NISA club SD 1904 FC is opting for a different route to prepare for the fall season and will not participate in the Independent Cup. The Southwest Region will comprise of three teams in a round-robin format:Atletico Olympians (Ariz.),Cal United Strikers (NISA),FC Arizona (Ariz.).— NISA Official (@NISALeague) July 7, 2021
The fact they still don't have an announced stadium probably playing into that. They've got no income.
Glad to see them reinvesting the money in movable bleachers and porta-potties as bathrooms rather than an expansion fee.
Yes, but none of their games in the spring were open to the public which is why this didn’t really matter. Same with New Amsterdam.
Who said anything about bleachers? They were on one of the grass fields to the north of that photo. They don't appear to have a fall stadium as yet, which may be why they've pulled out. And even if they get one it'll likely be another high school field like Lincoln High pre-COVID.
You could probably buy some land and build a minimum size D3 stadium in San Diego County for $500k. It wouldn't be close to the city (or the ocean) but you have to start somewhere.
For this club, it would be throwing away money. The lack of their own stadium is the least of their problems and wouldn’t solve them. There is absolutely no reason that they can’t build a following starting at a rented field, even Lincoln HS is fine, and once you are to the point where you need your own place, try this plan then and hopefully people will follow. But they don’t have any community presence and, unlike the other two California teams, they don’t have a massive youth club to support them. Given that they originally tried to join NASL, then USL, I would have thought that they’d at least have a “plan” of some sort, but they clearly don’t. Which is sad, since when they played in SDCCU they at least drew crowds (pitifully small crowds for the stadium size, but D3 respectable crowds) and had (multiple!) supporters groups. And they’ve basically fumbled anything they could have had over to the Loyal.
1904 and NISA is an odd paring. I remember when they initially were a NASL expansion team, they had plans of a 10K seater soccer stadium in Oceanside which didn't materialize, then when NASL folded, they tried to join USL. USL denied their application due to a lack of local investors. I highly doubt Demba Ba and Eden Hazard had ever been to, or reside in San Diego. And WTF does 1904 supposed to mean? The state of a NASL carryover that thought San Francisco Deltas branding was a good idea. After NISA came about, they did not hesitate to accept them into their fold, but at the cost of admitting a team with no long-term ambition apparently...and well...the consequences. 3,000 attendees in a 70,000 former NFL stadium is just bad optics. 700 in a high school stadium? Yeah...
Considering my 1400 square foot house cost $200 grand more than that, I'd say your estimate is a bit off. Maybe if they build out in El Centro.
I don't know if I'd consider a sub-1,000 person attendance a respectable crowd (I'm talking the actual attendance not their announced gate). And yes they had multiple supporters groups, though I could never figure out why when they'd just launched. To have competing groups of like 5-10 guys seemed REAL odd. That said they did come in with some level of fanfare, but I think their tepid opening run at cavernous SDCCU tainted them pretty bad (which I called BTW when they announced they were going to play there). After that initial season it seemed like the wind was out of their sails. And then the Loyal started play syphoning off much of the casual interest in the 1904. Throw in having to move stadiums, COVID and now a dropped season and I'm not seeing how they recover. And as someone above said, the name has always been just stupid. No one's first thought is to go to the 19th and 4th letters of the alphabet, it's to go to a year. Which has no significance to the city of San Diego. Not saying the Loyal name is great either (though it's a fun jab at the turncoat Chargers which I can appreciate) or that the Sockers name is particularly good for that matter (bad names seem to be a San Diego soccer tradition). But at least they're somewhat topical names given the timing of the Loyal's launch and that Socker is a play on Soccer. 1904 is ?
God the Deltas, there's a crash and burn if ever I saw one. Their branding alone ensured their demise.
I think 1904 problems can only solved by investment. New branding and renting a new home field will only do so much. You have to spend and spending on a stadium or training ground is the kind commitment the community needs to see to commit to supporting the team. Advertising and community outreach would help too.
Too bad that 'investment' is an ocean or two away... Reminds me of Fort Lauderdale Strikers when it was owned by Brazilian foreigners who haven't resided in America...the players got paid via wire transfer...
No one I know inside SD knew it either. And I'm talking people who've lived here since the 1920's and earlier. I've heard some people AFTER the fact claim 1904 existed, but only in reference to defending the name.
How much are they really going to invest though? To be a D3 team in a market that already has a much better situated D2 team that is likely planning to make an MLS push in the next couple of years and a D1 Women's team. Their best bet is to cut their losses. Barring that, they need to abandon what fan base they have, largely in the south bay, rebrand and move to North County and carve out a niche out there like they planned to originally when they were going to be an NASL side. Maybe partner with the women's team if they choose to go to North County with their planned new stadium.
I mean other than the risk of coming up against the "colonizer" issue that it was the Mission, not city, founded in 1769. Which is something that one must consider when the Native American casinos in the area are some of the biggest sports sponsors (both larger SD arenas are named for tribal casinos). 1542 when the region was first visited by Europeans is similarly problematic. That said the just '69 might have been ok. 1850 when the city was incorporated could have worked too.
https://www.protagonistsoccer.com/i...ulV03g7fZF2nQFxQx1b3n2rV4uS1qQSbYuMc8Z0Hcn_wM Midwest Region is wide open, with the only professional side being the expansion side, Chicago House AC. There’s so many unknowns around this new club and very little concrete information about the roster. In fact, when I contacted the club about their current team, I was told 9 players were signed, but the rest of the roster for the Independent Cup would be trialists. That leaves tons of questions and some doubt as to whether Coach Brown’s squad will dominate this region, particularly with two NPSL sides in top form and hungry for a win against a pro side. Med City and Torrent should be fierce competition, I’d expect Union Dubuque to struggle