Mr. Palmer, the new owner in Jacksonville, has a plan to invest in the lower divisions which would potentially have an impact on the NISA. Here are the details of the plan from his post on Reddit... "From my brief period with the Armada I have witnessed a huge impact for both brands by placing RP Funding on the jersey and then repurposing thousands of local TV commercials to showcase the team and the jersey instead of RP Funding directly. Any team I invest in (or create) will have an RP Funding jersey sponsorship. That sponsorship when combined with my TV strategy is worth more to me than most div 4 teams’ entire budgets. Utilize my marketing budgets to build the club brand through massive local TV and Radio marketing campaigns (which simultaneously benefits RP Funding). I believe a div 4 team can be a powerful local brand in the right markets if advertised correctly. All of the team games will be broadcast on strong local stations by leveraging my relationships as a large advertiser. I believe this is a key to building the fanbase/following. Once the clubs local brand is built, form a partnership with a youth club/academy to benefit from the brand and extend the RP Funding jersey sponsorship to the youth level. (8 clubs combined with strong local youth partners could result in 30k-40k RP Funding branded jerseys across the country) This combination of local div 4 club and youth club/academy becomes a massive feeder system for The Armada and bolsters The Armada’s brand nationally. I would move some of these teams up to Division 3 (once it exists) as they show the needed levels of growth in attendance, sponsorship and merchandising. If any of the teams became strong D2 candidate I would move them up to NASL and then divest my ownership so I am not competing against The Armada. A strong bank of teams that I can build and then move up strengthens the NASL’s future even further. Geographically I will follow the RP Funding national expansion footprint - we are currently in 10 states and planning on adding 12 more over the next 3 years." A couple of notes...he calls it D4, which technically doesn't exist (he mentions US Adult Soccer in the Tweet) and he would have to sell off any other potential D2 club due to U.S. Soccer regulations. But it's interesting. He's taking questions and comments on his plan on both Twitter and Reddit.
Well, items 1-4 are just about spending money so he can do what he wants to do (if he really wants to do it). 5-7 are a little trickier. I certainly think he overestimates the ability of NPSL players and youth teams to feed into a minor league team in Jacksonville.
Sounds like a semi-famous BS phrase. My guess is he is underestimating the cost of running a so called D4 team and overestimating the benefit he will receive from advertising but it is his money to spend.
He's found some benefit on the TV side, with much better than expected results for the Armada home matches. But you're right, $10 million is not a lot of money, especially for 8 teams. As I said in the NASL thread...I think he winds up with a few NPSL teams and one NISA team in addition to the Armada.
NISA is launching with 8 teams in 2018, and 7 signed LOI's for 2019. Markets include: Charlotte Miami Chattanooga Connecticut Milwaukee Omaha St Louis Phoenix NISA Press Release: http://www.nisaofficial.com/ Midfield Press Article: http://midfieldpress.com/2017/08/30...-initial-batch-of-nisa-pro-soccer-applicants/
Phoenix is going to compete with both Phoenix Rising AND incur such substantial travel costs? Good luck to them. Miami isn't much better, although if they are bankrolled by Silva, it doesn't much matter.
Read the articles. These teams know what they're getting into. 7 more teams in 2019 will help cut cost and regionalize the league. The goal is to get more regional with growth
This is minor league soccer. San Francisco Deltas allegedly knew what they were getting into as well. Surviving year one is going to be hard enough, much less hoping that they league grows as promised.
True. I'd say a lot of this will depend on how binding the LOI's are. If Phoenix/FC Arizona know that these LOI's are binding and there will be more teams close to them in 2019, they can plan accordingly. And I don't imagine this will be a long season. Probably what, 12 games? 6 home, 6 away, play everyone in your division/conference 3x? That's a lot better than Deltas flying, well, all over North America for a full year.
So they're putting teams in 4 of 8 in markets that already have competing D2 teams (or soon to have D1 teams)... This is going to end well isn't it.
