The only chance OKC has for 2005 is for a team to relocate. That's possible but I'm not holding my breath. It's also been said before that the chances of OKC getting a team lie much more likely with 2006 expansion than 2005. Wantland won't be read by next season for one. There's no sign of construction going on out there which is what makes me believe it will be 2006. It can house a team for a season while they build it but I doubt it highly. So there you go. Hopefully it'll get done for 2006.
At what point will the decision have to be made by the MLS? It would seem like that time is coming up. I would assume that Chivas is one. Why can't OKC be the other in 2005?
I can think of about 2 million dollars worth of reasons for ANY prospective MLS ownership group to wait a year. Even if an Edmond/OKC team (or a Rochester, Houston, Seattle, Salt Lake City, or insert favorite city here) manages to "break even" their 1st year in the league, those owners are pretty much guaranteed a $2,000,000 loss to subsidize bad stadium leases at Giants Stadium, RFK, et al. MLS's single entity system virtually guarantees foot-dragging... if you're an owner with lotsa $$$, wouldn't you be tempted to wait 5 years, save a cool 10-mil??? ... THEN wait to see if MLS starts breaking even just like Garber says it will.
Excellent point. Dallas will be in their new stadium and Chicago will hopefully play most of 2006 in theirs, maybe even Colorado. At the same time, however, if you wait a bit longer, I guarantee that it will NOT be a $10mill entrance fee to join a nearly profitable league and a profitable SUM.
You're right Carlos. By the time the league is profitable the entrance fee won't be $10 million. Either you can spend the money now or later.