Bwa ha ha I didn't forget...Kensington is still talking about it. "This is what happens when people from Fishtown move in," said one neighbor. Glad to see another Philadelphian here. Go to www.philadelphiaatoms.com when you get a chance.
Before anyone starts nitpicking, Founders Cup had attendance northwards of 15,000, Beat averaged attendance in excess of 8,000 in Year One and I think its Year 2 numbers, while down, were not as low as 5k. All the other accusations about Atlanta are irrelevant if the I/O and stadium are there.
Re: Bwa ha ha What about the male dolphin that took female dolphis across state lines for immoral porpoises?
I don't know if I dreamed this in a drunken stupor or if it actually happened. Last year or the year before the owners of the Mid-Michigan Bucks in the PDL were talking about building a new stadium, investing heavily in the team and trying to become an MLS side. Did anything ever happen with this? Sachin
This is just a hope and a dream, but I'd love to see an MLS team in Detroit. When I watch MLS, it's very difficult to find a team to cheer for, as Columbus is the closest team to here, and I've made a vow to myself that I will never root for a team from Ohio. The Detroit team could play in the new Ford Field, which has opened with the smallest amount of fanfare in the history of major stadium openings. 500 millions dollars, an indoor stadium and playing on FieldTurf. The field is wide and surrounded by brick, and includes all the latest amenities. It's directly across the street from Comerica Park, and it's bloody beautiful. The market? Huge. Detroit is a fanatic sports town - you'll never hear about it, but consider the facts. Tigers are terrible, yet they have the longest attendance streak in MLB in drawing over a million fans per year. The Pistons? Started selling out the Palace of Auburn Hills again last year, as the team did fairly well. Now the only pro team here not in Detroit, which hurts them, as they're about thirty, forty miles away from the city limits. Red Wings? 1 million people lined the streets for the Stanley Cup parade this year. And I think this is the only area in the country that routinely seats 80,000 in East Lansing, 110,000 in Ann Arbor, and 65,000 in Detroit each weekend for football. We also had a fairly popular indoor team, the Rockers, who had attained a large cult following back when I played youth soccer. Expanding to smaller markets such as Tulsa is an option, but when you consider the possibilities of larger, untapped markets such as Detroit, one has to wonder why smaller cities are being considered better targets for expansion.
MLS doesn't want to expand without an ownership group/and suitable stadium in place. Right now, Oklahoma has a suitor who is also trying to get a stadium, and Detroit does not.
“MLS has only 10 teams, and they are spread far too far apart. We need, over time, to have the footprint of soccer to become 30 or 32 teams like baseball, football or basketball. That is going to take a lot of time." - Lamar Hunt Be patient. Detroit WILL get one.
Stadium is too narrow. For the Olympics they had to take out the hedges that surround the field. No chance of them ever being permenetly taken out. UGA has NO mens soccer team. For reasons why see threads on Title IV. They do have a Club team that plays other SEC Schools that have similar Title IV situations but no one travels far to see those games. I understand the girls team (which is NCAA). Get a pretty good turn out. But several of them are pretty hot and run arround and get sweaty at games so that my have something to do with turnout Ok first of all how could anyone who has lived in Atlanta make the MARTA comment with a straight face. MARTA goes nowhere. Its a big freaking joke. I lived in Atlanta (well the burbs few people LIVE in Atlanta) for about 20 years and probbaly rode MARTA 6 times tops. I now live in Boston and ride alomost daily. The difference is that the T actually goes somewhere. Now the reasons for the systems being different are not for this thread but, let just say that MARTA does not go to the doorsteps of many people who are able to pay $60-$100 to go to a sporting event. Secondly Tech Sucks nuff' said.
You obviously weren't in the stadium, or you wouldn't be able to type that with a straight face. If there were more than 12k in attendance, then I would be shocked. It's a shame because nearly 5k more could've had tickets to what turned into a great game. Say what you will about the WUSA, but all 6 postseason games in league history have been real crackers.
