USL-1 in Kitsap County, WA

True. I wasn't trying to prove a point. I was just putting it out there that Wenatchee might have a pro team.

 

I don't know much about WA., Been there only twice (Seattle/Marysville and Spokane). But I'll throw ideas around anyway. I like being shot down. Bellingham would be nice, but Abbotsford, BC aleady has a PDL team, and I thought that was the same media market.

Tri-Cities, why not? They have indoor, I guess. What sort of soccer culture exists there?

Walla Walla, practically the same market as TC, no?

Palouse (or what KLEW likes to call "Quad Cities"): I'd be curious. I don't think men's soccer exists at either WSU or UI, so maybe some fans are hurting for some sort of men's soccer out there.

I hope Bremerton/KitCo gets dropped. Seems too close.

 

Tri-Cities is a possibility. They have an arena football team that does well. Walla Walla is very small. 30,000 people. And nothing nearby (Tri-Cities are about an hour). Palouse is very small as well. The only towns with any kind of decent greater metro area in east washington are (in order) Spokane-Yakima-Tri-Cities. Yakima has the Reds, which used to be pro when all usl teams were pro. but their stadium is old and outdated and not big at all. CWU is nearby, but it only has club soccer.

 

BFD, you'll notice I said "could" but was arguing against "should" and the pro division of the PASL is going to be regionalized (look at the list of teams and how they're going to play) way more than the USL-1. And they haven't even started play, so um... what does this prove again?

 

That answer your question?

 

Then why quote me as though you had some kind of counter-example?

 

This isn't going to happen - or it won't last more than a year even if he miraculously instantiates the stadium. Effectively the same thing as it will leave Vancouver and you all high and dry.

As you correctly recognize, having an owner who can pay the annual fee and pay for a year's worth of salaries and travel expenses is a necessary but not sufficient condition for anything approaching viability.

Actually, without the sugar daddy owners for you all and Vancouver, I don't think any of the remaining western USL-1 teams are viable in the long-term due to the brutal travel expenses. I'm fairly certain that I read that you all lost money in '05 which is what led to the budget tightening in '06 to make you less of a leaner on the Beavers' revenues and I'd be totally shocked if the 'Caps take in more than Kerfoot lavishes on them. And we all know how financially strained Minnesota has been.

 

Isnt that why the USL is looking for expansion teams in the west for the next couple of years.

 

Yes, but looking and finding are two different things, right?

 

cuz i thought it was funny you brought up wenatchee and then a few days later it sounds like they are getting a pro team.

 

Still not enough - unless you can get teams in Spokane and Boise and a couple teams in California. And are willing to hardball players like nobody's business.

And aren't afraid of losing money for years (or maybe forever).

 

I'm being brutal because this whole thing is a bit of a farce.

Waite's not some shyster like the VB "owner" and he's obviously an actual fan but he's underestimated construction costs from Day 1, probably overestimated fan interest out there, has too little on site parking (since no one is going to be taking transit there) at his most recent sites, been forced out to the periphery from a much better site at the fairgrounds, etc.

I know you want this to work but I want a pony that poops gold bricks and pees diamonds - simply not very realistic.

 

This is just madness......I can't believe this guy is actually going to go through with this insane idea.

Let me make sure I understand this......he is going to buy a old rodeo ground in Poulsbo, he is going to convert it into a soccer pitch, put up stands and then try to have a team compete against the MLS just across Puget Sound. To make matters worse he has about 100 parking spaces and expects people to drive 40-80 minutes from Seattle to this rodeo ground, park a mile away and take busses' from his parking spot to the game.

This is sheer insanity on every possible level. I doubt they will last longer than the Edmonton Aviators. I know F Marcos reads these boards and the USL Discussions one as well. My only advice is make sure this poor guy buys his plane tickets early in the season, when the league takes this disaster over it'll be easier to complete the schedule.

I hope this guy enjoys pouring money down the drain.

 

He isn't THAT insane, the shelts, and the fairgrounds location (the rodeo stadium) was actually pretty good for a minor league stadium of any kind. But he's no longer at the fairgrounds location.

The expectation was also always that most of the fans would be from the peninsula.

There's no reason to invent a strawman here.

 

Couverite - I hope you are right. Something tells me this could be the biggest fiasco in the league since the Edmonton Aviators.

Straw men or not. I can guarentee one thing. This guy is funding this lock-stock and barrel. There is no bank in the Western world who would lend money for this business plan.

 

You misunderstand me.

I don't think this is going to be a success at all but there is no reason to invent things to make the plan seem worse than it is by throwing in fake details or picking the worst bits and pieces of previous versions of his plan.

Right now, he expects to draw a few thousand from around the whole peninsula to Poulsbo at a stadium built next to a community college satellite campus. There will only be a few hundred on-site spots at this location. The Poulsbo city government seems alright with granting him permits but no shovels have hit the earth.

He wants to model the club's relationship to the community on "rural" Norwegian clubs like Viking (seriously).

This is unrealistic twaddle, of course, but he's not expecting to be among the highest drawing USL-1 clubs or something (a la Edmonton's plans back in the day). If there were a western USL-2 equivalent, it's actually not a horrible approach but well, there ain't so it's ridiculous.

 

No you misunderstand. There is no upside to this idiotic idea. I asked a question if he was converting a rodeo ground, if he expected to bus people. Not made an assertion that I knew this.

But there is no way this ridiculous idea will fly. Straw man or not.

 

Reading other things on your website, it sounds like there's a real possibility of the stadium being built at Olympic College Poulsbo.

Seems like a good solution to the parking question.

I still have serious doubts as to whether the team will draw enough to make this whole thing a good idea, though.

 

No, the shelts, you do misunderstand me more than I you. Forgive me for reading "Let me get this straight..." as a rhetorical device and not an honest question, however.

This is a big waste of time and money but Waite is clearly a fan and not someone out there to make a buck like Edmonton's owners were so he's at a better starting point in some ways.

And really, what's the worst case scenario here? He actually builds the stadium, the team can't draw flies and gets turned into a PDL team or folds? That's pretty crappy but it would seem counter to his so far demonstrated nature to dump the team halfway through a season or some other such nonsense.

More likely is that simply nothing happens. No stadium gets built and the pressure on Portland and Vancouver to move up or down is immediate rather than deferred.