Given the Milwaukee MLS effort, will we see Milwaukee Wave United return? I got the sense that this summer's exhibiton schedule did not yield the attendances the Wave hoped for. But then again most of the games were rather uninteresting, only the match against the Thunder and maybe against the MISL teams warranted any interest. I miss the Milwaukee Rampage, and feel that the Wave United have been a poorly run team from a promotional standpoint. However now that MISL is down to 6 teams, maybe the Wafe wil see promoting an outdoor side is more important. Obviously if the Milwaukee MLS goes through, the Wave United would not have a future. But if the MLS effort does not succeed, I would hope we could atleast revive them as a viable USL First Dvision outfit. What do others think on this issue?
The Wave have gone on record saying that it's not possible for them to run both an outdoor and indoor side from an organizational standpoint. In other words, revenue generated from the indoor team, including their summer camps, is used to operate the indoor team and there's nothing left to do justice to an outdoor side. The indoor team has been their bread and butter. Why should they gamble on losing it all? After winning the USL franchise right, they initially stated they'd stay in the game for three seasons - for all practical purposes, they stopped running the outdoor side after two seasons. It's my guess that their ownership is tied to the MLS venture - they're just playing it very low key. People who know soccer in this town know that there are many who were devoted to the Rampage - be it Bob Gansler and the 1997 A-League championship team or Boro Sucevic and the 2002 A-League championship team. Personally, I think if the current movement were straight up with people on the ownership makeup they'd be doing themselves a service. IMO. P.S. With the MISL struggling to stay afloat, it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I know without their very popular summer camps, the Wave would have ceased to exist long ago.
We have been straight up. We have four publicly identified investors plus others who have expressed a serious desire to be involved. The other list has grown from 10 to 25 over the last three months. They are all waiting for real estate development details to be flushed out before being brought in formally. The total number of accepted investors will likely be less than a dozen with a single lead investor controlling 35% or more of the team. i am extremely confident that securing investors will not be an issue in this project. We continue to make very good progress on the real estate development front. i look forward to rewarding your support with an MLS team for Wisconsin. peter
That would be terribly kind of you and seeing as how there are significant breakthroughs to be made, I would truly be impressed. Peter, can you give us your thoughts on the topic thread/question?
i suspect that it could carry on as an exhibition team with little promotional effort and small crowds forever if there is no MLS team. If there is an MLS team, i think they'll shut down. i don't believe their ownership is interested in getting back into USL. peter
The exhibition team would be useless, especially since the Majors teams have begun promoting themselves a little more lately. I think their perception is that pro soccer will continue to have a difficult time in Milwaukee. I very much hope it isn't that way. I would love to see MLS here and would gladly buy season tickets. Have you presented to any of the metropolitan Milwaukee area youth clubs or are you concentrating on the outlying areas yet? Just wondering if you've addressed many on the local scene yet. And thanks for your time.
I will invest in a Wisconsin team if I can have assurances that it will be called either the Milwaukee Holsteins, Milwaukee Brie or Milwaukee Guys-Passed-Out-Drunk-With-Beer-Puke-Stained-Overalls.
Damn, someone took my idea already. I guess I'll just tell my girlfriend to throw those 5 lotto tickets away then
you're welcome. have met with leaders of the Kickers, Mequon, Brookfield and Latin leagues on an individual basis. Still need to meet with them in a group setting like we did in Madison and Appleton. peter
If it is correct that Wave ownership is not interested in getting back into USL 1 no matter what, then I feel they sold us a false bill of goods this last summer. I can obviously see why they would not be viable if MLS came to Milwaukere. However it seems to me that Wave ownership stated that this last summer was a restructuring year. Now perhaps the crowds were not as good as they wanted and they feel it too difficult to mount a comeback. But if they aren't interested in rejoining USL, then I hope there is no more worthless exhibition season. I don't think many Milwaukee soccer fans care if they foist upon us some rubbish matches against overhyped bar league teams (as they did for most of the matches over the summer). I'd rather follow Milwaukee Bavarians u-23 who are atleast playing with something at stake in their new summer amateur league. A silly exhibition schedule against MISL sides and local groups of "all stars" is insulting the intelligence of soccer fans in this community.