Good stuff from Jeff and nice of him to notice our muted presence. It was really cool to see city residents, politicians, and trade unions do the hooting and cheering yesterday as phases of the project were announced. It was very much pitched as a total development and not many mentions of the soccer stadium until after the press conference. The ABC reporter even remarked that everyone was using the "party line" that Chester and the state were getting an awesome deal and that the future is looking very promising for Chester.
MLS is now the wet blanket as they are "still deciding", but I'm confident that'll will prove short lived...
The MLS reluctance to commit is getting old and rather annoying, @ this point. I am beginning to find the 'delay game' they are playing rather a turn-off. They COULD always announce that Philly is in, pending finalization of official documents/contracts, etc. This waiting game makes it seem(?) as if they are trying to extract that last drop of blood - very negative and UNflattering.
"MLS president Mark Abbott, reached in New York, called Rendell's announcement "a very, very positive, significant development." But the league and ownership group have more work to do, he said. He did not specify what else remained." Didn't it seem like the Seattle thing happened really fast....why the delay here?
i think it's just the opposite. look at how quickly garber's statement came out after yesterday's press conference. it was all ready to go, just in a holding pattern, then it's online in a matter of minutes. jim nevels' interview on NBC10 "said" more than what actually came from his mouth ... crossing t's, dotting i's, etc. i feel the league has only been waiting for the state funding to come through. and now that it has, the league has "more work" to do in order to finalize the deal, although personally i think that's rubbish. it's how they want people to view the whole process, even though odds are it's not really what's happening.
Well they probably want to make a big deal about the announcement. Garber would have to come into philly and the planning and what not that is involved. Now 2 weeks from now if there is no announcement or a press conference set up I may start getting a little nervous.
MLS is not the enemy. The group, now that the funding is official, will finalize the legal documents regarding each partner's buy in with the group's banker and lawyer detailing initial investment and liability assumption percentages. With that in place, the formal presentation will be sent to the league. If you read what MLS is saying, the delay is not from them. I would imagine a late February announcement - on a Friday.
Now that everything is sealed w/financing...it may be taking a hard look at whether they will start in '09 in a temporary location or 2010 in the new stadium...MLS and the owners will have to decide what they think is the best course... With the US/Mexico match next week, I figure the Philly announcement would come 1-2 weeks after...that way MLS will have the full spotlight...
garber stated, at the MLS SuperDraft, that the next team would begin play in 2010 in their own stadium. not that everything the commish has said regarding expansion is set in stone, mind you.
An announcement of a Philadelphia expansion team right now would be foolish. All of the sports media in the country is focused on the Super Bowl. Then, immediately following that there's a beautiful lull of news... Hockey and Basketball are halfway through, but not quite in the playoffs. Baseball is almost ready to start, but not quite there. I'll bet we get an announcement either late next week or the week after.
You are probably right. It's not like after this long road, MLS is going to say thanks but no thanks...it's not like there's a long list of cities in line with a SSS ready to be built...
Sounds like the group struck the right chord yesterday. That was definitely the theme of the press conference. I honestly think soccer was purposefully downplayed yesterday to make the project palatable to the masses. Redevelopment sounds much more noble than another stadium.
Great news all around. Have you guys noticed that they have started putting these articles in the Sports section and not just in local news? Also pretty cool, really hoping all this continues to work out. Can't wait to see the team on the field
I'm sure someone from Seattle has a more clear memory, but I do recall that MLSRumors and a few other more reliable sources were expecting a Seattle announcement sometime in October, despite other prognostications that it would be during MLS Cup. Those October announcement rumors were *very* strong... but then they went through the exact same legal issues related "But the league and ownership group have more work to do" time period. I don't recall when the Seattle announcement was finally made, but I know it was well after the expected October date, but noticibly before MLS Cup. Sometime early November, if I remember right. So the various predictions of later this month are pretty good ones, looking at the Seattle timeline.
I would bet that MLS is just waiting for the 1000lbs gorilla known as the superbowl to get out of the spotlight. An announcement late next week would garner much more attention
Sorry, I wasn't being clear...I don't recall the Seattle bid being "OK well they have the funding and all the ducks are in a row, but we need to continue negotiating with Mr. Allen, et al. before we make a final determination." I think that whole thing happened in one day. Am I totally wrong here? My memory can be kinda fuzzy.
The league will do the announcement at the politically correct time. The non-voted funding is, and will remain, a sensitive issue. But there is no doubt that the league needs Philly as much as Philly fans want a team. Be patient, they aren't going to play until 2010 anyway.
There was good indication around USL1 champiionship that we were in. I believe 10/11 was our first rumored announcement date. And then we were formally announced on 11/13. So it was about a month after everything appeared to be in order that we had our announcement. Word from our FO is that during at least part of that month negotiations were ongoing concerning the territorial player rights to current Seattle Sounders who were not on loan from an MLS squad. So based on that information, I would guess not less than one week and not more than one month before Philly is announced as well.
The league is waiting for the whole package to get committed. From the Inq article: Sure it looks like a done deal, but I thought that just before Joe Carter stepped to the plate, too.