I know that MLS is talking about expanding I think next year with two new teams. And i read the thread about Columbus so it made me think... has anyone heard when the WUSA plans to have an expansion?
The MLS just CONTRACTED! Why on earth would they expand? Even the single entity that is the MLS could not be THAT stupid!!!! I do not believe that even one WUSA team is profitable yet so they would be equally stupid to try to expand. That is unless their reasoning goes like this: "It is not working so lets try more so it will not work better." As much as I am convinced that the WUSA officers are VERY poor business people I still do not believe that even at their worst they would try to expand before at least one team breaks even. Of course it is probably a bad idea to underestimate the self destructive nature of poor bureaucrats. The league will not survive unless they continue to bulid slowly without the tremondous expense of adding teams. Even moving one to a different city is a bad idea as no team is really loosing a lot more money that most of the rest. So you cannot save that way.
MLS will run with the current 10 teams next season. They hope to expand in 2004, but they have yet to line up investors or stadia. WUSA will be very happy to have 8 teams playing next season, much less being concerned about expansion. I have no knowledge of, nor even heard rumors about, but I would not be shocked to hear the R (relocation) world this offseason. Especially if Portland sells out the All-Star game, or someone like Lamar Hunt (Columbus) or Philip Anschutz (Carson, CA) thinks that adding 10-15 dates to their SSS schedule would be a good thing.
which team do you think would move though? in the WUSA that is.. i think they all do fairly well as a young as they are i mean..
Well? In what sense? The only thing that matters is finances. Do you have any insight on the finances of the various teams? I'm serious. Any info would be welcome. Most of the discussion (mine included) is conjecture. There is a definite surfeit of facts.
no i dunno any actually facts about it. i can try to look it up though if you would like? some extensive searching at wusa.com may have it lol
facts No such things as facts on BS. BUT, check out the thread about the Power leaving LI in this forum somewhere. Don't know about accuracy, but it's got lots of numbers in it None of the teams are going to move, it seems expansion is much more likely. The teams are in good locations and drawing expected numbers (accept NY, and you can't take a team away from that area), it's whether they can continue to draw crowds and therefore, most importantly, sponsors with $. Definately expansion, no movement.
My question is, would WUSA expansion be tied in any way to MLS teams building SSS? There's no team in Columbus, I know, but with the talk of a MLS team coming to OKC (+ a stadium) and the possibility of the Burn getting a SSS in N. Dallas I'm hopeful.
Re: facts I would guess the complete opposite. Expansion is completely out, but relocation is definitely possible, if not probable. Since WUSA really is a "minor" league, I don't see "New York" as being a necessity. Why isn't Los Angeles, or Chicago not just as much a necessity? I mean the Metro area is 10 million or so, and the attendance is squat by comparison. That's a complete non-starter for me. It's not like Madison Avenue is crawling all over themselves to get to the league. The only other possible benefit is the number of folks in the area. And WUSA could match the Power's current attendance in any number of locations. I'm not advocating the Power be relocated, nor any team. I just don't agree with New York being a "sacred" location for the league.
Re: Re: facts I was thinking that after seeing the coverage in Carolina of the Freedom game. It led off the sports news on both the stations that I watched, and one of the station had an additional piece on Mia's return. I don't often watch the news in this (Washington, DC) area, but I bet the Freedom games are an afterthought at best. It makes me wonder if the WUSA would be better off in secondary markets where they don't have to compete with half-a-dozen other professional sports team for coverage and fan involvement.
That's interesting, I like that. The niche market theory, which holds that there is no point in putting a team in a big market like NY, Houston, or Chicago, when the league is realistically targeting a 7-14k attendance rate, (since that's all the stadiums hold anyway) that can just as easily be achieved in a medium-sized city like Portland or Sacramento, or Phoenix, or Orlando. Womens sports will likely be relegated to the niche market for the near future, so why not accept that and use that circumstance to plan the league, until such a time as it can grow. Sounds like a plan.
Anyone that cares to look into the roots of Major League Baseball, the NFL, NHL, and NBA will find plenty of small towns in the history books. Obviously concerns like transportation were a much larger deal 50-100 years ago, but some of the lessons still stand. Start with a regional base and expand when attendance and interest warrants. Play off-season exhibitions in other areas to "test the waters", especially if the exhibitions are paid for by local promoters hoping to bring the league to those areas. Gotham has New York Yankees New York Mets New York Giants New York Jets New York Rangers New York Islanders New Jersey Devils New York Knicks New Jersey Nets MetroStars New York Liberty New York Power and at least two minor league baseball teams that draw more than the Power do, and that's with 70 home games, not 10. Then you got horseracing, the tennis US Open, college athletics, etc... Would you rather be the 15th (or 25th) biggest thing in New York, or the 3rd or 4th biggest thing in Rochester, or the ************ of the walk in Blaine, MN? In Raleigh-Durham, The Courage fight with the Durham Bulls and Carolina Mudcats for summer coverage (especially with the arena league Cobras moving to Charlotte). In bigger markets, WUSA gets buried.
expansion vs. move I stand corrected. Andy - you make a very good point. But I honestly believe that the WUSA will not remove the NY team, though they might take them out of LI to NJ, Westchester or maybe even Southern CT. I think that WUSA teams will do better in medium size towns such as Portland Columbus, etc. . . But if you look at attendence, Boston, Atlanta and SanDiego are leading the way. These are all 3 large cities, but the numbers may also reflect the team's management, not just location. Would Columbus support a women's team? I think that's a very valid question. Why doesn't Chicago have a team? It's a great soccer town. Is there a stadium in chi-town that's a good size for the WUSA (max about 10,000). Still don't think there will be changes for at least another year. . .
Re: expansion vs. move Almost any question of "why doesn't (insert city here) have a team?" can be answered by "Because no one has stepped forward with the cash/vision to put one there." Makes sense, doesn't it? Not really, no. That's one problem, and a major one.