I know it's potentially dangerous for a business to devise "must be in" stategies, but here I go. I think 3-4 cities that MLS absolutely has to be in w/ in the next five years is (in no particular order): Philly Rochester St Louis and, maybe, Houston Beyond that, 2-3 cities that would be very nice to expand to (once again in no particular order): Seattle Portand San Antonio and, BIG maybe, Florida I think that's it. Outside of these cities, I don't think it particularly matters. Whether you go w/ a larger Cleveland and Detroit or smaller Oklahoma (assuming a larger proportional fanbase) - I'm personally indifferent. It seems that it's not a lock at all that MLS would survive there, nor that MLS needs to be there in the first place.
First Off no teams in Canada!!!! Please, My cities are: Philly, Rochester, Seattle, Detroit, Houston, San Antonio, Any big city in Florida (Lets give them a second chance),Atlanta, St.Louis and Why not New Orleans (lot of Frenchies and they like soccer), I dont mean to ofend any of you french dudes in the big eazy
why hasn't anyone listed New York City as a MUST BE IN? anyways, heres are the ReAL MUST BE IN'S: New York (Empire) Houston (Apollos) Rochester (Rhinos) Philadelphia (Independence) Seattle (Evergreens or Schooners) Portland (Pioneers) those are the next 6 cities MLS needs to be in...that would give us 18 which MLS wants to be at 18 with maybe going to 20...so if we add two more there is Florida, Detroit, Cleveland or Minnesota...
Canada's in whether we like it or not. Garber and MLS go where the money is, period. I like the fact that Rochester is on all of your lists, and I like the Rhinos. On the had other hand, MLS doesn't HAVE to be there.
Because if Harrison were really to occur, the Metros would be much closer to NYC (1 Path train away), than the Giants, Jets, Devils or even the future Nets would be
Agreed. As much as I'd love to have a team in Detroit, until an investor comes along, it's not going to happen. They have to go where the money is.
philly detroit houston or san antonio carolina, atlanta, or florida (somewhere in the southeast) south dakota (just kidding )
My list with no particular order: Rochester Rhinos Houston SC AC Miami Seattle Sounders Independence Philadephia New York Cosmos If by chance we DO have pro/reg, then MLS2 has: Detroit SC FC San Antonio Cleveland SC Atlanta Silverbacks Charleston Battery Virginia Beach Mariners St. Louis SC Portland Timber Oklahoma SC Virginia Beach Mariners Richmond Kickers Hartford SC
Gentlemen, The Don said that,"MLS is not complete until we have a team in Houston." But as anyone that takes business 101 will tell you, an investor who's willing to lose money and all the specifics have to be in place...and that's the easy part. The Miami Fusion highlighted the hard part in connecting to the culture and making MLS work in what are "MUST" or "HAS TO BE" markets.
I think to get the attention of the big TV networks, which is what will take the league to the next level, MLS will need to be in Philly, Atlanta, Seattle, St Louis, Detroit, and Houston. If we get to 18 with that list, you will start to see the big networks carrying the division championships, and maybe a game of the week. Any others they pick up along the way will be gravy (Toronto, San Antonio, Rochester, Portland, OKC, etc.). Nice to have, but TV execs won't care much (you can throw SLC in there, too).
all their teams? lets not make it out to be that Canada can not support pro sports teams. The reason a lot of NHL teams left was not because canada could not support the teams it more of owners thinking the grass is greener on the other side. ok thats enought talk about that subject. I dont really care if the MLS goes to Canada.
I'm glad to see so many people in this forum mentioning St. Louis. Right now we have no viable venue for an MLS team, but this city is a hotbed of soccer fans and talent. As far as having a dedicated, sports-following, soccer-interested fan base, St. Louis is a far superior choice for MLS expansion than anywhere in Florida, Oklahoma, or Canada.
Why? If Atlanta or Birmingham or the Triangle, by itself, is a good market, then great. Put a team there. But putting a team in Atlanta won't benefit enough from fans in Raleigh or Birmingham to make a difference. The tiny number of 300 mile round trip fans from all over the Southeast going to Atlanta won't boost Atlanta over, for example, Philly. Atlanta has to beat out Philly by itself.
I pondered it. And I noticed that MLS has crap franchises and crap stadium deals. None of the teams moving from Canada to the US are moving from great stadium deals into crap stadium deals. If MLS puts a team into a great stadium deal instead of a crappy one, there's the difference!! Even xenophobes can figure it out!!
