Today is the day MLS decides if Detroit gets one of the next 4 expansion slots. "Garber said, following a board meeting Thursday in New York, "we'll announce a process and a timeline for our next round of expansion" for the league's 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th clubs. Garber added that the plan is to release details of expansion as early as Thursday." Quoted from the Detroit Free Press
No.. No it isn't. This is the day that MLS announces what process it will use to determine who gets the next 4 slots. MLS will NOT be announcing which cities are getting expansion clubs. It may mention cities as being in the running for those 4 slots, but that list should not be considered inclusive and may not even represent which cities are actually in the running for those 4 slots.
Speaking of which, saw this article on Twitter the other day. It covers how MLS wants to come to Detroit, but certain fans of Detroit City FC don't want MLS. I suspect it would end up being a Boroughs Boys situation, but it is an interesting article none the less. http://www.sbnation.com/2016/12/12/12919610/detroit-city-fc-soccer-mls
Saw this... DCFC fans are against MLS for obvious reasons, but DCFC management are not against MLS and are taking a wait and see approach.
Reading a little farther Garber did say this too... It is one of the key topics for our board meeting next Thursday and we do plan to announce the full details of our process, our timeline, pricing and everything else relating to expansion as early as the 15th, hopefully by four or five o’clock in the afternoon. Maybe they announce teams maybe they don't... Garber left it kind of open.
DCFC management probably realizes that if MLS expands into Detroit, they are more than likely going under. I'm certainly not going deride the fans' reasons for opposing MLS too much, but there is a pretty significant difference between opposing MLS when it is just proposing an expansion into your city and continuing that opposition going forward. Particularly to the point of actually making MLS reconsider going to the city. Kind of like the Borough Boys' opposition to NYCFC, once the team starts to kick the ball in anger, the people supporting their cause will start to decrease.
Yeah.. no. MLS has to squeeze a few more dollars out of potential owners in expansion fees first. Announcing who gets the expansions this early in the process doesn't drive the price up nearly enough.
I hope MLS Detroit and DCFC can work together... possibly DCFC could become MLS Detroits development team. There are some outspoken DCFC fans that have been against the MLS bid from the start. Maybe they come around... DCFC has a good thing going and I can see why these supporters would be disappointed to see what they built disappear.
It doesn't necessarily have to disappear. Timber's Army, ECS, and Orlando's SGs have worked hard with their ownership groups to make sure that they have a voice in what the team does and there isn't a particularly reason why NGS couldn't do the same if DCFC makes the jump to MLS, or joins the MLS Detroit ownership group.. It certainly won't be as homey as it is now as they'll likely have more people showing up to games than they do now, but NGS would see an increase in membership along with that increase in general fan base.
http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/leagues/mls2.php?article_id=46666#.WFMgEc3-ma0.facebook the league announced a timetable to grow to 28 teams, after announcing a year ago that was where the league was heading. MLS commissioner Don Garber made the announcement during a conference call. Interested applicants for teams 25 and 26 will have until the end of January 2017 to submit an application to the league. After reviewing expansion applications and visiting each potential expansion market, Major League Soccer will announce the four expansion teams in groups of two, with teams 25 and 26 selected by during the second or third quarter of 2017. Those teams will being play in MLS by the 2020 season, and will pay a $150 million expansion fee.
It looks like Gilbert and Gores will need to find a new site, because the Wayne County officials are planning on completing the jail (this is where the Detroit team wanted to put their stadium). It will be interesting to see where they plan to put the new stadium. " (Detroit) County officials have said they plan to complete the jail, despite speculations that the project might be scrapped in favor of more desirable projects — such as Dan Gilbert’s proposal for a major league soccer stadium."
I don't believe this is technically new information. I recall an article coming out shortly after MLS Detroit made the announcement saying the County was going through with the prison plan. Is this really a hold up for them though? I've never been to Detroit, but from what I've seen in news reports and the like Detroit is still pretty early in the recovery process and has quite a bit of abandoned buildings/property in or near downtown. Is that still an accurate statement?
