http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=981552&TP=getsports Mark Abbott, Major League Soccer COO: ...He said the MLS will make an announcement in the next few weeks on what the timetable is for reducing the cities on the candidate list. The final announcement on which two expansion franchises begin play in 2005 will be made late this year... This seems like the more likely scenario considering that MLS appears to still be in the early stages of the selection process. Expanding in 2004 or by more than two teams at a time seem unlikely to me, but this is the first time I've seen something in print to the same effect. Later on in the article, ...Although Abbott did not specify what the attendance figures need to be to impress the MLS, Lund [Express Sports of OK] said that a poor showing in the game might knock Edmond out of the running for a franchise. "I think a crowd of 8,000 or more would certainly advance us to the final stage, which would be a season ticket drive and a corporate advertising campaign," Lund said. He said that the season ticket drive would be set by the MLS around 6,500 and that corporate advertising would be $1 million... Again, some confirmation that MLS plans to hold a formal procedure to evaluate candidate cities (exhibition games, season ticket drives, corporate sponsor drives, media events, etc.) and that this will take place over the course of the 2003 season, pushing off expansion till 2005 at the earliest. I would also add that I think this jibes with the more painstaking and business-based approach that commish Garber [edit] has demonstrated during his tenure at the helm of MLS.
Congrats to Ivan for finally making that big step up from Deputy Commissioner to Commissioner. I always knew that Don Garber's lack of business acumen would do him in, eventually.
he says 2 teams to be announced to play in 2005. what other cities are making an attempt? the 2 okl. cities seem to be the only ones seriously discussing it. where are milwaukee (sp.?), houston, seattle, rochester, and so on? i haven't heard much from them. any people from those, or other potential cities know any info (i.e. a stadium update in rochester)?
Milwaukee is not a candidate. This article doesn't tell me anything I didn't already know. Expansion in 2005 (at the earliest, I might add)? Well, 2004 always seemed very, very dubious. Two teams? Yeah, whatever. Makes sense, I guess. You want even numbers in the league. Announcement late this year? Well, that pretty much coincides with the "365 day" announcement schedule from last year. The other city? You'd be an idiot to wager very much on that question. But really, none of this means anything. I'll believe that MLS is expanding when it actually announces something final.
Although I am also firmly in the "I'll believe it when I see it camp" when it comes to expansion, I think you can put Rochester in the "serious candidate" group. They have a local ownership group (whose pockets may not be deep enough), grass roots support, and advanced plans for a soccer stadium (land is already set aside, public funding already in place, all that is lacking is the private funding part). Otherwise, there is Seattle, I'm not sure if there has been anything more reliable than rumors regarding negotiations with Paul Allen. And there was recently a BS thread about some Cleveland guy who wanted to build a stadium for an MLS team. Combined with Garber's comment that Cleveland was on the list of possible expansion cities, and you can make what you wish out of that. As I said earlier, I'll get excited when MLS finally says something definitive.
I dont know how long you have been following the MLS, but this is the same annocement they make every year. I am getting very tired of this. 5 years ago it was being said that there would be expansion in 2000, did that happen? NO. Then in 2000 they said expansion in 2002, did that happen? NO. Then in 2002 they said expansion in 2004, is that going to happen? NO. Is expansion ever going to happen? NO. I truely believe the league will stay at 10 teams for the next 5 to 10 years if it lasts that long, which I doubt. I would rather the league officals never mention expansion then them keep pushing it back. It is getting to the point that I dont even care about the league any more. They need to get a whole new crew of league officals, because the fellows they have arent very intelligent.
Well with 10 teams we might as well just start the season in the playoffs. It is absolutely retarted to have an 8 team playoff when the league only has 10. That is the main reason Americans will not get into this league. When only 2 teams dont make it to the playoffs it puts no real importance on the season. It is basically 30 exihbition games and then a playoff. Absouletly retarted. PS i dont drink so no thanks on the wine, but i will take the cheese
Joe, Relax, have a homebrew. My main peeve isn't with MLS, it's with the expansion wackos in here who consistently take the most threadbare expansion rumor and run with it. MLS, to its credit, has (at least for the past couple of years) been fairly consistent in its "we're looking to expand, but won't do so without a SSS, investor and grassroots support" (whatever that means) line. It's only recently that they actually said that they'd announce expansion cities within a year. We'll see if they can make that deadline. But, MLS has played a role in the Internet expansion hyperbole when, for example, Garber talked a year or two ago about 18 cities as expansion candidates. It was a pretty dumb thing to say and, of course, completely hollow. Let's face it, MLS, and American soccer in general, is coming off of a pretty damned good year. The economy's in the toilet, but MLS isn't the kind of investment that, say, an NFL or MLB franchise would be. If MLS is ever going to take advantage of league momentum in order to get new investors interested in coming on board, now's the time. But you're right: history is not kind to the league as regards this issue.
yeah it is real dumb. All i am saying is that expansion shouldnt even be mentioned until they know for a fact where and when the team will be added. this way they could avoid the same annocement every year. Have u ever heard the story of the boy who cried wolf. By the time they do expand (10-20 years down the road) no one will care.
How can they announce expansion plans or city candidates without any investors willing to invest? I thought MLs doesn't want to add any teams that don't have investors. Maybe Anshutz, Hunt or Kraft are are planing to add to their collection.
Bob Funk, Express Personnel, Express Sports, OKC Un-named Tulsa group... met with Hunt in Aug... mayor of Tulsa has publicly announced that local ownership is one of three requirements for an expansion franchise... mayor is pushing a $35 MIL stadium... MLS has until this fall to honor their "we will announce expansion in 365 days"... this gives them a full year for them-- or the cities themselves-- to find local investors. It gives them all summer to court Paul Allen in Seattle, Jeff Lurie in Philly, ?McNair in Houston, DuRoss in Rochester, some dude in Cleveland who's interested in building a SSS, ??? in Minn./St.Paul... and anybody else who has an interest. It takes a long time to get stadium issues settled and a bid organized... once an investor is found who's comfortable with single-entity, it will take exactly FIVE MINUTES for that investor to sign on the dotted line...
My feeling is there are potential investors, but MLS is doing the screening in such a way that once this potential investors find out all the details they either back off or MLS tells them no thank you. An investment group needs more then money to get "admited" in . There are many other factors and issues at hand, stadium issue, location, sponsorship, community support , etc...you name it. All ingridients have to fall in place. I think MLS is doing the right thing by having this type of exhibitions played in potential markets. No matter what, MLS wins by testing the market in that area, exposing itself to different communities around the country, creating awarness. There might be some people who don't know of MLS but may start following it from here on. I wish MLS would have many more of this type of games, not just 2 games.
they aren't the only dumb ones apparently. I could have swore the word was retarded, not retarted, it always makes me laugh when people say retarted.