I was flipping channels this weekend and I think that I saw a brief snippet of Demps on this program.
https://www.frontrowsoccer.com/2022/05/31/rip-scott-ex-cleveland-force-vp-wolstein-passes-away/ Scott Wolstein, who was co-owner and vice president of the Cleveland Force, has passed away. Wolstein, a real estate developer and CEO of The Wolstein Group since 1979, died May 26. He was 69. He passed away after a six-month battle with stage 4 mucosal melanoma, diagnosed in November 2021.
always thought that they would bring MLS to Cleveland, guess that they got fairly close at one point, no?
They did indeed. At one point it looked like a done deal. I have a photo someplace of Garber showing Wolstein around the stadium in Toronto with all of both their flunkies trailing behind. If I'm not mistaken he even put down a deposit. They had a stadium site picked out just north of Akron on route 8. The usual development plans, medical, retail etc. But he wanted - and felt he had been promised - some sales tax money and when it didnt come through Wolstein said he had been cheated and lied to and the whole thing blew up. But Wolstein Sr was a big soccer.fan and really wanted in. He just didn't want to foot the bill.
Thanks so much! If I can ask another question for your opinion? Knowing that the taxpayers always get scr#wed, would Cleveland/Akron MLS have been better, worse or about the same as Columbus?
There are lots of guys around here who could give you a better answer than I can to this kind of question.
I think Cleveland not getting a team was crucial for Save The Crew. They could have really gone whole hog on the "Ohio is overcrowded" argument.
Alternatively, if Cleveland had a team, would Cincinnati have gotten theirs? We could have had all Ohio except Akron/Canton up to Cleveland over to (and maybe beyond) the PA border.
Canadian players are on strike, will not play Panama apparently?!?! Breaking: Canadian men's national team will not play in a World Cup warmup game scheduled tonight in Vancouver against Panama. The team is on strike over player compensation issues.We'll have details tonight on @SportsCentre.— Rick Westhead (@rwesthead) June 5, 2022 Yikes!!
Not unusual in Canada. Some hobby dealers have a US PO Box to eliminate issues with Canada Post random strikes. Which is not to say the players don't have a point.
This Canada story is wild… https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...canceled-labor-dispute?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other This part in particular is incredibly WTF: The leadership were headed straight back to the team hotel and said they were ready to talk to the players again. But given how the initial conversations went, things weren’t looking good. One source told the Toronto Star that [CSA President] Bontis had got on his knees and begged players to take Canada Soccer’s deal ahead of the Panama game. And apparently the women’s team is now getting caught up in this and is somewhere between the men and the CSA. Curaçao is up on Thursday in the Nations League.
The ironic if not downright hilarious aspect of this is that the problem stems directly - as the article says - from the handling of payments, spo sorships and merchandising by a seperate entity called CSB ( Canadian Soccer Business) CSB is in turn an integral part of the CPL (Canadian Premier League) and is a direct and blatant copy of the SUM structure in the US. They figured (and openly said as much at the time) "Hey, this worked for the US in financing MLS and we'll just do the same". It was a huge part of their basic sales pitch: see how this worked for MLS. But the players up there caught on to the scam. They too saw that SUM was a front for a private league sucking up national team profits to finance a domestic soccer league. And they're refusing to go along. That's what this is all about, and it's endlessly amusing. Without that money the CPL will collapse, and it's all because the smug, arrogant and stupid clowns who run Canadian soccer didn't see this coming when SUM lost USSF.
Apparently the Jamaican FA forgot to get plane tickets or plan… anything for the team to get back home after their game in Suriname. Wow. Dude had to fall on his sword already over this, CONCACAF is wild AF haha. Jamaica: General secretary Dalton Wint resigns after team refuse to play https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61716504
Wow, just watched the Honduras v Curaçao highlights from last night, Curaçao won in San Pedro Sula 2-1. It was all Curaçao, minus a Romel Quioto wonder strike in the 94th minute. Honduras has fallen so far these days.
The truly sad thing is that Jamaica is very much the flagship Caribbean side. Best organization, best facilities and usually best players. T&T has challenged for the role but they have so many problems now it's ridiculous. They still haven't recovered from Jack Warner, who is still demanding money and trying to run things from behind the scenes. Nobody else comes close to being competitive, and if the best of the region is in complete disarray, as they unarguably are, there's not much reason to take the Caribbean Union seriously. Except of course for the ludicrous 35 FIFA Congress votes they command, which outnumber South, Central and North America COMBINED, which keeps the money flowing. And the graft. Soccer doesn't matter. Organization doesn't matter. Blatant theft, incompetence and corruption doesn't matter. Only those precious votes, which kept Blatter in power and are now doing the same for Infantino.
In World Cup 2026 news, host cities will be announced on Thursday. There have already been press releases in Kansas City, Philly, and Santa Clara (SF/SJ) about local events regarding this, so seems they are in. Also, rumor has it Canada will only have two cities, Toronto and Vancouver. Montreal declined after weighing up the financials and Edmonton looks out. Mexico still expected to get three: Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara. 16 cities - 3 US - 3 Mexico - 2 Canada = 8 cities left.
And you can pencil in, in ink, LA, Chicago, and NY/NJ as three of those. Seattle would make a good pod with Vancouver. Odds of an Ohio team are slim, IMHO.