Don Garber mentioned earlier this week that Cleveland was a candidate for expansion. Has anyone heard any specifics about this? Ownership group? SSS or Cleveland Browns Stadium? Timeline? Potential names? Any info would be appreciated.
MLS has done a great job lately of keeping negotiations under wraps. I heard nothing about Cleveland. I agree though, both Detroit and Cleveland have shown that they do a good job of supporting their sports teams. Also, those are nice places to play soccer in the dog days of summer (July and August). -Tron
If you think about it, we have NO IDEA what MLS is doing in terms of expansion. The only people who positively know are interested is Express Sports from OKC and that's because they went to the media. Other than that, it's all smoke, mirrors and (un)educated guesses. Sachin
As a resident of Northeast Ohio I have read and heard ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING about an MLS team in Cleveland from any of the local media. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Not a single newspaper article nor even a brief mention in the local evening news. Cleveland is not a soccer town (an INDOOR soccer town maybe, But NOT outdoors). Soccer in Cleveland means the Force or Crunch. There are some points I must discuss: 1. There is no stadium for them to play. Browns stadium is too narrow and was not built with soccer in mind unlike most of the new stadia built in the last several years. Plus MLS is trying to get away from big football stadia anyway. There is a 12,000 seat high school stadium where the old Cleveland Caps (D3) used to play. Unfortunately it has astro turf and gridiron lines (Think Napervile only crappier). If they replaced the turf with real grass, maybe. I saw the Cleveland Crunch play an exhibition game there aginst PSV Eindhoven in the summer of 1991 with real grass. 2. The Indians dominate during the summer months so much that it will be difficult at best for an MLS team to get attention. I'm sad to say most people in Cleveland probably have no idea what MLS is. Even the anchor woman who interviewed Brad Friedel's mother during the World Cup actually said on TV, "Now you earlier mentioned MLS, what exactly is that?" (I'm not kidding!) 3. Even though I live near Cleveland and follow MLS and socccer religiously, a Cleveland MLS team is a bad idea and I hope it never happens. I'm a Crew supporter and would be torn. Plus the Crew's fan base is all over Ohio, including Cleveland and Cincinnatti. It would hurt the Crew. Ohio cannot sustain 2 MLS teams as California can. That said, I would like to see Cleveland get a USL team that would be affiliated with the Crew so that they would not directly compete with each other. I would REALLY like to see the Force play an outdoor season in the summer in the USL in addition to their indoor season like the Montreal Impact used to do. The Force already have fielded 2 youth teams in the Super Y League so this may be something they are shooting for.
not all of the new NFL venues are wide enough... Cincinatti is not though I believe Reliant Stadium in Houston IS wide enough and that the Lincoln Financial Field in Philly will be as I bet they have eyes on being World Cup venues.
They claim the field is wide enough for soccer: http://clevelandbrowns.com/stadium/ "> Field has been designed to accommodate international soccer as well, with dimensions of 69 yards by 114 yards. "
Wow! You are right. I stand corrected. I still think MLS in C-land is a bad idea. But the Crew and Team USA could play exhibition games there. Depending on what kind of crowds those games would get might determine if the city really wants it or deserves one. Back in the spring of 1994 I saw our US World Cup team with hometown boy Brad Friedel in goal play against Bayern Munich at the old Municipal Stadium. Bayern's goalkeeper was sporting an Indians cap during the whole game.
I am also from Cleveland and I agree one hundred percent. I just dont want to be torn between the Crew and Cleveland because even though I am 200 miles from CCS, I used to live there and the crew would win any day of the week, and I think my heart could never be with the cleveland side. Too many sports teams in Cleveland and a soccer team, I do not think would be to successful.
If I was a Clevelander I'd be very upset because Columbus beat you out for a NHL team and a MLS team. Aren't you tired of losing out to Columbus ?
Well, in my mind, 114 x 69 is NOT wide enough. But by eyeballing the whole playing surface, I sense that a real pitch can be sorted. I like the stadium in Cleveland. Let's hope that the surface is kosher.
See, if I think about it and BELIEVE WHAT I READ IN THE TULSA WORLD, the mayor of Tulsa is pushing for a SSS/MLS franchise and has met with Hunt and MLS officials-- potential investors (we'll call this an "educated" guess) don't want to commit or be identified until most of the public/private funds for a stadium are secured. Tulsa's $100,000 feasability study by a Dallas firm will be completed in the coming weeks... this is not "smoke, mirrors, and (un)educated guesses." It's FACT. It is also fact that there is a current season ticket drive for commitments to a Tulsa based franchise... newspaper reports in Aug/Sept mentioned a 7500 ticket "threshold"... not a guess or conjecture... that number has been quoted by Tulsa mayor LaFortune... so maybe, Mr. Sachin, you should get your FACTS STRAIGHT before dismissing public proposals other than Express Sports/OKC as "smoke, mirrors, and (un)educated guesses." Besides... I don't think MLS officials would mention these cities (Atlanta, Philly, Minn-St.Paul, Houston, Cleveland, Seattle, OKC, Tulsa) unless there were efforts/proposals under way being made/considered. You may have actually been the one to post that until MLS actually announced the expansion, nothing was heard about Chicago. ...I find it unfortunate that Tulsa's efforts have become just as public as OKC's... the location of a proposed stadium is going to be an interesting "political futbol" in the coming weeks--esp. after the feasability study...
