It isn't the world we live in because USSF allowed MLS to do whatever they want again. Indy v Indie .. tomato, potato, 5 hours of sleep for six days straight....
When has any farm team in the US ever worked as a pipeline in soccer for anything other than draining resources? All the teams you mentioned also had this dream. I sat down with Ajax Orlando once and they tauted the same lines. The most anything has produced is individual foreign scouts scouring college and academies, finding the players you mentioned. I'm all for any investment in the NASL, but if Celtic thinks support will come from Scottish diaspora (does that exist as a thing in the US anymore?) or a youth pipeline, they are delusion and immediately tell us they have no idea what their doing.
I talked to Ajax Orlando several times, I know their coaches very well. I even met with Ajax Amsterdam's CEO. This was a licensing agreement- not any real investment by Ajax Amsterdam. The Dutch didn't expect this to bring anything other than possibly friendly games in Orlando. The American investors thought the Ajax brand would sell the club as an elite training opportunity for youth players. If I remember correctly, Dax McCarty came out of the club, as did his younger brother. Once again, we do not know what Celtic's ambitions are at this point in time. If it is to move merchandise, well they might sell a few more shirts. Heck, Schalke 04 opened up a US store and has been apparently doing quite well with their sales. If it to find the Pulisic's in the US, then it could work if they find one or two. Not per year, but just one or two. Even better if they find them with EU passports, with out the passport - the kid will spend 3 years in Belgium to get his EU passport.. and that may be too long. The other thought is they could develop a true academy, sign players to professional contracts in the NASL, then sell them and collect fees for them. Could this work? Not likely, but once again - we do not know their ambitions or intentions. The good thing is foreign clubs are taking notice of the NASL, and have expressed interest in some form or fashion, now if they actually spend the money, that is really the key.
Not much of a Scottish community in Boston... Don't know where that idea comes from... They are probably talking BS about this, and if it is serious Celtic would probably look to St. Louis where they already have ties albeit with the PDL.
Are they really taking notice? The info came from a Scottish tabloid that has also mentioned Celtic wanting to start an Asian team to try and grow their global brand. That never happened. They write a lot of nonsense like most UK tabloids. As a Scottish tabloid, they also over-inflate how much the rest of the world gives a bleep about Scottish clubs. Which is to say - not much at all. The good news is that Celtic didn't mention doing this in MLS since most would have laughed at their hubris. Thank god we are a long way from MLS circa 2005. Hell, these days MLS clubs would have a much better chance of putting satellite teams in Scotland to sell some shirts there. Not that would be a good investment. The greater question is can Bill Peterson find strong local ownership for clubs? That will be the only thing that keeps his league around. And I am not convinced he did that in Miami(the market will be the issue there) and Puerto Rico. Those are serious issues. Flights of fancy from foreign clubs do not work. NYCFC will buck the trend as long as they keep bringing in stars and taking up the mantle of the heyday Cosmos. But plopping a B team down in St. Louis or (insert name of city) to sell some Celtic shirts is doomed from the start. The U.S. soccer fan is more sophisticated now. Or the naive notion that a North American lower league club can be a pipeline to Europe. Forget Ajax Orlando. Look at the Dayton Dutch Lions to see how that doesn't work. Does Crystal Palace USA/Baltimore ring a bell? Or ask FC Edmonton. They had big plans to bypass MLS, and to start making money, by selling their talent to Europe. Still waiting.
Did it not happen because it was nonsense, or did it not happen because on further inspection they decided it was a bad idea? Just because something ends up not happening does not mean there wasn't truth to the initial report.
This pipe dream has been around for decades...committed foreign investment....if it happens outisde of a few megasheiks, it will be the first time. Pure fantasy. I kind of chucled when the Rayo/OKC rumors came out. Outside of a couple of clubs theses teams have little money to spare anywhere. Celtic has been looking for different ways to milk the market here for a long time. Every five or so years thy pull some kind of tour, marketing gimmick, youth league sponsership to up shirt sales. These teams have almost no reason to commit seriously. To much money, time and work. I mean, the guy who is suggesting this as been a member since 2000? My goodness, the number of pipe dreams and schemes he has seen by now. When it happems for real, and someone shows they mean it....then I will take notice. Until then? More cyberspace BS.
