A relative of my wife told me he had played professional soccer on a team in Roanoke, VA. I thought, Roanoke, VA. For sure he's lying. Surprisingly enough Roanoke had a professional team in the nineties.
What is utterly depressing is the fact that Charlotte Independence is a GREAT name, and it won't be used for MLS. Instead its another generic name.
https://www.fuegofc.com/news_article/show/1149594 Anyone else live in a city with a downtown that the city keeps trying to make happen, but never happens? Eh, I am hankering for soccer to return here but I really hate downtown Fresno.
Rochester's never coming back, right? One part of their return to action was getting a new venue set up... but they haven't bothered with this in the two to three years since they became inactive, not to mention the whole pandemic.
---- The funny part of the Rhinos they got out of the successful run at the minor league baseball stadium into a "soccer" stadium and then not long after went under. So a new stadium is not always a panacea.
Hoo boy. Where to begin. The Rhinos failure had little to do with either the baseball or soccer stadium and more to do with the horribly run business. And to think they were a hair's breadth away from making it into the MLS club (pre-contraction). Jamie Trecker was almost right about the Wizards relocating to Rochester, but he didn't count on Lamar's attachment to the team. Basically the DuRoss spent a ton of other people's money in not exactly a Ponzi type scheme, but with a similar net result. It all came tumbling down as the organization ran out of new potential creditors to be left holding the bag. I've long felt that Chris Economides, who was listed as a part owner, but I'm guessing the ownership stake came in lieu of him actually getting paid by DuRoss, saw the handwriting on the wall and got the hell out of dodge by helping to found the Carolina RailHawks in early 2006 (taking the field in 2007). How Steve Donner managed to land follow-on jobs at USL HQ in Tampa and then with Orlando City FC in MLS is beyond me, but I don't recall all the terrible shit that went down with the Rochester Raging Rhinos of the DuRoss, Donner, Economides era. Bill?
=============== Wow, how to run a team into the ground I was heading home from Toronto to Los Angeles from the Buffalo airport and purposely took a side trip to Rochester and caught a game against Seattle (I believe) at the baseball stadium. If I remember correctly, freight trains roll by the center field? A fun night.
if by "not long after," you mean "eleven years later," yeah. there are rochesterians who say the new stadium's location, though not far from the ballpark as the crow flies, did not help. I did not see it as a problem the couple times i was there, but they will tell you that. the duross ownership was a mess, but the club had several years of rob clark's ownership after that (also not a sterling resume) before the league took it over and found the dworkins. the demise of the rhinos has a complicated flow chart.
Jeff Rueter @jeffrueter 1h #USL League One is expected to announce its home openers this afternoon, per a source. The first match is currently scheduled for April 10 — which would make it the first men's pro league to kick off a 2021 season in the United States.
MLS is back on April 3rd. https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2021...nounces-2021-season-and-preseason-start-dates
Given the fact that the first weekend only has one game with two reserves sides, it sort of feels like that was scheduled specifically to come before NISA’s start.
Seems like cheap PR. First professional soccer league back before even USL Championship, MLS as well. I've noticed that NISA will broadcast their Spring season online at their website instead of BeIN Sports? Did that streaming deal break down?
Where did you see that? I’ve only seen that it will be on BeIN: Catch the Force’s first official action of 2021 in the Legends Cup on BeIN Sports, presented by NISA!#WeAreTheForce #NISA #MakingHistory #BeINSports pic.twitter.com/tperFqNV7B— Los Angeles Force (@LosAngelesForce) March 10, 2021 and I was pretty sure Owen Seaton recently confirmed that on one of the podcasts he’s been on recently promoting the CFC documentary, maybe the Protagonist one?
Right. Because the throngs that would be breaking down the door to watch two reserves sides play were this not the first game of the year.
...the NISA website and their recent press releases? No mention of BeIN Sports anywhere, not even their logo.
Where does it say they’ll be streaming from their website? The announcements just say, “Broadcast details will be announced later this month.” So I found the Owen Seaton quote I was thinking of: https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-yi469-fc4745 at the 1:23:20 mark he talks about an agreed upon but yet to be announced broadcast and streaming arrangement “similar to the fall”.
Always a good laugh when people are actually serious about this. NISA does such a great job with their attendance and clubs too. That's what their fans like to leave out.