I don't care if there's money in Canada. MLS is a domestic league. Outside of the entertainment revenue, one of it's objectives is to develop domestic talent. If you have a Canadian team, is their roster 24 Canadians with 4 SI's or is a Canadian team going to field 24 US based players per league rules and burn their 4 SI slots all on Canadian players just to try and hold interest in that local market? I would assume that Canadian fans, like US fans, would like to support these teams with a bit of national interest (Canadian players) just like we do in the US, and just like the Mexican fans prefer their nationality as a major populace of their favorite teams' roster. I would think that once you choose to ignore the domestic nations borders, as a professional governing organization, (based in the US with US legal concerns), you must then address the courtship of all the Mexican Federation teams as well that would like to conveniently place team in the Houston, Dallas, and California markets for starters. Or MLS would need to start sending it teams potentially to Mexcio City etc... as well as Canada, West Coast, East Coast etc... Travel could kill players have to travel literally all over the hemisphere weekly. If you didn't there is a major discrimination concern as a few of the major Mexican frachises should be able to meet and or exceed the current known expansion requirements of being able to fund start up captial, a venue arrangement, and solid marketing in the US and immediately have a positive revenue stream and a large pool of their own national talent. If you let in Canada then I believe you have to let in Mexico as they are realistically able to turn into a positive revenue stream for the league faster than a Canadian franchise. If thats the case then Go Mexi's... To keep the thread on topic the cities MLS has to be in are: 1. All existing period (even SJ) 2. As many Major Media Markets as you can. Media coverage is crucial to our growth and national acceptance/popularity IMO. (i.e. Is your Major Lacrosse League really carry any weight if all your franchises exist in Flagstaff, Siox City, Topeka, Birmingham, Tulsa etc?) 3. Seattle, Somewhere in Florida, St Louis, Philly...
I'll admit that I had to look up the word xenophobe as it was foreign to me. (How do ya like that pun?) Anyways, I don't think that the Toronto stadium is going to be that much of a sweetheart deal. The primary tenant is going to be the Argonauts, and property of York University. This could mean that a Toronto franchise may not be getting as much revenue as the two previously mentioned groups. Also, IIRC, the place in going to have artificial turf. Since the CFL plays during summer and fall, the gridlines would be on the field for the majority of the soccer season.
The MAJOR difference in those two places is that one has a current and relatively strong soccer setup, with supported federation, first division league, etc. FIFA, fans, etc recognize it. Canada does not, as they collectively are only a small part of a second division multicountry league; Monumental flaw in that argument. This has nothing to do with the Mexicans, because they're already established (and how would their federation feel about what you're saying?). I'm sure FIFA and everyone else would love to have a strong soccer setup in Canada, but there isn't currently. And it is also debatable whether Canada would (be able to) support an independent quality league. Secondly travel isn't much more of a difference outside of places in central Canada like Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, etc than it is to other US markets. MLS is already a coast to coast league. Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver are relatively close to the border and to major US metro areas. They aren't that far from places like Seattle, Portland, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, Boston, NYC, etc; It's not like they are located in the Northwest Territories.
No Mexican League teams will be allowed to start up in the US because US Soccer WILL NOT ALLOW IT. How hard is this to understand? If you're talking about Mexicans investing in the league, welcome to a year ago when it was widely known that Chivas would be starting an expansion MLS club.
The Toronto STadium is a Joint venture between the CFL Football Team and the Canadian Soccer Association. The football gridlines will be chalked in and not permanent. The facility will be the home training ground of the Mens and Ladies National teams. Football will use 9 dates in total and will not use the facility for practice. As for the player Ratio it will be reverse of the US teams, Canadians will get as many spots on MLS canada teams as Americans get on US teams.
according to a report published by us soccer foundation in 2003 the south has the highest soccer participation levels of the entire us. 5,788,000 people participate in the south followed by 5,781,000 in the north central, 3,944,00 in the northeast, and 3,529,000 in the west. according to the report made by soccer silicon valley, florida is ranked 8th with 613,000 participants and north carolina is ranked 10th with 467,000 particpants. the others are: 1.california (3 teams) 2.new york 3.texas (1 team) 4.ohio (1 team) 5.pennsylvania 6.michigan 7.new jersey (1 team) 8.florida 9.minnesota 10.north carolina so that is why i feel that mls needs a team in the southeast. we have the highest participation levels in the nation and 2 of the top 10 states in participation are in the south. you can find these reports at ussoccerfoundation.org and soccersiliconvalley.com