I mean technically a metro area of 700,000 people could fill a 20,000 seat stadium. Burnley, Blackburn and Accrington share a metro area of 370,000. But it probably wouldn't be a big revenue generator in today's soccer market. Eventually we'll see.
At least we sometimes have the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup for romantics like me.I still remember Rochester (NY) Raging Rhinos (RIP) winning the cup in 1999, and Charleston (SC) Battery [still around] making the final against my DC United in 2008.
Green Bay (WI) Packers have survived a century in the NFL in a tiny market. They were grandfathered in, playing under business structures more similar are They've won the old NFL Championship multiple times, and 4 Super Bowls. They were forced to play two regular season games a season in the much larger Milwaukee from 1933 to 1994. People still have tickets from 2 games a season from the Milwaukee era. Season tickets have about 35 year waiting period before getting them.
Abe Lenstra Stadion - sc Heerenveen Plaats: Heerenveen, Nederland Coördinaten:52° ′ NB, 5° ′ OL Capaciteit:26100 built in 1994 City of Heerenveen In 2020 29505 citizensWikipedia (NL)
I think Des Moines is a template for how USL should expand. Bring the city on board, then find the owners.
The Packers don't really have a tiny market. Their market is the state of Wisconsin. If they relied only on the support of the population of the Green Bay metro area, they would not have survived. Playing those games in Milwaukee served the dual purpose of expanding their appeal across the state as well as convincing the NFL not to put another team there.
I believe you but he's done a great job of keeping his name out of it. https://www.uslchampionship.com/news_article/show/1171351
Except of course pro/rel based on the results of the sporting competition doesn't prevent this .... unless of course you can show me a pro/rel top division of any significance where the top metro areas are not dominating/concentrated there I'll wait ...
Not entirely accurate. It's not uncommon for some teams to play in higher divisions in some of the lower-profile sports. Men's hockey is probably the most notable of these sports with D2 schools like St. Cloud State being national D1 powerhouses in men's hockey. I've also seen some D2 schools play D1 in men's and women's lacrosse. All of these are contingent on a conference allowing an affiliate member (like in lacrosse) or forming a sport-specific conference like they have in hockey. Pro/rel is dumb at any level and would be even more idiotic at the college level.
I noted the exception that allows lower division teams to play up in Division I in a single sport. I even cited hockey and lacrosse as the main examples.
Green Bay actually played 3 home games (sometimes 4) most seasons in Milwaukee from 1952 to 1994. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Bay_Packers_home_games_in_Milwaukee
The college conferences aren't strictly for athletic purposes, as well (although they obviously started that way). There are all sorts of other academic and administrative associations that exist within these conferences, too. But I agree that college athletics doesn't suit pro/rel very well.
Yeah, that’s very odd. It’s not like some tightly held secret. “Krause +, the real estate arm of the group that owns the Kum & Go convenience store chain, plans a $540 million professional soccer stadium and entertainment district there, and the city recently received preliminary approval for $23.5 in state tax incentives to support the project” https://www.desmoinesregister.com/s...arts-july-epa-city-council-krause/7995154002/
To be fair, college sports, especially football, don't primarily draw fans from the college town itself. I ran into people from all over the country at Michigan football games.
Been banging this drum for a while so I'll take the challenge. I actually wouldn't have pro/rel between the divisions. There are genuine cultural differences between D1 D2 and D3 so I think it's best if the schools themselves determine where they fit best. Where I think pro/rel could work is within the divisions at least D1. Keep the conferences regional but have 2 or three tiers within each region and promote from there. The tiers essentially already exist in Football with the Power 5 and group of 5 divide. So for instance the winner of the Mountain West promotes to the Pac-12 and last place in the Pac-12 drops to the mountain West. Think this system would work and actually help with the conference realignments which are slowly ripping the soul out of college football. Not that I am biased (one guess on which program has dominated the Mountain West but is in danger of being conference less in the near future).
If Wyoming fills it's stadium to the brim the Stadium is basically (give or take 1,000 people) the 3rd largest city in Wyoming. That's just the stadium. I think Nebraska is in a similar situation and a few others are close.
When we (in Europe) talk about soccer as a cutural heritage thing it would be a good thing to incorporate certain values in soccer: The Newcastle owners want you to know they are not offended. But plenty are. And they would not dare write this in a club statement. https://t.co/dRKdibYpW2 pic.twitter.com/lgaiEu5go1— Adam Crafton (@AdamCrafton_) October 20, 2021
Looks like they rely on visiting fans to fill the stadium. The rainbow flag is proudly waved at every MLS stadium that allows flags (ironically Yankee Stadium doesn't).