Congratulations to @TheNYCosmos - Now @NASLofficial needs to expand west to Bay Area - San Francisco or Oakland. Looking forward to that [rivalry between MLS SJ Earthquakes].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Soccer_League#Future_planned_expansion In addition, the NASL has indicated its vision is to grow to 18 to 20 teams by 2018. They hope to add more teams in the West and Midwest, with an eye on placing teams in the 25 largest metropolitan areas without professional soccer teams in order to tap into greater media exposure and sponsor interest.[4][41]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negoesco_Stadium Negoesco Stadium is a 3,000 seat soccer stadium located in San Francisco, California, on the campus of University of San Francisco.[1]
As I said in this post on the "What's next in the NASL" thread, San Francisco is highly unlikely. Contrary to what I said there, there may be a very small window of opportunity to get in with the Giants. They are now looking to develop the area around Pier 48 into a park and turn the pier itself into a mall/events centre. They wanted to build the indoor arena on Pier 50 so if the package was right and the "crazy billionaire with a long-term vision" was involved, I would suppose it's conceivable something could be built there. As I said, the temporary stadium is the problem. There's no stadium which has enough comfort to satisfy San Franciscans and Kezar is the only stadium big enough. From what has been said in the past regarding the California Victory, the SavetheVictory movement and the Major League Lacrosse team, there's no way you can make Kezar work on anything more than an occasional basis. As for the rest of the Bay Area, I would suggest that South Bay is out with the Quakes there. I can't see a team drawing great support pretty much anywhere on the peninsula that you could conceivably build. North Bay is beautiful but if pro sports could work up there, it would be done by now even at a semi-pro level. This leaves the East Bay and if you're looking at the East Bay, I think the search begins and ends in Oakland. For a team to be a success, you need an anchor settlement and Oakland is probably the only place big enough. However, again, you face the same issues as in SF.
NASL President Bill Peterson just responded to my e-mail letter from last night: (Xed out my name, of course, for privacy reasons) from: Bill Peterson <bpeterson@nasl.com> to: "XXXXXX" <XXXXXX@gmail.com> date: Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 3:10 AM subject: Re: Possible NASL Expansion - San Francisco Bay Area Thank You XXXXXX, San Francisco would be fantastic. We've had some preliminary discussions with officials but have not identified an owner/ group yet. Thank You
Preliminary discussions are an email exchange with one of the mayor's office or the head of a city department. There's no ownership group, let alone a single owner with a net worth of $20m+. There's no stadium plan, either long-term or short-term. It would have been kinder if the Commissioner had told you to ******** off.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rams_Stadium Rams Stadium is a multi-purpose football stadium in San Francisco, California. Located on the campus of City College of San Francisco the stadium has a capacity of 5,000. CCSF field sports, as well as track and field, use Rams Stadium. A new FieldTurf soccer practice field has been built north of the stadium. Owner: City College of San Francisco Surface: natural grass Capacity: 5,000 The best part of this CCSF idea... CCSF as of next Summer becomes non-accredited academic institution. That means wholesale changes are currently underway, including no more CCSF athletic events (for the moment). This would be a huge bigtime opportunity for NASL braintrust to take advantage of the CCSF situation, and negotiate with CCSF during this period to rework the field and make it pro soccer-friendly (no track & field) with proper seating. You would then have a situation with both a soccer practice field and a pro soccer-friendly stadium not far from public transportation, and could serve as a Bay Area venue for pro-soccer events.
Negoesco stadium is too small, Kezar & Rams stadiums have tracks around the field. none of those will work. what's happening to Candlestick Park after the 49'ers leave?
This isn't even a plan. A team cannot survive long-term playing at CCSF. This is San Francisco, things have to be cool. The Giants turned themselves around by moving into a cool stadium. A cool, comfortable, intimate stadium with good facilities to capture a high-end market could bring in decent money for a franchise. I absolutely loathe the term but what's needed is a boutique stadium. As I see it, there's two options to build a stadium in the City. The first is to get involved with the Giants' Mission Rock development and secure Pier 50, the site on which they wanted to build an indoor arena. This could only happen if the Warriors overcome all the obstacles they currently have trying to develop Pier 30-32 and don't end up back at AT&T Park with their tails between their legs. Then the main worry is whether or not the Giants would go for it and if the zoning commission will agree. The second is to get involved with what's going on in Bayview-Hunters Point. They've had half a dozen different plans for what to do with Hunters Point and Candlestick Point, most of them revolving around either the planned Olympic Stadium or a new 49ers stadium. The developer have started the very first phase of a 750-acre project but basically, the only things that are set in stone beyond this building of eighty-something townhouses is that early next year the Stick will be flattened and some of the land will be turned over to a new 300+ acre park. At one point, there was a plan to create a replacement for the Cow Palace as part of the massive redevelopment but given the Warriors' plans, that might leave space for a stadium. However, as I said before, this requires very deep pockets and a very long-term plan. I don't care if CCSF are going to abandon athletics, their academic predicament will not last forever. Without a long-term plan and big money, this is just wasted characters on a messageboard. This is the last I'll say on it, I've already wasted too many words.
