Obscure Cities Thread

Discussion in 'MLS: Expansion' started by eintracht.19, May 25, 2010.

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  1. eintracht.19

    eintracht.19 New Member

    Jun 23, 2008
    Toms River, NJ
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Thread dedicated to cities that get little or no discussion for whatever reason or another... I'll just throw some names out there

    Buffalo
    Sacramento
    Hartford/Providence
    Cincinnati
    Anchorage/Honolulu
    Calgary/Edmonton
    Twin Cities of Minnesota
    Quebec City
    Halifax
    Atlantic City
    Pittsburgh
    Boise
    Anaheim
    Memphis/Nashville
    Portland, ME
    OKC ( Remember when they all but had a team? )

    Now don't kill me here, I understand that most of these are either ridiculous or too close a proximity to another team(s) but i just want some ideas thrown around about some of these places, whether they be even close to a legit reason to join MLS or not.

    I love the idea of Quebec City, had (and still do have) a very loyal hockey fanbase, obviously have a more of a connection to Europe than anywhere else (mostly francophone population, France still has some kind of cultural influence) automatic fierce rivalry with Montreal, fans could also travel to New England, Toronto. We could see how this does... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Quebec
     
  2. Paddy C

    Paddy C Member

    Jun 2, 2008
    Taunton
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    Ireland Republic
    New Jersey already has a team
     
  3. eintracht.19

    eintracht.19 New Member

    Jun 23, 2008
    Toms River, NJ
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Oh k then, edited
     
  4. 4door

    4door Member+

    Mar 7, 2006
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I have always thought that sacramento would be a big success. Since it is the capital maybe California Republic which is a name MLS seems to want to use. The metro area is double that of Salt Lake's (2.2M) and there is only 1 major league team in the city and there has been long talks of the Kings being the nba team that eventually moves to Vegas. If that happened Sacramento would replace Vegas as the biggest city in America without a major league team. Lots of youth soccer, 25% hispanic, pretty good income levels, and San Jose is 2 hrs away and 6hrs to LA. 4 teams within 6 hour drive is pretty cool for traveling fans, could help give San Jose a shot in the arm as well to give them a rival in their back yard.
     
  5. UnionFreak1

    UnionFreak1 Member+

    Oct 14, 2009
    Tucson, Baja AZ
    Club:
    FC Tucson
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You forgot a city.
    Now I am going to make A point for the next 15 years for Tucson, AZ on getting an MLS team.
    Tucson has A 1998 built Spring Training Facility that is no longer being used.
    Yes, I know, its A baseball stadium, but we can transform it into A soccer stadium, just like Portland is doing.
    http://www.kinosportscomplex.com/
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucson_Electric_Park
    Now the reason the D-Backs and White Sox's left the facility was due to low attendance.
    Now you may say, Oh, Then why should the MLS add A team there in Tucson.
    Well in 2005, and 2009, the Mexico National Baseball Team played two friendlies here. The attendance for each game was over 13,500. When the Dodgers played here, the attendance was usually at 12,000.
    The Complex, is located in South Tucson, also known as A major area of Mexican-Americans.
    Now when ever there are soccer tournaments here, registration is usually filled A week after it opens.
    If we could get A team that would allow for the culture of Mexico to influence the team, then I believe we would become the next Toronto FC/Seattle Sounders, fan base wise.
    Now you may say, Oh, Tucson Would Have No One To Influence Or Pay The Fees Of The MLS.
    We Actually Do Have A Person. A Man By The Name Of Jim Click.
    Jim Click has been trying to bring A minor league team to the city of Tucson, ever since the Tucson Sidewinder left for Reno in 08-09.
    Jim Click has a net worth of over 100 Million Dollars.
    He has donated over 50 Million Dollars to the University of Arizona. If you take A look at McKale Center, we are about to totally re-do it to make it look like a brand new arena with suites and etc. Now guess who the main person is leading the way into donations for the project. Jim Click.
    He is also trying to help build a brand new downtown arena for the convention center, because we are losing 3 million dollars a year with are current arena, which was built in the early 60's.
    Now we have football games there all the time for Pima Community College, and A football field is basically A soccer field arrangement. So as I am writing this, I am looking into creating a Tucson Diablos fan club to bring an MLS team to Tucson.
    If Anyone Needs Any Clearing Up On This Bid, Please Quote And Write Your Concerns.
    [​IMG]
     
  6. 4door

    4door Member+

    Mar 7, 2006
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Tucson could be cool, the main issue is that they only have 1M metro area making it the smallest in the league. Even smaller than Salt Lake which entered during a time when expansion was 10M and Garber would pretty much take a check from anyone. At this point I don't know if they would get in to be honest. Even that bid came out of nowhere, everyone thought Cleveland was the winner... But I just don't think it will be big enough for MLS. The league wants TV revenue now, and adding such a small city, even if they could fill a stadium, might be tough. And that baseball field looks like a really hard conversion. PGE park conversion seems to work much better, but even that is far from perfect.
     
  7. clebo99

    clebo99 Member

    May 28, 2006
    I'd add Baltimore to the mix. They are in a good area geographically for the MLS. They draw well for the friendlies that play at M&T Bank stadium. Crystal Palace Baltimore does well. Ownership is an issue so this is why I think relocation would work better for Baltimore than expansion. Imagine the DC United/Baltimore derby. Could be fantastic.
     
