Is that part of Arkansas in the sphere of influence of Tulsa at all? Would Tulsa be considered the largest nearby city? I'm just looking on a map. I don't know much about that area. - Paul
Tulsa is the largest nearby...at 1 1/2 hours away I believe. Dallas is 5 hours away. Little Rock is 2 1/2, 3 hours depending on how you drive. There were rumors of a PDL team up here but I don't know any more on that. I wish the University would connect to one similar to what BYU does. edit: What I would really like to see happen is local soccer clubs (specifically Little Rock Football Club) go PDL...then perhaps move up to USL 2, USL 1, etc. Couldn't Solar in Dallas be able to do something similar to this (perhaps stop at PDL, but still)
The deal with soccer "succeeding" in the South is the money involved in a USL franchise is nowhere near the MLS level. I don't know salary numbers, but I'm pretty darn sure that most of these teams don't pay $500k in total salaries. Most the guys I've talked to have their eyes on other professions just in case, but I get the feeling that they're not doing too bad, especially if they're starting. A lot of guys like coaching. So the point about ownership not being MLS-caliber is probably true. You're talking at least $100 million to get a facility acceptable in MLS built plus the salaries, which top $2 million. I know the Atlanta area can handle it since Arthur Blank is involved in talks with MLS. His group is looking at spots in Gwinnett and Cobb counties. Those markets are definitely not saturated, although the Gwinnett Braves will suck up a lot of sports interest in the area. But with 800,000 people just in this county, I'm sure they could fill up a 20,000-seat facility enough. As far as other cities, I don't know that any other southern cities are on MLS' short list. Sure, everybody would love a team in any city that has a four-lane highway, but you're still talking about soccer in America. Memphis could be a possibility, but I don't think there's enough wealth around there (despite the Grizzlies calling it home). Same with Nashville and Birmingham. Charlotte and Miami are probably your best bets other than Atlanta. If you want a prediction, Atlanta will be either team 19 or 20.
Here's a prediction that is absolute fact. If Arthur Blank put together a stadium deal tomorrow, and put a fully financed plan together to MLS, Don Garber would announce "The Atlanta Dirty Birds" as team 17 no later than wednesday.