it would be nice to have a league that can grow organically without being burdened by media market exclusivity.
Fwiw, they've said of the teams that have expressed interest for fall 2020 (which means nothing on the surface, but the implications are meaningful), if they were all to pan out, they'd have multiple same city derbies (well, metro areas). Which is encouraging for the sort of thing you're talking about. BTW, they're probably referring to San Diego and Detroit.
Y'all get that while that's quaint and English and all that, it's not actually realistic in America to expect metro areas below a certain size to support two teams, right? No, you don't get it. You refuse to recognize why America is different. Finance, not romance. Jesus, wake up.
At D3? I don't expect someone to drive across their large metro area for D3 soccer. If they're spaced far enough apart, they're not cannibalizing each other.
But you have to have 2 struggling teams in Milwaukee before you can "join resources" and have the first "United" that is "real"!
Nobody is talking about Milwaukee, though. We're talking about MSAs of 3.3 and 4.3 million people, respectively. If the expectation is that a city of 750k or less should be able to support a D3 team, I would expect that our massive, sprawling metropolitan areas to be able to do so, proportionately, as well.
NISA gets started this week. 2019 NISA Showcase Weeks 1-3 Home team first, times are ET. Streams? Maybe. Week 1 Saturday, August 31 Oakland Roots v. Cal United Strikers 9:00 pm Week 2 Saturday, September 7 Philadelphia Fury v. Stumptown Athletic 7:00 pm LA Force v. San Diego 1904 FC 10:00 pm Week 3 Saturday, September 14 Atlanta SC v. Stumptown Athletic 7:00 pm San Diego 1904 FC v. Cal United Strikers 10:00 pm Sunday, September 15 Miami FC v. Philadelphia Fury 7:00 pm According to the NISA website https://www.nisaofficial.com/schedule, the eight teams will play 6 or 7 regular season games this fall. The NISA regular season ends on November 2. The East and West championship games are November 16.
An article on the Philadelphia Fury Finally reborn, Philadelphia Fury soccer team prepares to kick off inaugural NISA season From the article: "Driver said the Fury’s total payroll is in the high six figures, which means players won’t make a ton of money. Hernández is okay with that for now. “If anybody tells you they’re here for the money, you know, they’re obviously lying,” he said. “It’s just an opportunity to get back on the platform and play again, and try to get that contract that everyone’s looking for. ... Sometimes you’ve got to take a step back to take to forward, and this might be one of those things.” and "Driver’s biggest signing of all is the Fury’s venue: Franklin Field. He badly wanted to put the Fury in the city, as a contrast to the Union’s home in Chester, and he was able to get to where the old Fury played briefly in 1979. The old Atoms also played there in 1976, their last year of existence. The Fury were sold and moved to Montreal after the 1980 season, leaving the Philadelphia area without a professional outdoor soccer team until the Women’s United Soccer Association’s Charge in 2001. Driver got a hold of the Fury and Atoms trademarks, and used them for teams in the semipro league he ran. Franklin Field has some major limitations: it has less-than-stellar artificial turf, and the field is narrower than soccer’s standard. That stopped the Union from taking a game there this year after considering the idea. It also isn’t cheap to rent. Driver wouldn’t say how much he’s spending, but called it “a damn sight more” than he’s paid for other venues." Personally, I'm having a hard time picturing games in Franklin Field these days. Well, good luck to them, I guess.
It's a full season, pro league. They probably won't have 5 substitutions, but otherwise they'll be playing the same sport. I mean, did you ask this question about League One with regards to PDL?
Do you mean the NPSL Members Cup that is going on this fall? That competition is not sanctioned by the USSF as a professional league. It is operating under the auspices of the US Adult Soccer Association, a primarily amateur group. NISA has provisional Division 3 pro league sanctioning.
Given that this question was asked with the same wording on a thread about MyCujoo in /r/NISA this morning, I don't think they're really looking for an answer.
Surely "high six figures" must include staff and front office, right? That would be about in line with the projected budget document USL made for prospective D3 owners. If it's for player salaries, well, that's mental.
Cheap owner, terrible stadium situation, pricey tickets for a D3 team, and zero effort to market the team. They’ll be lucky to make it through the spring half of the season.
Do we actually know much about the owner? The prices look pretty competitive with League One: cheaper than most tickets for Greenville, Torments, or Madison. About the same as OCB and most of the Red Wolves seats (although they also have a bunch that are more expensive). I agree that most of the pre-Founders Cup NISA clubs won't last two years, though.
Is Driver actually the owner or just running it for someone with actual money? The distinction is not terribly significant, because he has proven he could not organize a trip to CVS.
That's a fair way to think about it, but my point was that there ain't no way they're going to generate high six figures in revenue. And they still have to buy uniforms and office supplies and book travel. No chance.
Funny, hadn’t heard tickets for San Diego were on sale until this price drop. Still not on any other site or schedule tied to the stadium. And that Ticketmaster link isn’t promising. Doesn’t look like they’ve actually sold any tickets. Bang up marketing they’re doing over at the 1904...