as a quakes fan, i would be very much open to a NASL team coming to the bay area. good healthy competition and potential for two fan basses going at it. why not?
im 50/50 on the ultras. me and my cousin did sit a few times when they were gathering back in 08 and 09. not impressed
Candlestick Park will be torn down as soon as the Niners move out after this season. Besides being a death trap it's also about 60,000 seats too large for an NASL team and is located on the edge of the ghetto so not so much with the a fore mentioned "cool" factor.
Ghetto? "Vibrant, multi-cultural area". Besides, once the property developers get in there and start spending money, it will be pretentious as hell. The only place in the City that won't regenerate is the TL.
Well that and the Mission District southwest of about 12th. That area gives parts of Oakland a run for their money. As for Hunters Point, I'll believe it can be turned around when I see it.
I believe that having TWO teams one in Oakland and one in SF for the NASL would be even better. a Bay Area Cup with SJ vs Oakland vs SF like the Cascadia Cup. Three distinct communities with an even more local rivalry. Oakland has a huge community of Central Americans, Mexicans & Asians (Koreans are huge fans of their MNT i.e. Korea v Costa Rica 06') It would be awesome if their would be a future soccer-specivic development in East Oakland. Having a stadium near Fruitvale or Downtown Oakland near the Bart line and or a TOD Community (Transit Oriented Development) would make it easily accessible to get to games. An Exhibition match in Oakland featuring Chivas Guadalajara, or Barcelona, Real Madrid, FC Seoul etc. Problem is Oakland isnt as appealing to buisness markets like SF. San Francisco along with Napa, Sonoma, & Marin counties their is a market that is going to be vacant without the 49ers being there. The Giants are the only team that is within the city limits. Some SF bars have small contingencies of Premier League supporters every week which shows the passion for the game in the city. The only problem is finding a suitable stadium. Putting Oakland and SF into the NASL would definitely increase the popularity here as people already identify with one or the other & it would make for a great rivalries and 2 great supporting groups. The NASL needs to tap in to the market here.
Was in SF last week and stopped by Kezar Stadium and it certainly needs work. They've need to replace all the seats since they are all crumbling wood. If you look at what the Crew are doing, they're spending about $80 per seat to replace benches with seats, not saying that level of an upgrade is necessary but gives you an idea for costs. That speaks nothing about potential costs for concessions, restrooms or suites/club seats. Interesting as well my rough count on the capacity was closer to about 7k vs the 9k listed on Wikipedia.
Hunters Point? Candlestick? Those aren't good locations. Too out of the way. With the beauty the Bay Area offers I see no point in building a stadium or renovating Candlestick and having the stadium in such a shitty part of the Bay. Near or on the waterfront in SF or I'd look at the Berkeley/Emeryville area. And if you're building, you build for MLS, not NASL. Has to be 18K+. I would strongly consider Berkeley/Emeryville due to the UC Berkeley factor. Take advantage of the large younger college crowd. Take advantage of the popularity of soccer in the East Bay and the heavy latino population. Put it in the East Bay and you don't just get most of Alameda Co but also you'll get a fair amount of Contra Costa Co. Just a quick trip through the tunnel. Berkeley is a very culturally diverse area, similarities to Seattle and I think that city/area would surprise many with how much they'd support a soccer team. I do however think being in the NASL more than a few years would hurt. That's the problem with the NASL. Really get a city behind the team and build an MLs size stadium and after 2-3 years they'll want the big show, MLS, and that should be the plan from the start. The Bay Area doesn't have a minor league feel. It's big league. That's a problem NASL will have to deal with though, as as it expands a number of cities will just want to use it for a few years and bolt to MLS. Give an East Bay or SF team the impression it's settling for a minor league team which the NASL would be, and I think it would lose steam somewhat quickly. Promise MLS though and it could be great.
I emailed Peterson to see if he'd checked on Bill Hambrecht and Paul Pelosi, who are from the Bay Area and owned UFL franchises to see if they'd want in, but nothing back. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Hambrecht http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Pelosi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Football_League_(2009)#Teams Bill Mayer, the owner of the Virginia Beach team, used to be a part owner of DC United, and Mark Cuban was an investor in the league as well.
With the 49ers moving to Santa Clara, that leaves a big hole in the San Francisco sports scene. You can call them the San Francisco 49ers all you want, but Santa Clara is a haul from SF. The Raiders will be easier to get to for people in SF. Hopefully NASL (or even MLS) can exploit this opportunity by putting a team in San Francisco. Good ownership, stadium plan, etc, etc included.