The Detroit downtown stadium site appears to be a go, should MLS grant Detroit a franchise. Some minor details still to be worked out, but the major decision has been made by Wayne County. Gilbert and Gores (billionaire owners of the Cavs and Pistons) have proposed a $1billion privately financed development project including a MLS stadium (should a franchise be awarded) along with three other multistory residential/commercial towers on a failed downtown jail site. There is still a small window of time for the county to back out, but at this point it appears to be close to a done deal with a few minor details to be worked out. http://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...ail-proposal-but-not-done-deal-yet/524955001/
Uh huh. McKinney appeared to be a go. Then Murphy's Law. I am optimistic, but this needs to be presented before County Commission and Building Authority, survive any zoning or environmental impact issues, obtain modification to federal funding, withstand legal objections by Walsh Construction, neighborhood groups, Crazy Hat Ladies, etc. Minnesota's stadium was delayed a year due to an errant conjunction. Take a breath and enjoy the ride. Things are looking better, but don't count your chickens before you lead your horse to water.
As someone who has followed this project closely, it appears almost certain that Dan Gilbert will get this land for a development project now. Whether or not that development project includes a MLS stadium still remains to be seen, but the city, county, and Gilbert himself all have too much to lose for this project not to happen. Some key items for those not as familiar: 1- In the media PR, Wayne County (Warren Evans) and the City of Detroit are deliberately appearing very cautious about the project because they don't want to be seen publicly as "giving in to billionaires". There is some public pushback given how some public money went to cover a portion of the new Red Wings Arena, and they don't want to appear to be repeating that with MLS. That said, behind closed doors both the City and County want the soccer project to happen. And if the development is privately financed, most of the public wants it to happen too. 2- NIMBY is much less an issue here for two key reasons. First, the alternative is having a jail in the backyard. So Soccer stadium wins. Second, the neighboring property owners are mainly either Dan Gilbert or City/County property. Thus the NIMBY fight is far less likely. 3- Dan Gilbert stands to have a huge financial gain should the property get redeveloped, soccer stadium or not. For that reason, he will make a deal to ensure it happens, even if it costs him more. The development will happen. The big question is whether it will include a soccer stadium or not, and that part is up to MLS.
This is nice. Considering how Detroit is still a large U.S. metropolitan area with a reputation of being a great sports town, as well as being situated within driving distance of three existing MLS cities - Chicago, Columbus, Toronto - It's hard not to believe Garber and company would pass on the Motor City, given these developments.
I think MLS wants the bigger cities more (Miami, Detroit) than the smaller ones (Cincy, Sac). However, giving the smaller city the franchise becomes more palatable if you hook a big fish first. If this goes through, I think Detroit & Cincy get 25 & 26 while Sac snags Miami's spot.
The problem with big cities is that most of them also have professional baseball teams. The lack of a baseball team is a big advantage for Las Vegas, San Antonio and Sacramento, Charlotte, Indianapolis and Nashville.
I'm pretty sure EACH of those markets does in fact have a baseball team............They might be not be in MLB, but they do have pro baseball teams in each of those markets.
For the very large cities, there are enough investors, fans, and sponsors for all the big leagues to be present. If a sport isn't present somewhere, it's an aberration. These are cities like Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, and maybe Phoenix or Minnesota on the lower end. Then there's a middle range, where a city can support multiple top level pro teams, but not one from every league. This is why Denver teams struggle; places like Cleveland or Kansas City or Portland aren't trying to support every league. Then there are small cities that need the right circumstances to have two teams, and with a bad situation have none at all. Like New Orleans, Austin, or Jacksonville. For MLB, the last category doesn't work at all; their economic requirements are much higher than other leagues. In the middle category, baseball makes it difficult for other sports (and vice versa). Interestingly, one can argue that New York and Los Angeles are so big they can support even more teams than they currently have, but the leagues choose to have fewer to maximize their national coverage.
Agree. London has five Premier League teams and Madrid has four Primera División teams. Nobody blinks an eye in Europe, but it would be unthinkable in North America.
You seem to think he's Commissioner Garber, chief employee of Major League Soccer, not the immortal God-Emperor Don, ruler of American pro soccer.
I think he is an employee. A high profile, high ranking one, but an employee. Thankless job in the public domain...but the pay is good.
news expected soon: https://www.socceramerica.com/artic...er-and-jail-projects-expec.html?edition=17837
That article implies that Wayne county extended the deadline for a decision to December 1 because they are still considering the Walsh proposal. Am I reading that right? If I am, that seems like it is not good for the Dan Gilbert proposal. I mean, if they were leaning towards the Gilbert proposal, why even extend to give the Walsh proposal a closer look?
I don't think they ever had a deadline. Even if those working on it "decide" something, they still have to present for approval before some different commissions.
I don't think it's just because they are considering the Walsh proposal... it's because they are considering both. I think the extension is a good sign, because the Walsh proposal is not very complicated like the MLS Detroit one is. If the county was going to side with Walsh they would of done it months ago.
More news... ""A Wayne County Commission committee voted to move forward to a Thursday full commission vote on a proposal for the Wayne County Land Bank to acquire a foreclosed lot at 5430 Riopelle, which is adjacent to the county's juvenile and family court buildings, near a new jail complex site proposed by Rock Ventures. Cheryl V. Jordan, the Land Bank's executive director, said the plan is to convert the space into a county-owned parking lot for use with the justice complex, should the new jail development be approved."" This implies the county is making plans for the new site of the jail project proposed by Rock. Does anybody know how the vote turned out last Thursday?
Just saw this. This sucks. I'm pretty sure this means we won't be getting an MLS team. My main question is "Why"? Knowing full well the league pretty much demands a SSS for an expansion team, why would the expansion group switch to Ford Field? Is it because their hands were tied and this was a last ditch effort or do they know something we don't? (Doubtful)