after going on a business trip to Scottsdale for 4 days and just returning, I can safely say, you have to be MENTAL to think phoenix is a viable option for soccer. Walked old town scottsdale in the middle of the day, clerk were legitimately surprised to see me asking what I was doing out in the heat. makes about as much sense as Qatar lol. Same with vegas for that matter. also, Sacramento is breaking ground on their stadium as we speak. Someone knows something....... So Miami??? Sacramento.............then I gotta think Cincy, Nashville, Raleigh, San Antonio in no particular order are in the discussion. And as ive said before, Nashville and Raleigh creeped up in the pack.
Not necessarily. Wasn't the stadium only part of the development planned for the Railyards? This site prep is most likely for the other projects proposed for that land.
au contraire http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/city-beat/article163854248.html thats the stadium
exactly where Im at. Sac and Cincy look like great bets this december, with Nashville, Raleigh, and San Antonio fighting to the death for 28.
No way is Cincy this year. They're the smallest media market applying. MLS will hold them until next year to give everyone else that's left a target to get over.
Yeah.....how convenient that the article mentions that if Sac is rebuffed, second phase construction won't begin in the spring.......like I posted, this site has other development planned for it. The group going for an MLS team owns this rather large piece of prime real estate, no?They've been sitting on it for what, 2+ years now? Hmmmmm....large vacant piece of real estate.....that's NOT making them any money currently....MLS awarding or not awarding them a team, construction on something(s) will start on that land soon.
The ironic thing is that evidence of stadium construction prompts a prediction in favor of Sacramento...and Cincy! Will Sacramento be building Cincy's stadium as well?
Stop it. They just finished a five+ year environmental clean up, and are still finalizing some of the road, infrastructure, etc. First phase of building isn't eligible till end of the year (the MLS stadium will be the first Railyards project). The grading and excavation they are starting today is specific for the stadium site. If, for some reason, MLS fell through, the land developer (a minority owner of the team) will have to undo everything. The utility run and road network for that area is being installed for a stadium. The parcel where the stadium is located was originally designed with a road down the middle, 9th St. Sans MLS, the property area reverts back to its original planning model, which is midrise residential over commercial with 9th St in place, and they have to redo the utility run. What they are doing cost real money, and cannot be recouped with a later development project. They've been talking with MLS, and are now breaking ground before a formal announcement. My birdies have said its a done deal. SRFC isn't moving dirt in hopes of swaying MLS. That's silly.
The site does not have anything else planned for it. It's planned for a stadium site, take a look at the Railyards plan. This is a huge area of which the stadium site is a small piece. They don't anticipate getting it all filled in for another decade. So no, they're not losing money waiting to build something because available land is so coveted. That's something we have a lot of here in Sac if developers want to build something. So at this pace, Sacramento should be done with their stadium before Miami gets one built... just saying, when will MLS announce Sac enters before Miami?
As long as we get in I am fine with this. Plenty of quality cities and clubs vying for spots so knew it would be competitive.
people who think we are going to be checking off "big" markets with "big" corporate cities are gonna be sorely disappointed in december. Butts in the seats are gonna win this round of expansion. Gonna be Sac and Cincy, mark it down. we will check off at least one geographic hole with Raleigh and Nashville next, and possibly SSan Antonio for 27-28
Thank god that logic didn't apply when Toronto, Seattle and Atlanta got expansion teams. You know, the three attendance leaders. They all were terrible in D2.
I think it's a unique challenge to run a minor league team in a city that expects top division teams in any sport. Places with say an NBA and NFL teams, but not MLB or NHL won't think USL or NASL is beneath them the way huge markets might. I think this is part of why the Argos have been struggling of late, for example. The NFL doesn't see the CFL numbers there as cause for concern.
Tampa is largest market applying has 1.9 million households and their census metropolitan area has a population of about 2.7 million. Cincinnati's numbers are 850K and 2.1 million. Households don't sit in stadiums, people do. In either case, you are looking at 1 to 1.5 percent of those people going to the stadium to watch a soccer game, which of course brings up the issue of probability of people going to soccer games. Market size may be an issue, but the range of market size is small enough in the set of cities that have applied that it is likely not going to be a deciding factor.