  8. eintracht.19

    eintracht.19 New Member

    Jun 23, 2008
    Toms River, NJ
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The reason i didn't put Baltimore in there is because although they never make the expansion shortlist, lots and lots of talks about DC potentially moving there, recently a study done about the viability of an SSS and apparently its in discussions in the city council about building it. Not sure how likely if at all that is but there are talks and hopes for Bmore
     
  9. UnionFreak1

    UnionFreak1 Member+

    Oct 14, 2009
    Tucson, Baja AZ
    Club:
    FC Tucson
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    well its converted for football all the time, so its possible.
     
  10. BringSoccerToIndy

    May 24, 2008
    1001 West New York Street, Indianapolis, IN
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Woo Indianapolis! Meh, more likely than a lot listed above.
     
  11. eintracht.19

    eintracht.19 New Member

    Jun 23, 2008
    Toms River, NJ
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Again, isn't too obscure, I've heard rumors and discussions about Indy
     
  12. BringSoccerToIndy

    May 24, 2008
    1001 West New York Street, Indianapolis, IN
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Rumors? Discussions? Haven't heard of that, at least not for MLS.
     
  13. eintracht.19

    eintracht.19 New Member

    Jun 23, 2008
    Toms River, NJ
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I've seen threads on BS... There ya go
     
  14. BringSoccerToIndy

    May 24, 2008
    1001 West New York Street, Indianapolis, IN
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I've seen bigger threads on BS for some of these.
     
  15. KLR650

    KLR650 Member

    Feb 21, 2008
    Halifax, NS
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    IMO the best that Halifax could do is a USL2 team in a modest SSS like the Charleston Battery and Blackbaud Stadium.
     
  16. UnionFreak1

    UnionFreak1 Member+

    Oct 14, 2009
    Tucson, Baja AZ
    Club:
    FC Tucson
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    But Indy won't really bring in the tv revenue. The Colts bring it in because of Peyton Manning. But who will be the big name for this MLS team? Thats why I believe they will probably get the 24th team?
     
  17. hipityhop

    hipityhop Member

    New Mexico United
    United States
    Jan 10, 1999
    Mission TX
    Club:
    SønderjyskE
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Why don't Tulsa and Wichita get no love?
     
  18. cleazer

    cleazer Member+

    May 6, 2003
    Toledo, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    When I saw the title of this thread, three cities popped into my mind: Indianapolis, Louisville, and Sacramento.
    Agreed. They've got a good-sized population, I think they have some decent demographics for soccer in general, and they've got relatively little in the way of sports competition.


    Two places that I kind of like as remote possibilties are Louisville and Little Rock. MLS would be the only major league professional sports team in either state. Not just in the city, but in the whole state.


    As for Tulsa, yeah, I liked that idea too. The Thunder sure made the NBA work in that state! Haven't heard much about MLS lately there though. I suspect that's done for now.

    Really? I don't think I've seen an Indy MLS thread on bigsoccer in a long time. Can you post a link?

    Interesting thing about Indy is that there's talk of them possibly building an international-level cricket stadium here in town.


    And there's also some other international-level sports construction that was just announced a day or two ago in another potential MLS city. While I understand why it didn't make the list in the first post, Austin wouldn't be a terrible expansion choice. It's the 15th largest city in the US, with no major professional sports. And now they're supposedly building a brand new F1 race-course. Austin already gets a ton of cred as a hip and trendy place, but if they can really build an F1 course, their international name recognition is going to skyrocket.
     
  19. UShornet

    UShornet Member

    Apr 4, 2008
    Omaha, NE
    Club:
    Watford FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I know Omaha isn't an extremely large metropolis or anything but we get 6-7,000 sellouts for Creighton University soccer games nightly at Morrison Stadium downtown. It is a fabulous stadium (one of, if not the best in NCAA soccer), and there's a massive youth soccer community. Might be a good idea for a NASL or USL team in my opinion....since we all know all the leagues will eventually merge to create a "Football League" type set-up. Just a fantasy anyway...
     
    Chesco United repped this.
  20. 4door

    4door Member+

    Mar 7, 2006
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Omaha in D2 has always made perfect sense. I always thought maybe Creighton didn't want them to use the stadium or something.
     
  21. devioustrevor

    devioustrevor Member

    Jun 17, 2007
    Napanee, Ontario
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    I was also wondering how Halifax got on the list. Winnipeg and Regina are building brand new stadiums, if MLS is willing to overlook FieldTurf like they did for Seattle then they'd be much better bets than Halifax.
     
  22. BringSoccerToIndy

    May 24, 2008
    1001 West New York Street, Indianapolis, IN
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    A cricket stadium here? Awesome!
     
  23. cleazer

    cleazer Member+

    May 6, 2003
    Toledo, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It's far from definite, but if it happens, I think they were talking about some park in the southeast part of the city. If it happens it'd be only the second real cricket stadium in the US.
     
  24. UnionFreak1

    UnionFreak1 Member+

    Oct 14, 2009
    Tucson, Baja AZ
    Club:
    FC Tucson
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    where is the first real cricket stadium.
     
  25. VioletCrown

    VioletCrown Member+

    FC Dallas
    United States
    Aug 30, 2000
    Austin, Texas
    Club:
    Austin Aztex
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This looks more like a USSF D2 and USL2 expansion thread.
     

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