Man City Owners Pondering Bid for NY II; Red Bull Having Second Thoughts?

I read his quote more as a defense against the argument of why you'd put a second team in a city 20 miles from a current team, and in an area with 4 teams inside of 300 miles, when you have 1,100 miles of empty map space south of the line between Dallas & DC.

I think deep down Donny Baldgame (tm) knows that the RB part of RBNY was a deal with the devil, but, AEG held all of the cards & he worked for them (the owners) as commissioner. I remember hearing from MLSHQ peeps in 2006 that he asked the Austies to keep the team name, and then at least just the team colors, and he was told to STFU.

In 2006, RSL was a new team without a stadium, Toronto's fan success (true story, this happened once) was still in the future, and if RB coming in meant that Harrison was finalized (which it did, really), then that was 1 more stadium they could use to prop up the league's viability, at a time when future success was still murky. I don't have them around, but I do remember reading quotes in the last 1-2 years where he'd said things to the effect of 'we wouldn't let a company come in and do that again' with the team name. Because, post MLS 2.0, you don't need to. Portland, Seattle, whatevs...MLS now thinks you can be just fine calling yourselves the Impact or Whitecaps or whatever.

So, to me, that quote was just reflective of the fact that he's got two items on his plate, driven by the same profit motive that made Metro the RBs in the first place: Get the stadium done to jack up the franchise fee, and get that team sold. He will build whatever floodwall of revisionist "We've always been thinking about it..." nonsense he has to, if it means keeping the logic flood from Orlando, Tampa, Vegas, San Antonio & others from sinking the NY2 boat. A shorter version of what he said is "Geography Schmography."

I view it as less about the mistake RB is, and more about the franchise fee boner he's sporting for NY2.

 

J&P Coats founded in 1900:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J&P_Coats

Bethlehem Steel F.C. founded in 1911:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlehem_Steel_F_C

Todd Shipyards founded in 1921:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Shipyards_(soccer_team)

Fleisher Yarn founded in 1924:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Shipyards_(soccer_team)

 

The boner might be more for television than even the franchise fee. A second NYC area team makes for a much better tv contract.

 

Another cool name is Salvadorian team Luis Angel Firpo, or Firpo as they are called by their fans. A team /sports club named after one of the best argentine boxers at the time. It's like a team in Colombia calling themselves Mohammad Ali FC or something! Wild!

 

I've always been fond of the name "The Strongest".

 

I can't help but root for Go Ahead Eagles.

 

Those names were common in the early days of American soccer, but usually factory teams got their name because the players were factory employees. Sometimes companies would foot the bill for the team for some prestige/marketing of their company, but by that is not the case with RBNY by a goddamn long shot.

But, this is all pretty 2006. Time to move on.

 

A ton of fans on the site know more about this than I do but just from prowling the internet it appears Bethlehem FC did not start as a team the company founded for its workers but was originally not attached to the company at all. The company took it over in 2013 to form Bethleham Steel FC and by 2014 was importing stars from national teams in Europe to create a mini soccer dynasty.

Not Red Bull by any means but not the pristine story many (including me) imagined.

 

No Joe Public fans here?

 

I assume you mean 1913 and 1914.

 

Indeed...thanks...and I'm not certain about the dates maybe it was 1911 with Bethlehem Steel taking over and 1914 starting to bring in the big players from Europe. But again the idea remains the same that the team Bethlehem FC drawn from immigrant workers largely but not entirely from the mill was adopted/taken over/sponsored by the company at a certain point to go professional.

 

Yeah... But let's face it, MLS is a league full of stupid names. Then again, so are most sports leagues.

 

Wahl interviewed by Rob Stone on Fox:
http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/video/?vid=4db55145-28a1-4c7d-9fb0-488b5e08ea2f

Basically confirms there are four interested parties, one of which is Sheikh Mansour. (Another involves a French film producer and Curtis Martin, the former NFL player who was sighted looking over MLS a few months back.)

 

Detroit Ford Club
Miami Lifesaver
NY Money Maker/Cheater/Players
Palo Alto Hackers
?

 

Likely the sheikh will be coming in. He would bring the type of players MLS craves.

 

If so that sure puts a crimp in what appear to be the obvious plans of the guys running the NASL Cosmos. Wonder how quick they'd fold the team if that happened so they could sell off the name to the Sheikh (assuming he'd even want it).

 

I think the Cosmos were out of this for a long time. It looks like they really don't have the cash for what MLS wants.

 

The Cosmos guys have not be credible for a while. They're just keeping the name ticking over until they can sell it on for a profit. The sad thing is some people on these boards actually believe what they say, despite the history of failures and bad business practice and hot air blown around them pre and after Kemsley.

 

New York Citizens? You have Citi Field next door...tie-in.

 

That's what they'd do if they were smart. Without an MLS team attached to it, it's worth approximately the amount of money Sheikh Mansour uses to wipe his ass.

 

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww.....MASSIVE Neg Rep!

 

And I deserve it too.
So much for elevating the discussion...

 

If Sheikh Mansour gets the club he can just follow the Man City example and call the team New York City FC.

 

Found this on another forum. It was posted last night so the unveiling is today?

http://gothamist.com/2012/12/03/soccer_updates_stadium_plan_unveili.php