The fact that C.B. wanted the name to be Roughnecks doesn't automatically mean that he wanted to to pretend that it's the same team. It is possible to honor old teams without having to be them.
Call me a purist, but I don't think fans of your closest geographic rival should be allowed to vote on your team's name.
There's a difference in pretending to be that team and paying homage to it's history and continuing it's legacy within the community naming the USL team the Rpughnecks made sense on many levels as does reviving the Bethlahem Steel identity
I agree. That's the point I've tried to make a number of times, on BS and elsewhere. It's what I'm talking about when I say that it's possible to honor old teams without having to be them. You can either honor a former team by taking its name without claiming to be a continuation of that team, like the present-day Tampa Bay Rowdies and Fort Lauderdale Strikers are doing, or you can claim to be a continuation of that team, like the present-day New York Cosmos are doing. Personally, I prefer the first option, and that is what I hope the new team in Bethlehem will do. But according to C.B., in post #41 of this thread, it isn't what the present-day Tulsa Roughnecks are doing.
I don't know if this makes sense but they are and they aren't. They have a "legacy" third kit that they wear primarily when they play other "legacy" sides ( Sounders 2 , Timbers 2 ) , and as cb pointed out they do sell " new " throwback memorabilia . However I think it's all done in an effort to educate younger fans of the legacy , and as a way to link the old with the new. In my opinion it's done with the highest regard and respectability.
So your choices are: Lehigh Valley Steel FC Steel SC Lehigh Valley Blast Bethlehem Steel FC Write-in a team name Bottom dollar they go with either LV Steel FC or Steel SC in order to build a stadium in Allentown. The Union FO is too chicken shit not to be "inclusive" and probably wants to avoid calling the team Bethlehem. You can vote here: http://www.mcvip.me/usllehighvalley
if BSFC wins the vote they'll go with it.... I think in the back of their head they'd prefer LV, but they'll honor the outcome... I don't think there is anyway people don't stuff the ballot box with Bethlehem at this point.
Lehigh Valley Steel FC would be a good balance between trying to honor the past while reflecting the present mentality that emphasizes the region here. I still voted for Bethlehem Steel FC because I'm a nerd who reads soccer message boards. I bet it's Lehigh Valley Steel FC in the end.
They want to take advantage of the Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ) money while they can. They'll put a stadium, eventually, in Allentown somewhere because of NIZ. There is a lot of land adjacent to the Lehigh Valley Iron Pig's stadium, Coca-Cola Park, that would easily accommodate a 5-8k soccer stadium. The last thing they want is to be "stuck" in Bethlehem, even though it is more central in the LV and can draw between Allentown and Easton.
The land in the red box is idle and can easily be used for a USL appropriate sized stadium with a north-south orientation. The parking lots just to the east of that site is Iron Pigs parking, but since the stadium and parking lots are owned by Lehigh County, while the Iron Pigs (L.V. Baseball LP.) are co-operators of the facility with the County. The County could, and would, build the stadium while only adding a small amount of additional parking and rely on that lower section of parking for joint use between the Iron Pigs and USL Lehigh Valley. That is why I think there is no chance for the team to be named Bethlehem. Bethlehem does not have the attractive land options that Allentown has (both in the NIZ and available infrastructure).
I agree logistically it makes more sense to go with LV, but if there was zero chance of Bethlehem winning it never would of been placed on the ballot and the Union could easily just point to trademark issues as an excuse.
