Heard that Portland and Atlanta are possible cities for MLS expansion as early as next season ! If true, it certainly give the league coverage across all major regions of the country.
Portland would be nice. Smaller stadium downtown. Great athmosphere. Atlanta, they havn't impressed attendance wise in WUSA or A-League.
Atlanta is too hot for soccer in the summer. Someone will die. What does this have to do with the Rapids?
Please. Tampa had a team for 6 years and Ft. Lauderdale 4, and nobody died. As for Portland, I think the fact that they were awarded Women's WC games is a pretty good indicator that things may be moving behind the scenes there. And what this all has to do with the Rapids I have no idea.
Portland needs a SSS. The city owned PGE park has been recently remodeled at the tune of 38.5 million dollars and the stadium has to be multipurpose (that means artifical turf for baseball, gridiron, soccer, etc.), hence I doubt if we will see MLS here anytime soon. Also, I would assume the city officials will do everthing possible to prevent a SSS from being built here. They need tenants for PGE and A-League soccer is one of their prime occupants. Too bad, because right now with additional seating and a grass surface for the WWC the stadium would be an ideal soccer only venue.
But the fans will pass out. The nickname is "Hotlanta" for a reason. It can get really nasty in Altanta. Nothing like a 5pm start on a Saturday in June and sitting on the "sunny" side of the stadium to convince the casual fan to wait until September to come again.
Yeah, the Braves really have a problem getting numbers during the summer... Seriously, Atlanta may not be right for a lot of other reasons, but hot weather in the summer the primary reason for not giving them a team? I agree that they shouldn't necessarily be a front runner, but the weather has not much to do with that.
Ah, but they have those lovely sea breezes to temper the sultry evenings -- don't they? That must be why we keep coming back to Huston. It's on the Gulf Coast, so the climate must be salubrioius. Only it isn't.
I went to Atlanta in the summer and nearly died. I went to Florida in the summer and nearly died. Move the south north.
summer soccer in atlanta would not be fun, but it can be done (and has been done for a while now with the silverbacks and the ruckus and chiefs before them). the temperature isn't what is so bad down here. dallas has much hotter summers than atlanta. it's the humidity. i must say, however, that atlanta would not be an ideal candidate for expansion for several other reasons. one being that georgians aren't the most passionate fans (except college football). another is the complete lack of a venue to play in and a possible owner (ted? ). btw, the silverbacks are in the process of building a sss... but its size and expansion capability are unknown at this time.