I wish someone would throw their hat into the ring man. Things are not solid in the USL1 right now. Cali is looking doubtful for next year. Miami is shaky at best, no crowd, just changed coaches. I heard rumor Rochester is losing money as fast as they can. Finally Seattle might be leaving for pastures anew in the MLS. My personal opinion i think we will lose Cali and Seattle . Miami and Rochester will stick around but that still drops us down to 10 teams. Miami still might lose out if they have another season like this past one. So if Miami drops and we pick up Victoria that keeps us at 10 teams. Not bad but still not great. Maybe the USL needs to look at picking up an official airline sponsor. Luckily the USL2 is doing well with a couple of expansion candidates for next year. As well i heard rumor that the USL is looking at a USL2 west. Maybe the USL should look at lowering the requirements for USL1 and upping them a bit for USL2. Try to find some middle ground and perhaps look at making a consolidated league.
We are going to see some change in the coming years with USL-1, but we should not be concerned. there are a number of teams that will come and some that might go, I have taken a interest with the leagues expansion and this it what I see. Possibly Leaving Seattle (MLS? Tacoma to USL-1 maybe) Victory (League is looking for new ownership as well as www.savethevictory.org Possibly Joining Carolina Dymano PDL (Rumored jump to USL-1) Fresno Fuego PDL (Rumored jump to USL-1) River Plate PR (Owners of the team want into USL-1) Syracuse (Currently in talks with the league strong possibility) Crystal Palace Baltimore (GM says he wants to make the jump to USL-1) Joining Victoria (Will play a season in PDL and will then make the jump) El Paso Patriots (New GM says they will be in USL-1 in 09) To me the future does not look that bleak. Comments?
Oh and by the way Miami here to stay. They are doing all the right things in the head office to build a much better fan base.
Interesting stories. Do you by chance have any links to news items that can confirm any of this as i have only heard of victoria and the river plate interest.
Ok I will have a crack at this. Victoria-http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=400aaaca-99ba-40f8-9af2-415c273d3ef7&k=50945 El Paso-Direct quote from the new Patriots GM in the Menace thread on this site CP Baltimore- In a interview today Pete Medd GM said in the next few years he would like to get CP Baltimore up to USL-1, sorry no link. Syracuse-http://www.syracusefc.net/ Carolina- As I said rumor, but where there is smoke there is usually fire. Fresno-Ditto Victory- Tim Holt sent a e-mail today to the Save the victory folks stating that they are looking for new ownership. I like to think of myself as an optimist, but with the sport being hot right now I think that allot of these things will come true.
Thanks for the links, lots of interesting stuff. It will be exciting to see what comes of it in the next couple of years.
IMO they should when considering expansion groups, they should be using the Railhawks as a model. I think 12 months is the ideal time for a lead up for your first season. It gives you enough time to put everything in place and to actually start selling tickets and sponsorship. It would be great if they could get more teams out west, but only if they can do it right.
the USL1-2 i would like to see in 20 years: First: Seattle, Portland, Carolina, & Atlanta all in MLS by then. MLS West 1. LA Galaxy 2. Colorado Rapids 3. Real Salt Lake 4. Chivas USA 5. Houston Dynamo 6. FC Dallas 7. Kansas City Wizards 8. San Jose Earthquakes 9. Seattle Rangers 10. Portland Wolves 11. Las Vegas Outlaws 12. Vancouver Mounties East 1. New York Red Bulls 2. New England Revolution 3. D.C. United 4. Columbus Crew 5. Chicago Fire 6. Toronto FC 7. Atlanta Locomotives 8. Saint Louis United 9. Philadelphia Independence 10. Florida Athletics (out of Tampa Bay) 11. Cleveland Stokers 12. Carolina Airborne USL1 1. Minnesota Thunder 2. Charleston Battery 3. Puerto Rico Islanders 4. Miami FC 5. Rochester Rhinos 6. Montreal Impact 7. San Diego Pumas 8. New York International 9. Phoenix Diablos 10. San Antonio Generals 11. Milwaukee Rampage 12. Tulsa Roughnecks 13. Detroit Motors 14. Nashville Metros 15. Pittsburgh Champions 16. Orlando Hotshots >17. Sacramento Saints >18. El Paso Patriots USL2 (might want to split this in North/South or USL2/USL3) East *1. Charlotte Eagles *2. Richmond Kickers 3. Harrisburg City Islanders 4. Western Mass Pioneers 5. Cincinnati Kings 6. Wilmington Hammerheads 7. Crystal Palace Baltimore 8. Bermuda Hogges 9. River Plate Puerto Rico 10. Real Maryland 11. Virginia Beach Mariners 12. Memphis Rogues 13. Alabama Hearts 14. Indianapolis Racers 15. Louisville Mustangs 16. Hartford Colonials 17. Syracuse Salty Dogs 18. Providence Minutemen 19. Ottawa Fury 20. New Orleans United 21. Fort Lauderdale Fusion 22. Jacksonville Conquistadores 23. Vermont Voltage 24. Buffalo Knights West *1. Fresno Fuego *2. Victoria B.C. 3. Edmonton Drillers 4. Winnipeg Falcons 5. Calgary Blizzard 6. Albuquerque Aztecs 7. Austin Lightning 8. Laredo Heat 9. (Fort Worth) Lone Star F.C. 10. Tucson Scorpions 11. Oklahoma City Chiefs 12. Boise Strykers 13. Omaha Stallions 14. Wichita Cowboys 15. Riverside Cobras 16. Corpus Christi Rodeo 17. Des Moines Menace 18. Tacoma Tide 19. Yakima Reds 20. Bakersfield Brigade Playoff for promotion. West1 v. East 2, East1 v. West2 ***Basically, this idea is for USL2 to swallow the PDL, NPSL, & PCSL. And these teams youth academies play each for the development aspect of the league.
Latest on El Paso Alan Oatsvall, the man who led the Des Moines Menace organization during its run past El Paso to the Premier Development League championship in 2005, will now lead the Patriots, hopefully to the same lofty spot atop the United States’ largest soccer league. Oatsvall has a strong history successfully managing clubs in a way that allows them to produce at the highest level. The Patriots are banking on that ability as the team continues to pursue a return to the United Soccer League’s First Division, and to make more inroads into what is already a good soccer city.
Very true! And I won't EVEN get into the Seattle name, already a couple of threads about that over on BS's MLS expansion board. But, any team playing in Tampa would NEVER call themselves Florida, they would be Tampa Bay.
Tacoma Tide will not consider USL-1 unless they are directly involved with Seattle MLS in a 'farm team' arrangement. Even if that happens, it won't be before 2010. This from the Tide GM.
While I think the general practice of tryng to foreshadow widespread expansion is kind of silly on its own, the random picking of nicknames is even weirder.
don't think too much about the names i picked out. I was bored, and was trying to come up with new names in case the team HAD TO rebrand.
Well, given that there promotion in your setup, I will accept Winnipeg starting in USL-2! The only niggle I would have is with 20 teams per division more than 2 should go up/down. Probably 4 would be good. Top 3 get promoted and 4-7 do a playoff (like Cola Championship). Cheers!
And look at that Seattle name. That's even better than Houston 1860 in terms of pissing off half your fanbase before the team ever takes the field.
This might make it interesteing for the USL1 & USL2 I read a few months a go that the MLS is looking at Montreal, Vancouver and a team in the northwest Possibly Seattle in the future.