St. Louis in the USL

well, actually found out through a couple different sources. But let's put it this way, a friend of mine in the media said he's covering a Press Conference tomorrow at Soccer Park in Fenton.

 

I am very happy to hear that it isn't the Glavin/Haines group. I know that Glavin is a good guy, but Haines just rubs me the wrong way. The official end of soccer in St. Louis will be based on what happens with this USL Pro team. If it fails then I think we will be looked at as a no go place for soccer teams. A good city for a friendly from time to time, but not one for an actual team.

 

http://stlouligans.com/?p=372

...we’ve talked to team officials and the St. Louligans will be a part of the future of Pro Outdoor Soccer here in St. Louis. There are so many exciting events coming up for Louligans to get to know the new team and we’ll be doing special articles and podcasts as often as we can. We’ll start it off with a podcast at the team announcement and we’ll talk to as many people involved as we can. We’ll also be tweeting and facebooking live from the event, so make sure you’re following us. We’ll announce the time and location as soon as we can, but in the meantime- keep an eye on the countdown clock. When it hits 0:00:00:00 all will be revealed. Things are about to get silly and we invite you to join us for the party. Whether you’re a new fan or a longtime sufferer there is room on the bandwagon for you.

 

This is good to hear about. I have always wanted pro soccer to make it in St. Louis. I picked my BS name because I was pulling for St. Louis over Philly (no offense to Philly & the right decision it turns out). I really hope that the ownership group in no way shape or form resembles the AC St. Louis group. I hope they are well vetted and financially sound. Excited to hear more for everyone there!

 

My biggest worry is that the USL Pro kind of seems like they are doing a cash grab right now, and letting just about anyone into the league. I could be wrong, but there seems to be a new USL Pro team every week.

 

You are wrong.

Even if you exaggerate, you're still wrong.

Recent USL Pro expansion:

03/13/2014 - Arizona United replaces Phoenix FC.
01/29/2014 - Los Angeles Galaxy II announced for 2014.
01/15/2014 - Reports of new Charlotte group buying Charlotte Eagles' USL Pro franchise.
12/18/2013 - Tulsa announced for 2015.
12/05/2013 - Colorado Springs announced for 2015.
07/02/2013 - Oklahoma City announced for 2014.
12/03/2012 - Sacramento announced for 2014.

That's six actual announcements of new teams in the 66 weeks between December 3, 2012 and March 13, 2014. Or about one every eleven weeks. If St. Louis gets announced tomorrow (wasn't February 27? That's odd.), that will be seven actual announcements in 73 weeks. Or about one every ten weeks.

Also, "letting just about anyone into the league." Hmmmm. Let's see.

• Sacramento seems to be doing well, yeah?
• How's Oklahoma City doing so far?
• I'm skeptical about Colorado Springs, too.
• Too early to tell on Tulsa.
• The Charlotte thing hasn't actually been announced or finalized, but they've at least run a pro sports team before.
• You have to figure the Galaxy and AEG aren't just anybody, right?
• And from what I understand about the ownership group behind Arizona, they have money. Too early to judge them just yet, given the short ramp-up time.

So, other than getting your two premises completely wrong...yeah, you're spot-on.

Also, your biggest worry should be this. (If Haines isn't involved, then, obviously, no worries on that front.)

 

Obviously that was an exageration, and if you are uncapable of understanding that I am sorry. However, most people can point to other leagues that expanded too quickly and because of that they didn't last. Plus adding roughly seven teams in three seasons is very fast in regards to sports.

 

how is this any different from any other time in the USL history. Marcos is notorius for this.

 

Well, you don't need as much money to join USL. The possibility of an MLS team affiliating with your club can't hurt either. I believe all clubs in MLS will have to have their own team or a USL affiliation next year. Better get in now if you want a shot at that. The MLS partenership gives the USL a level of stability, amd promise of future growth, that was never even on the horizon before. Plenty of reason to give it a shot now.

 

Obviously, he used the word exaggerate (note the spelling), so obviously he understood it. It also isn't possible to be "uncapable" of understanding something (obviously). He's also not someone whose intelligence you should be insulting. Another obviously.

 

Considering I actually referenced that you were wrong if you were exaggerating, yes, I am capable of understanding that and many other things that you cannot.

Also, there are still 1/3 as many teams in the third division as there were 16 years ago. This is neither a breakneck pace nor - as I have pointed out with a list of the "anybodies" they are letting in - ill-advised expansion, particularly.

But go ahead and continue to be an anonymous fanboy who clutters up conversations.

 

He was, certainly. I wish I had the emails from 1998 when I was decrying this very practice to everyone in the league when I was working in the league.

But, as you can see in the list of recent teams, these are not - not yet, anyway - particularly egregious, Marcos-like situations like the Lehigh Valley Steam.

 

Is that his nickname? St. Louis Scott, like "Miami Steve Van Zandt" or "Arkansas Dave Rootabaugh?"

 

Oh, "St. Louis Scott Gallagher" is the actual name of a club. Okay.

 

You seem to be missing the Tampa Bay team.

 

Tampa was only a joke. That was the USL trying to screw with NASL.

 

http://uslpro.uslsoccer.com/scripts/runisa.dll?M2:gp::72013+L3/Display+E+NDX+NDX+805777

It's official

 

Easily forgettable, but, yeah, fine, fair enough.

You know when that was, though?

November 16, 2011 was when they announced that team.

You can put the original Phoenix announcement in there, though. Even though that was five months prior to when that timeline started:

11/16/2011 - Tampa Bay announced for 2013. (Played 2013, folded.)
07/02/2012 - Phoenix announced for 2013. (Played 2013, replaced for 2014.)
12/03/2012 - Sacramento announced for 2014.
07/02/2013 - Oklahoma City announced for 2014.
12/05/2013 - Colorado Springs announced for 2015.
12/18/2013 - Tulsa announced for 2015.
01/15/2014 - Reports of new Charlotte group buying Charlotte Eagles' USL Pro franchise for 2015.
01/29/2014 - Los Angeles Galaxy II announced for 2014.
03/13/2014 - Arizona United replaces Phoenix FC for 2014.
05/01/2014 - St. Louis announced for 2015.

As for St. Louis....interesting that the guy from before who had all the scoops and whose word was better than anyone else's because he had been covering the sport for all this time didn't break the story of this ownership group.