I know we don't have the biggest TV market but I really think the new Stadium in E. Hartford could be a great soccer venue down the road. It is a state of the art stadium that would be ideal for soccer. UConn football will use it 6 times a year. How can we get people together to make a push for an MLS expansion team. I know the league won't expand for a while and there are better markets out there. But Hartford is something like the 30th largest market and has no major sports franchise. What can we do to maybe get a US National Team game there to gauge interest?
Good luck but I just don't think Hartford is high up on the list of MLS expansion. Plus the fact that you couldn't keep the Whalers. I don't know the reason for them leaving but a track record like that in such a small market doesn't bode well for an MLS team. Seriously though, good luck - the more people we get interested the better.
I've never understood why Hartford hasn't had better luck or done a better job in pro sports. Their only pro team recently has been the Whalers and now the WNBA's Connecticut Sun if I recall correctly. I would like to see MLS there one day, but not sure if anytime soon is the right time.
Living in this state, I can explain it to you quite easily. To the northeast and southwest of Connecticut, you'll find Massachusetts and New York respectively. Both have strong identities and long sports histories, whereas Connecticut has no identity and a pretty meager sports history. Instead, you find that CT is divided between Fairfield County, which is considered part of the New York Metropolitan Area, and the rest, which is New England. It's the same problem that the Ottawa Senators and Arizona Cardinals have. They play in territory that was already claimed.
The Mohegan Sun casino, where the WNBA team plays, is almost an hour from Hartford. As it usually happens, the Whalers moving out of Hartford wasn't simply about the fact that they didn't draw...utter the name 'Karmanos' around a bunch of Hartford hockey fans and see what kind of reaction you get. The optimistic side of me would love to see an MLS (or A-League, or Pro Select) team in Connecticut; the skeptical side doesn't see it happening for a while, if ever. BUT There's a situation going on that's worth following here. That stadium - Rentschler Field - was built because UConn is pushing to become a major college football school. I can see them making inroads, too, hosting Miami, Syracuse, Va. Tech, and other good football schools out of the Big East there in the next few years. But...seeing as the Big East looks like it might be torn apart soon, it's very likely that aspiring, heavily invested schools like UConn and Rutgers are going to be left high and dry. They have no football pedigree yet, so who's going to want them? I wonder what's going to happen if the Huskies suddenly find themselves in that scenario - in a nothing conference, football-wise, or independent - and with a huge white elephant sitting out there in East Hartford. It could get ugly.
bump... http://www.frontrowsoccer.com/2017/...hartford-make-sure-wasnt-bogus-press-release/ OFFSIDE REMARKS: When I saw that NYCFC was playing in E. Hartford, I had to make sure it wasn’t a bogus press release Aug 22, 2017
East Hartford is not an overly large stadium , nice grass field. Not sure what the rest of the facilities are like, but if Connecticut has no other PRO sports, would still seem a market worth trying. If it were MLS, you immediately have 2 NY city teams and 1 Boston area team as traditional rivals. And you are really not much farther to Montreal or Toronto. Decent travel distances for both team and fans. = USL in its current format, your rivals are Rochester, NYRB2, Bethlehem, Ottawa, TFC2, Harrisburg
Bill Reese @ReeseCommaBill Dec 9 Brass Bonanza in the USL? Somebody called "Hartford Sports Group LLC" has trademarked the name "Whale City FC" That, or NYCFC to E. Hartford?@MidfieldPress @SocTakes @theUSLshow