I just want to clarify: the suggestion I made about St. Louis was not to be taken as "thats where the next expansion rumours should be about." I was merely stating that Celtic already had a connection in St. Louis and if the article was serious it would probably mention that connection instead of talk about Boston and Atlanta, as someone else pointed out, clearly ignoring the fact that there is an NASL team there already.
It was also reported by the BBC. We'll see what happens. By the way, how far are we away from the Philadelphia Union being a circus? I assume you all know how this works. Groups contact the league, and the league goes through a process to find ownership groups that possess what they want. The league does not send some guy into a city and have him look for wealthy people to invest. If a few European clubs start investing in new teams or existing teams in the league, that will enhance the league's reputation, and may open up the wealthy local owners to have interest in these new teams. Will it work - we probably should wait and see how it plays out before we say it won't work because Chivas was such a debacle. By the way, Chivas was MLS right? Yeah. Right. Crystal Palace Baltimore - licensing deal as well. No real cooperation. Plus the work permit rules were always going to be a problem. That's my concern for Celtic - if they are truly looking at developing talent for their home base - then it is limited to kids who either have or can get EU passports. If not, waste of time. The clubs that I have spoken to are not concerned about players who are older than 18 right now, they are looking at the potential youth players that would be affiliated with the club.
I'm sorry, do you know me? I don't post much any more because I find most of the forums full of windbags who haven't a clue about how this industry works in the US or abroad. I think I'll return to lurking and not waste my time.
BBC is also reporting it: http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/34632349 NYC FC just started this year, so while MLS may have come a long way since 2015 in many regards, letting foreign brand extensions in the league is not one of them. This one looks promising: http://www.wralsportsfan.com/triang...quire-railhawks-from-traffic-sports/14993631/ Obviously these situations don't grow on trees so it's something the league needs to keep working at. Combining foreign and local investors like the reported SF group might be a good strategy as well. I'm eager to see what that looks like. The Miami guys may not be local but they appear to be quite serious with Nesta as coach and Maldini in the group, as well as good money behind them. Tough market though. Should be a big week of announcements for them. NYC FC is abomination that should be killed with fire. Foreign brand extension trying to co-opt the legacy of a real New York team. Until someone brings the MetroStars back (and I hope they do one day, in NASL), there is only one legit team in New York and they play in Hofstra. I agree, I would prefer NASL differentiate from MLS is a number of ways, including avoiding having foreign brand extension teams in our league.
One more post - the NASL ran Atlanta this past season. The team lost a reported $2.5 million. The owners do not want to prop up the team another season. If Celtic would take the team over, that would be great for the league, and Atlanta may survive, if not - Silverbacks are probably dead.
Involved since the early 70's. Have seen financials, donated cash to get the US team to games, family still gets a Christmas card from the Kaiser. What did I say that was so wrong considering what foreign teams/owners have generally done for the game here? If you are in the "business" and that sensitive and defensive, good luck to you. Like I always say....soccer is hard here....period. Foreign invesment, trust, committment....don't believe it, will be cynical, until it happens and the commitment is there. Have seen decades of folly. If what I wrote hurt that much then yeah...you are better off lurking.
Irony. Railhawks aside, I get the impression that the NASL is going all in with the foreign investor approach. We've obviously discussed the pitfalls and deficiencies of that route many times in this thread and elsewhere.
