I posted this in another foru, but...worth repeating: Insiste con Tigres USA (Insists with Tigres USA) translation of key quote: According to the article, Mayor Garza wants to get it done through Tigres or any Mexican team to buy in 2006. Hmmmmm....
I was wondering when I was going to hear something about San Antonio again. Things have been a little quiet from them. I wonder how much time he has in office to try and get this thing done.
Tigres would have to completely rebuild the KC team if they want them to play like a latin/Mexican team. The current defend with everybody and counter attack twice a game is not going to cut it with hispanic crowds, no matter what label is put on the team.
I posted this in the other thread that is over in the "News & Analysis" forum... http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistor...politan/3131854 The Houston Chronicle already has a story about the San Antonio MLS club, which would lease the Alamodome. Terms require that the club build a practice facility and 10% of the 5,000 season tickets by August of this year for a 2006 start. There is no owner mentioned in the article, but does say they have looked into American and Mexican investors. Also, Kansas City and San Jose are again mentioned as relocation possibilities.
agree... I think Chivas and America would be acceptable, any more Mexican teams would be pushing it unless they want to start a new team by scratch.
If the tigres do get a team i beg of you dont call the team tigres usa call it the tigers or somthing
Hot DAMN, I love it when the Expansion forums get moving. . . It's always so much more, I dunno - OPTOMISTIC. Anywho. . . Take this with a grain of salt, because I didn't believe the rumors of Donovan returning, Wilt getting fired, etc. but. . . I SERIOUSLY DOUBT THAT THE NEXT MEXICAN TEAM TO INVEST IN MLS WILL USE "USA" IN THEIR NAME. Do you think any of those guys want to make it sound like they're copying Vergara more than they already are? The question may become, though - who can bring the most Mexican talent in to their team, or who the most "authentic mexican" team is. Which would suck for MLS and U.S. Soccer.
That's reason #1 why it won't be Tigres USA. I can see it called San Antonio Tigres/Tigers....but not USA just to spite Vergara. Well. US investors should step up.
Can someone tell me about Tigres? I understand why Chivas and America would want to invest in MLS -- both have wealthy owners, and have huge fan bases to tap into. But does Tigres? I never had the impression that they were that popular. Thanks.
OK. Here is some basic info on Tigres UANL: Tigres UANL was founded on 8/25/1967. It started first as a privately owned club that folded and was taken over by the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon (UANL). I am not sure of the date, but UANL then signed agreements with Sinergia Deportiva S.A. de C.V. (SD). SD runs the team and UANL gets some of the profits and keeps UANL in the team. Who is SD? Well. It a subsidiary of CEMEX. Who is CEMEX? CEMEX is Cemento Mexicano (Mexican Cement). Quoting MISL press release: Aside from the deep pockets of CEMEX, Tigres has Cementos Monterrey, Carta Blanca, and Pepsi as their main sponsors. An aside fact, Cruz Azul is also owned by another cement company....Cruz Azul. Also, Sinergia Deportiva has also signed an agreement with MISL to take over a team in Monterrey. As y'all may know, MISL dropped Americas Entertainment Management S.A. de C.V., the operator of the MISL Monterrey Fury team from their league. Quoting again MISL: press release 8/29/2004 So. Does Tigres have $$$? Oh yeah...they do...big time. Now...is Tigres popular? From an FMF perspective, there are three types of popularity: National, Regional, and Local. Nationally, there are the Big 4 (Chivas, America, Cruz Azul, and UNAM). Tigres falls more in the Regional. But. Is a big region and has a very hard-core hincha. They rival anything you see in Argentina as far as hinchas. Their fanaticada reaches all the way to my region (we are about two hours away from Monterrey, NL) and to San Antonio (hmmmm....which city wants an MLS team???....) Now. Take into account other factors. Monterrey is one of the wealthiest and industrialized cities of Mexico. Think of it as the Houston of NL or of Mexico. There are lot of wealthy Tigres supporters. Alot of those wealthy supporters plunk in a pretty penny during the big holidays in Mexico when they come to our malls in the Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio. If you are in the sport biz (and this I think this is the Mayor's logic, not mine) and want to tap into their pockets there are two ways: established sport franchises (SA Spurs) in the city or a new sport franchise that the customer/fan is already comfortable with (Tigres or Rayados de Monterrey). There is already one established sports franchise....Spurs. They are the only major game in town. What is another way to tap into more money from a sport biz, get a team like Tigres. Whether this logic works or not, I don't know.
Hey, thanks for the info. You're definitely right about Tigres having a strong fan base. Even though I can't speak a lick of Spanish, I actually watched some of the Tigres home game against Cruz Azul last week. Even though Tigres was being thrashed by Cruz Azul, their fans were still pretty loud. I don't now if this translates into a popular American soccer following in San Antonio, but their fans are definitely hard-core.