Oops... I forgot about Tulsa. Mea Culpa. Please don't read anything more into my omission of Tulsa than a 30-year brain lock. As for the rest of your post, my point is simply that we, the fans, know very little about expansion possibilities. I have no doubt that Garber was talking about real possibilities from each of the cities you mentioned, but we, THE FANS, have no knowledge of any marketing studies, economic impact studies, stadium discussions, etc. from anywhere except OKC and Tulsa. For all we know, a bid in Cleveland is in the final stages with a drive for season tickets just waiting for MLS approval. Or, conversely, someone called MLS HQ and is going through the credit check. Sachin
Well in Cleveland we have the Tribe and Browns and I don't think many people here follow hockey based on attendance figures for the Barons. As for MLS, most Clevelanders as has been stated before, know or care about MLS. We also have the Cavs but again not many really care about them, its more of a fairweather fanbase.
When I here Cleveland mentioned, I scatch my head. There is no mention in the local press of a possible MLS team. As a matter of fact, the local press almost completly ignores soccer, except when they are bashing it, as was the case during the World Cup. The only thing that I can figure is that maybe Al Lerner (owner of the Browns) is looking for something to do with his stadium in the summer, and that's why Cleveland keeps coming up. As for the field, yea the Browns' website does state that the stadium was built with international soccer in mind, but it also state that the field is only 69 yards wide. Obviously somebody didn't do their research since 70 yards is the FIFA minimum.
National population rank: 16 National Media market rank: 17 Cleveland Metro Population: 2,945,831 population growth in last 10 years: +3% National average population growth: +13.2% Local Pro teams and their 2001 attendances Indians (42,820) Browns (72,749) Cavs (14,024) http://www.citiscapes-art.com/cities/photos/cleveland.jpg http://www.citiscapes-art.com/cities/photos/cleveland_2.jpg Population growth seems to be a slight problem. If economic growth is also static this hurts. is downtown "depressed" like Detroit, or "Vibrent" like NY??
Since I live in Cleveland I would love it if we could get an expansion team. I think that if you promoted it correctly then you could get 15,000 to 20,000 people to go to games. Cleveland Browns Stadium sure looks wide enough to me for a good sized soccer pitch. It looks far wider than 69 yards. I hope that was a typo. I kinda wish that they could find or build a smaller stadium, similar to Crew Stadium, but location would be a big factor. If you build it on one side of town I think that less people from the other side of town would go. A fifteen minute drive downtown is far different than a half and hour to drive to the westside for a lot of Clevelanders. Stupid but true. Then again, the Cavs had their best attendance was when they played in Richfield(about 25 minutes south of Cleveland), not downtown. So I guess we cannot make up our minds. I know some people think that since the Cavs get crappy attendance so would a MLS team. Well I don't think thats completely true. Reasons people DON'T go to Cavs games. 1. Crappy team, with no management whatsoever 2. Sold out the cool blue/orange jerseys to jump on the black jersey bandwagon, which lost some people 3. Tickets really expensive 4. People at Gund Arena are fascists, no matter how many empty seats there are, you better be in your correct seat mister!!! LaBron James here we come!!! I think that it could compete with the Indians. Not every soccer fan is also a baseball fan, and vice versa. The Cleveland Metro area is really big, there has to be 25,000 people that would be interested. Especially if you can get the local youth soccer leagues involved in some way. The Crunch used to be really good at this, but it doesn't seem that way so much anymore. Also I am sick and tired of people in Cleveland whining about the stupid old Force teams and how great that used to be. I mean the original Force has been gone for a long time. You cannot tell me if a MLS team came here that everyone would be like, "well it ain't the Force so I'm not gonna even bother." That sounds so stupid. The Cleveland Force RIP. Or actually Cleveland Crunch RIP, the Force lives!!! woohoo!!! I should expect sellout crowds now that the Force is back in town. I hope you can catch the sarcasm in that. I too would be a little torn as I also have been a Crew supporter since the start of the MLS. But a fifteen minute drive would be a hell of a lot better than the 2 hour shuffle down 71 I do six times a year.
you are really funny... I'm talking about that you put a lot of things out in order to discuse a town for a team.... what it is really needed is real support... the other things come with it...
HEH, I just posted that stuff so people would know it. hell if a team from rural Idaho had enough funding and fans devoted enough to fly in for games, Im sure they could have a team heck anyone can buy a team. I just happen to have all kinds of info and like to share it. besides with all the silly reasons people use to argue weather a city "Deserves" a team I was just throwing some gas on the flames PEACE
Well....The Tigers have been awful for the past decade....Be it, players,managers or GM's, the organization has been one giant revolving door, alienating many fans....The same thing has happened with the Brewers in Milwaukee. The Indians meanwhile, had the good fortune to have a decent team when they moved to the Jake. Most importantly, I think a majority of Tiger fans were against the idea of leaving Tiger Stadium.
Lerner's death If you weren't aware Al Lerner passed away last evening. He was a good man who made money but also gave back to the community. The ownership of the Browns is now a little unclear, so any talk of expansion to Cleveland using the Browns stadium will probably be put on hold.
While I live in Boise, and know many people who would scoff at the following statement, well, they can stick it... "rural Idaho" is a redundancy. Boise is a growing concern, at least. Who should be concerned is a good question.