Must have missed this line in the article.............."The cities to join Rio Grande Valley FC next season will almost certainly include Philadelphia, Orlando and Cincinnati, though official announcements are still forthcoming."
I'm not sure @thomas19064 missed anything. The blogger is asserting that Philly "will almost certainly " Have a team because of this quote linked to a Zeitlin article “We’re looking at all options,” Sakiewicz said. So a blogger quoted a blogger quoting legendary truthiness guy Nick Sakiewicz saying "maybe". Clearly. Sounds like a done deal to me, and any of you who doubt it are Negadelphians.
yeah, I skimmed the article really briefly and basically came to the conclusion that if USL is already locked in for next season then we would of been farther a long than we seemingly are... totally missed the Philly call out because it was late at night and apparently I like getting myself angry before bed...my line of thinking came from every other report has made it seem like the Union are in the very early exploratory stages of USL stuff... I'll also admit to having zero faith in the FO and always assuming the worst. I'll be cautiously optimistic for now.
Sorry, should have used sarcastic font. I doubt the Union's ability to get dressed and drive to the stadium without hurting themselves. Some bs blog about "we are thinking about it " sounds incredibly far from a reality. I just hope they use the same cocktail napkin from "How to Own an MLS Club" to lay out the strategy for USL.
Currently USL requires at least 3000 seats. In upgrading to division 2 status that requirement might go up.
It took them 5 years of putting sod on layaway to get a training field, and you think they have enough money for benches?
USL acts like its MLS partnership is driving its stock up but the attendance numbers for "2" teams are downright embarrassing. Real Monarchs are the only 2 team that average more than 3000 a game, Portland and Seattle crack 2000, and there are four "2"s that draw less than a thousand a match (LA, NYRB, Montreal, and Toronto.) Pushing for D-II status on the back of those numbers might be tough. Their non-affiliated teams do significantly better, including HCI. From Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_USL_season
Attendance number for the "2" teams is totally irrelevant. It's not like the MLS sides are going to abruptly fold and ditch the league over poor attendance, MLS teams are in it for development, generally that's all that matters to them. In return the USL gets more stability and a dramatically larger league footprint, something that they never really had before. The MLS teams have also brought in a high level of quality generally. LA II and Seattle II are among the best teams in the league, and now USL is seen as a direct gateway to MLS teams for aspiring players. The partnership helps big time...
LA2 is one of the best teams in the league and averages less than 1000 a match? Ringing endorsement. I don't think the partnership is a waste but the numbers really indicate that this is a D-3 league smashed together with a reserve league. Charging towards D-2 status is a total power play. Anyway, the purpose of my original post was really to question the need for stadiums with a capacity of larger than 3000.
There's more to smart expansion that just having markets that will put up "sexy" attendance figures.... LAFC, NYCFC, ATL, Miami... All smart moves for reasons other than support.
With Gio Dos Santos on board now......don't think attendance is going to be a struggle for them any more....
Does your landlord allow you to pay rent in warm, fuzzy feelings that can't be quantified? Attendance pays the bills. You don't get TV contracts or sponsors without getting attendance. I don't think there's anything smart about operating a team in a sexy market that doesn't show up to games (see U.S.A., Chivas).
You also don't get (big) TV contracts without major markets and big time players. LA/Miami/NY.... Destination cities.... LA/NY/ATL... MAJOR media markets... All 4 of those teams will be big spenders... Big markets + Big Players + Big Money = Bigger TV rating and more TV Money.... with more attention and more tv money, more spending and players will come and more attendance will come naturally. Attendance can only pay the bill up until a certain point.. after that it's all about TV and that's what the league needs to grow. Chivas USA was a failure for every reason except the LA market.
I believe there are rules in place that limit the amount of traffic allowed onto the campus of Cal State Dominguez Hills on evenings and weekends.
http://www.uslsoccer.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=32800&ATCLID=210253288 USL is going form a 24 game regular season to 30 games - means if Union2 is a go for next year, the likes of Hoppenot, Catic, Bird, Lee, McLaughlin (and likely Blake by the looks of it) will get the chance to play a lot of games in 2016.
Well now. It looks like the Union will be announcing next Wednesday that they’ll be launching a USL team in Bethlehem.— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) August 14, 2015