It's true in the spring of 2016 Wayne County announced they wanted to continue with the Jail site (shortly after the Detroit MLS announcement), but at the time they were also open to the Detroit MLS proposal if the MLS team could help find a solution for the jail site that would not cost extra tax dollars. Late in 2016 the county also performed a "site condition assessment" that confirmed the jail site was structurally sound. This new statement seems clear that MLS is not going to be at the jail site and the MLS team now needs a new site. Yes there are other sites to consider and I think Gores or Gilbert might own some of them. But nothing has been announced about the new site yet.
That's the good thing about Detroit. There's plenty of open land or at least majorly underutilized land that could be acquired. The jail site is/was a perfect location but they can still find something else good. What about the Tigers Stadium site in Corktown. That neighborhood seems to be developing well and Detroit City used to play close by. I wonder if the city would like a team over there again to boost other development and activity in that area again? Also, who owns the Tigers site and would Detroiters be receptive to soccer taking place there?
They've got other plans for the old Tiger Stadium site: http://www.freep.com/story/money/bu.../detroit-pal-baseball-sports-duggan/79695956/ Besides, the footprint is really too small for a modern stadium: about 650 feet by 550 feet, and it's hemmed in by Michigan Avenue and the freeway. (You could maybe squeeze in a smaller stadium, with a capacity of 10K or so.)
That footprint is plenty large enough. Almost identical is size and shape to jail site. But looks like there are plenty of people and plans dead set on keeping it a baseball field. Why not some of the land across highway from Ford Field & Comerica Park?
Yeah it would appear theres plenty of vacant land there, specifically the area between Beaubien, Wilkins, and I-75 which has only one building on the entire big lot and it appears to be abandoned. A soccer stadium there would be easily walkable to Woodward Ave and all the new development around the new arena. Also it could utilize Lions and Tigers parking garages too which are literally right across the freeway off Brush St. I also wonder about all the surface lots that are off of Cass, between Fisher Fwy and Grand River. Looks like a ton of underutilized space immediately adjacent to everything downtown.
http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/...share_button&utm_campaign=social_share_button Report: Detroit ownership group will meet Jan. 31 expansion bid deadline January 19, 2017 6:29PM EST
The question then is where? If the jail site is not going to work, we can only assume the potential MLS ownership group have decided on a new spot, or they do have the jail site and they are setting on that news.
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne.../01/27/jail-site-advancing-february/97137480/ Apparently, the MLS deadline is January 31, but the local deadline is February 10 for the jail site.
Plans to relocate Wayne County's new jail to make way for a soccer stadium appear to be dying as the county announced today that it will try to restart the long-stalled construction project at Gratiot and St. Antoine near Greektown. http://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...1/27/wayne-county-gratiot-jail-site/97133688/
I can understand the desire to finish a project that the county has already sank money into. Also I understand wanting to have a jail be in relatively close proximity to the courts for logistical reasons. It just seems like such a huge lost opportunity for good development that will tie sections of downtown together synergistically as opposed to a jail which will do the opposite of attracting development around it. You have a wedge of land sandwiched between your district of stadiums and theaters and an entertainment district featuring a huge casino and numerous restaurants and bars. A big, bland concrete block full of criminals.... or a mixed use development of offices, residential, and retail with a soccer stadium as the centerpiece......which fits better. Lost opportunity. Good thing about Detroit is there is plenty of space though. Theres tons of space that's mostly surface lots on the side of downtown behind Fox Theater and The Fillmore toward Grand River Ave. Theres also plenty of vacant land across the Fisher Fwy from Ford Field, just a couple blocks over from the brand new Little Caesars Arena and the mixed use neighborhood being built around it. You could easily tie those two areas together. I'm sure they have a plan B.
A spokesman says Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores aims to meet the Tuesday deadline to formally apply for a Major League Soccer expansion team in Detroit. That MLS team could still play at the site of the stalled Wayne County jail project in Greektown. http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/2017/01/30/detroit-soccer-bid/97260926/