Crikey there's so much drama here: Have a few updates but I don’t have my computer to update the article so here is a thread - 1. McDaniel resigned from his position as Treasurer of the executive board of NPSL last night. @NPSLSoccer will be releasing a statement this evening. https://t.co/Vwxwopn0Th— Nipun Chopra, PhD (@NipunChopra7) July 27, 2018 That thread is nuts.
Also, this is the article he wrote that he's referring to: https://www.soctakes.com/2018/07/27/possible-usld3-expansion-chattanooga/
Paul Kennedy @pkedit 1h1 hour ago More news from Chattanooga Free Press : Bill Nuttall, #USMNT GM when USA hosted '94 WC, also resigned from @ChattanoogaFC board (on which he had served for four years.)
Chattanooga's about to get a SECOND soccer team.. but as @JamesTorrez_NC9 reports, many CFC fans aren't happy about it.More: https://t.co/GUJq7A6Rzr@chattahooligan @ChattanoogaFC pic.twitter.com/xY5pkcuUtH— WTVC NewsChannel 9 (@newschannelnine) August 2, 2018
STAND UP FOR CFC. Seasons done, but our pride for our city and club never stops!WEAR YOUR FAVORITE CFC GEAR ON THURSDAY, 8/2.It’s an outpouring of #CFCLove for the players, your fellow supporters, and the community. Go True Blue in support of your hometown club TOMORROW, 8/2 pic.twitter.com/fMNezD7wG5— Chattanooga Football Club (@ChattanoogaFC) August 1, 2018
Also relevant: USL’s operational agreement (at least the d2 one) prohibits stadium sharing with a competing league. I am not certain that NPSL counts as a competing league, but I wager that it does. https://t.co/PX41aGFDqz— Nipun Chopra, PhD (@NipunChopra7) August 1, 2018
And Small update on Chattanooga - CFC chairman Tim Kelly says CFC's lease with Finley stadium expires in September of this year.He says Chatta-USL cannot have secured a stadium lease for next season as the next stadium board meeting is end of August. cc:@SocTakes pic.twitter.com/JJYnTf7co2— Nipun Chopra, PhD (@NipunChopra7) August 1, 2018
FOUR QUESTIONS: 1) Is there a chance that Chattanooga FC will not be granted a lease at Finley Stadium for next season? 2) Is is possible that both USL and NPSL clubs could be playing at Finley next season? 3) Is it against USL policy to play in the same venue as a team from a "competing league?" 4) Would USL Chattanooga resort to signing a more lucrative deal leasing Finley than Chattanooga FC can offer, and then try to lure them into moving from NPSL to PDL?
So a lot of this is still in play, but... Obviously it's possible, but it's hard to justify this on Finley's end. The biggest problem for CFC at this point is knowing their schedule. I could also be misreading the room, but I didn't feel like this season went as swimmingly. Rumor has it that CFC has a fallback option with the Chattanooga Christian School (who are about a mile and a half down the road from Finley and where the team trains) who are evidently cool about "adult concessions". That's really the kicker here. There is a finite number of viable stadia in the Chattanooga area(1), so, given the short notice, a stadium sharing arrangement may need to be in place at first, regardless of USL policy(2). This has only been confirmed for D2, but the general consensus is "yes, probably". As mentioned in Nipun Chopra's tweet, above, the Finley board has does not meet to discuss business until the end of August and, as a Finley board member, he said that no requests have been made by the USL team, that he has been made aware of (as I understand it, he is recused of decision making when it comes to lease agreements, but he would still be aware of them). The latter bit of this is a non-starter. None of the remaining CFC board want anything to do with the USL whatsoever and their plan is absolutely some sort of semipro full-season league. The former, obviously, is possible, although the economics of that look really hard to make work. The expenses for this club are going to be considerably higher than CFC worked with, so either corporate sponsorship or ticket prices (or, likely, both) will need to be raised quite a bit. Given the complaints of ticket prices this year ($10/ticket), it's going to be tough to raise them much, continue to draw the crowds they think they're going to be poaching from CFC and stay afloat on rent artificially jacked up solely to screw the other guy over. 1. There are some more options here if either party is willing to invest in a modular stadium concept. One could pretty easily go inside Engel Stadium (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engel_Stadium), which would have some of the amenities you need (lights, parking, ticket booths, etc.), but the stands are in too much disrepair to use. There are a few other sites for such an arrangement, as well. The Lookouts' stadium is too small for a soccer pitch, so that's out, however they will likely be getting a new one soon. 2. Again, not much is known of D3 stadium policies, but along with the rival tenancy thing, USL very much expects their teams to be the primary tenant, which will always be UTC football. Although Tim Kelly is absolutely certain they will make a play for Finley, it remains to be seen if A) they do B) they do temporarily until they can secure their own space.
