As MLS has in some markets, (Dallas), shunned loads of Hispanic fans, and seeing how many southern cities are home to loads of immigrants. A thought struck me. On a different thread, some were discussing how the Club America, (MX), entering MLS seemed to be falling apart. As Mexican teams seek market share in the US, it strikes me that the A-League may be a much more appropriate vehicle for them. I am sure that entry into the A is much cheaper than MLS. Furthermore, I thought that pesky rules about salary cap and amount of internationals did not apply? Does anyone here know for sure? I think that some enterprising person could revamp this league into a formidable force by partnering with MFL and other international teams. Their is too much money being left on the table in markets like Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and others. What are the league limits to such an approach?
( ) There are no salary cap limitations in the A-league. There are international limitations, but they're looser (significantly) than MLS's. I think the biggest problem for an MFL team looking to gain market share in the A-league is that, largely, A-league teams get no press coverage, etc. This might be different if Club America moved into someplace like Houston/San Antonio, but right now, it's not a great asset for a team looking to grow their brand. Ajax was apparently sort of looking into fielding a sister team in Orlando - they've currently got an associate in the lower PDL, but I think their aspirations may have cooled when they saw that their brand was only drawing 50-100 fans/game. There aren't really any limitations that I see to doing something like this, other than the fact that the A-league is a very, very small blip on the national sporting radar.
Thanks for the info ChrisE. BTW someone needs to come up with an eye that rolls icon to attach to posts.
Ajax's relationship is purely on the commercial side and much less than you think. Basically they have the right to use the name and get a deal on uniforms and equipment. Ajax has no technical development arrangement.
Ajax's relationship with the Orlando club is murky. I certainly wasn't suggesting they were taking an active interest. If the PDL club had taken off hugely, however, I think we'd be seeing more from the Dutch than we are right now. Regardless of how active they are, they are the only USL club related to a foreign power, so their info was pertinent to theo's question; I tried to present an even-handed perspective. Although I know this doesn't mean they're related to the Dutch club, Ajax Orlando do have Wim Suurbier on the coaching staff. The connection isn't entirely nominal.
I forget who the marketing firm was but prior to last year there were several "friendlies" against some Mexican first divisions sides. Charleston played Puebla in 2002 and Atlante 2003. I know they also played Charlotte and another team or two in the SouthEast (Atlanta maybe) I would have thought they results were mixed. Personally I thought the tickets were priced a bit too high ($20-$25) and as a result the attendence in Charleston was around 1700-2000 for the matches. But the Charolotte match had some where in the region of 3,500, much higher than their average attendence. As for International limits. here is a quote from the USL rules books at their website http://www.uslsoccer.com/aboutusl/rules/index_E.html I think we should watch Chivas USA in MLS this season and see what their away draw is. I think that will give alot of Mexican teams (and maybe European) teams some reasurance in the American/Canadian market. Mikey