News: Stadium News, Speculation & Possible Truthiness XXVI: Petitions and Goff and Development, Oh My!

^^^This. I won't care if another team will eventually move back in to DC with a grand, new, pleasure dome, the likes of which Kublai Khan had never seen. If DC United leaves/folds, MLS will be dead to me and my family.

 

The mistake being made is trying to see if there would be support from other markets. If a team was placed in Baltimore, via new franchise or one moving, it would have to stand alone on the support of the Baltimore community. Anything outside is extra. But if Baltimore is not able to support it, then it will fail.

 

first off - MLS would be dead to me if they do this.

But in the consideration of fan dedication to a team - this would be a lovely act of betrayal (could Shakespeare write it any better?) by MLS to a fan base that has been with the league since 1996, has stood proudly in support of the team despite an old RFK and watching teams around the league one by one get a SSS ... and the bastards from MLS front office cannot step in and help and launch a marketing campaign with the city leadership and/or Congress to make something happen?

This fan base has helped to fill RFK for USMNT team games, helped to spur and expand local soccer grass roots organizations, and by all measure (until Seattle came along) had the most spirited and dedicated fan base in MLS.

What thanks and respect do we get? A lovely survey asking what we think about a knife in the back ...

Well at least we know Steve Goff could really be out of a job ... I wonder if Kevin Payne will move from Reston to Baltimore ...

screw you MLS.

 

Just want to join the chorus: If this happens, I'm done. I would not and will not root for Baltimore United.

R.

 

I don't know why people are blaming MLS. DCU are in a terrible position stadium wise. I admit I don't know Chang's personal finances, but I'd imagine he isn't even coming close to making the amount as others clubs at that craphole.

I don't know what MLS can really do if the DC government is reluctant to build. But when do they really have time to talk to the DC government? In between investigations of every council member?

This is DC and Chang's fault for not finding a solution to the stadium problem.

 

If they move to Baltimore, I might go to a few games a year, but I certainly would not be a "supporter" or anything like that. I'd sit (yes, I said sit) on whatever the equivalent of a quiet side is.

And I'd probably wear an AS Roma or a USMNT jersey. I'll never buy any FC Baltimore gear.

More than likely, I'll completely stop following MLS though.

Damn, this is very depressing, TBH.

 

If they move to Baltimore, I am done with them and MLS.

 

I'm curious why some of you won't support the team in Bal'mer.

It's not like the team is leaving out of greed. And as mismanaged as the effort to get a local stadium has been, they've still TRIED to get one. So it's not like the team is doing this callously or to spite anyone.

This is being done out of necessity. We all know they can't be profitable at RFK and can't go on losing money indefinitely. At some point, they HAVE to get in a stadium deal and Baltimore is, apparently, the closest they can get one.

It's not like they're moving hundreds of miles away. Yes, it's a different city with a distinct culture and history of supporting teams, but the team will still be United and they'll still be the local team.

And they'll finally be able to be healthy financially and in a position to grow and succeed going forward, something I'd imagine most supporters would want for an organization they care about.

Sure, the commute to games will be longer but I'd much rather go to Baltimore a few times a year than have no team in the area to cheer for and have United playing in Detroit or Vegas or Charlotte or where ever.

Maybe it's because I grew up going to Os games - and Memorial Stadium was a huge pain to get to compared to Camden Yards and where the SSS will be - but I just don't see the team being based in Baltimore as being a huge negative. I mean, I'd rather they stay closer, but if they can't, it beats the hell out of the alternative.

 

Here are a couple of reasons:

1. DCU's chances of making something work here in DC have been damaged by the decreasing attendance since 2007 (while the attendance everywhere else in the league has been going up). There have been a lot of reasons for this; but one of them that I've heard has been Don Garber's/MLS' repeated statements about the possibility of moving the team to Baltimore. I've heard literally dozens of people tell me that they've dialed down their commitment to DCU because of Garber's statements -- "why should I get emotionally invested in a team that's just going to leave?"

