Rochester Rhinos Thread

Discussion in 'Rochester Rhinos' started by Rhinonews, Dec 4, 2009.

  1. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Nice that they are hosting the final for PDL.
     
  2. msilverstein47

    msilverstein47 Member+

    Jan 11, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #252 msilverstein47, Jul 28, 2018
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2018
    The PDL will not make a decision about the location of their championship final until Monday. I don't think that will be a neutral location. Reading United (PA) and Calgary (Foothills FC) are the last teams currently standing.
     
  3. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I meant the Regional one, not the overall final. Although that would be nice.
     
  4. msilverstein47

    msilverstein47 Member+

    Jan 11, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    so Rochester lost their UPSL playoff match to Mass United...for the record the PDL Championship will be played this Saturday nite in Reading, PA. Reading United will host Calgary Foothills.
     
  5. Stuart95

    Stuart95 Member+

    Mar 11, 2012
    NoVA
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  6. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    So we are getting closer to September when the deadline has been imposed to determine if the Rhinos are coming back. This news about the Lancers and Lady Lancers is a good thing for the Rhinos. Essentially, the club would get additional dates the stadium would be in use, so additional revenue. I know the NPSL club does not draw tons of people, and is a very short season, but it would be something. I think that they do return, but in USL 3 if the MLS 2 clubs are in it. Right now with clubs in Georgia, SC, TN, Arizona, WI and Toronto, that is too much travel costs. If some of the other clubs put their 2nd team in the league that would make the travel so much less. Also, the budget on players will be less.
     
    UxSxAxfooty repped this.
  7. EPJr

    EPJr Member+

    Los Angeles FC
    United States
    Mar 21, 2009
    Richmond VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Stuart95, RobtheAggie and UxSxAxfooty repped this.
  8. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I read this as Rhinos will not be around in 2019, but will be back for 2020. In addition, they will no longer play at Sahlen/Marina Auto or whatever the name will be.
     
  9. UxSxAxfooty

    UxSxAxfooty Member+

    Jan 23, 2003
    Rochester, NY
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Shame it came to this.

    I wasn't around, so I can really only speculate as to why the current stadium didn't work out, but it strikes me that the dilemma with sticking a stadium anywhere not "downtown" is that a large fraction of the metro gets isolated: e.g. folks from Pittsford apparently won't drive downtown to see a game, why would they drive all the way to Greece?, etc.

    I am probably more pessimistic about the Rhinos' future after living here for a year than when they announced the hiatus, shortly after I arrived.
     
    RobtheAggie repped this.
  10. UxSxAxfooty

    UxSxAxfooty Member+

    Jan 23, 2003
    Rochester, NY
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  11. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    A little irony that the D&C covers the demise of the Rhinos more than it actually covered the team.

    If I were to bet, I would imagine that they put the stadium somewhere out on the east side of the city. The money is on the east side of the city. I grew up in Victor as it was a rural town, it is not that anymore, but Pittsford, Mendon, Perington, Penfield, would be the ideal spot to capture the money part part of the city.
     
    KidFlash and UxSxAxfooty repped this.
  12. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  13. UxSxAxfooty

    UxSxAxfooty Member+

    Jan 23, 2003
    Rochester, NY
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This statement confuses me:

    Is he agreeing that staying at Frontier would've been better or is he giving that as an example of a mistaken view?

    Anyway, the point about workman's comp. is interesting.
     
  14. KidFlash

    KidFlash Member

    Jul 13, 2011
    Rochester, NY
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Workman's comp is why he shut down the indoor Lancers, so that's kinda his thing.

    Rereading the statement again, I'm guessing he thinks the team should've stayed at Frontier.

    That would've been unworkable in the long run for a handful of reasons:
    1. The Red Wings had begun to get increasingly antsy about splitting the stadium with anyone by the time the Rhinos left. If there's no new stadium on the horizon, grumbles would've gradually become louder and louder.
    2. I'd bet that the Red Wings would've insisted on moving the field markings along the lines of that NWSL game played there a few years ago.
    3. The '12,000-13,000' number is typical Sam bluster. If MLS isn't a carrot and the team doesn't roll through the league anymore, people are likely to stay away. The potential of a move up and the team's dominance were huge drawing cards. Eventually things would've gone stale as we saw.

