All is posible in MLS ! bring $ 25 mil, and a football stadium, and a few extra mill a year, and MLS will take you in for a few years. the next eXpansion NEEDS to be in N. West, and S. Florida, and that is my prediction, seeing that this is the thread, of opinions and predictions, and prayers, and wishes, and hopes and I am sure I am 50% correct.
Holy Cow why wont you florida fans shut up. MLS is not gonna make the same mistake twice. You guys had teams, none of you so called "soccer fans" showed up! you cant just assume that they could survive. youve got to actually get off your lazy butt and drive to the stadium and buy a ticket. GO SIT DOWN THERE! you got teams but couldnt do it the first time you wont get a team this time this time. maybe in... o say probably never will you get a team.
Cleveland???? To the member who claims Cleveland is on the radar.....yeah, it's close enough to C-bus that the radar at Port Washington Airport can pick up Cleveland. Let's put teams a little further apart than an hour or two away, huh? I agree that the Pacific NW should get a team (Seattle, Portland...doesn't matter which) and the other should come from the heartland (Minneapolis, St. Louis, even OKC).
Perhaps MLS should consider a more regional approach for expansion. For instance, a Pennsylvania team that is based in Philly but has several dates in P-burgh's new stadium, and perhaps one in Harrisburg, State College and Scranton. This may ensure a better average attendence number per date. If one or the other city supports it more, then perhaps that city gets more dates the following year, playoff games, etc.
This looks good to me . Houston is the 5 th largest metropolitan are in the country. Get them ! Name them the Houston Hotspurs.
Dude, get off it already! The Fusion was one of, if not the only team that actually made a profit it's last year in the league and we out drew 3 other teams in 2001. So you can't say we didn't go to the games. The owner didn't want to keep losing money because of the single entity B.S. and he didn't stick around. Thats why we really have no team. All the other excuses are made up justifications. Without the "Single entity" MLS system the Fusion would have survived, while your precious Fire would have gone bankrupt. That there will be a Profesional team in South Florida again I have no doubt. The question is when. You want to know why there will be a team here again? Frankly, because everybody wants to come to sunny Miami and S. Florida. But people keep leaving Chicago...
Just another misinformed, clueless basher "You want to know why there will be a team here again? Frankly, because everybody wants to come to sunny Miami and S. Florida. But people keep leaving Chicago..." and NY, and DC.... I will second that....!!!
That's why Seattle's gonna get a team...because of the weather!!! Oh.....maybe not. At least we're not up to our butts in snow.
A good jewish Wine! Take to Miami! Two hands gripping wheel, blue hair barely visible above windshield, driving 35 on the Interstate in the left lane with the left blinker on: Where am I? If you said Miami your right! But these dudes were on their way to a soccer match on Calle ocho!
Re: Cleveland???? Yeah its 2 hours away from Columbus, I've driven it enough times to Crew games to know. To me the bottom line is that the cities that have a modivated owner/operator and a sss or a plan to build a sss are the cities that will have a team. I don't think that they are gonna put a team in city just cause it going to be a nice fit.
Garber is very adamant about one thing: new MLS teams must come in with a stadium of their own to even be considered... it's no longer about getting teams in big markets or expanding the league's geographic footprint on the map... it's about being able to play soccer on a field that it was intended to be played on... it's about keeping the revenues from ticket sales AND parking AND concessions... it's about playing a game whenever you feel like playing it (not just when the resident football team has an off weekend)... no stadium, no team... that's why Seattle, Houston, Philly, et al, have all but eliminated themselves from consideration... that's why Cleveland is at the top of the league's consideration for expansion (along with Oklahoma)... Wolstein is prepared to build a stadium in the Warrensville Heights area (suburb just south of Cleveland)... this guy wants into this league and he is prepared to make it happen... and it will happen... Cleveland will be in the next round of expansion for MLS...
I think it's a bit premature to rule Seattle out on these grounds. We don't have a stadium at this moment, but that's not to say we won't have one presently. I've heard all the talk about why we won't be able to build a new stadium and certainly public support of new professional athletics venues has waned here as of late especially amongst the various legislative bodies who's help would be necessary to get a faciity built. But, as with just about anyhing of this scale, it comes down to money and there is a fair amount of that that is quietly lying in wait. I think MLS is waiting for the potential ownership group here to commit to building a SSS and the owners are looking for a gaurantee from the league that they are going to get a team.
What is more important to the league ....$25 million franchise fee ....or a new SSS? Is it financially feasible to require a new franchise owner to pay (overpay) for an expansion/franchise fee...AND require him to also build a SSS? ....if I was the MLS....I would waive the franchise fee in exchange for the new owner to build a new SSS. ...maybe with a requirement that the league recaptures the franchise fee if the franchise is resold down the road....or maybe some type of "MLS Exclusivity Lien" on the new stadium. THe MLS must become aggressive in getting new SSSs built throught the league....new stadiums are more important than the present over-valued MLS franchise fee. Seattle would be a great city to have a MLS franchise...but make it financially feasible for the new owner to build the SSS. with a SSS, soccer/MLS would always have a valuable asset in Seattle. ...but a one-time franchise fee could easily evaporate in the league that has lost over $250 million in the last 6 years!