More background and conversation over here as well. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=199795&page=1&pp=15
Yeah, I'm confused. Or is it going on now? Did anyone get the press email? **Calling Andy Mead. Calling Andy Mead. Come in Andy Mead.**
short write up in the Journal Sentinel. Watch tomorrow's paper for any other news. http://www.jsonline.com/news/daywatch.asp#8917
here is my recap from the conference: - Marty Greenberg got up and spoke about the mission of Milwaukee Pro Soccer, LLC, and he gave a background on soccer in general, soccer in Wisconsin, and what his group wanted to do. - This group wants to put a stadium in downtown Milwaukee, at the "Park East" location. That is clearly their #1 site. The stadium will be part of a mixed-use development with retail, offices, entertainment, etc, the typical type of mixed-use talk when you hear about a stadium being built. The figure that was quoted by Marty Greenberg for a total cost (whole project) was $ 300-320 million. Marty then introduced Peter. - Peter got up and spoke about Milwaukee, about his career, and what he wants to bring to Milwaukee. He mentioned how the stadium would be used for 40-60 events per year, and he quoted that LA uses the HDC for about 80 events per year at this time. MLS soccer, international soccer, US Open Cup, HS and College Soccer, "limited" concerts, and other community events was how he described it. - Peter made several mentions of the ethnic makeup of Milwaukee, the youth soccer population, and, one of his sticking points, was about the advantages of a downtown stadium, compared to a suburban stadium. Peter made references to downtown stadiums such as Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, and he also mentioned Camden Yards in Baltimore and the ballpark in Detroit too, as more examples of how a stadium can anchor a neighborhood and bring people into a city, as opposed to driving people outside of it. Peter and Marty Greenberg fielded about 10 questions, including - questions about their deadlines to make all of this happen: Peter stated that 2008 was the year that they were looking to start play in, not 2007 as many people had speculated. He mentioned that MLS was probably only going to add 1 more Midwest city, possibly 2, by the end of the decade, so Milwaukee needed to get moving to get "to the front of the line". - questions about the Pabst City development downtown, and whether or not they were looking at Pabst City at all as a potential stadium site. Peter and Marty were both very clear that Park East was their #1 choice. They stated that they had spent about a year and a half working on studying that area, and they were convinced that it had all of the things they wanted from a site. They did not want to elaborate on any site other than Park East, and in my conversation with Peter afterwards, he was very clear that Park East was the only site they wanted to be talking about publicly. My personal thought on the Pabst City thing is that people who don't want the Pabst City development to happen in it's current form are trying to use the soccer stadium as a pick, and really, they are just using soccer for leverage. That's just my personal thought. - someone asked about attendance for the Rampage and Wave United, and why Peter/Marty thought MLS would work in a city that wasn't supporting those teams in the past. Peter's response stated that comparing MLS soccer and other leagues was not comparing apples to apples, as the other leagues don't bring in Landon Donovan, Freddy Adu, Chris Armas, Tony Sanneh, and other international stars. He went on to mention how the Utah Blitzz were drawing in the "hundreds" last season in Salt Lake, and that Real Salt Lake was drawing 21,000 so far this year. - someone asked Marty what help, if any, they were going to be asking the city of Milwaukee for. Greenberg stated they would be requesting a TIF break for the site, probably around $ 25 million, but both Peter and Marty tried to emphasize that this was going to be, for the most part, a privately financed project. Peter mentioned how Bridgeview and Fricso are 100% and 75% publicly funded, and how this would be different. A follow up question asked about the soccer stadium itself, and the figure quoted for that part of the development project was "$ 40-60 million". - someone asked of Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker was involved in the project at all...they have not met with Walker in "several months", but he has been keep up to date with the project as a whole. - someone else pointed out that the Mayor of Milwaukee was not there today, and Greenberg said that, to date, the mayor has been "neutral" on the project and that a representative of the mayor's office was in attendance. - in response to a question about MLS involvement, Peter said that they have been in discussions with Commissioner Garber, and with the league's board of governors...that was pretty much how he left that question.
Here is a link to the pdf of today's press release re: Wilt. This is what Milwaukee Pro Soccer gave out at the conference, and it is what they distributed via e-mail: http://www.geocities.com/kebzach/wiltpressrelease.pdf
Me thinks there has to be something to this, or else Wilt would not have jumped on board. I won't say it's a done deal, but it's probably the strongest possibility out there right now.
