I found the following article at: http://www.w-league.com/articles/usl_commissioner_francisco_marco.htm USL commissioner Francisco Marcos answers questions from SoccerTimes readers. Francisco Marcos (Thursday, June 29, 2000) ... Question: What are the requirements for placing a team in he A-League, D3 Pro League, PDL or W-League. Who should be contacted? Marcos: To enter a team into USL, one should contact the corresponding league manager. The current franchise fees range from $7,500 to $250,000, while minimum stadium capacities range from 1,000-5,000. The other varying factor is the amount of travel that is required.
Wow $7500-250,000. That's not that much cash to get a team going. I am guessing a PDL team would be on the lower end. Buffalo needs a team and we need some action. Go to www.wnyunited.com to talk about the future possibilities and to get involved in this. 716
a PDL team costs a lil more now than those stats say.. It still isn't going to stop WNY United from doing it though.. I agree, come on over if you are interested, and give us a look and do what ya can to get on board.. Criticism and comments are always more than welcome.
What would the team name be? Traditional (Stallions, Blizzard), New?, Euro style (FC, AC, United), Americanized (Metrostars, Crew) What do you guys think?
FC Buffalo, or given american sensibilities...SC Buffalo Buffalo Soldiers FC/SC Buffalo Stallions FC/SC WNY United SC is a little harsh on the tongue for my liking.
WNY United was named as it was due to some of the infighting that suposedly plagues the local scene. The club intends to unite the soccer communities in the area and be something that the whole region can be proud of. When WNY United files to play in the USL, they may or may not be named that. If there are better ideas, I am sure that a name change would be due.. But seeing as how this organization is going to include youth, amateur, and USL sides, we want to be as inclusive as possible, along with differentiating WNY United from other existing soccer clubs in the area.
I think all the old names stink (Blizzard especially) Stallions are'nt that bad, but Buffalo could do way better. For me FC SC and United are all really cheesey. And WNY is'nt informative enough geographically for the average American. Also team names in Buffalo's big sports are good (Bills and Sabres), but its minor teams are awful (Bisons, Wings, Gladiators, Bandits). If it came down to it I would call the team Buffalo 716. It would be something different, has meaning and everyone in the ar ea can associate with it. Say it a few times. It has a nice ring to it. A simple 716 logo and orange and black uniforms(like the Dutch). That's what I would want.
I feel like yelling out "soda!" or "seven"..... What about 716 United? That's pretty sweet. A little like a fly-by-night mall clothing store, but sweet nonetheless. And black and orange would be real solid.
Yeah Black and Ornage are cool colors when done right. (Holland) But when done wrong they can be awful (Bengals). In Buffalo no team really associates with Orange either. The Sabres are Black, Silver, Red. Bills are Blue, Blue and Blue (odd new uniforms). Galdiators are Blue and GRay. The old Stallions were Black and Red. Blizzard were purple and blue? The bandits were orange black silver, but I think they changed to red black and silver. Orange and Black could be an identity.
Bastards. You stole my area code. Now I'm stuck with 585, and have to tell everyone to change their address books.
Anyone know what the pay structure is for the PDL?? Or how other rules like import players, development players, etc. Just to get an idea how much payroll will cost and other expenses.
Hey this sounds like some great stuff. Being heavily involved in playing, coaching, and reffing though I am surprised I heard really nothing about this before. Maybe the people involved in trying to wrap up the team should begin to rally support from all the soccer people in the area (i.e. BWNYJSL teams, BDSL, referee unit, etc.) Seems to me as if you will need all the help you can get from these people with the way things are going with the city. But if you are as serious as you say obviously you know this already. I would love to get involved with this thing and help in anyway possible. Using bigsoccer was a great idea and keeping us all informed through it or your wnyunited website is even better. Let's show everyone that aside from the Bills and the best wings anywhere there are some really great soccer people in Buffalo as well! 716 United!!! <----super job buffalo and easy bake!
hey thanks for the support. Come and join the WNY United soccer form to get invilved. That's what I did and new members are always supported.
I really believe Buffalos' best chance would be to offer the Rhinos a better opportunity for a stadium. The Rhinos deal with frontier field is so bad I believe they could be a very profitable club at 5,000 fans. If a stadium was put on the east side alot of Rochester fans would come. What about Batavia, would fans from Buffalo travel there. I don't believe PTP will ever be built, Frontier field is so poorly operated they are in the red even with the Rhinos paying outragous fees. The best chance (in my opinion) for the MLS to come to WNY is a collaboration between Roch. and Buffalo. We have a team and you have politicians that seem to do more than (unprintable) like ours.