I'd also add Tampa's DMA includes Sarasota and Lakeland, and Cincinnati's is just Cincinnati. Sarasota has its own TV stations. Including Sarasota in Tampa's DMA is like including Dayton in Cincinnati's. Heck, Lakeland is included in Tampa's DMA as part of Polk County, which extends east almost to Disney's property.
https://www.orlandocitysc.com/post/2017/08/02/mls-commissioner-don-garber-provides-update-expansion 3 minute interview with Don Garner about Miami and MLS expansion. In it, Garber mentions Sacramento, Cincinnati, Nashville, and Detroit by name, and says that they have "tremendous energy" behind their bid. Those are the only four cities he mentions by name. Gotta think those are his front-runners at this point. I'm not sure that, in his opinion, any of the other candidates are ready for prime time at this point. It'll be interesting to see who gets 26. Here's my prediction: 24. Miami (we could hear an announcement in less than an hour) 25. Sacramento 26. Detroit 27. Nashville 28. Cincy Nashville could very well surpass Detroit for 26.
I'm not sold on Nashville coming in so early. They have no history of supporting soccer other than a few NT games & foreign friendlies. BUT they also wouldn't be competing with an MLB team for summer time disposable income. I think they are building steam, but to say they are quickly moving up the list is a bit overly optimistic at this point. I'd say they are about on par with Raleigh and behind the other 4 listed right now.
I would say Nashville is above Raleigh as Garber specifically mentioned Nashville by name and did not mention Raleigh. He only mentioned 4 cities. I agree with the other posters that this probably means something. I bet you were one of the Atlanta haters too.
Nope. Don't hate Atlanta, Don't hate Nashville. Hope Nashville gets in. I actually hope all teams/cities that are willing & able to invest in starting a team can do so. It will be good for the game. People are putting way to much stock in who Garber mentioned in an interview. Maybe it was intentional. Maybe he was sending a message to another bidder. Maybe he was greasing the wheels of politicians in one or several of those cities to help their bids. Maybe next time he mentions Phoenix or Tampa or Raleigh. None of us know. the only time we will know for certain who is getting in next, is when MLS makes the announcement.
I think that it's hipster demographics that's driving Nashville in Garber's mind. For much the same reason, Garber mentions Austin with just about as much respect as he does San Antonio.
Not if you combine the Dayton metropolitan area with the Cincinnati media market. Dayton & Cincinnati have been linked intrinsically since the area was first settled because in the nineteenth century the Miami River is navigable up to Dayton. The once highly industrialized region between the two cities is linked by suburbs, small towns and small cities.
Well Garber isn't on the expansion committee, and he - as far as I can tell - has never been to Raleigh-Durham. He was in Nashville as a member of the USSF Board of Directors for the game there. And the event was impressive and exciting, but it doesn't necessarily translate to MLS. Kansas City set a then-record mid-week USMNT game attendance of 37k in 2001 in an era where the Wizards were drawing 10-12k. The USMNT used to fill up Spartan Stadium's 30k seats when the Clash/Earthquakes were bouncing between 10-15k.
From afar, I dont get the Nashville hype. Their USL team isnt even up yet. Media rights are going to drive the bus so my bet is long term (by 2026) MLS will go to 32, ensuring places like Nashville and Cincy especially get in. This is unless theyll try for a MLB style plan and hope to lean on LOCAL TV deals more. If so, Nashville, Cincy and the like make more sense.
This is my mix of analysis and gut feeling... Ranking the remaining candidates: 25) Nashville (foot print, potential to be another Atlanta?) 26) Cincinnati (great fan support) 27) Detroit (big market, Detroit is reviving) 28) Sacramento (great fan support, although its near SJ, the rivalry might excite MLS) Alternate: San Antonio (nothing super exciting, but also nothing to their detriment) Unlikely- Tampa (Florida is tapped, unless Miami falls through) Phoenix (too hot, everything else looks good, but it's just too hot, it's 100 degree plus there right now) Raleigh (owner not rich enough, market too small) Eliminated due to city not supporting stadium- St Louis (which would be my first choice, its a shame) San Diego Indianapolis Charlotte