Much of the coverage and media discussion was done over the last few weeks after the original announcement an leading up to last night's vote. That basically ended this phase of the story. The next big media coverage will likely be when Jeff Cooper and/or MLS makes an official statement on the next steps towards awarding a team. The location question has been discussed to death and Jeff Cooper himself said he looked at several options on both sides of the river and this location worked out the best. The location is 10 minutes away from downtown. No one has issues going downtown to Cardinals, Rams, and Blues games, yet this is perceived as being a looooooong way to go for soccer, primarily because it sits in Illinois. Folks from South County will have an easier drive up I-255 than going through downtown. Some from North County will have the same option from the North using I-270 to I-255. And the Hwy 40 construction/closure is in my opinion is a non-issue. Hwy 40 is scheduled to be closed in stretches in 2008 and 2009 ONLY. The team hopes to start play in 2009, but it might be 2010 or later. So the worst case is traffic issues from West County for one season.
The ownership group has said that the '09 target date is only viable if ground breaks this November. Obviously, that'll be tough, but it is possible - this vote wasn't the first step, it's actually one of the later steps.
Cooper stated on his blog that this is the culmination of two years of work between him and the city of Collinsville. This is much further along than it might appear to outsiders, and a groundbreaking in November is not out of the question.
A better question is why waste so many question marks One wasn't effective enough Think of us poor folks who can't afford any.
With an 8 team playoff cut in a 16 (or 18) team league you have A LOT of teams playing for the last spots. Relegation might make the bottom teams have something to play for, but an 8 team playoff means the middle teams have something to play for... Top 4 going to SuperLiga (and the $1 million), Top 8 going for playoffs the MLS Cup... you probably have the top 12 teams gunning for those spots up until the final weeks of the season. Here's to St Louis, Philly, Seattle, etc - the more the merrier, 16 to 18 teams!
SuperLiga maybe expanded to 16 over all teams in the near future, 8 from MLS and 8 from the Mexican League. So the 8 playoff teams will qualify for SuperLiga and the middle of the pack teams will have something to fight for... As for the last four bottom teams, maybe they can compete for the top draft pick, with the best of the bottom four getting the top pick...just an idea! But I do feel a single structure system can work in MLS, but with an American twist on it. Relegation will not work with our current structure of pro soccer leagues here now.
It's closer to Indianapolis than it is to Chicago or KC. Not that it matters, since there's no team there. No team in Louisville either, which is also 4 hours away.
Not to bring this too off topic, but I'd like see Superliga stay at 4 and in the future go to 6, playoffs stay at 8, and US Open Cup be at 12. I'd rather they put more money than teams into Superliga.
Is there a financing plan in place to actually build the stadium on the annexed land? That would be the key item to making St. Lous a slam dunk for expansion.
Although most of the stories from today are in the business sections, there has been sports stories and columns in the past month that has increased intrest. You'd better believe and MLS announcement would make a splash in the paper in many sections.
Same thing they do in leagues with 18 or 20 teams... play 34 or 38 games for a season - why is it worse for MLS than for MANY leagues in Europe? The SSS will allow the scheduling once teams are primary tenants. I mean if Bobby Convey can start 45 games out of 46 for Reading in '05/06 - then MLS players can play 34 or 38. Frank Lampard (for example) PLAYED in: 2001/02 - 46 (4 as sub) 2002/03 - 51 (4 as sub) 2003/04 - 66 (5 as sub) 2004/05 - 67 (5 as sub) 2005/06 - 53 (2 as sub) 2006/07 - 71 (4 as sub) MLS players are just as fit and as soon as they can get off the excessive wear of turf they should be able to play 40-50 games a season. League - 30,34,38 games depending on size of league (16,18,20 teams) MLS Cup/Playoffs - MAX 5 games for Finalists under current format SuperLiga - MAX 5 games for Finalists under current format USOC - MAX 4 games for Finalists under current format So, if we had a 20 team league and one team made it to the final game of all three competitions (MLS Cup / SuperLiga / USOC) they'd play in 52 games. Frank Lampard has played in AT LEAST that many games the last 5 years. MLS players can do it too, say what you want about their 'technical ability' but they are outstanding athletes.
Wow. If St. Louis joins they will be put in the Eastern conference, right. This would unbalance the conferences so there would be 8 in the East and 7 in the West. Won't this screw over Philadelphia? What are they going to do if they join, play in the West? It looks like Seattle would have the clear path to the promised land if St. Louis joins.
This is great news and all that but I just wish somehow the stadium could've gotten done on the Missouri side. This could've been around the soccer park in Fenton, right? Jeff Cooper said he did talk to people on the Missouri side but it didn't work out so WHY didn't it work out on the Missouri side???
Right off I255 which makes getting to it ridiculously easy from anywhere in the STL metro area. I love I255! Makes life so much easier...
Well no I'd think a realignment would be in order, perhaps back to the three division format of a few years ago. Conference alignment isn't going to be a roadblock to anyone, especially as MLS has changed alignment so many times already. Three divisions might be cooler anyway, you could have E-Revs, DCU, Red Bulls, Philly, Toronto C- ChiTown, Cowbus, KC, St Louis, FC Dallas, Houston W- RSL, Colorado, LAG, Chivas, San Jose its big country, some kind of regionalization is necessary I think.
Garber has said numerous times that because of the USA's size they will stick to conferences. A single table would definately be more logical and simpler and something most fans would probably welcome.
Check out the playoff discussion in MLS General. I favor 6 teams only, top two get a week bye as a reward for a stellar regualr season. Less spots, more competition. Now there are too many spots, and teams coast at the end.
Wow....how weak would that western division be? If there are 16 teams, 2 conferences make sense. Now, if you add Seattle into the West for 2009 or 10 then both 2 or 3 divisions would be uneven, and it could go either way. The MLS is sucha work in progress who knows what will happen.
But with some kind of single table it would not be so much of a problem of how many team the east has over the west. At some point the MLS will have to move to a single table like structure. Maybe as soon as 2008 or 2009, but it's coming soon...it's only logical!
Did he say that in terms of the current / past sizes or in consideration of future expansion? Because using "size" as a limiting factor seems silly when everyone in 2007 played everyone else Home and Away - we just added a game for each "intra conference" team... i.e. MLS played a 24 game single table Home and Away this season, so what is the cost/hassle difference between RSL (for example) playing 3 AWAY games in 2007 at LA/CDC/HOU to being 3 AWAY games at STL/PHL/SJE? I don't see the incremental cost/travel time as significant... Perhaps Garber was explaining why they have opted away from a single table under the current/previous formats rather than a statement of future formats?? I don't know.