I don't find that to be news at all. This was pretty much the outlook when MLS first announced that expansion would happen in 2005. If an established club such as the Burn which had all the finances worked out would have the stadium by 2005, and the Fire who were already working on a stadium to be done by 2006 the earliest, I don't see a way Wolstein would have it done by 2005. Rochester was ready to break ground and Chivas already destined for expansion obviously needed another team to go in with. So I think the answer was obvious from the beginning.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/09/sports/soccer/09SOCC.html On the expansion front, it appears that Rochester, which has a new stadium in the works, has moved back into contention. Last year, M.L.S. awarded franchises for the 2005 season to Cleveland and to the owner of Chivas of Guadalajara, Mexico. It is believed that those bids could be in trouble. "We continue to be impressed by the progress in Rochester with the Rhinos and the new stadium," M.L.S. Commissioner Don Garber said in an e-mail message. "We hope to have the Rhinos playing in M.L.S. at some point in the near future." The Rhinos currently play in the A-League.
Here's the latest on the stadium. It's looks like the delay is infrastructure. http://rnews.com/Story.cfm?ID=16874&rnews_story_type=18
www.ussocceruk.com reporting today that Cleveland is more likly an option in 2006. Rochester gets big shot in the arm for 2005. Nice work!
Bergin continues to report that Cleveland is going to be delayed until 2006 or later because of city issues and the owner wanting a lot of money for free. MLS is going to bring the big guns to Rochester for friendlies this season. I take this as another sign of Rochester coming to the big leagues next season. http://www.rhinossoccer.com/news/040325-1341.shtml
Bonji, The fact that DC United is coming for an exhibition in Rochester doesn't mean very much. Not unless you want to also figure that Mississippi and the Carolinas are also on the hot list since there were recent exhibitions in those areas too. It was an intersting web hype, however, with a lot of info about the "superstars" of MLS. Rochester seems to have difficulty coming up with the expansion fee so I wouldn't figure they're exactly a lock for expansion. Cleveland has definitely fallen off the list. Chivas doesn't even have a city picked out. I guess there aren't any real locks out there. Should be interesting.
Don't forget about us in Oklahoma We're in pretty good shape too. It is neat that these exhibitions will be in June though I wouldn't expect Adu to play very many minutes since they have a game 3 days later in Dallas.
Ah, but the beauty of being 14 is that it isn't as much torture on the legs. Teenagers are far more resilient when it comes to recovery between games. Now, when he hits 32, THAT's when DAMN the legs start getting unforgiving.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/news/0331story011422_news.shtml PTP digging to REALLY start this week.
With Clevelands hopes dropping below the horizon is it possible one of the two cities that MLS will anounce this weekend (according to USAToday ) will be Rochester? Could be interesting!!!
Let's hope so! I want to see the A-League become a path to MLS. The Rinos are a great start for that. Next could even be...Seattle!
The point was more that MLS is making an effort to have their teams play Rochester. I think Rochester is in the best position for a 2005 MLS debut. The expansion fee I'm sure can be paid in installments.
Btw, how crazy is it that at 32... 32!!! Adu will be in his 19th professional season.. and possibly going to his 5th!!! World Cup
I didn't see any anouncements this weekend. Did anyone else? Where did USA Today get this info then? Jeff Diveronica, the Rhinos beat reporter is also saying that there will be an anouncement soon concerning 2005 expansion. He didn't say what it was though.
I saw it in a La Opinion story that talked about Chivas wanting to be in LA, so it's 50-50 for veracity in my book.
I just drove through the Oak Street site. Some traffic barrels are out and it's apparent that the road was dug up recently and you can see some stakes and small utility flags marking parts of the property. I won't believe it until I see some concrete poured, but it sounds like things are moving along.
I have not heard this, it is total speculation. I would think that MLS would want to get into the Rochester market badly enough that they would work something out if the only hold up was $10 million in cash. A loan from another i/o, payments, something. I just don't think the league would be silly enough to miss the opportunity to move into an already great soccer market.
Stoner is in favor of Rochester... This is from the 3/26 ChatWrap on espn.com. Patrick Kunc (Bartlesville/Oklahoma): I always thought Rochester was building their new stadium to help with their bid to get into MLS, so when I read that it will only hold 12,500 and have artificial turf I got a little confused. Wont they need a stadium with real grass and to hold more people to get into MLS? Rob Stone: They are building a new stadium, and I believe it is being done in at least 2 stages..Once the second one is complete the seating is over 17 thousand. Which leads me to believe it can expand further if necessary. Not sure about the whole turf thing though. I feel and have felt strongly that Rochester has earned the right to be in MLS. They have ownership that is immensely pro-soccer, they have a good community where they would be THE game and ticket in town, and they've ponied up the dough (with some state help) to start digging on a new stadium. I just hope MLS does not continue to toss Team Rochester around, and assume it will always want to be with the big boys. Make a commitment one way or the other with Rochester and then move on..(Sorry to call you out MLS, I still love you.)
By the way people, the Stage 1 is to have 12,500 permanent seats plus an aditional 5,000 bleacher seats available. Making the stage 1 capacity 17,500. Stage 2 would add more luxury suites and permanent seating bringing the capacity to over 20k and the final stage 3 would make the capacity close to 30,000.
Hey Rochester, make a commitment with your $10 million expansion fee. Last time I checked, MLS is a business. There are lots of really deserving people who would be great at running McDonalds franchises, but unless they pony up the franchise fee, they're not going to be asking people if they want fries with that. If you own a busniess, you're not going to give away parts of it for free. Organizations that can't come up with $10 million are probably not going to be able to deal with the losses the league is covering at this point in its existance. This is not the EPL. Teams are not "clubs". Rob Stone should try calling up his local TV provider (which ultimately pays his salary) and telling them he really deserves free service.