I don't understand Austin Bold Future Plan

Discussion in 'United Soccer Leagues' started by hipityhop, Apr 3, 2021.

  1. hipityhop

    hipityhop Member

    New Mexico United
    United States
    Jan 10, 1999
    Mission TX
    Club:
    SønderjyskE
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Please someone explain to me how Austin Bold will be a viable in the Austin market now that FC Austin is playing in the MLS? How can they actually survive?

    Or for that matter, the Charlotte ULS C team, with the MLS coming in next year. I see St Louis USL team threw up the surrender flag, which shows good sense.
     
  2. SoccerPrime

    SoccerPrime Moderator
    Staff Member

    All of them
    Apr 14, 2003
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    They won't survive. They will be playing Charlotte Independence fairly soon.
     
    hipityhop repped this.
  3. msilverstein47

    msilverstein47 Member+

    Jan 11, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    [​IMG]
     
  4. Nacional Tijuana

    Nacional Tijuana St. Louis City

    St. Louis City SC
    May 6, 2003
    San Diego, Calif.
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That's long puzzled me, too (not from the area; I don't know he market). Is there some way they could affiliate with AFC (become a B team, like AFC II and play in a suburb somewhere?)?

    What's their stadium situation? AFC has their own Q2 Stadium, but I thought the Bold had built their own as well (or had planned to).
     
  5. WarrenWallace

    WarrenWallace Member

    Mar 12, 1999
    Beer and Cheese
  6. canammj

    canammj Member+

    Aug 25, 2004
    CHINO, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    To me the obvious plan is Austin and Charlotte drop to USL-1 and be the reserve team. Austin plays in their modular stadium and I'd like to see Charlotte play in the rebuilt Memorial Stadium. These owners still get to keep their teams, they get some players from the parent team, maybe some assist on marketing, who knows what else. Yes I know, requires cooperation (and sunshine and rainbows too)
    Otherwise, move these franchises to other cities preferably that do NOT have an MLS team.
    Just off the top of my head, some large cities without MLS teams=
    Cleveland, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Little Rock, New Orleans, Dayton... (yes, I know some of these have lower level teams already)
     
  7. TheJoeGreene

    TheJoeGreene Member+

    Aug 19, 2012
    The Lubbock Texas
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    MLS reserve league starts in 2023, and the MLS owned teams apparently will all be in that. Austin is 99% sure to move to Ft. Worth this offseason, but may take a year off as a stadium gets built there. Not sure what Charlotte will do, but they already did renovations on Memorial Stadium and maybe they'll try to tough it out since the location is much better than Austin Bold's was.
     
  8. canammj

    canammj Member+

    Aug 25, 2004
    CHINO, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ---------------
    Fort Worth could work for the Bold with a decent existing stadium or another modular one. I think there is a NPSL team there already (Vaqueros?).
    How much a step up USL-1 is above NPSL will matter in drawing fans in Fort Worth is another question. Also Dallas USL-1 team plays in Arlington in the old Rangers baseball stadium I think- too much soccer for the area ?
     
  9. TheJoeGreene

    TheJoeGreene Member+

    Aug 19, 2012
    The Lubbock Texas
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    There's a $175 stadium and improvement plan for the Keller ISD outside Ft Worth that's probably 2 years away. It's being built with the idea that the district will share it with a USL soccer team. It's in the northwest corner of the Ft Worth metro and something like 70-75 miles from Frisco.

    Nobody is paying attention to the FCD team, and that stadium is basically being rented out to anyone and everyone because it's way too new to actually tear down.
     
  10. Expansion Franchise

    Chattanooga FC
    United States
    Apr 7, 2018
    MLS reserves league starts next year.
     
  11. canammj

    canammj Member+

    Aug 25, 2004
    CHINO, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ----------
    We have heard very little on the MLS-R thing, any rumors anyone ?
     
  12. Expansion Franchise

    Chattanooga FC
    United States
    Apr 7, 2018
    I don’t know of any rumors, just that 20 reserves teams are supposed to play next year. Theoretically it’s open to independent teams to join, as well, which is why people have assumed Rochester NY FC (née Rhinos) might be joining.
     
  13. canammj

    canammj Member+

    Aug 25, 2004
    CHINO, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ------------------
    Yeh, part of this is unclear. Is it automatically assumed all MLS "2" teams in both USL-C & USL-1 will come over to MLS-R?
    Did MLS get sanctioning for the 3rd division (if that is where they are going)
    Not sure why independent teams would even join this league- wonder what the costs are to join? More than say USL-C or USL-1?
    I would think that if and when MLS gets to 32 teams and if all teams have a team in this new league, 32 should be enough. Because with 32 teams, you are still essentially flying another complete team around the country. That can't be cheap. Then again, are the 3 Canadian teams involved in this as well? For costs, I think they should put their reserve team in the CPL maybe.
    This is where I really felt the MLS- reserves should have been going into USL-1, because if you add the teams they have, plus the probable number of MLS teams, then you could cut that league into a regional set up to cut travel.
    Still really wonder if MLS had any conversations with USL over this.
    Going to be a very interesting off season.
     
  14. Expansion Franchise

    Chattanooga FC
    United States
    Apr 7, 2018
    There are a bunch of questions here and it’s hard to quote in context anymore, so:

    “Is it automatically assumed all MLS "2" teams in both USL-C & USL-1 will come over to MLS-R?”

    Yes, although NYRBII, Loudon, ATLUtd 2, and LAG2 aren’t moving until 2023.

    “Did MLS get sanctioning for the 3rd division (if that is where they are going)”
    They have applied. They will certainly get sanctioning for D3.

    “Not sure why independent teams would even join this league-“
    Well, that really depends on the team. If you want a pro capstone to your DA, this would be the way to potentially sell your players to MLS teams. Others may think MLS will eventually take over the whole pyramid, so get in early. Others may just need a stable league to park their professional team in and USL may not be an option.