Because St Louis, Miami, Phoenix are such small metros? And Charlotte Independence have their market in a stranglehold? Obviously I'm being sarcastic, but let's get serious for a minute. Charlotte MLS bid is all but dead. The team is okay and draws okay. But their owner threw all his eggs into the #MLS2CHAR or whatever basket, and that carrot isn't there anymore. So I'm wondering how committed he is now with no clear path to the top. Miami Metro - 6 Million +, 8th largest metro Phoenix Metro - 4.5 Million +, 12th largest metro St Louis Metro - 2.8 Million +, 20th largest metro None of those cities existing D2 teams draw more then 7,000 a game. It leaves, quite literally, millions of potential fans to draw from. Now, I can't speak for most of these metros, but I've spent plenty of time in STL. St Louis FC is 30 miles south of the city center, and not super convenient to reach. A team on the west side, closer to downtown? Much easier to reach and market, especially to families and the coveted downtown/midtown millennial/hipster crowd. It really could work, and work really well. I think it's important to remember that these are business people behind these teams. They've made way more money than everyone on these forums combined. They know the challenges, and they know the cities they live in and are starting teams in better then we do. Give them at least a little benefit of the doubt.
So we now have a Miami FC and Miami United FC. Beckham must be pissed. I guess he'll have to go with Miami City FC.
From Wilt's earlier interview http://midfieldpress.com/2017/06/06...onal-soccer-league-expects-to-launch-in-2018/ So 15 home games with 3,000 tickets at $16 per ticket is the target. That's a lot of travel and a lot of tickets. For that matter, $16/ticket is an ambitious price if you're targeting the family market. Not saying it can't be done, but it's not easily done either.
Yeah, but that was true about every minor league team launched. The other thing about being rich is that you can afford to take a gamble. Worst thing is that you lose a little money and then cut bait. Doesn't mean the odds of the gamble are good.
While I'm glad Milwaukee has a club in NISA, I'm a little disappointed it is not the Torrent. The soccer supporting community in Milwaukee is already fractured and now this. In a perfect world the Torrent will become part of the D4 team with pro/rel.
That doesn't say they're launching with those markets. The actual wording is (bolding mine): The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA), a new independent third division professional soccer league, announced eight markets today that have submitted applications to be part of the league’s inaugural season in 2018 (or 2019) subject to US Soccer sanctioning, which is part of the process to launch a professional soccer league. Those are just eight teams that have submitted applications. Which means those teams might not be accepted and those might not be all the teams. It's mostly a non-announcement. In fact, the most important part of the whole thing is I think that they've now admitted they may not launch until 2019.
Phoenix is obviously not a small metro, as you know. That said, the guy behind the NISA bid is ( a ) nuts, ( b ) not rich and ( c ) currently fielding a team that plays at a junior college in Mesa. Oh, and the other team in the metro has its own stadium in a good location, actual money and Didier Drogba. No biggie. You are counting every human as a "potential fan." That is insane. So what, the other 7k or 10k fans are just out there going, "Well, I really like soccer but I am waiting for someone to put a SECOND team here and I will go and support that." Man. I'm just.... You know there's a reason very few markets in this country have two of ANYTHING, right? Because no businessman has ever failed with a soccer club, despite knowing their markets and having money and stuff. In fact, until recently, more than 70 percent of them failed. Who should I give the benefit of the doubt to when they fail 70% of the time? Ted Williams? The next thing it would be great for everyone to do is to plot these eight markets on a map. And see how much fun Scott Taylor will have flying to the East Coast every other week instead of taking 18-passenger vans to Orange County. Do we know that's Milwaukee's application is NOT from the Torrent? I am going to guess "Connecticut" is Hartford of the NPSL and that guy is nuts, too. He's the one who insisted that you not call his collection of unpaid players an "amateur team." Lastly, it is interesting that Chattanooga is on this list but that Detroit is not. A D3 team of eight teams (assuming all these eight get in) this far-flung will struggle. There is just no way around that travel thing.
902963702948868097 is not a valid tweet id Apparently the MKE Barons have been asked to be the official supporters group for the new club. Later comments on their twitter post confirm it is not the Torrent.
Sorry. Seen too many D2 and below teams with otherwise good business people with gobs of money fail miserably to give anyone the benefit of the doubt anymore. Too many guys come in and have little clue what they're doing with minor league soccer. It's like the Multi-Level marketing for rich would be sports owners.