Well today I found some interesting news which hopefully it never happens but I have a friend that works for Omni Life this is the company that is own by Jorge Vergara. This past weekend were the Try outs for Chivas USA in San Bernardino and my friend was present promoting Omni Life to all the chiva fans. Well they were also asking for signatures that say that they want the Chivas USA team to stay in LA and they are going to send the petitions to MLS HQ. Well I just hope this doesn't happen they can have San Diego or Houston but not LA I don't even want them to take Chicago I want a new team in a new city. Then again it’s not always what I want but I think some would agree with me on having a new team in a new city.
this seems doubtful...why would they want two teams in one city if the league already has low avg. attendance (comparitively speaking)? splitting up fans is just not smart.
I dont think MLS would be dumb enough to let Vergara do this. The way the league is set up it just wouldn't be smart right now. If he wants in its San Diego or Houston, not Chicago or LA.
The Galaxy will be the suburbanite team with the Collegiate and ODP players Chivas will be the working class team With the innercity kids found in tryouts Brilliant
Many Los Angelinos feel that the city could come close to tripling the Galaxy's attendance w/ all the footie fans there that are untapped. Over 5 million Mexicans in SoCal: that's a big-ass market...
Exactly. If Vergara wants into MLS, he's got to play by the league's rules, not the league playing by his rules. In negotiation, there is compromise, usually. But not here. Play in San Diego or Houston, or don't play. It's that simple. Besides, wouldn't San Diego be close enough to grab a share of the L.A. market anyway? Only a couple of hours of a jaunt down the freeway, then... In any event, I see Vergara giving in sooner or later. The way I'm reading the premise of the thread here, it's not like he's playing hardball or anything, and there's no guarantee that he'll actually get a targeted number of signatures.
Its a big ass market but you can't assume that just because its Chivas all mexicans will support the team. I mean its a mixture of fans America fans , Cruz Azul fans etc... I live in Huntington Park where alot of Mexicans live here ALOT. I asked my next door neighbor which is a hardcore Chvias fan and has only been to one galaxy game his whole life. I asked him what he thought about Chivas USA he said he really didn't care that his team is Chivas de Guadalajara. Well that shows you not not even all hard core chivas fans will support Chivas USA. I wll be that more people will go see Chivas from Mexico at the Colisuem then the team that will be her in MLS.
and they will lose. everyone knows that the existance of throngs of inner city latin-american soccer superstars is a myth. despite the serious shortcomings of scouting in the usa... if you are good enough (mls good), then you float to the top eventually.
I for one am starting to get pissed off. I want Chivas USA to be successful but on the other hand, if they are too successful and say .. got an average attendence of 40000 , that @#$%$&+ Viagra guys will only have more power. I don't think MLS will give in though. If Chivas wants out, we already have the Rhinos to even out the league.
didn't MLS have a 'proximity' clause for new expansion team at one time??? I thought I remember reading that two teams couldn't be within 70 miles of one another....... None the less......Chivas shouldn't have any extra say just because they are 'chivas'......
How is that scenario bad??? That probably would mean that their away attendance would be stellar, and if they've struck a nerve w/ the 20+ million US Mexicans, then they will have struck an equal nerve amongst Central Americans and chivas haters. 40,000 would be a profitable enterprise (I assume), which would mean that the league would have more $$ to invest in the product (i.e., the players). The fans win, the players win financially, the product would be better, more players would be enticed to come home to play, and more players would be even better prepared to follow their dream and play in Europe. Seriously, who loses in your scenario? (P.S. HP has some seriously hot ladies!!)
The part of this that makes sense is that Chivas in LA would become a tenant of AEG/Victoria Street. The stadium would be better utilized with twice as many home dates, and the fixed costs remain the same. In effect, the total part of the fixed costs assigned to LAG would go down because there would be another tenant to share them. So LAG immediately becomes even more profitable. I take VS's point - that there is the potential for a sort of Boca Juniors v. River Plate rivalry. I don't think it is so much splitting up the Galaxy fan base as tapping a new fan base. I don't think a lot of current Chivas fans support LAG anyway, so where is the loss? There may be some, but I doubt that the numbers are big and if they are already LAG fans, I doubt they would jump ship. I also agree that Mexican soccer fans are not so dumb as to automatically support Chivas USA just because they wear red & white stripes. They would have their own marketing issues. But, if they can make an impact (whether in LA or San Diego) I do think they will bring a bunch of fans who are not now following MLS. And, if they are aggressive marketers, that competition should keep LAG on its toes and make them work harder to please their fans. On the other hand, second tenants in sports facilities have not fared well. Clippers, St. Louis Browns, and Los Angeles Angels come to mind. The primary tenant usually gets the best dates and the secondary tenant gets the dregs. Not sure that in the long run Chivas USA wouldn't be better staking out its own turf. Maybe as a transitional phase this works - put them in LA while they build a stadium elsewhere?
Re: Re: Chivas USA asking fans to sign a petition. No...not everybody know this...and that's one of the problems here. You and I know that, but apparently there are a lot of people out there who really believe this. I see this tryout deal as an insult to MLS and the current players. I agree that there needs to be an organized effort to scout out kids in the cities...but I'm talking 15yrs old and younger. I hope that this "New Blood" talent search is not looking at older guys just because of their ethnicity. If you're 23, and good enough for MLS, you would have been recognized already (college or not).
my thoughts i hope for MLS's sake they dont place a second team in the same market now, the league is in a growth mode (still) and it makes better business sense to put teams in untapped markets than to saturate LA with two teams. they would be eating into each others market share in terms of fans, media coverage, sponsors, etc. it makes no sense at all, the Omnilife CEO is trying to push the league around, if he is going to try to puch MLS around, MLS is better off without him. i agree, he needs to play by the rules. however, everything is negotiable, and if MLS and him can come to a good faith agreement, lets do business.. iowa007
Holding tryouts in San Barnardino is really going to attract a lot of innercity types. From what I heard, AEG put their foot down and told Vargara if he wants the team in LA, they can play at the HDC and pay $1mill/year rent. Vargara has since backed off. Personally, I'd love to see Chivas USA play in LA. That would mean more Galaxy games I could attend.
iF YOU had a choice between playing in a crap hole like L.A. or Sunny Diego... Why would you want to go to L.A.? Why?
On a completely aesthetic viewpoint, I'd prefer San Diego myself. San Diego... home of margaritas and eye candy.
If they want to play in LA , fine bring them on. More reason to hate them , but I have a REALLy big problem sharing a stadium with them . OURS OURS OURS Play with your own toys
I don't think that many ppl believe there are THRONGS of uber-talented players in the barrios/inner-cities. I think the (valid) complaint is that for many reasons US Soccer has failed to mine the inner-city as well as it has suburban USA. It's an issue of infrastructure, which in this country has grown organically in the suburbs. How to extend those nets to the inner-city, now that's a complex issue that ultimately MUST be addressed. Chivas pretends (as in "to lay claim") to do just that, hopefully alleviating one major difficulty, which has been garnering the respect of the Latino community, something which has proven insurmountable for the "gringos".
LA. Cuz people would actually show up to games. . . As an ex-resident of San Diego, I can whole-heartedly proclaim that it is not a hot-bed of sports fanaticism. Petco Park sure looks nice though.