want to check out this article http://m.detroit.curbed.com/archive...on-the-riverfront-city-hints-its-possible.php. And this one. http://m.detroit.curbed.com/archive...-games-to-a-historic-stadium-in-hamtramck.php

 

I still think Duggan and the DCFC group are working together behind closed doors. Duggan isn't an idiot. The best supporters in Detroit for City, and if he starts his own new team, he's not going to peel them away. Rather then taking advantage of an existing situation, he'd be battling for market share

 

That would be nice ... I'm just not sure the DCFC fans are in on it ... they claim they won't support anything Duggan does ... well, will they stop being DCFC if he becomes part of that ownership group?

 

As long as the current owners and Duggan work out a good deal, like keeping the DCFC guys on as board members, that should help smooth things over with the fans, who I'm pretty sure are full of hot air. They really just don't want a new team coming in and possibly destroying what they've helped build, which is one of the best stories in American soccer. Get the right compromise though, and they'll be on board.

 

I just hope if there is a combined version it is not called Detroit City . Detroit Motors FC or Motor City SC sounds good.

 

It won't be called motor city fc because usl has mandated that it has to have the city name included

 

THANKFULLY!