"being them" is in the eyes of the beholder, I think. I'd vote for Bethlehem Steel as a tribute to history and to educate the public, for sure. But there really aren't any players from the 1930 Bethlehem Steel team still alive and kicking, are there? The flipside would be to shamelessly use the old name/logo as a cheap marketing ploy... and during the WC summer of 2014, the new Roughnecks seemed to be going "full retro" in the gift shop ... whilst many of the NPSL Athletics fans were at the bar down the street (Fassler Hall). I had some great correspondence with Aaron Davidson some years back when he told me about the upcoming rebrand for Miami as the Ft Lauderdale Strikers and remember getting the exciting news that the New York Cosmos were joining the league, and that the new NASL would be focusing on expansion to Tulsa in the coming year... then they hired Peterson as commish and expanded to OKC... Even if they played in exact replica jerseys, I'm not sure the latter option really exists. Even with the Cosmos, I think the act of trying to purposefully create an organization unsatisfied with minor league soccer is a pretty fitting tribute to the character of the old club. The angst we've had in Tulsa is primarily the worry about the high potential for conflicts of interest from within the ownership of the minor league baseball club and the USL OKC Energy people at Prodigal LLC... and the fact that nobody wanted another 3rd division version of this club to call themselves the Roughnecks. To be fair, the organization (unlike Tampa, Ft L, and the Cosmos) decided to make their crest/colors markedly different from the original, and as much as I do not like admitting Mike to be right, the word "legacy" is appropriate to use here, something I don't think the new Roughnecks-men-in-orange could get away with if it weren't for the hiring of David Irving as coach.
If Bethlehem Steel goes through how many "legacy" teams would we have in the top 3 divisions of american soccer? Bethlehem Steel Tulsa Roughnecks Ft. Lauderdale Strikers Tampa Bay Rowdies NY Cosmos San Jose Earthquakes Seattle Sounders Portland Timbers Vancouver Whitecaps am I missing any?
I'm not sure what the definition of legacy is but there was a Houston Dynamos from 1984-1991 that played in various leagues. That's close.
Definition of legacy as per dictionary.com : 1. Law: a gift o property as money by will ; a bequest. 2. Anything from the past as from an ancestor or predecessor In this case: a clubs identity,history, traditions, and rivalries . It wasn't me who first called clubs who ressurect identities from the past I read it somewhere and it stuck with me somehow
I presume that there are there are no players from the old Bethlehem Steel team left, since anybody 20 then would be 105 now. The guy in my avatar would be 117 now. However, I don't agree that the "latter option" of claiming to be the same team doesn't exist. I think the present-day Cosmos established that they are claiming that when they retired Giorgio Chinaglia's number last year. Also, they claim a direct line of ownership, Warner-to-Pinton-to-Kemlsey-to the current owners.
Seems that sponsorship opportunities are not sorted out yet. I called today and they will have that together sometime in October. My company does a small sponsorship for the Phantoms hockey team so I'm going to see if I can get us to do at a minimum the same thing with this team if not more.
Like a Philadelphia team not actually playing in that city. Or Los Angeles, or Chicago, etc. Wow, biased much. On the contrary. The FO wants the name to include Bethlehem. Riding coat tails and all that. Plus, there's all that sweet, sweet former third jersey branded gear out there that would be instantly relevant again.
Philly, Chicago and LA are a tad bigger and more influential than Bethlehem. A team named Bethlehem based in Allentown just seems silly.. way sillier than a team named Philly in Chester.... but your point still stands, I wouldn't put it past them.
Or maybe people just like going to frigging baseball and hockey games, did you ever consider that? People aren't beholden to stupid grudges held for centuries by hamlets with chips on their shoulders because other cities outgrew them or had all the fun stuff to do. Why do we overthink this stuff? And why does there always have to be somebody to blame for the perceived loss of the glory days of old that, truth be told, weren't all that great to begin with? It's 2015. It's sports. That's all it is. Cities and states don't go to war against one another. Holding onto that stuff is counterproductive.
Official team name and colors announcement tomorrow. They seem to be foreshadowing the choice at least a bit, though: "The event, which is set to take place in the Blast Furnace Room at ArtsQuest at SteelStacks located at 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, Pa., will include enticing visual effects and activities in addition to the many attractions already available at ArtsQuest. Philadelphia Union head coach Jim Curtin and technical director Chris Albright will be on site and fans will have the opportunity to purchase apparel for the new team. SteelStacks, an iconic location in the Lehigh Valley, was once the home to the second largest steel manufacturer in the nation, Bethlehem Steel. Currently, SteelStacks features a 10-acre campus dedicated to arts, culture, family events and celebrations. “I cannot think of a more fitting place to host the unveiling event of the new colors, logo and team name,” said Dave Rowan, Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer..."