The BBC Scotland story came directly from the Scottish tabloid. It was not original reporting from the BBC reporter. Welcome to internet journalism in 2015. Um, has there been any evidence of this before? Because so far, that has not been the pattern here. We actually have evidence that this setup doesn't work here. Crystal Palace certainly didn't enhance the rep of the USL and bring in a flood of wealthy investors. Nor did FC Twente. Oh, and Chivas is simply the textbook example of how these branding exercises don't work. It was also at a time when MLS badly needed investment in the worst way. Chivas USA also only came about because Jorge Vergara was actually interested in putting a Mexican team in LA. The USSF said no, but offered another solution that evolved into Chivas USA. NYCFC might be the anomaly because it has two things going for it. One is that the NY Yankees are co-owners. Second, their attempt to be a big name glamour club. As long as they sign major stars, they will have an identity. They frankly are more the heir to the Cosmos throne than the club playing D2 ball out on LI. Things might have been different had Chivas USA brought in major Mexican stars from the start. But Vergara treated them like a red-headed stepchild, and they were pretty much like every other bad MLS club. But anyway, like with most UK tabloid rumors, I don't think we have to waste any brain cells on this happening. Crystal Palace FC USA was actually started by Crystal Palace's UK based board. So I am not sure how you can say there was no cooperation. This use to be on their website before they went under. Originally named Crystal Palace FC USA, Crystal Palace Baltimore was founded in 2006 and is the sister organization of the world-renowned Crystal Palace Football Club in the UK. It was the first professional soccer team in the United States with a direct link to a professional English football (soccer) team. Crystal Palace UK chairman, Simon Jordan, saw an opportunity not only to develop the footprint of Crystal Palace worldwide, but more specifically to tap into the under-appreciated pool of American soccer talent. His brother, vice chairman Dominic Jordan, oversees the relationship with the American club, including the movement of players between the two clubs. In 2007, two promising young players from the English club’s reserve team were sent over during their off-season to gain valuable playing experience with the Baltimore team. Several senior and youth players from Crystal Palace Baltimore have also spent time training in London with the English team. It was proclaimed as the first trans-Atlantic partnership of its kind. You know why there isn't a Crystal Palace Baltimore right now and it only lasted a few years? Because like most European teams, Crystal Palace had money problems and divested itself of the club in 2010. Pete Medd tried to keep the team afloat with local money, but without CP backing, they never played in 2011, and that was the last of them. It is a valuable lesson that outside of the few big EPL and Li Liga teams, and the few clubs lucky enough to be owned by rich oil czars, money is actually tight for most Euro clubs. Clubs like Celtic and Rayo don't really have money to throw around on satellite clubs. Man City has that money and guess where their owners invested it? MLS. Because it also happens to be a very good investment these days thanks to SUM.
Combination of local and foreign investors is what has been stated, or connecting local NPSL type clubs with foreign investors. Reality is each situation will probably be its own blend along the spectrum of locally owned to foreign owners. Jacksonville is local, Indy is local, Ottawa is local, Railhawks new owner will be local if it goes through, Miami is foreign and I would consider Carmelo to be foreign as concerns Puerto Rico even if his wife and he have local roots.
Local owner is always the ideal situation. If a foreign club wants to start a team in the US they need to realize that it can't be to expand their branding. It has to be about building a team in the US that is its own brand, and has its own fans. If NYCFC was Manchester City USA it would go the same route as Chivas USA.
.....but, but, but.... .....he understands so much, what you say can't be true. He is so smart, we are so dumb. Stomp, stomp, stomp....I'm leaving you blow hard. I met the Ajax director! I mean, I've only met Bayerns director. I dumb.
It should be mentioned for those that don't know that it appears NASL has identified a local investor for the Carolina Railhawks. Which is a very good thing. This doesn't take away from the foreign investors now routinely mentioned such as Rayo and now Celtic. But not all of NASL's new investors are necessarily out of town investors.
NYCFC is not trying to co-opt anyone's legacy they're making their own history. What Cosmos fans fail to see time and again is that its THEIR club that is co-opting a legacy they have no right abusing by playing in a rink dink field out in Hofstra trotting out MLS castaways and circa MLS 96 euro stars in front of 4k fans. They should focus on playing somewhere in the city and trying to stabilize because they MUST be hemorrhaging money right now.
As a Union STH since day one, I know the team has been a train wreck on the field. Off the field they've done some good things. They've finally built training fields, and are finishing construction on a team training facility and offices. The Union have also invested heavily in their academy setup, and now are investing in running their own USL team. Within the next few weeks they should be announcing the hiring of a sporting director (hopefully a former USMNT member who has been successful holland, though I'm not getting my hopes up). Pitor Nowak turned out to be a disaster, and Nick Sak was kept around 2 years too long, but they are both gone now. So please enlighten us all on how far away we are from them being a circus?
Don't worry guys this is just NASL's master plan to create a mini super league for the Cosmos. First a farm team for Celtic. Next farm teams for all the super clubs. People will come in droves to see the Cosmos play Man U USA and Barcalona USA.
DanGerman, do you think the Cosmos should stabilize in Coney island? Or would it be better to split games between there and Hofstra? I think it's difficult to stabilize until you build your own house and until then splitting is as good as playing in a single location. It would also allow the FO to see if more support comes from LI or the city.
I know I am not DanGerman, but I think history has proven that it is always best to have a single home and not split between two stadiums. That is an idea that has often been tried, and I am unaware of any occurrence where it could be considered a success. They tend to revert to playing in a single location as quickly as possible. Also, as a non-New Yorker, I feel it would be better for the Cosmos to play at Coney Island.