Because I'm slow at times, let's add up what the Cream City has got and not got: 1. Ownership group (right? the guy's got $$$, not just a book and a theory?) 2. Best GM in MLS 3. Desired site for stadium 4. Soon to be tacit, or not so tacit, support and stamp of approval from MLS, a la Cleveland This differs from Cleveland's bid in that: 1. Cleveland had no MLS GM onboard This differs from San Antonio's bid in that: 1. SA mayor supported it, Milwaukee mayor neutral 2. SA had a stadium, Milwaukee no 3. SA had no ownership group 4. SA had no MLS GM Now here's another question, since we've been down this road before: What do you native Milwaukeans (ites? ers?) think the op-ed and sports page pieces will have to say? These Hearstian rags that whip up public support or furor. 1. Mostly anti-soccer like SA? 2. Mostly money-concerned like Cleveland? 3. Gung-ho like SLC? 4. Somewhere in between? Since we've been through this courtship before, I think we will know the signs fairly early (weeks or months) if this thing is clicking or not. While MLS expansion to City X seems to hit us out of the blue like True Luv each year, someone has to pay the bills and clean the sheets.
I don't know, I think the public opinion will be "somewhere in between." I don't think this will get as much attention as in SLC or SA. This thing is almost gonna be all-privately financed, unlike Cleveland's project, and Cleveland has been in a budget crisis for years now. There may be some complaints from people that want to find a better use for the Park East site.
I don't foresee any real anti-soccer media maybe indifferent but not anti. The local media always coverered the college soccer games briefly in the sports report and UWM Milwaukee once got a front sports page full color piece after they won their first NCAA tournment game in 2002. The propossal is suposedly 100% privatly finaced. The big obstical i see is against other developers for the use of the site because they leveled that area about a year or 2 ago with the entention of revitalizing the area for commererce and condos. If this proposal package (which i assume is much more than a stadium as the estimates for the project are inbeyween 300-500 million) is just better and more fiscally advantagous for the city they will win...i expect a lot of resistance here. Also last time Milwaukee talked expansion team the owners of the Bradley center used their influance and power to pretty much kill the downtown stadium idea...this was also before they torn down that area as it is today. I expect a resurgance of resistance here..how much i don't know. Milwaukee has a long soccer rich history. Its a strong tight soccer communtiy...between them and the surrounding burbs and the potential downtown stadium i would expect 13-15K average crowd which would be good for a 20K seater. Milwaukee shows up for a winner so spike those numbers 2-4K more if they are a good team and have some buzz. They will have small problems in fall because wisconsin people are football mad about the Badgers and Packers ALL over the state. Brewers are never a problem as they are out of pennant races by July and the Bucks usually don't make the playoffs so their season is toast by April.
The J-S has good soccer coverage -- Wave, college, amateurs, etc. Whether they also have anti-soccer editorialists, I don't know, but I think most non-MLS cities would envy their coverage.
Milwaukee has one major daily newspaper. For the previous, Tim Krause led bid, the op-ed page was pretty receptive to the idea of MLS in Milwaukee. Also, the paper's soccer guy, Charles Gardner, has been around a long time and is very, very good. Finally, it's on the south side (i.e., not downtown), but Milwaukee has what looks to be a helluva soccer pub, The Highbury: http://www.thehighbury.com/
Since Budweiser is an official sponsor of MLS, I would bet Miller is pissed about this possible round of expansion.
I had no intention of asking a question, but I had to. I basically asked them what the ******** the press conference was about. They didn't really say anything other than Peter's got a new job. There was no reason for Garber to be there. There is no agreement, nor understanding between MLS and the Milwaukee group. They don't even appear to have their investment lined up for the team. At least they've got Peter, but still...
Intersting thoughts.... Aren't you glad you read BigSoccer (and know about the missionaries all over the world) Interesting again. You know, if I didn't grow up in DC, can't say I'd be much a fan of MLS. Soccer? yes. But MLS? No, a team you can drive to see makes such a huge difference. Let's see how this one pans out. and oh yeah email the guy and tell him "you don't know anything about soccer"
Not a bad piece. He correctly points to the main problem MLS has and that is getting people who care about the sport to care about the product they offer.
Sorry to be majorly immature...but I'm in a bad mood at work...however....Is that columnist's name for real? Pick another name when you write buddy.