Ok, by now everyone knows that Merritt Paulson speculated that he expects at least 4 MLS partnership in the NWSL by the end of 2015. I'm guessing this number includes Portland and now Houston. Does anyone have a feeling what the other two might be or which better yet, which two MLS partnership will make the most sense for NWSL?
New York Red Bulls (either with Sky Blue, or on their own) Sporting KC / FCKC (together) Toronto FC Vancouver Whitecaps If half of those join Portland and Houston, that makes 4. If all of them eventually join, that makes 6. And then there is also Real Salt Lake and Dallas.
The only one that comes to mind is Toronto and maybe Colorado. Toronto has already been in NWSL discussion, and Colorado was mentioned back when WPS was in trouble. As for others... Vancouver - No, desite past influence in the women's game. They axed their women's team a while back and directly announced they didn't want to be a part of NWSL both before and after the league was announced. Seattle - No, market already taken, and I don't see the Sounders dropping their nameshare with the W-League team in favor of Predmore's group. San Jose, Chivas, Galaxy - No signs of interest. RSL - Gave their name to a WPSL team but have literally done nothing else with that team or the women's game in general. Sporting - Probably not; if they want to work with FCKC they'd have to absorb the Comets as well. Not out of the range of possibility, but probably too big of an investment for the for the near future. Chicago - Didn't exactly play nice with the Red Stars before, I see no reason why they'd change their tune soon. Dallas - Started a WPSL team a while ago but then axed after two (or was it just one?) seasons. Columbus, Montreal, NYCFC, OCFC - No clue. DCU - Gave their name (nothing more) to the W-League team that became the Spirit. Maybe they get more involved in the future, but who knows? Red Bull - Sky Blue kinda crashed their party. I know they said the door is open for future collaboration, but it doesn't sound like RBNY will ever own a NWSL team. Revolution - Similar story to Chicago for all I know. Philly - They let the Independence of WPS play a few games in their stadium, but I don't know how much they charged or if they'd be interested in buying in to WPSL. The Sons of Ben were the big push behind the forming of the Union, so if the Daughters of Betsy re-form, I could see it happening.
Thanks for the in detail summary. On a personal level, I hope the Union look into getting a team here but I do not know how likely that will be. Before WPS dissolved, the Union and Independence where taking steps towards working more closely together as there were rumors of the women playing some regular season games at PPL park.
You have to think there must be a Dallas team. Otherwise, you have Houston way off by itself which could be hell on travel costs.
Additional travel costs for visiting teams shouldn't be much of a problem; back when WPS was around, it was stated the travel is relatively minor in overall club budget. Now, for a lone team, traveling to all the others could potentially be a problem, but since this team will be MLS-backed I don't think they're worried about travel costs to away matches. I still say Dallas is highly unlikely, just since they'd taken themselves out of the women's game already. And it's just way too late in the game to bring another new club in for the 2104 season; Houston was really pushing it already. The draft is just barely a month away. Though your post got me thinking about other potential Texas/country-south clubs. There are a bunch of NASL/USLP clubs out there, three in the TX/OK area, but aside from the LA Blues, Dayton Lions, Charlotte Eagles, and ATL Silverbacks I don't think any are interested in women's teams.
Yeah, if Dallas decides to revive its women's team, I'm all for them entering the league. I just don't think it's likely....
This is why I think the Houston expansion is very crucial to the likelihood of more MLS partnerships. Most people cite Portland's success as an anomaly but if Houston can replicate that success, not to the tune of average 13K but rather say 5k - 8k, I think we will see more MLS teams become interested and that include those that had women's program before. Houston reported that they had over 1000 people buy season tickets in the four day window they had and they were hoping for 4000. I think the 1000 is even impressive given the length of time and the fact that they didn't even have a team. It will be interesting in the coming weeks to see what that number grows to. If they can get 3.5 to 4k season tickets holders and NWSL can be smart to schedule a few double headers, I think it will be a great start
If Dallas enters the league, would like to see them be called the Dallas Dazzle. The Dash and the Dazzle would be the two Texas teams, and that could be quite the RIVALRY.
What do you mean? The Galaxy ownership just got a NWSL team... I do think Dallas is interested though. If you remember, they've had the largest crowd for a home USWNT in the current era. And they're getting another game there in Feb. If that draws well, I wouldn't be surprised if they join up for 2015.
Paulson has "hinted" Dallas in the past, in terms of a solid level of interest. Whether they pull the trigger or not, well we'll just have to wait and see.
Dallas as a city, maybe, but as I said earlier, FCD recently got out of WoSo. That said, if they get a good draw for the next game and if Houston is successful, then maybe.
This league could use: - 2 Texas franchises (Houston / Dallas) - 2 California franchises (Los Angeles and someone else) - 2 Canadian franchises (Toronto / Vancouver would be ideal) - New York Red Bulls and Sporting KC (to merge in with Sky Blue and FCKC respectively) That leaves the league at 14, which could be the ideal "Quality" and "Quantity" of franchises. Two divisions (7 teams in each division) Eastern Division Toronto FC Boston Breakers WNY Flash Sky Blue FC (Red Bull) Washington Spirit Chicago Red Stars FCKC (Sporting KC) Western Division Portland Thorns Seattle Reign Vancouver Whitecaps L.A. Blues Bay Area team Houston Dash Dallas *Chicago and Kansas City are in the East division in MLS, so might as well have them in the East in NWSL *No more than two more spots are available in the future. Real Salt Lake could go to the West. Either Ottawa, FC Indiana, or Atlanta goes to the East. Philadelphia Union is an option. Maybe Pittsburgh.
As Houston is showing, you don't need to have an existing women's team to join the NWSL. Yes, that's all I'm saying. I figured the Houston being successful part was a given in this discussion. If Houston fails, then no other MLS team is gonna join.
It's not that they're currently lacking a team that makes me doubt Dallas, it's the fact that they tried it and decided to bail. That's not encouraging.
I guess. Though it looks a lot like it's Canetti driving this effort, I get the sense that Anschutz is (reluctantly? at least silently) along for the ride.
Yeah, I do think having that one person (like Canetti in Houston and Paulson in Portland) supporting the women's side is needed. If FC Dallas doesn't have that, they won't happen.
This. I'm really hoping that Houston is successful this year. Others might disagree but it was even more crucial to get Houston in this year because next year which is the world cup year, USWNT players are going to be in and out of camp during the season which is not a good way to get fans invested in a new team.