2. MLS has, in the past, done some gymnastics to help teams that were having a hard time getting a deal done. They haven't pumped money in -- they haven't had it to pump -- but they've done other stuff, from helping to fund negotiations to arranging for big SUM events in the jurisdictions in question to increase tax revenues etc. going to those jurisdictions. They haven't seemed to show much of an effort to help here.

 

For me, it's not a matter of "blame." I root for DC because I knew from my junior year in high school I wanted to live in the District. Because MLS Cup 1996 came during my freshman year of college.

Baltimore is not DC. I root for teams from two areas: Colorado (my hometown pre-college) and DC (college and directly afterward, and where I consider myself to be from "spiritually").

If DC moves, will I abandon MLS? Dunno. I'm not sure I could be a Rapids fan.

R.

 

I've explained it here lots and lots of times.

Agreed.

Agreed.

The local team to Baltimore, yes.

You seem to think that the reason people support sports teams is because of as-the-crow-flies distance away. Maybe that's true for some people. For others, it doesn't work like that.

I support DC United because I feel a part of what they represent: the DC area. If they move to Baltimore, they'll be Baltimore's team. They will represent Baltimore. I'm not from Baltimore. I'm from DC. Baltimore is a nice city that I've visited numerous times and had lots of fun in. But it's not *mine*.

Based on where I live, if the team moved to Baltimore, they'd be easier for me to get to than if they moved to La Plata; but if they moved to La Plata, I wouldn't feel as much like they represented a different city than mine . . .like they weren't *my* team anymore.

You go to games for different reasons than I do. You go because you want to see live soccer, and it's the closest top flight live soccer to you. I go because the team represents something to me that will not exist anymore if the team moves to Baltimore.

I don't know how else to explain it.

 

Would I like to see DC stay in the district? Hell yes.

But thats not going to happen -- I live in Ellicott City and will support the team wherever it is. As will my family (Frederick).

 

I love the emotional swings on this board and in this thread.

Goff makes an off-handed tweet or two about Buzzard Point and people start petitions and figuring out the best route to the location waiting for an announcement by year's end.

A few weeks later...

A survey goes out and it's the end.

They've talked about Baltimore forever. It's sad that this may be the first time a survey went out testing the waters. I mean, damn. Do your research before you start mouthing off. Payne's response to the survey:

To me this is yet another sign that Payne is terrible at negotiating and getting a stadium deal done. We all know DC Mayor/Council members don't really care if DC United stays or goes. So, there's no leverage by threatening them or showing them survey results. That's if they even get survey results showing strong support for an MLS team in Baltimore.

 

I'm definitely in the Bootsy Collins camp. The money we spend yearly on DCU will just be saved for more trips to Barcelona and London. I'm also bitter enough that I'd probably actively discourage people I know from watching/attending other MLS games too, haha.

 

Because they won't be DC United, that's why.

 

Word.

 

There are people who do this sort of negotiation for a living, and are good at it. They cost tons of money; but as Chang (and Victor MacFarlane earlier) has had demonstrated, it's a false economy to not hire them. You save a little up front; but you stand to lose a lot more in the long run. It's like opting for the cheap lawyer, rather than the lawyer that's most likely to win the case for you.

 

According to some moron in another thread, people who use lawyers are "garbage."

 

I blame Tom Soehn, Piotr Nowak, and Kevin Payne.

 

I just blame Kevin Payne. He's been at this forever and not gotten anywhere.

 

WTF to Soehn and Nowak have to do with this?

 

The Kevin Payne in the Arse quote is evidence that e is paving the way to get to Baltimore. It has all the earmarks of Payne. It is ham handed, impolitic, and likely to further depreciate the value of the franchise. Baltimore is a lesser market than DC and can not produce enough local support to make an MLS team work -- even with a new top class stadium. They will find that the evidence of support isn't there and at the same time many loyal DCU supporters may walk on them.

By the way, I am not a taxpayer in Maryland or Baltimore but I would be screaming like hell if I was. This would be the third taxpayer funded stadium within a mile of each other. And only the Ravens will warrant the expenditure. And this is during a really poor economic crisis. Why don't some of you who are citizens of Maryland ask your representatives why they are funding this?