The Chattahooligans have written up a FAQ to help discuss the concerns we have with the USL moving in and how to explain the situation to people: http://chattahooligan.com/usl-faq/
Interview with Tim Kelly & Sheldon Grizzle this morning on WGOW: https://soundcloud.com/topher-kersting/wgow-tim-kelly-sheldon-grizzle-2018-08-07-edited
Is Chattanooga ready for professional soccer? 🤔@ChattanoogaSocc President and General Manager Sean McDaniel thinks so. Watch his entire interview below, then read more about him here: https://t.co/J3wT1uQAbi#USLD3 | #ProSocc3r pic.twitter.com/ratVC09hs4— USL League One (@USLLeagueOne) August 8, 2018 https://www.usld3.com/news_article/show/940371
Yeah... This was, of course, assumed, now confirmed. Some shade thrown in his direction: "Chattanooga is NOT a soccer town. Chattanooga is @ChattanoogaFC's town."- @andrewbresee, 2018 Summit for American Soccer pic.twitter.com/l9WVgU74fN— 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖙𝖙𝖆𝖍𝖔𝖔𝖑𝖎𝖌𝖆𝖓𝖘 💙 (@chattahooligan) August 8, 2018
Oops. This one was the pertinent one in that thread: The entire CFC leadership team, at the time, was in the room. Perhaps not all were listening.— 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖙𝖙𝖆𝖍𝖔𝖔𝖑𝖎𝖌𝖆𝖓𝖘 💙 (@chattahooligan) August 8, 2018
CFC met with Finley Stadium's leadership: Our relationship with Finley Stadium is one of the most pressing topics we’ve been asked about over the last three weeks, as it has been the site of so many great moments in recent Chattanooga soccer history. (1/5) pic.twitter.com/8cTDBC1kFy— Chattanooga Football Club (@ChattanoogaFC) August 16, 2018 Important takeaways: "Finley’s Chairman and Executive Director are confident they have capacity to host and fairly schedule two soccer teams." "They will not engage in exclusive contracts with either team." Now if someone could parse the tea leaves from Exciting things coming for the club, to be announced later this Fall! We want say a sincere a Thank You, to all our fans, and to any fan of the game! #SupportLocalSoccer @NPSLSoccer @DetroitCityFC @ChattanoogaFC @NolaJesters @FtWorthVaqueros @ascsandiego @RiversideCoraFC pic.twitter.com/Xkcf6IMLLA— FC Arizona (@FCArizonaSoccer) August 15, 2018 ...
My overall take is that CFC sees the value of moving onward from NPSL summer league soccer to an extended season at Finley. Whether that's a USASA certified NPSL Pro or USSF certified NISA is anyone's guess. My guess is the former is more likely than the latter, but either way, I see CFC competing in the fall of 2019. Which is a good thing, because the worst thing for CFC IMHO is to have extended parts of the season in which USL D3 is the only game in town. Of course, I'd love for my club to be part of the mix, but alas, the USL coverband Roughnecks still have another year or two of utter futility left in them to continue to try to destroy the legacy of the original Roughnecks... While we have been forced to start from scratch on a suitable venue... Before/After. First two pics are from the NPSL's @TTownSoccer in 2013.... the last two pics are USL Tulsa @RoughnecksFC from last night. CLUB > league #TTID #StandWithChatta #ProRelforUSA pic.twitter.com/Ubwy0Zqal4— Rufnex (@TulsaRoughnecks) August 10, 2018
Lamp Post Joins Chattanooga Football Club Ownership https://www.chattanoogafc.com/news/lamp-post-group-joins-cfc-ownership/ I've been avoiding posting anything about NPSL Pro in this thread until something is officially announced, but this is almost certainly a move in support of that.
Hopefully, if you can survive in a smallish NPSL Pro for the first couple of seasons, some others will catch up and join up...... you don't want to see FC Wichita join USL D3 or some rich guy completely rebrand what's cooking in Little Rock...
...and it's now official. https://www.chattanoogafc.com/news/eleven-founding-members-launch-new-league/
I'm not too worried about CFC since they've been planning for this for a couple of years now, but I do worry a bit about the size of the footprint of the league and what that might mean on stability of its clubs.
MidfieldPress says that New Orleans and Virginia Beach are going to skip the fall 'Founders Cup' and will join the first full season of the league the following spring. There's also Jacksonville and I would think any possible other teams holding off until 2020 makes sense; it gives them a better chance to prepare.