And if Cleveland and Baltimore have taught us anything, teams moving up from D3 to D2 tend to have problems. Teams in USL Pro are there for a reason. They don't want to be in and/or do not have the means to be in D2.
Besides the fact that Pro/Rel isn't likely to ever be a reality in this country for a zillion reasons, the USL and NASL folks seem to barely be able to stand being in same room with each other at the moment. Sincerely doubt there will be much cooperation in any facet of the game between the two organizations, despite the upbeat nature of the NASL press release.
I believe NASL can grow with the soccer culture in this country. USL is not owned by the actual team operators. I do not see how anyone would want to spend money year after year in a business that THEY actually do not own.
Yeah, can't imagine anyone ever wanting to do something like that. Like say a McDonalds or Subway franchise. Oh wait, people do that all the time with franchises.
No offense, but there is quite a bit of difference between McDonald's or Subway and the USL. For one, what's the average failure rate of one of those fast food places compared to that of a USL team?
The point that I was trying to make was that if you buy a McDonalds franchise you don't own McDonalds. I was responding to the statement that he couldn't understand how someone would buy a business and not own it. By his rational he wouldn't want to own a McDonalds franchise. That's how most franchise system is set up. I'm not anti NASL and I hope they do well and grow. I think both the NASL and USL have a place in the US soccer landscape.
Yeah, I know, but I think you misinterpreted what he said. He didn't say that "he couldn't understand how someone would buy a business and not own it." He said, "I do not see how anyone would want to spend money year after year in a business that THEY actually do not own." He is specifically referring to losing money year after year. These teams don't turn profits in their first few years, if ever. That's a completely different situation than the franchises you mention or any other franchise for that matter. I didn't read anything in his comment that said he was against the franchise system as a whole. Just in this particular situation where most owners are just pissing money away.
Since I caused the thread to swerve off the path. Here's an actual news article to get us back on track. It had Edmonton opening the season at Miami. Which I guess is Ft. Lauderdale now. http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Edmonton+open+Miami/3870732/story.html
Looks like curtains for AC St. Louis: http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2010/11/23/ac-st-louis-players-told-team-is-done/
What a shame. Seems like legit news so my condolences to all ACSTL(and Athletica too) fans. That just ain't right...
teams puts out official press release dispelling IMS rumors. I guess BQ can get wrong info from time to time. He is human afterall: http://floodplainfooty.wordpress.co...-out-official-press-release-regarding-rumors/
And again the rush to get a story up first leads to much awkwardness and retraction. Blogs are blogs for a reason and anything you read, hear or see should be taken with a grain of salt until substantiated elsewhere.
No, it's not. It's a play-offs. It's only "like" a league cup if you don't bother yourself with details.
The team is so understaffed that they can't update the signature on their email press releases? That's pretty embarrasing.
The only difference is that the worst two teams aren't included. Other than that it is EXACTLY like a league cup. Are those the "details" you are referring to? The fact that they are giving the league championship to the Three-Quarters League Cup winner doesn't change the fact that it is pretty much a league cup as I already said. Hell, I wasn't even saying it was a bad thing, it was an observation. Why am I arguing semantics on the internet?
Don't be so sure that Brian has it wrong. The Aztex released a dancing-around-the-issue press release three days before they made it official that they were moving to Orlando to try to deal with their own IMS story -- "yet to make any final decisions with respect to their participation in the upcoming 2011 season" may just mean they have some loose ends to tie up and aren't ready to announce anything yet. I hope that's not the case, but the statement doesn't exactly inspire confidence...
no you're right, I even talked to Brian about it through email. And after talking to more people, some associated with the team, it's really a 50/50 survival rate at this point. StlToday says within 7 days, not sure where they came up with that. http://www.stltoday.com/sports/soccer/article_a786c34e-f74b-11df-a9a8-00127992bc8b.html
Another difference is that this league cup is played at the end of the season and not during the regular season with only the final at the end.
This may be old news to some of you but I didn't see it anywhere. Atlanta joins NASL for 2011: http://www.atlantasilverbacks.com/news/displaynews.php?id=1186&cat=1
This will effect the Puerto Rico, FC Edmonton, Montreal Impact, these teams could receive millions if they qualify to CCL: Seattle Sounders FC General Manager, Adrian Hanauer, on Joshua Mayers’s Seattle Times blog, in a live chat with Sounders fans last week, confirmed that MLS teams which qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League will be given more allocation money to bolster their squads.