Apologies if there is an existing thread. I searched a bit and didn't see one, so here goes. What are the chances Sporting decides to field its own USL-PRO team? I think Springfield or Lincoln/Omaha or Des Moines would make good choices geographically. I'd assume we'd break ties with OKC in that event - maybe even pulling Jimmy along to coach the new team. Thoughts?
If we do our own team it makes no sense to have it anywhere but in KC in my opinion. Keeping them in town allows for an easier flow of players down on loan. I feel like KC doesn't exploit the use of the USL team as much lately. Having it in KC would allow for a more fluid move back and forth for players on loan as you've seen with LA2, NYRB2, etc.
This is interesting... so the implication (maybe not even implied, but explicit) is that the reserve team doesn't need to be revenue neutral. It would truly be a cost of business for the parent. I was thinking about the PDL club drawing its own followers (much like a triple-A baseball team) but being close enough to the parent to make call-ups "easy". More concisely, I was thinking about this *exactly* like a farm-team in baseball. Additionally, I was thinking about expanding north toward Iowa or Nebraska for building out the academy system. We could have a third "center" (in addition to Garden City, KS) where we could expand the youth vetting/training system. EDIT: I just decided to do some research. Ha! From here the Garden City project includes the "acquisition of [a] Premier Development League (PDL) franchise to play their matches at the championship field stadium, which would probably be owned and operated by a local Garden City investor and fully supported by Sporting." So, maybe this could be our future PDL squad/location?
I see the pros and cons for both courses of action. The only way I would go outside of KC is that if another investor came on board to pick up some of the tab. Developmentally, I guess there is mostly good reasons to stay in town, but I don't think I would go to more than one or two matches a year.
What having the team locally in KC also does is like what Portland and RSL have done with their affiliates sending first team players recovering from injury to the USL affiliate to train/play as they recover. It makes those situations easier. For example having the USL affiliate in KC would have allowed Vermes to send Myers to play with them this weekend (assuming the game wasn't on turf) to get him more playing time while the first team was going to Vancouver since he knew he wasn't going to play him on the turf. Portland did similar with Will Johnson for a game or two.
I agree. I could see the "in-town" synergies with the training and player health facilities of the parent being shared by the affiliate. BUT, with the number of fixtures that already come through town (and the women's games) I can't see there being much of a paying audience for the product. In another community, I can imagine it producing some revenue.
Well it seems to now with the OKC terms in place. Putting it in another city I'd want other investors involved, those other investors are going to want to be looking after their investment in "Sporting Omaha" not Sporting KC. They're going to want to be focused on making that team competitive which may not include developing players as much as we want. The other thing is a number of the "2" teams have been using academy players, you're not going to want those high school kids traveling like that.
Except in the other community you have to rent a facility to play at, rent further facilities for players to use to train at, probably stay at as well when players are there on loan. There's more start up and usage fees involved with putting it in another city, especially with a field already available at the training center. And based on the average attendance for most "2" teams attendance isn't that big of a concern. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_USL_season#Attendance
Chicago sent Magee to St. Louis when he came back. I think the fact that we haven't sent as much to OKC is due to the roster size decreasing, the fact that we haven't even put together a full bench in a few games and OKC probably more interested in competiting than housing our developers intermittently. Either way, it's time to put a USL team out there. We're good at developing talent, and this would only enhance it.
There is a healthy balance between SKC supply and local supporter demand. I think there are fans that don't come because the aftermarket prices get too high - and that's good... We've had a long run of good seasons. You want to still fill the stadium when the team has a dry-spell, demand relaxes, and prices moderate. There's a corollary argument for stadium expansion. Adding a USL team adds SKC supply to the region. I'm not sure it creates new demand.... So I take a small bit of salt with the stats in the USL attendance numbers of "2" teams. The Pacific Northwest is a crazy-land when it comes to soccer. I'd think that a team playing at Swope is going to draw similarly to NYRB II and LAG II. All that said, managing supply/demand isn't the point. It's making the team better and getting us to the point that we keep painting the wall (which happily comes with the synergistic benefit of piquing demand). Provided that adding a second team doesn't overload the training and health facilities, it's immensely easier on the expense side of the ledger to have it be local. Having common ownership resolves the tension of call-ups to the senior squad. It makes sense.
