Hi everyone, I know we are all still hurting alot right now (I certainly am, ALOT), but while we still have a forum here.. I think there may be some possibilities that we could get at least a D4 team here (to maybe eventually progress to D3, if USL PRO makes good on their plans to expand). Someone out there has to be looking at our attendance numbers, and wondering if they could make a go of it with a lower-cost (non-professional) model (like PDL, or NPSL). There are a couple of people who made moves, post-Austin Lightning, to operate Austin teams in D4. Right before the Aztex came along, a guy named David Markley was starting a PDL team called Austin Stampede, until Rawlins bought him out. The press release is still online: http://www.uslsoccer.com/home/213543.html He apparently joined the Aztex organization. Maybe he'd give some thought to making a go of it? (or doing it in the SPSL, which is apparently pulling teams away from the Texas PDL conference). There was also a post on here a while back of a Texas-based NPSL conference that was going to startup, with an Austin affiliate called FC Austin. They already exist as a indoor team, and will apparently begin fielding a men's team soon (though indoors): http://www.fcaustinsoccer.com/index.html It seems like the SPSL is doing what that Texas league was originally intending to do, so maybe he could be persuaded to give FC Austin a go in the SPSL for a season? http://www.thespsl.com/ Either one, if they leased House Park, and did some advertising, would probably be able to draw a large amount of the former Aztex fanbase. Hell, they could probably acquire the rights to the name, too, if they wanted it (yes, it is a stupid name, but it is a known brand out there, now). I really can't stand the idea of losing soccer in Austin, and while D4 isn't going to offer the same level of competition, at least we'd get to play against teams that are close enough for fans to travel to, and beating a team from Houston or Dallas means a whole lot more to me than beating a team from Rochester). If we stick together as a group, we might be able to generate interest from some investors to field another team here, like the Crocketteers have been doing, and which the Sons of Ben had success with. Ok, and if I'm being an idiot, and none of the above is workable, we do have some college teams in Austin, and that seems like it might be a stable alternative to professional soccer. It's too bad that UT doesn't currently field an NCAA men's team in that SSS of theirs, but St. Ed's and Concordia do have teams and compete in the NCAA (don't know if Concordia has a stadium, though; St. Eds has got a field and some bleachers). What we've had going over the last 2-3 years is something special, and half of what made it special was us, the fans, and our support of the team. If we can take that and channel it somehow in a positive direction, we might be able to recreate what we've lost.
The best thing i can think of is build a fan base for a Expansion Club. Let the NASL know that Phil Rawlins Didn't Destroy the Die Hard Fans, But made it stronger. I believe NASL wants Austin because it would help there movement westward, It would give San Antonio a close by Derby, And if you guys stay strong and hold together you will prove that Austin is a strong Soccer Market. Both Austin and NASL would be sticking to Phil Rawlins and USL. I wish you guys luck.
I usually can't be accused of soccer snobbery, since I follow US soccer far more than the European game. But one area in which I am unabashedly snobby is the issue of tiers. MLS is great, D2 is great, and developmental D3 things like PDL are fine, but anything below that or parallel to the strict US soccer pyramid is not likely to garner my interest. This is not because of the quality of play. My reason has to do with why I like this sport in the first place. Granted, the sport is fundamentally more enjoyable than baseball or American football, but that's not the only reason I follow it. Primarily, what I like is the interconnectedness of my local team with the larger soccer world. I like the structure whereby every team is ultimately accountable to every other team, whether directly through regional championships like the USOC and CONCACAF, or indirectly through the participation of players on a wide variety of national teams. This is what makes soccer so exciting, dynamic, and rewarding for me. College soccer, indoor soccer, and amateur or pseudo-professional leagues lack this crucial ability to connect with the larger soccer world, and that's why I have little or no interest in them.
I wish you guys all the luck in the world. I'm still wondering why the F they would move the aztex from austin. Hope to see a new austin team in the NASL soon.
Surely someone will have the foresight to at least get a pdl franchise going. I wish you luck. And remember to stay active with your endeavour.
Orlando? WTF? Even the Baltimore Colts stayed in Baltimore for a couple of years before packing up an leaving! You guys had an average attendance of 2,500, that's a decent crowd! Will we ever have a stable DII and DIII!?!?!?
This is something that you guys can definitely do, as long as this experience with the Aztex hasn't salted the earth too much for too many people. Get together a few times a year for watch parties, keep an internet presence in the hopeful case that there's a need to distribute news about a new franchise in the not too distant future, even possibly make a trip as a group to a match in San Antonio in the future (especially if they would happen to be playing Orlando)... just try to keep the fun parts of the supporters group fun, and leave the foundation there to rebuild from the ashes. Best of luck.
I think a good way of somewhat satisfying your soccer jones is to head out to the intramural fields and support the UT Men's club soccer team. Yeah I know the talent is nearly as good but those kids bust their asses every time they hit the field and they raise their own funds. Hell, when they have road games they rent vans and will drive 6 hours to Lubbock, play Tech and then ride home. All for the love of the game.
