Metro Detroit? Metro Detroit would be an ideal location for an expansion team. We've produced quite a few Nats (Cobi Jones, Alexi Lallas, Kerry Zavagnin, Brian Maisonneuve), we have one of the best PDL teams in the country, and the area has a high immigrant population. It really is a soccer hotbed. What do you think?
Re: Metro Detroit? welcome to big soccer. thanks for putting this in the right forum ("expansion", as opposed to "general" or "news and analysis"). There's a sticky at the top of this section of this forum. It's a reference thread on all cities that have been mentioned. You could also do a search for the numerous threads on Detroit. reference thread
Bucks Fall in PDL Playoffs. Michigan Bucks lost to Des Moines 4-1 on Saturday night in the Central Conference championship game. They finished 12-5-1 on the season. Friday night they beat Boulder 4-1 in OT and Des Moines beat Chicago Fire Reserves 3-0. Great season Bucks!!!!
Non-soccer related, but quite the shake-up with the Detroit papers today (well, Wednesday). Knight Ridder sells off the Freep and its interest in the Detroit Newspaper Agency (the company that operates the Joint Operating Agreement). They get some Western newspapers (Boise, Idaho; Olympia, Wash.; Bellingham, Wash.) from Gannett. Gannett dumps the News, picks up the Freep. MediaNews Group (which publishes the Denver Post among other publications) picks up the Detroit News and the minority interest in the DNA. Among the changes in store, the News will move to morning publication and go head-to-head with the Freep. The News and Freep will now publish seperate Saturday editions. The Freep will publish a Sunday paper, but the News will not. A former co-worker of mine who now works for the News says they're cautiously optimistic while the Freepers are "amazingly unhappy. I understand why."
As someone who recently became a Gannett employee by a Gannett purchase of the parent company I work(ed) for, so do I.
So this means the JOA is dead, right? The papers will be completely separate and do no collaborating on weekend papers or advertising?
No, the JOA is still in place. Gannett will get a bigger share of the profits though (IIRC it was a 50-50 split between them and Knight Ridder), how much wasn't disclosed. Plus they're going to change the terms of JOA from its current 100-year timeframe to 20 years with further 20-year options. The Saturday papers will be seperate, but the Freep will have the only Sunday paper. It all still has to be OKed by the Justice Department, but it's not expected to have any problems.
2005 PDL All-Conference Teams announced http://www.uslsoccer.com/home/105394.html Kevin Taylor and Ryan McMahen make all-central-conference. W-League Playoffs http://wleague.uslsoccer.com/home/104754.html In the Central Conference, the Central Florida Krush downed division champion Detroit Jaguars 3-2. (Both teams went in with identicle 11-3-0 records. Detroit finishes 11-4-0.) W-League 2005 All Conference Teams announced http://wleague.uslsoccer.com/home/105119.html Kathryn Cumming and Melissa Dobbyn make all-central-conference. W-League 2005 All League Team announced http://wleague.uslsoccer.com/home/105160.html Melissa Dobbyn makes all-W-league.
OK, on to other stuff. Just got in my tickets for the WCQ in C-Bus, September 3. Got two ducats, one might be an "extra" (still to be determined). Anybody want to get together a convoy down to central Ohio?
Back to another old question: anybody want to organize a viewing session for the WCQ this Wednesday? Again, the standard options in Detroit area are Spectadium and Sneakers (Ferndale, on Woodward, the Buck's sponsor). If Ann Arbor people want to organize their viewing somewhere, post it here.
I still have one extra ticket for the USA-MEX game, if anyone wants to C-bus together (PM me). It was a good amount of people at Spectadium to watch the last qualie, on the Wenesday. There were two or three whole seperate groups; had the game on several screens.
I would love to take you up on that ticket (I live in Clinton Township) and meet a few new soccer folks in the area (I just moved back here about 5 months ago)....but, alas, I have my kids that weekend. Damn Divorce..... Speaking of, is Spectadium pretty cool? My parents live right around the corner. Would be nice and easy to walk back to their place had I had one too many pints.
also here... looks like albion is too much of a pointyball school to sell off my sams army ticket to the game. if anyone is interested drop me a PM. the only catch is that you'll probably have to drive to albion (west of jackson) this week to pick it up. will sell at cost if I dont have to drive anywhere. USA supporters only of couse.
Amazing, not that many takers for my extra ticket to C-bus (leaving from Royal Oak). Maybe I'll just have to leave it at the Sam's Army tent at the site, if no one else wants it. Net access for me will be scarce, so maybe leave me a message at my land line (check my profile, under AIM name).
I wish both Toronto and Detroit got expansion teams. As they are only 4-5 hours apart by car we could develop a really goood rivalry. Supporters could visit eachothers cities to cheer on their teams when playing eachother, just like in Europe. It would make for great stadium atmospheres. I wonder how far Columbus is from Detroit? I definately think the MLS needs more cities closer together to develop some healthy rivalries.
I agree, geo-rivals would be great. Columbus, I think, is about 3-4 hours from Detroit, if that far. Not too bad. Chicago is about 6 hours from Detroit, or just a tad under.
If we ever get our MLS Detroit team, Chicago, Columbus and Toronto would pretty much take care of all our rivalry needs.
Toronto just announced a 20K SSS today (see thread). It is believed that Garber will announce a 2007 expansion slot for Toronto now that the SSS is in place. Come on Detroit, you guys can do it too!
The more I think about a south-east Michigan team, the more I think it shouldn't be a Detroit team. It's the northern suburbs that would support a MLS team. How about a MLS team for Troy, Birmingham, Rochester, or Utica....
That would most likely be the case. It would be a "Detroit" team, much like the Pistons, but the stadium would most likely be in the northern suburbs. This is the case with Chicago, Dallas, and I think, LA. Troy was, at one time, entertaining building a minor league baseball stadium down where the old Troy High School used to be. I'm not sure what is going on with that anymore. Not that I'm advocating an MLS team using a baseball stadium, but I think it goes to show that some of those communities would be at least interested in entertaining the idea. Not to mention, the suburbs are hotbeds for soccer, and have been for years. The location in Troy (where they were going to build the baseball stadium) would be a great location actually. It is right off of I-75, with I-696 and M-59 to the south and north, respectively. It is a tremendously safe and clean area, which families would certainly enjoy. The only issue, off the top of my head, would be parking. The best situation, IMO, would be a downtown stadium in terms of the whole look at feel thing, but I'm not sure it's at all practical.
I just think that if a team was homed in Troy, the team name should be the Troy Whatevers. Of course, i have no idea what I'm talking about. Marketing would probably dictate using the market city name...
Thats what it boils down to really, marketing. I'm not sure many people would tune in to watch the Carson City Galaxy vs. the Bridgeview Fire.
The ideal spot for an MLS stadium is along the I-696 corridor, between, say, Telegraph Road and about Van Dyke. There needs to be easy freeway access for all of the fans downriver and in the western burbs (e.g., Plymouth). My dream is that the Hazel Park Raceway goes belly-up, and the thing gets built there.