Ruh roh. Rayo director Luis Yañez confirms that after relegation, Rayo V. will look to "take the sails down" at Rayo OKC. https://t.co/gnzyHiAju7— Paul Reidy (@paulreidy67) June 7, 2016 Says Rayo is considering what to do w/OKC franchise - probably sell it, losing as little $$ as possible. https://t.co/P6t8dwb6T7— Pablo Iglesias Maurer (@MLSist) June 7, 2016
Looks like the crap hit the fan way sooner than expected. Are these guys really business people? This is just mind blowing.
This is the business of soccer in much of Europe. Remember, pro/rel and limited spending is holding us back here.
Not exactly a surprise. Foreign club investment of soccer teams in the US doesn't exactly have a good history. ChivasUSA is the most successful of such ventures, and we all know how that turned out. NYCFC is off to a good start, but the stadium situation is still iffy. Unless one of the groups allegedly interested in an NASL expansion team would be willing to buy Rayo's portion of the rights, I'm not sure finding a buyer will be easy. I mean, the history of the NASL OKC franchise has been sketchy in terms of finding funding from the beginning, so I'm not sure why that would change now. Looks like a rebranding is on the way, if nothing else.
No, smartypants. What "is holding us back here" is two Oklahoma City sports bureaucracies who both wanted to be in the same league (USL) at the same time. The odd man out (OKC FC) went directly to the NASL after they were denied entry into USL-Pro after starting the club as PDL only to move to NPSL after being snubbed by Tim Holt, only to lose their majority owner who pulled their lease at Taft Stadium out from under them and defected to the USL which resulted in OKC FC being written off as a lost cause in the NASL until the club shut down their NPSL club and gradually convinced Rayo V. to be majority owner over the course of many months only to see Rayo V. get relegated so now Rayo OKC will be financially relegated back to the NPSL unless they fold altogether. Did that last paragraph make sense? Gawd, I hope not... and that's part of the problem.
Detecting sarcasm is not your strong point, is it? Unless, of course, you were trying to be sarcastic, in which case the one with the broken sarcasm detector is me.
Part sarcasm, part me saying that if anything, the option for a PDL/NPSL or USL or NASL team to rise and/or fall based on results on the field in a Pro/Rel setting would have been far preferable to the ridiculous dog-and-pony show we were treated to over the course of the last three years in this particular situation.
They are business people, and likely saw a low buy in for a team in the USA Market. It was a relatively low risk, potentially high reward investment. Now that Rayo V is no longer in La Liga, they need to to cut costs until they get back to the big time. Rayo OKC is an easy expense for them to drop, as they didn't put much into it, relative to the Rayo V. The entry fee for NASL is very low compared to MLS. Unfortunately the low entry fee also encourages investors to jump in on a short term basis. Dropping $3M (Purely a guess on my part) on a Pro Sports team startup isn't a large risk for the very rich. Now, dropping $100M+ to get into MLS..................that tends to make folks pump the brakes and think about whether they are in it for the long haul or not.
Apparently you have to make a 3 year commitment though, and you'd think they would have factored in the possibility of getting relegated.
These guys shouldn't have even considered putting a team in OKC in the first place when they have always struggled with taking care of their own expenses, including having a dilapidated stadium. I know that they are a distant third in a city dominated by Real Madrid & Atletico Madrid, but just becuase you're "the team of the poor" doesn't mean you have to show it. In all honesty, I'm not surprised that this is going sour, even though Rayo OKC is one of the better teams right now, but if they go under (which, although not supported considering NASL's regulations on teams having a minimum 3 years of existence), this will look really bad for the NASL, and that's why this should be discussed more.
From another thread there was a report saying they came to the management group with a "new vision" which could mean a lot of things, but doesn't sound like folding the team or selling the team. I doubt the management group and coach would leave simply because they decided to sell or fold the team at the end of the year.
Presa likely looked at the bottom line and tried to cut costs in the most effective manner: SOS was likely replaceable with in house staff at a discount & Marcina was asked about taking a pay cut - to which he apparently refused. People seem to forget that Rayo put up the money and SOS did not. Yes, it sucks that the local group isn't there anymore due to some sports financial reality of European soccer, but thats the way it she goes...
What? That maybe Rayo OKC could be relegated to USL instead of being forced to fold or relocate? Or spend the next two seasons as a lame duck? And I'd love to see Louisville play in the NASL next season.
IMO, it should be part of the discussion since this is supposed to be a public forum and I startede this thread in the first place. Free country last time I checked.
Relegation doesn't have to be based on one season AND expansion teams should be exempt for at least the first 2-3 years... Rayo OKC was originally OKC FC, which fielded teams in PDL, NPSL, and NASL but their first choice was USL. Think about that and let it sink in for a minute.
Okay, so with an expansion exemption, then relegation would be between Tampa, FTL, and Carolina at this point. Louisville replacing any of those teams except maybe FTL would be just as tumultuous. My point was that the league itself is not stable enough for something like that to start occurring. SOS is no longer involved in the OKC organization, and Rayo's first choice was NASL. They'll likely be a lame duck for the next couple of seasons without continued investment. I hope not though.
Rayo OKC isn't potentially dropping because they aren't winning, it's because their funding is running out. That wouldn't be any different in the USL, unless they would have opted to willingly move to USL for lower operating costs.
why would this help save them from folding/relocating? If they can't afford NASL, I don't see a huge savings in USL (unless you count that they'd play OKC Energy and have a cheap road trip). And you know what? Rayo could have got that if they wanted it anyways ... buy investing into a USL team in a different market (OKC isn't special to the Rayo group I'd imagine) ... Rayo doesn't need pro/rel to move down ... and like you said, pro/rel rules may keep them from relegation by outperforming their intended desire to relegate!
If you want to talk about it go here. http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads...-thread-on-soccer-in-the-usa.2029961/page-124 Stay on topic otherwise.