Don't think the N.Y. market needs another soccer team. Best best would be for Celtic to go to Boston even if that means partnering with the Celtics. To me that makes the most sense assuming they still plan on going through with this.
In London you have Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, West Ham, & Crystal Palace in Premier League and then Brentford, Charlton Athletic, Fulham & Queens Park Rangers in the Championship. 5-6 more clubs in next 2 tiers below that. Population of London - Greater London 8,538,689/Urban 9,787,426/Metro 13,879,757. New York - City 8,550,405/MSA 20,182,305/CSA 23,723,696. Ultimately NYC could/should be able to support upwards of 5-7 teams in top few tiers. Not tomorrow, maybe not in 5 yrs., but certain possible in 10. The sport is growing exponentially in US. In order to get there, some teams will come and go. In the end I think we will see 4-5 teams gaining supporters within 5 years. Shoot there are already 3.
In London you have soccer and Rugby as top sports and a culture that has no Baseball, Basketball, American Football and Ice Hockey. Also having those other sports franchises be around for a LOT longer then ANY of the current NYC pro soccer teams by a large margin and you'll see why I'm skeptical that putting another 2nd division team in NYC is a good idea. ESPECIALLY when the current NYC NASL team is considered a "flagship" franchise and is struggling mightily.
MLS only just put their "second" New York team into the market last year. Unless it is a sure fire thing, which it isn't, the NASL is a long ways off from putting a second team in New York. It took MLS 20 years, NASL better to let the Cosmos establish themselves as viable in the market before you start adding more teams.
My guess is the non-Celtic scenario where the business owners referenced in the article want to pony up to put the Lansdowne Bhoys in the pros would be that they go to USL. Would be a good affiliate option for NYCFC.
Celtic are affiliated with many semi pro clubs and youth clubs. They make money by licencing their name and doing various camps, as do other Euro clubs. US pay-to-play youth soccer model is like honey for many Euro clubs including Celtic, but that's just money making, it doesn't mean that Celtic have any real connection with that NY club and want to take them to NASL or USL...
Regardless of the Celtic connection, kudos to these guys: We have our first #Cupset of #USOC2016! @Lansdownebhoys defeat @USL's @PghRiverhounds 2-0!— U.S. Open Cup (@opencup) May 19, 2016
You should really fact check that before posting a blanket statement about another culture like that... Anyways, NYC is huge and diverse, it may never become the London of USA when it comes to soccer teams yet I don't see why you'd be so fast to be skeptical about the idea -your words btw- of having a second Div2 team there. In Alpha class cities much of the population is priced out of the top teams. This results in segments of the population looking for alternatives to support/participate in. Being skeptical of the success might be your proper concern, but that shouldn't have anything to do with the Cosmos who play on the other side of town.
I realize that London has a ice hockey team, but do they have a pro basketball, American Football and Baseball team as well? Plus how popular are they in comparison to Football? Football is king in London town but in NYC its not, and its not by a wide margin. Don't get me wrong you'll still get over 40K for the NYC derby on Saturday but natives view minor-league sports teams as quaint and not worth their time. That's not the case in London were the clubs have in some cases over a 100 years of servicing an area and so are entrenched in area they play in that support is almost guaranteed. Again not the case in NYC, just because cities have similar populations you shouldn't make blanket statements on the sporting culture of those cities.
I'm skeptical because FC NYC, NY Centaurs, Staten Island Vipers and Brooklyn Knights all went under trying to exist in NYC. For someone who has Skeptic in his handle here you're pretty optimistic.
Actually they have, or have had, pro teams in all the sports you mentioned, that wasn't the point. My point was, you were making a declarative statement -about another culture- that made you look foolish... The exact same thing you said about NYC and London could easily have been what people were saying about NYCFC in Europe: "In NYC you only have sports x, y , and z there is no culture for soccer there...ESPECIALLY because NYRB doesn't even play in NYC it is in NJ!!!!". Populations aside, both are Alpha cities which have special characteristics other cities don't. Specifically diversity, high price points for sports, and wealth & influence. Many top tier teams are high priced because of high demand, and lower level sports can thrive if marketed right. I'm not comparing the two based on population (that wasn't me btw) otherwise Lagos and Mexico City would have similar cases, but they do not at all. London and NYC are in a different category: one which can support multiple teams across multiple sports. Until the limiting barrier is found one more team can't hurt.
FC NYC was in USL (div3) at a much different time in history of soccer in USA, however the market didn't fail FC NYC instead that organization failed the market. I'm not familiar with all the rest of those teams, but I'd wager a lot of them were not in Div2 (such as the potential team we are discussing) and some of them may even be amateur which is a different conversation all together. Never confuse Skepticism with Cynicism either.
How can you know this but still put out a blanket statement about soccer in NYC when I a native New Yorker and a fan of the sport for over 20 years have yet to see a properly accepted 2nd soccer team? The Cosmos spent a ton of money trying to penetrate said market and have by and large failed, but yet you want to throw another team with probably less money available to them into that fire!?! I'm not arguing that Soccer wont work here in NYC it actually has if RBNY and NYCFC are indicators but MINOR LEAGUE soccer has up until now failed to make any noise here. This city only goes for "big time" teams which means top tier leagues to give you an example you may understand teams like Leyton Orient, Millwall, Fulham, Charlton, Brentford etc.. would not exist in NYC because fans would see them as a waste of time since they already have Arsenal, Tottenham, and Chealsea! There is NO culture of supporting lower division sports in NYC period!
@DanGerman Like I said, you can be skeptical about the success of another D2 team in NYC. That's entirely fair. If you want to compare London and NYC on the grounds you did; London does -in fact- support minor league teams in different sports that are not soccer or rugby. I suggested this phenomenon is because off the types of cities they are. The Cosmos have had marginal success, not at all what they had hoped for as you have pointed out, yet this gives evidence that perhaps NYC could support another D2 soccer team: marginal success is not failure. Of course, it remains to be seen whether or not a single Div2 team in soccer is the limit for NYC, I do not see any evidence discussed here to be cynical about the notion. I also never said I want to put a team there either. However, I am less cynical that it could not succeed under certain conditions.
Now that Celtic have secured Brendan Rodgers as the new manager I wonder if the club now turn their focus towards launching a team in the NASL?
I don't think it could happen in New York considering that the Cosmos are struggling with attendence, it would make it more difficoult for them and I don't think Nasl would allow that, it could be Hartford or Mass, maybe Penn but not NY or NJ
Boston could definitely use a NASL team. Right now there is Boston City FC, who play in the NPSL but if Celtic came they would generate a lot of buzz.
Happened to see a tweet by @celticunderground that said that Celtic's majority shareholder wants Boston but others are not so sure it's the best location. My guess is if the majority shareholder wants Boston then that's probably going to be where they go.
It'll recover, that is how these things work. Everyone panics at first, then once they realize little to nothing actually changed it'll go right back up.