Um, 1,000,000 fans is an average of just over 12,000 a game. Not exactly aiming high, are we? Well, for one, the Detroit metro area is one of the slowest growing MSAs in the nation--5.2 percent between 1990 and 2000. In MSAs with over 1.5 million people, the only ones that grew more slowly were: Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee. Sinking a precious asset like one of 16 or 18 MLS franchises in a city that is growing markedly slower than other places--think Houston (25 percent growth) or Seattle (20 percent growth)--means that over time, your share of the national market decreases. You want to move into a place that is growing as fast or faster than the national average, or a place like New York City that is so large that even with slightly slower growth, it will still hold a huge chunk of the national market. That said, I think Tulsa and Oklahoma City are too small for MLS and neither is growing aprticularly fast. (OKC is smaller and growing more slowly than Grand Rapids, for Pete's sake.) And I'd love seeing MLS play in a slightly renovated Tiger Stadium. But I can think of a dozen places that, in my estimation, have better potential for MLS than Detroit.
Detroit is one of the few cities in America that supports every major team. The others are Boston and Chicago (arguably New York as well). We know how well the Fire and Revs are doing. As for growth, while it is important, you're analysis is flawed. Detroit is so big that very few non-MLS cities will catch up to them for many, many years. Without any doubt, Detroit should be home to the 11th MLS team based on both size and their history of strong support for sports teams
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: My Predictions With the preceeding evidence you kind of have to go with Dolphins.
24,000 residents of "that Crap sports town" showed up Saturday night. I hope they come back after that 0-0, 100 min. draw.
i gotta agree with mike here. as much as i would love atl to get a team... i must admit i do have doubts as to whether or not they would support it. the south loves sports and we love to play them as well, but in all reality the only one we show up to watch is football... and the braves when they are winning (pre-91 was pitiful)... but maybe if a cetain loud mouthed media mogul with a shitload of cash and a history buying sports franchises in the atlanta metro area would get interested... *cough*ted*cough*. rampant speculation, but a possibility nonetheless.
the devilrays, marlins, heat, panthers, lightning, fusion, and our beloved mutiny all draw or drew bad crowds consistantly. if you're name isn't the dolphins or the bucs then you suck. i know atlanta isn't a sports mecca but to say that south florida is any better is just wrong.
Oh, where to start, where to start? They would get some very good crowds at times, but their averages were: 1992-93 | 7,724 1993-94 | 8,496 1994-95 | 8,503 1995-96 | 7,280 The Caps since 1992-93: 1992-93 | 15,540 1993-94 | 14,673 1994-95 | 14,159 1995-96 | 15,155 1996-97 | 15,672 1997-98 | 15,275 1998-99 | 17,281 1999-00 | 14,480 2000-01 | 15,534 2001-02 | 17,341 The Bullets/Wizards since 1992-93: 1992-93 | 13,641 1993-94 | 15,116 1994-95 | 17,100 1995-96 | 16,789 1996-97 | 17,089 1997-98 | 19,542 1998-99 | 16,099 1999-00 | 15,039 2000-01 | 15,577 2001-02 | 20,477 If you know your history (and you obviously don't), that whole thing had a hell of a lot more to do with Robert Irsay than with Baltimore as a sports market. Surely, though, nobody would be stupid enough to move an NFL team to Baltimore, they'd never support it. And they'd never build a state-of-the-art stadium for it. Naah. Too bad Washington doesn't like the Redskins much, either. 80,000 a game. That's pathetic. Obviously.
Au contraire, my friend. The Silverbacks play in a crappy place with a "lot" of real stands to speak of, about 10,000 too many in fact (seats 15,000). It's a big ol' whompin' high school football field, complete with the too-narrow field and track around it. It's also on the east side of town, which is geographically undesirable for many of the fans in Atlanta. Neither Tech nor Herndon are a suitable long-term solution for MLS. And for those who keep bringing up Ted Turner: a) has probably lost at least one shirt in all of the AOL crap. b) because of this, probably doesn't have the mounds of cash everyone claims he has. c) would have to build a stadium himself (with his money, rather), and may be able to do that "and" bankroll a team.
No, it is true. Coach George "Resume Paddy" O'Leary didn't like what the Beat supposedly did to the grass the year that they played there. The stadium overall was also going to keep them out this summer, but the destroying the turf thing was a medium-sized issue, and got a little bit of press.