I posted attendance more to show that most teams don't seem to care much about attendance for their '2' teams. I think we'd be announced between 500-1,000 each game and I don't think they'd care too much
But I think Vermes would be more willing to send guys to the USL team for a weekend (like Myers this weekend) if the team was local.
I think the Houston/Rio Grand Valley situation will be interesting to view. So far they're the only team that appears to be putting out a full USL team in a non local location. For SKC, there would likely need to be a local ownership group that takes care of stadium fees, marketing, etc (similar to what it looks like Houston is getting). I would assume that SKC would pick up the costs of player salaries as well as coaching/training costs. To me, the benefits of that arrangement is very little over a cost controlled stadium (Swope Championship Field) that they currently have. It doens't provide as much interaction between the SKC coaching staff and the USL roster players or coaching staff, and likely doens't provide as much cross over training for those teams too (SKC players training with USL squad and vis versa). I guess if there was a split in revenue from the non local option where SKC gains something financially that they may not gain by not selling tickets at Swope or something. But they're not paying for many things that way. They'd be better off selling a few tickets at Swope, giving a ton away for free if you show a KCMO/KCK ID (to attract non suburban fans to the SKC brand ... lets be honest, there's still growth that could happen there) and try to sell a few hot dogs and coke's. Swope Championship field suddenly becomes home to the FCKC team, the USL team (Swope Park Rangers), and maybe the KC Blues (rugby) and you get the capacity up to 4-5k and try to attract a different group of fans there. I don't know ... I'd rather see it local. I'd be all about helping some locations where we have Acadamy Affiliates try to get a team in USL (help train ticket sales, marketing staff, etc) and possibly work with them with regards to developing youth in that area (lets say a Omaha kid wants to go pro at 17 but stay in Omaha for the time being, plays for the Omaha USL club but since he was trained under the Sporting Omaha acadamy they let Sporting have the first right of refusal at the time the player moves away from Omaha ... or something like that). The more professional options youth players have in their own communities, the more serious and attractive it is to stick with the acadamy I would think.
Report out of Louisville that we'll have a '2' team next year. http://www.courier-journal.com/stor...isville-city-fcs-eastern-conference/31478497/
So ... when is it too early to start throwing out names to play on this team? Assuming there will be a few draft picks, probably 4 or 5 from the MLS team at a given time. A few acadamy or former acadamy players possibly???
Danny Barrow. http://www.thebluetestament.com/2015/8/11/9134083/sporting-kc-to-field-a-usl-team-for-2016
So... Where? Any ideas? Barrow would be nice to get in there along with Kempin and, for example, Lopez. Idk if there are a whole lot more players we're not using in the first team for depth. Maybe Quintilla if he doesn't fit into the team well to start, but I doubt it. Well this way, we'll probably get to keep a few more of next year's draft picks. Outside of the first round, we've had a tendency to catch in release in the last few years. I'm looking forward to it either way.
Swope, Sporting Park, or barnstorm around based on Robb's Tweet from June. Wednesday morning pol...if we did affiliated usl games in kc, where would you go watch: swope, sporting park or moving around metro/region?— Robb Heineman (@RobbHeineman) June 24, 2015
If Sporting 2 (please call them Swope Park Rangers, pretty please) does happen, I really hope the team is based at the Swope Soccer Complex. I believe that having them at Swope gives Sporting a chance to connect to a community that Sporting has not fully immersed itself in. Especially when you take into account the funding mechanisms that were used for Swope. While the "if the best athletes in America played soccer" conversation is the most over discussed thing in American Soccer, getting inner city kids into soccer or into the academy can only be seen as a good thing for Sporting.
That's the reason I'm not a fan of having a Sporting 2 side play at Sporting Park, on a smaller scale, of course. They could have incredible attendance and it still look like pretty much no one there in a comparatively massive stadium. It's like digging a 12 ft pool for 5 ft of water. Still going to be a lot of fun, but it'll just look pretty sad.