Horta, You don't know much about Buffalo politicians do you? We have traffic lining up for miles to cross the Niagara river to and from Canada and we can't even get our act together to build a new bridge. Our council is to busy calling each other racists and race baiters to get anything important accomplished. You can bet your life Buffalo is not going to build a SSS in the near future. Now if Rochester can't get their act together alone, and Buffalo has some time to build a real fan base who knows what would happen in the future, but right now I think the goal should be MLS in Rochester and A-league in Buffalo. Mike
Well, two months have passed and we are ready to start putting this plan together. I am inviting anyone interested in bringing a team to Buffalo to e-mail me at eriksmith@wnyunited.com so that I can inform you about when our first meeting will be. We want everyone to be a part of this so that this gets done right. This team will start out as grass roots as any soccer club ever has been and I want everyone interested to get ready to do their part to bring our region our very own soccer club. Check out the web forum in the upcoming days. On that site we will begin to outline what things need to be addressed at this first meeting. erik
Buffalo vs. Cleveland Friendly. This was recently posted on the Forum for the Buffalo District Soccer League by Andy Adelman at: http://www.bdsl.org "Hey Guys: I have been contacted by Mr. Serdar of the Lake Erie Soccer League. He would like to have a home and home series with us. The game in Cleveland would be before a Crunch match, on a Saturday in late November. We are probably looking at 12-15 players with some experience and skills. It sounds that the team from Cleveland will have skilled players who have played at the college and pro levels. Kick this around and hopefully talk about this tonight at the meeting. I need to contact the Cleveland rep soon as to our interest. Andy" Hopefully there will be even more discussion on this issue in the WNY United forum at: http://www.wnyunited.com/phpBB2/index.php If you really want to see Soccer in Buffalo again, make sure you get involved in this discussion.
For those of you that think that a team in buffalo will help get a stadium in rochester, I am sorry but I do not think so. The Big Wigs in albany from Rochester have no desire to help the sports market in Rochester. What would happen is that the politicos from Buffalo would be more agressive in securing funds for a stadium, and the Rhinos would be left without. My suggestion would be for PDL teams in Buffalo and Syracuse, then move Buffalo up to D3 in a few years. Attach them all to the Rhinos and create a farm system as one sees in baseball. Soccer fans in Western NY could watch their favorites develop, and this could also help the Rhinos cut down on payroll by developing their oen players. I am not to sure about the finances, but it could work. Soccer in Buffalo is a good idea, just please do not ask for a new stadium until the Rhino's get there own.
No troubles there..... the time frame in terms of a stadium are somewhere near and around 2007 or 2008.... and the plan is to do it with out looking for money from the gov't.
The only way this would work is for the Rhinos to own the other teams and their players. When is the Buffalo or Syracuse teams supposed to happen?
I thought I saw a fan at a Bills game with a big chiken wing on her head. Didn't look to good. Since Sam's Army was founded in Buffalo, how about The Buffalo Brigade? Mike
I have a question about the proposed stadium in Rochester. Over on the Metro boards it has been posted that the sports authority in Rochester has blocked the stadium project, wanting to keep all the action at Frontier Field. Is there any truth in this? What in fact is holding up the stadium? I thought this was a straight-foreward project compared to the soap-opera surrounding attempts to build a stadium for the MetroStars.
Here's the latest on PaeTec Park in Rochester. Proposals to move the stadium to a suburban location to reduce cost have been shut down. The $15million from the state can only be used for revitalizing in a city location. A new location 3 blocks from the original downtown location has been proposed because it is open land and will greatly reduce demolition/acquisition costs. The city owns this site and contruction could start at any time. The mayor last week said he would not turn over the land until the funding for a Fast Ferry connecting Toronto and Rochester was approved. Where he got this from no one knows. Govenour Pataki stopped in Rochester last Thursday and basically wrote the check to get the ferry moving. ( I think this had a lot to do with the pending election and Billionaire Golisano gaining on him in the polls being from Rochester). The saga continues.......................... Actually I think something will be announced within a few weeks. Everyone in the community thinks our local politicains are completely useless so there all scrambling to try to accomplish something before the elections.