{Update: article now linked} http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news2329.html This is the cover story of the Hartford Business Journal for August 6, 2007. A copy just arrived at my work, but this story is not online yet. I won't rewrite the contents but hopefully the article will be posted soon on www.hartfordbusiness.com. The title is "Krafty Maneuvering". The cover photo is of Landon Donovan against T&T at the World Cup Qualifier in Hartford in 2005. In red text above the title it says "REVOLUTION-ARY WAR". The subtitle is "Infighting kills Rentschler pro soccer plans". In short, the Northland AEG partnership which took over Rentschler Field this summer privated worked to bring an expansion franchise to Hartford. One of Northland CEO Larry Gottesdiener's quotes is, "What was communicated to m is that Hartford fell under the territorial rights of the New England Revolution and their owner, Kraft, would have to release us to make us available. That was a couple months ago and, to my knowledge, we have not been released." I strongly suggest that everyone in Connecticut think long and hard about supporting the New England Revolution and MLS. As for me, I will not watch a single MLS game until the league fixes this. I will post the full article when it appears on the website.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! No way thats changing. Its pretty common in American sports. Lew Wolff would have liked to move the A's to San Jose, instead of Fremont, but the SF Giants own the territorial rights to Santa Clara County (where SJ is) and would not have allowed it.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! Well I don't like baseball either. If MLS is going to keep stupid little rules like this, I honestly hope the league fails.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! Sounds very undemocratic ... Is it ultimately up to MLS HQ to decide who has what territory, or can Kraft claim Connecticut unilaterally? I know MLSE has Canada rights until 2010, and same with Red Bull in the NY market but those rights were guaranteed by the league, not simply claimed by those owners. My understanding is that those rights were instituted for those clubs to establish their roots first before a new competitor could come in and rock the boat. But NE has been in Boston for 12 years, and they seem to be perhaps the most limited and the least ambitious club in the league... Would Garber blackball a dynamic owner in that market in favor of a dud like Kraft??? I guess MLS owes him, but at what cost?? I mean is Hartford that inferior to cities like Columbus and Salt Lake that they don't deserve a shot??
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! Territorial rights are dumb. But it's not like Hartford would be getting a team any time soon regardless.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! dude you suck this your second post that you cut down MLS? WTF?
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! If they have a stadium and an owner.... I haven't read the article (obviously) so I'm not going to launch myself into the midst of gioca's passion play just yet, but if the situation was that Gottesdiener is/was really serious about getting an expansion team in Hartford, and Kraft refused to negotiate over territorial rights or put an absolutely outlandish value on them (yes - you're going to have to pay for dropping an expansion team in there. That's expected) then I think I might throw up.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! While I don't doubt I that the Krafts want no competition in Hartford, I somehow suspect that their opposition isn't close to the biggest hurdle Hartford was facing to get an MLS team in the next 3-5 years. Quite frankly, Hartford is WAY down the list. Seattle, Phiily, another team in NY, Cleveland, Portland, Saint Louis, Atlanta, Vancouver and/or Montreal and of course the intriguing Vegas fantasy would all appear to be further up the pecking order for an MLS team than Hartford. And to be clear, I'm not anti-Hartforfd. I think a team there would be good for MLS in that it creates more close-ish geographical rivalry and I think games are more exciting when lots of visiting fans can get there and create more atmosphere. Obviously, a Hartford team would have that in spades with the Revs, Red Bulls and the potential second NY team. But there are just too many teams ahead of them in the queue for the Kraft's opposition to be the biggest hurdle to overcome.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA all have "stupid little rules like this."
