The U2 Thread

Lol. I don't see the "control"aspect of having it there, unless they train at ppl. I also just don't see myself going up there, much like I didn't go to Harrisburg

 

Paying any attention to attendance numbers for a 2 team is dumb, honestly. Netherlands put three of the big clubs reserve teams in the second division and they averaged 216, 524, and 614 fans last year. Dortmund's II side draws roughly what T2 and S2 draw while Bayern Munich's II side drew under 1.5k on average last year (they will draw more this year because they drew 11.5k to a game against TSV Munich's II side).

The reason for the stadium sizes are because that is what is laid out in the USSF's policy for sanctioning divisions. It is the reason the NASL is trying to find a west coast team, because D2 sanctioning requires it.

 

I'll go see the first home game, cheer on Antoine and the boys, then never set foot in that stadium again.

 

That's prob right.

 

Hope they get the branding right, but excited to get another minor league team here after hockey and baseball.

 

The point I was driving at is that it is bullshit for USL to shoot for D2 status when it's best teams are reserve teams that draw 1/6th of the capacity of the required 3000-seat stadium.

 

It's all a power play since there is no really second division leader in all aspects. Just how nasl and npsl are talking about partnering up for promotion and relegation. It's just to get some sort of stability and edge.

 

I'm thinking the Union are going to pull the Minor League baseball model that Houston has set up with Rio Grande Valley....

Most likely:

• Separate ownership group in Bethlehem that handles all Non-Soccer related activities.
  
• The Union own all players and hire staff involved with the USL Team - they would control/decide what happens up there.

I don't think it's the ideal situation, but it's certainly not a bad one, and it's a big improvement over the current Harrisburg situation. It's a clear path for academy kids to follow, will allow for more loans and control of players, better communication between coaches and keeping tabs on prospects, more places and space for the bottom of our roster and draft picks to go, etc.

 

NASL's Bill Peterson is probably the biggest troll of MLS there is, since the days of Jim Rome. The idea of promotion and relegation is a joke in the american soccer landscape. NPSL is amateur league. So unless NASL plans on fully funding, and building stadiums for newly promoted teams i'm not sure how they would retain D-II status. Oh, and I would just love to see how the players would react to being relegated to amateur status.

If this were a conversation between NASL and USL that is a completely different story. But until the NASL actually have a proposal with real details as to how they overcome these strategic flaws, just assume Bill P. is trolling again.

 

Bethlehem Steel!

 

Tannenwald responded to me on twitter and said he thinks the Union will be the lone owners... which is nice to hear actually... can really focus to team on being development this way.

 

That is interesting. I did not know you could use allocation dollars to set up a US team.

 

honestly, I admit to being a little shocked by this. At times i'm not sure if the Union FO is really serious about developing grassroots players or just giving lip service to being cheap. Being sole owners and doing so in any place other than Chester shows they are looking at the long range picture. It doesn't mean i'm entirely happy with all their choices, but I will give props where props are due.

 

Just another step to sell a turnkey end to end MLS / DIII operation for 200% Profit in a few years.

Smart they didn't plop it in Chester. It cements their footprint against NYRB/NYCFC from a marketing perspective. I guess the odds of a stadium deal in Harrisburg are getting slimmer with this move, though It'll be interesting to see if Pittsburgh makes a MLS run and brings HCI as the minor league, or if DCU changes affiliation to go with HCI moving forward.

 

I would be shocked if a stadium deal ever goes through in Harrisburg that involves public money being spent. The issues that city has regarding public projects are too varied and dysfunctional to list, but even if they had money there would be zero appetite for investing it in a private stadium on a privately owned island.

And didn't Pittsburgh USL team go bankrupt last year? I think HCI's days in Harrisburg are numbered, personally. There are too many larger markets that would love to have a team.

 

Its a somewhat smart move. I just do not understand investing money in a USL Team when we can't even field an MLS quality team.

 

Simple. They can now ask for more money when they eventually sell the team.

 

I can't say that Im going to be the one to lead the change. But I hope something comes upon us all to stop going. Read that post you just said.

This is an investment for them to sell big later. While we just sit here and buy tickets every year. They don't care about the fans. What a shame.

 

The stadium will bump the value up much more than a third-tier minor league club in Bethlehem that won't have its own stadium.

 

They could potentially field a great USL side with marginal MLS players. Hoppenot is a USL star.

 

something is better than nothing.... I'm at the point i'd almost rather them throw in the towel and set their sights on winning the US open cup and USL championship.