    “wonder what the costs are to join? More than say USL-C or USL-1?”
    I’m pretty sure it will be way less than USL, but probably more than NISA.

    “I would think that if and when MLS gets to 32 teams and if all teams have a team in this new league, 32 should be enough.”
    I would think they’d regionalize: there’s not much point in Miami’s reserves team flying to Seattle.

    “Then again, are the 3 Canadian teams involved in this as well?”
    It’s D3, so there’s no reason they couldn’t. TFC2 was in USL1, for example.

    “For costs, I think they should put their reserve team in the CPL maybe.”
    Except that the CPL absolutely doesn’t want that. Despite the weirdness of the three MLS teams being there, CPL is technically Canada’s first division.

    “This is where I really felt the MLS- reserves should have been going into USL-1, because if you add the teams they have, plus the probable number of MLS teams, then you could cut that league into a regional set up to cut travel.”
    Or they could cut USL off at the knees and control both the pro pyramid and the player development pool in the U.S. There is basically no incentive for MLS to work with USL on this and many reasons to compete.
     
  15. canammj

    canammj Member+

    Aug 25, 2004
    CHINO, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ==================
    Well if the anti-trust stuffs keeps us from having an organized pyramid top to bottom legally, then I can't see how MLS can just take over the whole pyramid.
    Even if MLS and USL say agree to a "merger" would this be allowed now?
    I say that considering in the past we had ABA-NBA and NHL-WHL somewhat mergers, but are times different?

    I think what is going to happen is MLS is going to keep doing their thing the way they want. USL will continue to contract-expand-adjust-add leagues as they want. It will still leave us with a jumbled pyramid of many leagues and divisions.
    Too bad
     
  16. TheJoeGreene

    TheJoeGreene Member+

    Aug 19, 2012
    The Lubbock Texas
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    The US is the size of Europe and has way more cities of both over 2 million people and over 1 million people. A single pyramid here is laughable as a long term solution.

    The best thing that can happen is multiple viable leagues with no ridiculous pro-rel crap but meaningful financial and other standards (like stadium size) for each division.
     
  17. newtex

    newtex Member+

    May 25, 2005
    Houston
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Expansion Franchise covered most of it but here is another take on this part. It looks like MLS wants to be able to move players back and forth between the first team and the reserves during a season. It is believed that MLS rosters will expand to make this work.

    If the reserve teams are in USL then the players have to have USL contracts. Or you could do loans like they do now but that would be a lot of loans. Either way that makes moving the players back and forth harder. It is a much cleaner system to have the MLS-Reserve league completely under the control of MLS.

    I don't know if this the entire answer but it seems to be a factor keeping MLS away from putting most teams in USL leagues.
     
  18. Blando13

    Blando13 Member+

    Dec 4, 2013
    Lee's Summit, MO
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm also assuming USL doesn't like the "loan" army of MLS to MLS2 teams. It creates a situation where teams aren't relatively "equal" from one game to another creating times when you play a true MLS2 team vs a MLS1.5 team. I'm sure USL was pushing to limit the "single game" loans (or short term loans) as well, and MLS didn't like that.
     
  19. canammj

    canammj Member+

    Aug 25, 2004
    CHINO, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    -----------------
    This actually may be the actual reason.
    If you are just moving players between your OWN teams, no issues
    Moving MLS < > USL probably some issues.

    SO if MLS is really just going to create their own pyramid and everyone else be damed, here is my dream scenario=

    MLS - the parent team. (D1) (USL- C- D2)
    MLS- Reserve. (D3) (USL-1. D3)
    MLS- U23 (D4). *** notes below. (USL-2. D4)
    Academy u18 (Not sure how many USL have academy)
    Academy. u16
    Academy. u14. (etc. or however low you want to go- U10, U8 etc
    -
    ***To me, the U23 level could accomplish several things
    -Assuming Academy U18 is roughly graduating high school, U23 could be for kids not going to college, (18-22 ages) or want to retain eligibility
    - Could also be for kids who are actually going to or in college, but the MLS has them on the books (or if the draft is still a thing ) or maybe assisting them educationally somehow
    -Could be a league of walk-ons, players coming from other leagues NPSL, USL/PDL, USPLS NISA, CPL etc.
    -Coming from other countries, maybe need to get their paperwork cleared up or the team just wants to see what they can do before bigger commitment.
    --
    SO basically a place for players who are not ready to jump to the Reserves, let alone the parent team. As it is, if you have multiple U18 teams, you may have to field multiple U23 teams or you make the "first cut" and only take the best of the U18's on to your U23 teams.
    -
    There could be many versions of this of course, but thats just my MLS thoughts.
    And I guess, if your a USL-C who is serious, you could field a reserve, U23 or academy program as well.
     
  20. canammj

    canammj Member+

    Aug 25, 2004
    CHINO, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    -------------------------
    Defined levels of the pyramid are ok.
    You can have as many teams as you want in each level
    In fact you can have as many levels as well.
    Thus the pyramid, hundreds of team at the bottom and fewer as you work to your top end
    D1 to D8 if you want
    If fact, in lower levels, more teams would allow geographically proper leagues to keep cost down and build rivals.
    Like the other poster said, MLS does not want to be flying the Vancouver reserve team to Miami, but would be ok up and down the west coast.
    But also agree with you that at whatever level the team is going to play in, you need defined financial and stadium standard for sure !

    Also, while we may not ever have a pro-rel from top to bottom, just because teams don't move up and down, doesn't mean players can't.
    If a D1 or D2 seem a player they really like on some D4 or D5 team, they can make a bid to the team and player, right? ( we would probably need some standards on that too)
     

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