Do they have a website ? I took my young girls to see the UT Womens side a few weeks back, they enjoyed the game.
The men's club soccer team website is here: http://www.utclubsoccer.com/home.html Their last home game was last weekend, and they appear to be heading to a regional playoff in Lubbock soon.
For what it's worth, my conodelences to all of you... pretty crappy to see what just transpired to you guys. The owners aren't that well off and are banking on this new team becoming a financially viable academy first and pro soccer club second. Your club was supported fairly well, especially when stacked up against the other teams at this level. You guys should get together and speak to a local investor or two and try and place a team into the NPSL to rekindle the magic of having pro soccer come back. If you guys have the energy and true desire to see your club come back, you need to pander to two demographics, the press and the public.... both love sad stories like this and if you were to form a supporters FC such as Wimbledon to name one, I'm sure as the sun shines that the press would pick up on this and it would thus get some local folks interested, i.e. some folks with deep pockets. Don't give up guys, sure hope you go after something and can one day in the near future see pro soccer return to Austin.
You could always move to Cleveland... oh wait. Yet another casualty of the USL. I feel for you guys. Hopefully you'll get some kind of team, but don't hold your breath. Especially in the current economic climate.
May be if Austin and Cleveland can get someone worth over 20 mil could they could join NASL and stick it to USL.
COULD SOMETHING LIKE THIS WORK IN AMERICA ? The differences are that Football/Soccer teams are ingrained into their communities and dont relocate. There is far less choices in your sport watching in the UK Football / Rugby Union or League / Cricket are the main players Most folk know the Wimbledon story, they are still climbing up the leagues & are in a very strong position this season & could well gain promotion to the Pro ranks at this season's end (they have gained promotion through Several lower non-leagues in their short history) & have an ever improving strong fan base and local goodwill even though they play outside their Borough. History is being made there. FC of Manchester are a newer breakaway club due to fans unrest & are doing likewise, but they are hampered by paying approx $8000 per home game to Bury FC to host their games. They are saving their pennies to build they own SSS, When they reach $800'000 they will begin the build (POSSIBABLY next year) Also they have just reached the 1st Round proper of the FA Cup (beating my beloved Barrow AFC in the last quailifying round. grrrrr) It is to be televised live on national TV thoughout the UK away to Rochdale FC, all clubs to get shown live recieve approx $150'000 each which rises each round of the cup. AFC Liverpool are the most recent breakaway club but seem to be much less profile ?? maybe the novelty has wore off ?? No USA Soccer club has brokeaway (As far as im aware, & stand to be corrected here) Could Austin be the 1st in US Soccer history !! Soccer is still growing yearly & getting more mainstream by the day. Would anyone care outside a few hundred / thousand Aztex's supporters ? Could we turn the negativity into possitivity (sp) could we build what Phil could,nt but with people power, local empathy and support. Would the media care or think its weird, keep Austin weird. Austin Pheonix Soccer Club.
I'm just an average guy, but I would be willing to invest in something like this. Obviously, many others would have to, as well (fans - do you care enough?), and we would have to start small (non-pro team), and try to build for the future of eventually having a pro team (unless, of course, someone with more resources than the average fan would to participate).
What I've been wondering most, lately, is why the Aztex didn't even give Austin the slightest bit of cushion as far as some successor organization. What if they'd said something like, "we're moving the whole D2 team to Orlando, lock, stock & barrel" (just as they did say), but added: "we hate to leave everything that's been built in Austin to just swirl away down the toilet, so here's what we'll do to help anybody who wants to try to pick up what pieces they can." Of course, replacing with a D-2 team would be a hard sell, given that they were implicitly saying that it won't work here. But what about PDL, or that Super-Y20 or whatever it's called? Weren't the Aztex going to be part of an all-Texas division in that league this year, except it fell apart at the last minute? Who knows? Maybe there's someone in town who might have stepped up to that, if given the chance. And Rawlins might have even made a little bit of money off of it. They seemed to have left in an awful hurry -- maybe sped up uncomfortably by the publication of the move on the IMS blog -- but if they'd even thought of this, it wouldn't have to be finalized yet. It could have stayed vague for now, while details were hammered out, but with some token given: "we're working to help keep some soccer in Austin, it's not the level we had, but we hope you'll appreciate it's better than nothing". Instead, they just dropped the whole thing like a hot rock. And after how it's all been handled, it's obviously too late to get any good publicity out of the Aztex brand in Austin now. Maybe it's for the best that it's all over and done, like a band-aid ripped off as quickly as possible, but this is the big puzzler for me now. They could have salvaged some good will, and avoided some, maybe most, of the hate, and it wouldn't have been that much extra work.
Fair point, twometers. Hard to know how exactly the long term interests of Austin and its fans figured into this. But yours is an interesting idea. The Aztex brand has some value here now. Shame to waste that.
I'd actually contemplated the 'band-aid' analogy earlier today. Decided it was insufficient. More like an unanesthetized limb amputation by an axe as opposed to getting your arm gradually chewed off.