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! Indeed. And this isn't the first time that territorial rights has put the kibosh on an expansion effort. Back in 2000/2001 a Paul Oliu led group tried to develop an expansion effort, including a stadium and youth academy, in Trenton, New Jersey - but Nick S. killed it off because it was in the MetroStars 75 mile territorial rights zone.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! I assumed Rentschler would be part of any effort by these guys.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! What he said. The good news out of this story is it seems that a lot of groups are out there saying "how can I get an MLS team?" The more of that we have, the better it is for the league. It means more selectivity in ownership (which is a good thing), more visibility (which is a good thing), stronger franchises (which is a good thing) and a better national presence (which is a good thing). That said, I just spent about 5-6 posts explaining why Vancouver and Montreal aren't getting MLS franchises before 2010 b/c they're far down the list. And frankly, given what TFC has shown and the potential of Vancouver and Montreal, I'd say that as cities with fan potential, I'd rate them over Hartford. No offense meant just that if the SSS and investors emerge, it looks like there are a lot of good candidates for expansion and the need to make sure this isn't too fast and too soon (ie: 25 teams in the league by 2010) is probably a bigger issue than finding ownership groups.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! I like Rentschler. I've been there multiple times for MNT and WNT games. Rentschler would be the worst SSS in MLS. And, yes, I've been to all of the SSS in MLS.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! A Hartford team would only end up getting moved to Raleigh eventually.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! this brings up the subject of who will get the next few teams.there are more than enough interested citys owners etc...how does garber choose between conn.ariz.philly.miami.san antonio. new york.san diego etc..
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! The point of the article is that Kraft is the only hurdle to Hartford being in MLS. Rentschler Field is the stadium, and as it's being managed by a corsortium including AEG, it can be converted to fit the SSS profile, in fact all seating in the stadium currently is temporary. Seats will eventually be installed. UConn football is small potatoes and the school is 45 minutes away from the stadium. The stadium was built mainly to entertain the people of Connecticut and was built with soccer in mind. Northland Development and it's CEO Larry Gottesdiener clearly have the portfolio to run a team well. They're public target was the NHL, which in my opinion is a mistake, as the league is only losing importance and interest. They're private initiative was the MLS, the Revolution is the ONLY reason why Hartford is not a future MLS expansion city. Despite whatever the know-it-alls here seem to think.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! Why would MLS want to expand to Hartford when 1) Rentschler Field is a college football stadium 2) Capacity is 40,000 3) Hartford is a small market. Population 124,512 4) Not to mention the Revs.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! Ugh. 1) Rentschler Field is a MULTI PURPOSE municipal stadium built to FIFA regulations. 2) So. 3) Give me a break. The actual city of Hartford is basically downtown and a couple neighborhoods. The borders were drawn in the 17th century... 4) Who are now enemy #1.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! And I think you've hit the central issue. Selectivity. Ten years ago, MLS, LLC would've creamed its collective jeans to have a team play at a Rentschler Stadium. Four years ago, MLS, LLC jumped at Dave Checketts' promise to have a stadium deal done in "six months" The rules of expansion were already changing. This years explosion in Toronto, showing the benefits of having a franchise open in a SSS, followed by the media attention brought by the DP process, television partners with money on the line, and - by extension - the David Beckham phenomena, has accelerated the change. MLS is not going to pull an NASL style explosion. It's likely to continue averaging less than one team per year. As we get back to 14, I expect to see two teams added every two to four years. And with investor operator groups starting to make money on their operations, as well as getting additional income from television contracts and expansion fees, more and more groups become interested in getting in while the getting is good. Frankly, I'm sure that if an ownership group in Hartford was serious enough, they could buy off Red Bull and the Revolutions - just as Peter Angelos was paid off when the Expos moved inside the Orioles territory. Bob Kraft hasn't "killed" anything.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! Also, after July 1st of 2007, Rentschler Field is run by the potential owner, who is not AEG FYI. AEG is a partner. The owner would be Larry Gottesdiener. Look him up, he owns half of downtown Hartford as well as much in Boston. He bid on the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! "Eight years after teasing local fans with the idea of relocating the New England Patriots to Hartford, owner Robert Kraft remains the major hurdle of bringing another kind of football to the area - a Major League Soccer expansion team based at Rentschler Field."
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! So is Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Reliant Stadium in Houston, Qwest Field in Seattle, etc. The number of these new "multipurpose stadiums" hosting MLS teams is exactly one. Strangely enough it's New England, where stadium and team have the same owner--and even there they are looking hard at leaving. This is because "multipurpose stadiums" aren't soccer stadiums.
Re: Bob Kraft Kills Hartford MLS Entry! Rentschler Field is a better soccer stadium than many across the world, and better than plenty of stadiums in MLS.