USL Pro expansion news, rumor and wishful thinking.

I agree with that for the most part, but I would also expect a one time bump because of the MLS brand. MLS clubs coming for USOC games often draw better than other weeknight league games. Once the novelty wears off, sure.

 

Those are (for the most part, with exceptions, i.e. Red Bulls) more than just MLS brands. They're actual MLS teams.

The reserve/USL Pro teams are not. They're not the actual MLS teams.

In fact, visits last year by "the MLS brand" did this in USL Pro: 11 games, 36,151 total, 3,286 average. Above league average, but skewed heavily by a crowd of 10,000+ in Orlando. These were the game-by-games:

• Portland at VSI Tampa Bay - 292 (actually below average for Tampa Bay)
• Toronto at Pittsburgh - 3,104 (Pittsburgh averaged more than that for the season)
• Montreal at Rochester - 5,406 (but Montreal and Rochester did have quite a rivalry in the A-League, though even this figure is below Rochester's announced average)
• Colorado at Harrisburg - 1,899 (slightly above Harrisburg's average)
• Columbus at Dayton - 1,621 (more than double Dayton's average, but still crap)
• Houston at Charleston - 2,988 (well below Charleston's average)
• Chicago at Charlotte - 1,336 (well above Charlotte's average, but still crap)
• New York at Wilmington - 4,287 (not Wilmington's largest crowd, but well above their average)
• Salt Lake at Phoenix - 2,386 (above Phoenix's final average, but Phoenix hadn't gone completely to hell by that point)
• Vancouver at Richmond - 2,135 (below Richmond's average)
• Seattle at Orlando - 10,697 (Great and above their average, but, still, Orlando)

The average was 2,545 without that Orlando game. In a league that averaged about 2,600 a game.

I see nothing that will make me think that - the occasional case notwithstanding - there will be a big bump when an MLS team's USL Pro team comes to town, given the more comparable situation of a league match vs. a league match instead of a Cup match vs. a league match.

 

I'm guessing the LAGII team would beat the so-called Los Angeles Galaxy that showed up the last two years to play the RailHawks in the USOC.

 

Kenn,
The Rhinos vs Impact reserves last year didn't even draw 1k......I was there and it was another joke upon jokes the Rhino's "announce" each week.....it was probably the lowest attended game in history.

 

Fair enough. Makes the point that much stronger.

 

I thought I smelled troll in here, and then suddenly it went away. Hmm.....

Anyway, back to the topic. I can potentially see the one time attendance bump in some cases. With a name opponent or a regional one, sure. On a consistent basis, not so much. It's one of those 'once the novelty wears off' type deals that needs to be made more enticing the next time after you've already seen it.

 

Now if the Cosmos were in MLS....

So is it MLS, 'the' MLS, or 'the MLS brand' now? I'm confused.

 

I believe the new phrase would be F.Major League Soccer.

 

Unless a big name player happens to be rehabbing with reserves or the B team you won't see an impact... MLS branding alone isn't strong enough to do anything at the gate...

 

Anyone have any clue if the MISL news will effect USL in St. Louis? If the Ambush find their way to the PASL does that limit that ownership group from owning in USL Pro? Just curious.

 

True, but that didn't change ... the relationship with USL front office and existing MISL clubs has though ... or at least it's been aired to the public. Yes, money to move up will always be an issue, but this adds a bit to the prospect of that group getting St. Louis in USLPro!

 

News on Real Salt Lake's San Diego plans.

Apparently, Real Salt Lake owner Hansen is going to propose to San Diego for Real Salt Lake to take over a local golf course and turn it into a soccer training complex. The idea is to develop a Real Salt Lake academy in San Diego, and possibly later an 8000 seat stadium for a USL Pro team.

The academy aspect is new, but it makes sense. Salt Lake has already determined that if is going to remain successful in the homegrown player world, it needs to look outside of Salt Lake for prospects. And if Real Salt Lake is exploring having a minor league affiliate in San Diego, it makes sense to have a local academy to feed the team prospects, rather than just relying on shipping prospects from Arizona over.

It is interesting to note that from the wording of the article, it looks like the decision on a USL Pro side has indeed still not been made, but that they hope to proceed with the academy regardless.

 

It's relevant to both threads, no?

Here's a link for those interested about Oceanside turning them down:
http://www.cbs8.com/story/25024009/oceanside-city-council-stops-soccer-academy-development

I bet they will now look for another site in the San Diego area.

 

Either that or they'll just affiliate with Phoenix and keep the whole operation in AZ. But it's possible they aren't done with Oceanside. They had looked pretty closely at two other sites in Oceanside before settling on the Goat Hill Golf Course. And neither would have the level of opposition that seemed to arise for the old course.

 

I think Oceanside is fine for what they want to use it for. They could essentially pull from southern LA and norther San Diego. Ideally, this leaves San Diego Proper open for a USL Pro franchise that's NOT an MLS II team to start at, possibly on the Southern part of San Diego ... Chula Vista area? I think USL teams would be better off in the suburbs of larger cities than closer to downtown areas anyways (in certain cities either would work). It just has to be viable financially and not to get to big for their pants with regards to costs of stadiums.

 

http://www.thegoatparade.com/2014/3...o-team-academy-san-diego-chivas-usa-la-galaxy

check out the date on this article their reporting this as if it's just now starting not ending are you sure their not still negotiating?

 

Why not also check the date of the 2nd article I linked to?

I saw the news, it seemed recent, so I posted it. SoccerPrime then pointed out that there was newer news that it had been rejected, so I searched and he was right.

 

Yeah this moved fast. The announcement of the location in Oceanside was only made 2 days ago and it was rejected last night. Gov't works fast when you rile people up. And apparently a bunch of people in Oceanside love that crappy golf course.

 

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...d-long-road-could-lead-huge-expansion-usl-pro

''Holt feels confident enough in USL PRO’s prospects that he’s gunning to have 30-40 teams in place by 2020''

 

Well, we had 39 teams in Division III in 1998. Many of them were craptacular, though.