    I had a friend who used to go to Frontier for games all the time. He never forgave local politician David Gantt, who insisted that the stadium be built in the city instead of in the suburbs (IIRC Greece was the other proposed site). The ironic thing is that we lived in the 19th Ward neighborhood at the time!
     
    UxSxAxfooty repped this.
  15. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah, Sam does have the workmans comp issue as one of his big issues. So I am not surprised that he brought it up again. Here is another article where Gantt states that he will not support funding for another stadium. Not a surprise there. The other interesting thing that this article insinuates is that the Rhinos will not be back next season. The wording of the release was not quite that, there was some wiggle room that their might be a team next season. One question of the USL III is if Toronto II will be required to play in the CPL. I have not heard if that issue was resolved.

    Remember that the Dworkins made their money in real estate. I have to assume that they understand the value of property and where they can get a good deal. Location, location, location. If they Rhinos can get between 2-3k actual fans in the seats in a 5k stadium, that will be great.
     
    KidFlash and UxSxAxfooty repped this.
  16. msilverstein47

    msilverstein47 Member+

    Jan 11, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    if you're advocating for a new SSS, are you expecting the Dworkin's to pay for it? Even a 5K seater will run you $30mill+ for construction alone. You don't expect the taxpayers to ante up?
     
    KidFlash repped this.
  17. nick p

    nick p Member+

    Jul 11, 2009
    Baltimore Maryland
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    David Dworkin indicated the dreams of joining MLS ended years ago and that fans must face reality
     
  18. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Nope, but I expect them to find a deal that will work. That is what I am saying. Not that the Rhinos will ever be in MLS, but that they will find a stadium to make things work with. That is all that I was talking about. No, I do not expect the taxpayers to ante up.
     
  19. KidFlash

    KidFlash Member

    Jul 13, 2011
    Rochester, NY
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah, I'm pretty sure the idea of a taxpayer-funded smaller stadium is going to get severe pushback from the wider community.

    I haven't seen any realistic push for MLS in about a decade. Once rumors of RSL moving here after their first season sparked up and died, it was all quiet on that front, especially when it came out that the Steve Donner sports empire was essentially a house of cards.
     
  20. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Another piece of the puzzle is if the club will rebrand or not. Good article here.

    The club has already done this once, going from Raging Rhinos to Rhinos. I am a little more indifferent. Just put a good product on the field, have reasonable expectations, players of Craig Demmon or Onandi Lowe's quality will not play for the team again. If they could average between 2k-3k they would be doing really well. The announced stadium in the league vary from 2,900 to 9,600. Fill the niche that is there.
     
  21. UxSxAxfooty

    UxSxAxfooty Member+

    Jan 23, 2003
    Rochester, NY
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think it'd be a real shame to drop the Rhinos name. Hell, I'm not even from here, they beat my team in that Open Cup final, and I'm nostalgic for it.

    If anything, bring back the Raging.
     
  22. KidFlash

    KidFlash Member

    Jul 13, 2011
    Rochester, NY
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Keep the name, for whatever it's worth.
     
  23. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Interesting stuff here:

    “We have talked about actually looking at our field not only as soccer, but also as lacrosse,” David Dworkin said. “Probably within the next two weeks or so we’ll have a better sense of what our needs are land-wise. Then it comes time for us to look at our potential sites and start focusing on what it would take to put us in those places and start meeting with those folks in the communities, the politicians, potentially those involved in pro locating with those sites. We’re excited.”
     
  24. RobtheAggie

    RobtheAggie Member+

    Sep 10, 2001
    Middle Georgia
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    RIT and MCC have emerged as leading candidates for a site. I think that MCC is preferred due to its proximity to the east side of Rochester, and it is easier to get to than RIT.
     
    UxSxAxfooty repped this.
  25. msilverstein47

    msilverstein47 Member+

    Jan 11, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

Share This Page