Mostly about the Louisville announcement, but also brings up Sacramento, which also comments about them joining in 2020 and owned by Sacramento Republic. https://www.allforxi.com/platform/a...&utm_source=twitter&__twitter_impression=true
With Cincinnati and possibly Nashville in the mix now, it appears LA gets moved further down. Have to wonder what Mia Hamm is thinking now that her team isn't happening?
Well if LAFC is seriously interested in getting a franchise in the next expansion cycle they will most likely get priority over Cinncinati or Nashville simply because they are West of the Mississippi River. Too have more balance, they will need to add more teams in the West especially if they want to divide league into two conferences. By the way where did I you hear Nashville was in the mix?
Can the reason why Hamm is being supercautious on LAFC starting an NWSL team in Los Angeles have anything to do with the fact that she is a veteran of the WUSA experience? Back then, she saw first-hand what can happen when a women's soccer league is treated as a crusade rather than as a business proposition. Or am I wrong to wonder about that?
Well, she's only one of about two dozen or so owners in the LAFC group, so she only has so much sway. People just latched on to "LAFC NWSL!" simply because she, a WWC winner, happened to be included in the group. But we can't act like she's leading the group in any way - in fact, I think she's a lesser owner among the group. I could be mistaken about that though. Basically, the power leaders at the club know they have a great MLS team but still (apparently) feel like they're "too new" to the game to have a new WoSo team upset the financial balance they currently have. Personally, IDK if a WoSo team would upset them much considering they have one of the larger budgets in MLS, but w/e
A crusade for what? Women's professional soccer? If so, the NWSL has doubled up it's lifespan vs previous pro leagues. I think they have a proven sustainable model, and it's only going to get better.; the numbers seem to agree. You'd think the smarter ownership groups would get in now; it'll only get more expensive later.
We don't know if there even is an expansion fee at the moment - none has ever been published, but I guess you would expect there should be one - but this is still a good point. If NWSL keeps growing and does in fact mirror MLS' growth, it definitely would be a good idea to get in early.
I just listened to a replay of the Louisville announcement and at the end they had a Q&A moment. One of the question was could a game be scheduled there in 2020 with a couple of NWSL teams. Not a good idea for the regular season, but why not during preseason, maybe organize something like what Portland does with their pre-season tournament. Could really be a great way to give them a taste of what is coming. Maybe even will help with their season ticket sales.
I agree that the NWSL has a proven sustainable model, but I can't blame anybody with first-hand experience of the WUSA spending spree, which leaned very heavily on the idea that WUSA was going to succeed because it deserved to succeed, for being wary.
Sacramento being finalized. The Sacramento ownership group is close to finalizing an agreement to join the NWSL in 2020 -- I chatted with the ownership yesterday... Alvarez' smile says it all @SacRepublicFC @NWSL @kcranews pic.twitter.com/s7UkVIhE2h— Michelle Dapper (@KCRAdapper) October 23, 2019
https://www.si.com/soccer/2019/10/24/nwsl-future-expansion-player-signings-us-soccer The league already announced this week that Louisville will come on as an expansion team in 2021. But Duffy said the league expects to have 10 teams in 2020, which means another expansion announcement is coming soon. The most likely possibilities, sources said, are Sacramento and/or Atlanta, with additional interest coming from Cincinnati, Austin and LAFC for 2021 and ‘22. So now Austin is in the mix?
Austin is certainly out of left field... Though, to be fair, Louisville kinda was too when it was first reported in August, though at least we knew of Duffy's Louisville connection. Austin doesn't have that. This is one thing we deal with concerning a notoriously non-transparent league... I really, *really* hope the Austin group isn't Precourt.
Beckham has been on TV and such a lot recently because Inter Miami will be making their MLS debut this weekend; he's been reiterating that he entirely plans on having a women's team once Inter is settled in. So it won't be near-term, but NWSL to Miami seens like it's definitely in the cards. On a related note, I'd loooove to see a club launch their men's and women's teams simultaneously. It sends a much nicer message, plus it means you don't have to retool your finances a few years into the program.
Sounds like a recipe for a total shitshow disaster. Do one, then the other. The only message the fans want is that the team(s) is(are) playing to win.
Unless you have a specific reason as to why, I see no reason why it would be worse than a regular launch, on balance. Sure, you're managing two teams at once, but it's also easier to sell a two-pronged package to fans and advertisers (and the city community at large) than a "wait and see" thing. Also, there are other benefits to doing things in parallel. I think you're really misreading things. Sure, they want to win. But the men's fans don't like the "distraction" of adding a women's team later, and the women's fans don't like feeling as if their team is an afterthought. Starting off by having both teams launch at the same time, with equal marketing, puts them much more on equal footing in everyone's minds and can (I'm not saying it *will*, but can) bring fans in better with the whole-club feel. At the very least, it shows that the club is taking both teams seriously, especially from the WoSo side of the coin. I know, in the grand scheme of things, all I'm talking about is essentially a PR move. And yes, I know it has the potential to be more complicated. But if you're going to add a WoSo team anyway, I'd say the organizational and PR benefits of a simultaneous launch would more likely than not outweigh the small bit of organizational extra hassle. Think of it this way: if making two logos and hiring two coaches, etc., is so much harder than doing one of each that it nearly breaks your organization, you probably have bigger issues that will linger even if you only did one of each at first.
Some NWSL to LA news.... And it's not LAFC https://theathletic.com/1876684/2020/06/17/nwsl-los-angeles-expansion/ I don't have a subscription to The Athletic, so if someone who does is able to give us a "key takeaways" summary, that would be great. The free preview gets to the point where I can see the name "Julie Uhrman" as the lead for the ownership group that apparently includes multiple other parties, but I can't see anything past that. Figure I'd place the news in this thread instead of any other b/c I don't have any details about it enough to place it in the 20/21/22 thread or elsewhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouya =edit= Apparently Meg updated the article to clarify that the new ownership group could still partner with LAFC for things - or with LAG! Just updated with a statement from the NWSL, as well as confirmation that the ownership group won't be entirely independent, but expected to have involvement from one of the two LA MLS teams as well.https://t.co/Yfr8MJyVwe— Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) June 17, 2020
Key takeaways: -One of the two LA teams would very likely be involved with the expansion team as an operating partner and possibly also with an ownership stake. -WFC LA has filed 2 trademark applications for the names of Angel City FC and Angel City Football Club. Of course, by the time it comes to fruition, a different name could be chosen. -Talks are ongoing. The ownership group has been waiting to see how the league handled the pandemic and also did not want any announcement to overshadow the Challenge Cup. Baird told Grant Wahl on his podcast, "Hopefully we’ll have news soon. You kind of have this expectation in this economy and with COVID that everything just stops, right? I would say, no one was more surprised than me to be engaging in these conversations. We’ll have some new news on that, and I think it’s going to be exciting to soccer fans who really want the NWSL to come to their market."
Nope, not really. There was mention of Louisville for 2021, which we already knew, but no mention if LA would be 2021 or 2022.