With 15 teams already confirmed,I can name 15 other cities that would at least garner consideration for MLS expansion.........how in the world will Garber and co. choose and what is the max number of teams MLS can realistically field? Montreal,Vancouver,NY second team,Atlanta,Clevland,Charlotte NC.,Miami,Las Vegas,Portland,San Diego,San Antonio,Phoenix,Detroit,St.Louis and Philadelphia
The maximum number is as many as have a good stadium option and deep pocketed investors. Garber will choose based on the above criteria. As per many discussions throughout this website, only Philadelphia is pretty much certain at this point. St. Louis is pretty likely, just needing another investor with deep pockets. All of the rest of the cities on the list need to have an agreement on a stadium. All of the rest of them except NY, Montreal, Vancouver and Atlanta need deep-pocket investors. So, the cities on your list may garner consideration. But consideration is a very long way from consummation.
but there are other issues to consider.How will you stock these teams with MLS quality players?Also keeping the conferences even[east and west] is important as we have heard a single table is not coming soon.
I hate it when people call Phoenix a good market. Phoenix is the most overstretched sports market in the US and it can't support the teams it already has. Also, the stadium costs would be astronomical due to the heat. Both the Cardinals and the Diamondbacks have stadiums with a retractable roof. It's a non-starter.
You stock these teams with quality players easily: you don't have 15 teams enter the league simultaneously. Or even 6. Or 4. I'm not sure what your concern is. There is one new team this year. One new team next year. And one new team expected (so far) the year after that -- Philadelphia. With the number of universities in this country alone, you can stock a new team every year. On top of that, every new team will be bringing in foreign players. MLS's international scouting is improving, and many teams have ties with clubs all over the world, so they aren't just limited to what comes out of the US. Yes, the level may drop a little. But I really don't think it'll be enough for us to stress out over. Remember that the USL is around, and they catch whatever falls through the cracks. A few players come up from there every year. Regarding conferences. Are you really that concerned about that? MLS moves teams around from one conference to the other all the time. OK, not all the time. But it's not like the NFL, where it was a big deal to realign things. If by some chance, you end up with the next 4 teams being Philadelphia, St. Louis, Miami and Montreal, then they'll just move KC or Chicago to the West. Dallas fans would love it to have Chicago back in their conference, though KC would make a little more sense geographically.
i would tend to disagree with you on talent.the universtiy system is not producing MLS quality.there are very few who come in and play. a new team every yr for the next three years will really push the league to improve scouting and possibly increase the salary cap.You dont just start a team and stock it with college players .You will never win a game.And you only have 8 international slots per team so the scouting will have to improve dramatically.Furthermore with the midlevel players already leaving for European leagues where they make three times more money it will be hard for MLS teams to have any quality at all on the bench. Im all for expansion Im just concerned about quality.
you have to say, now with Philly pretty much wrapped up, it's currently down to : Miami NYC2 St.Louis. St Louis is def the first in line, but we'll see. This can all change at the drop of a hat however, so don't hold me to it.
Cleveland, Charlotte, Sand Diego, San Antonio, Phoenix, Detroit? Those cities have either never been seriously considered or haven't been apart of relevant discussion in ages.
if you remember the first post i said 15 cities that should at least garner some attention in relation to MLS expansion.I didnt say Garber was on the phone trying to choose between all of them now.......Its obvious that only a few cities are going to be chosen,,But...there are alot of cities interested in getting on the MLS bandwagon and my original thought was,how does Garber choose when you have legitimate bigleague cities in other sports and if they meet all the requirements for expansion?
You choose teams with fully-funded stadium plans located in strong soccer markets with a history of supporting their pro teams well in all sports. If only MLS could find somewhere like that...
Why do people from NYC keeping listing NYC2 as a leading contender ? it's had one article which mentioned in passing a vague interest in the possibility of a franchise by Wilpon and that was it. Atlanta is as far along as that and Las Vegas is even further along actually having a proper investment group headed by a well known American soccer player, it would appear securing a stadium would be LV's sticking point the past six months. NYC2 isn't one of the front runners, as it stands they are Philly and Saint Louis, Miami might get it's stadium plan passed but they still have no investment group interested.
Fair Questions - there have been many talks from Garber - including the State of the League back in November. Also, in recent weeks here is a story from the washington post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...602028_pf.html Garber on Talk to america - "This team will play in Queens" http://www.voanews.com/english/16-Ja...ber-Brewer.cfm Garber at the draft http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/articl...ticle_id=12757 "Finance a soccer stadium on the ground in and around citifield" aka Shea As you can see - they have talked location - owner and the NY times said that this is somethign WILPON is serious about. Add that to the fact that Garber WANTS this - i think we have a fair reason to believe we are a contender - no?
that's 4 times since novemeber including the state of the league address. plus when garber says "we need a 2nd team in the New York area...this team would play in queens regardless of the name." that's hardly vague intrested my friend...those are strong words.