what team(s) are in dire trouble financially, and will either fold or "relegate" to D3 or PDL.... any guesses??
If Cincinnati has survived the last three years, then they're better than 50-50 for 2003, given the owner's determination. The owner, um, needs a better plan than to reserve a field that the county fairground management likes to use for demolition derby. A campaign for a racetrack away from the field at the fairgrounds seems like a place to start. The Calgary print media seems to want to write off the Storm. Of course, they also want to write off the Flames and the CFL, so it may be wiser to conclude that the Calgary print media is struggling for readership. The owner seems like a hopeless romantic (your choice of cliches today is "it takes one to know one", or "the pot deeply admires the darkness of the kettle"), so these guys have to go another year. Vancouver- just have a hunch an owner is lined up, though I wish there were better ways than internet petitions to drill the point home that the sport is popular in BC. Given this, I'll actually lay 50-50 that the A-League won't lose any teams. The thing to watch is D3 and PDL out west. There are rumors of a revolt against the USL, looks like some league jumping (a new league and a PCSL expansion, maybe, who am I to say from this far away) may take place. At the same time, at least D3 may have some replacements lined up. This could result in an examination of the USL fee structure and nothing happens, or there's another league come next year. Apparently, Boise is ready for neither league.
What about Indiana? Worse record and, I thought, worse financially than Cincinnati. I believe they had to sell the land they were going to use for a stadium to cover operating expenses this year. What will they do next year?
Boise or Spokane would be interesting at the D3 level. Would give Utah some more "local" rivalries. I know Spokane are already in the PDL and seem to do OK from what I've heard. Are there any decent facilities in Boise or would one need to be built (or at least a decent college/HS stadium that has a regulation size pitch)?
Boise: A handful of years ago, there was a park proposal to add another complex of fields south of the city, with a small stadium at the center of the complex. It was supposed to be managed by one of the youth clubs. The arrangement fell through because (at least I've been led to believe) the club thought the city would pay for maintenance, the city thought otherwise. Boise State's women's team plays at the existing complex SE of town, no stands, a hill behind one goal. A couple local colleges at the west end of the valley have their own fields, nothing to write home about. Northwest Nazarene has a couple of little bleachers- would be a situation much worse than Utah Blitzz having to play games in Provo last year. There is talk of Boise State renovating the grid stadium to remove the running track and move the seats closer to the blue, meaning a track / soccer stadium might get built- maybe north of downtown. BSU is stuck paying the loan off the most recent stadium expansion, and their basketball arena is losing business to the smaller downtown hockey arena and the rodeo/sports arena in Nampa, so some donor will have to step forward to make that happen. I'm not holding my breath. Of course, it's not like I haven't been trying to leave town for years, just as long as my career track continues. Long story. HS stadia? Simplot Stadium in Caldwell has the proper stand, but they wedge a baseball field into the thing for some fool reason, making that undesirable. Bulldog Bowl in Nampa, um, not bad facility, but I doubt it would fit soccer in. None of the other HS stadia (of which there really aren't that many, especially IN Boise) really would fit a field.
Figo, as far as I know, Syracuse is going to have a team next season. There was an article in the Rochester paper saying that many of the Rhinos might jump to that team, since the Tanner brothers went to Syracuse University and some other guys aren't getting as much playing time as they used to. Doug Miller even said he would like to come out of retirement and play there.
It would be nice if Syracuse and Des Moines were added, that would make a nice even alignment amongst divisions. If Vancouver did disappear, Boise would be a good replacement to maintain division size. Then with four divisions of five I would have each division rival paired four times, non-division interconference rivals paired twice and maybe the remaining two games against the two non-conference teams that finished in the same position in their respective divisions.
Where would the Nationals play? Not the Carrier Dome or P&C Stadium? On a totally unrelated note, Robert Wetenhall, owner of the Montreal Alouettes, spoke about the possibilty of the CFL expanding into the States again, but this time, following the original plan. The original plan was to place franchises in smaller cities near the border, like Syracuse, Rochester, Tacoma, Portland, etc. However the CFL was in dire straits in 1992, and so awarded franchises to anyone willing to put up the expansion fee, regardless of where. This time, Syracuse would be just the market he's talking about, and the team would play in the Carrier Dome. Although I didn't know that venue would be amenable to the larger Canadian gridiron and it's just one CFL owner talking about it, so it's probably just a lot of talk.