There is now a clear pattern MLS has used and got what it wanted in the end. Kansas City to Philadelphia and KC was sold and upgraded. Philadelphia eventually gets a team with a new stadium. San Jose moves to Houston with new stadium in the works and San Jose retains rights to name of team which they get and eventually a new stadium. Columbus looks like it's getting new everything and Austin gets a new team and stadium in expansion without competing with other expansion candidates. Kansas City and San Jose both are in a better position as a franchise than before at least in terms of infrastructure for the franchise. It now looks like Columbus will also benefit greatly in the end as well. Interestingly after Miami starts, Tampa Bay will be the only city without a team in MLS that once had one.....but it's a big country and.....
Wut? KC moved to Philadelphia? I must have missed that one. Was that payback for the A's? There used to be a team called the Delaware Wizards, and maybe that's kinda like near Philly, so I guess that must count for something...
Before Kansas City moved out of Arrow Head stadium and was sold to the current ownership group they were targeted to move to Philadelphia area. It didn't happen but the team was sold and rebranded. But the biggest reason was the stadium that the last ownership which I believe was the Hunts couldn't commit too. https://phillysoccerpage.net/2009/12/28/no-rules-on-soccer-specific-stadiums/
Not necessarily if you look at Miami and Tampa being sold to bigger money owners that are local makes you wonder when Garber mentions this is a big country.....
MLS promoting Crew stadium project on the official site. https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018...cil-unanimously-approves-proposal-new-stadium
I would love for Tampa to get a team. Rowdies forever! Would screw up the 8 division format some if one wants the 3 SE teams + 5 east coast teams in the same division. But I am mot married to that. Think STL is #28. Detroit + 2 west teams (PHX, SD, SAC, Vegas) + SA is how I see it at the moment. Though if a western team falters or Det falters it opens up more spots. Or if they are willing to go beyond 32.
I don't ever remember a "Kansas City to Philly" rumor. In 1999 Clark Hunt made a deal with Frank duRoss for the Wizards to became the Raging Rhinos once Pae-tec Place opened in Rochester, but the team stayed when Lamar won a bet that he could greatly increase season tickets and total attendance. When talks to save the league in December, 2001 and January, 2002 were going on, Kansas City was one of six teams in play to be among the 2 to 4 teams contracted (Miami, Tampa, KC, Colorado, Dallas, San Jose). After that there was the rumor that Andrew Murstein (the NYC cab medallion guy) was going to buy the team and move it to San Antonio. Once Lamar put the team on the block in December, 2004, there was never any serious talk of the team moving as two different local groups quickly appeared. I don't recall any serious rumor about Kansas City to Philly.
Houston did not have a new stadium in the works when they arrived. They were in a very similar situation as in SJ playing in college football stadium and hoping to build a new home. BBVA Compass opened in 2012. While I am happy that the Quakes have a new stadium, it took 10 years from losing the team before it opened. The pain of the 2 year hiatus (while our former team went on to went 2 Cups) was hard. I am not sure the fanbase has yet recovered fully from the loss of the team. Soccer Silicon Valley worked hard behind the scenes to avoid what happened, but perhaps the timing in MLS's history was not right. I wish that we would have had an outcome like Columbus's, where we got to keep our team, and Houston would have had to be the expansion team. I blame AEG for not having enough faith in the Bay Area. They could have sold to Lew Wolff and kept the expansion rights for Houston. Oh well, onward and upward....
This! While I've unreservedly used my Crew-colored RSL logo over these months of #SavetheCrew, I do look forward to the day it's not needed and I can return to treating the Crew as they expect to be treated by opposing teams' fans.
I've been to several games at Old Crew Stadium (Mapfre) several times when RSL visited. I look forward to a future visit in this beautiful stadium. It will be fun!
The Rowdies were recently bought by the owners of the Tampa Bay Rays. I think the new owners said that they weren't interested in moving to MLS. It would be great, though.
Agreed. I've seen folks talk about matches as if they are war, tons of analogies based on it. I find it offensive and ignorant to treat grown men being paid to play a children's game wearing clothing best thought of as pajamas as if it is the moral equivalent or rationally analogous to war.
So before Kansas City found a new owner Philadelphia was trying to get a team and one of the plans was to have Kansas City relocate and move to Rowan University. https://today.rowan.edu/home/news/2...announces-rowan-potential-site-future-stadium http://www.philly.com/philly/sports...ter_soccer_stadium_in_works_.html?arc404=true
https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2006/08/28/daily41.html In this article it states that they are happy to keep the team in Kansas City.
I see nothing in any of the links you've provided that give me any confidence whatsoever that there was even a smidgen of consideration by MLS powers-that-be for a Wizards to Philly move.
You're correct but the problem is going back 12 years on the internet finding something that was talked about in an era when there wasn't much coverage of MLS. You can see how one article quotes Hunt stating they are happy the team can stay in KC. Also at the same time Rowan University had a plan for building a stadium and getting a team. That same plan came to an end about the same time KC sold the team. There was a smidgen in the first article as they referenced in the past this line in an article. "Kansas City, which nearly (and probably should have) moved to the Delaware Valley, says they’re going to build a stadium in the soccer hotbed of Kansas City ".
I don't recall there ever being so much as a rumor about the Wizards relocating to Philly, and that was back when I was spending way too much time scouring every MLS rumors web site (what was that uk-based site? that was a fun site). Doesn't mean it didn't happen, but I figure I would've heard or read something about it.
And, we've got regular posters here who have been 'on the beat' for MLS since waaayyyy back, and they are saying they don't recall it. My guess is this was a drinking dream of some beer drinkers and newsletter printers living in Philly, imagining what could maybe possibly happen if MLS decided not to just contract in size, but also move a team on the list to possibly contract... "Hey! They could move the team here and play, where? I dunno, Rowan Stadium?"
https://www.kansas.com/sports/other-sports/article1035599.html "San Jose. Philadelphia. San Antonio. Rochester, N.Y. Assistant coach Kerry Zavagnin, who played midfield for the Wizards from 2000-08, heard all the rumors." https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/24/...the-us-heartland-kansas-city-transformed.html By 2004, with attendance languishing despite good results from the team, the Hunts — who also owned M.L.S. teams in Dallas and Columbus, Ohio — began exploring a possible sale. Given the commercial struggles of the club, there was persistent speculation that the team might be moved (Philadelphia was often suggested), and Garber acknowledged that relocation was considered.
I did not know the Rowdies had been sold. Does this mean Bill Edwards has dropped his lawsuit against NASL for fraud?
So back to my original thought, MLS got what they want and it's about to happen again. A couple of years ago Garber mentioned Austin when no one was trying to get an expansion team there. Now it looks like a KC revival is in-store for Columbus and MLS gets Austin a market they had eyes on.