Do you think having MLS B teams in USL is good or bad? If we see general league attendance involving B teams are the lowest. Who will root for a B team in a D3 league? Even the USL fans will give this games less attention. I know the relationship between MLS and USL. This was positive in the last few years, but... With the growing number of B teams in ULS this could do more harm than good in the future?
There is a whole thread about this already: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/mls-owned-usl-teams.2004002/
As a T2 fan I think we are an addition, solid crowds (Best B team attendance's despite a poor season) but not all B teams are a addition I will admit. It does help reduce costs in terms of travel which is a major thing. Im hoping the USL expands to 32 teams and there can be 4 x 8 team conferences. I'm gutted that we aren't allowed play in the USOC in 2016. Im hoping to make it to a few away games in 2016 at least S2.
I'll go ahead and respond to this now, and let it get merged into the other thread later. I don't think USL's fates will be dictated by how they perform at the box office. Some teams will approach them differently, but we're at a stage where an MLS team should be able to operate an O&O, without significant revenue if need be. We certainly don't hear any complaints from Toronto, Montreal, or NYRB. In terms of attendance, all but one team went up year-over-year in 2015. Even teams that were traditionally "weak" saw significant gains. The MLS O&O's will not drag the other teams down. As for their own fortunes, those will be dictated by their parent clubs and how seriously they market. I suspect the latest crop (Orlando City B despite its name, Bethlehem Steel, Swope Park Rangers, RGVFC) will do better at the gate than the "bad" ones from this year.
O&O don't have great concerns about stadium attendance and revenues, but my question was to independent teams. I think this teams have diferente needs.
MLS teams in USL PRO have their own agenda Just like in Spain, CF Barcelona won the title and the champions league but their reserve squad got relegated to Segunda B (third division)
I personally dont like going to watch a game and its against TFC2 or MTL 2 or RBNY2. i think all those matches should be on wendesdays, not weekends
Is there a reason for this? I can understand if the MLS2 team is loaded with academy kids or a bunch of unproven talent ... but Swope Park Rangers have brought in the USL's all time leading goal scorer (Kelly - Charleston), a player that lead his team in scoring (Trypak - Austin), a starter (captain?) at GK (Lubin - Tulsa), a starter at fullback (Duke - Energy), and all of those players played for independent USL teams last year. Add in a player with some Canadian national team caps and a bunch of starts for MTL2 last year in Grant, 3 or 4 MLS rostered players fighting for playing time and I just can't see a "MLS 2 teams don't have the talent to deserve my weekend entertainment time/dollars". Just wondering. I think that Galaxy 2 as well as others can show you that they're playing to win as well. Sure, development is a part of it, but that happens on EVERY squad. You'd be hard arguing that the NYRB2 squad wasn't trying to win as much as the Wilmington Hammerheads were. Just curious, not saying you're not right, just like to hear more than just "I don't like my team playing MLS2 squads". Thanks for the response.
i want to see the best that club has to offer and the 2's are not that. It might be different because im in Rochester where we once were the best club in the country. so i expect to play the best in the country.
So even if MLS 2 team > USL Independent (some of them are better than their independent counterparts) ... you'd still rather see the independent USL team because they themselves can't put out anything better than their team ... and financially, the MLS 2 team could (because they in theory could put out their MLS squad that plays in another league)? That logic sounds a bit flawed. I can't speak to Kelly's talent level, only that he's had a somewhat successful USL career while still at a young age.
yes i would rather see a independent club play other a mls 2 team. i can guess that no Sporting KC supporters want to see their team play the Rochester Rhinos 2 (if there was one)
to put it in perspective, Rochester-Montreal was the rivalry of the east, similar to a whitecaps-timbers and so on...but now we play the baby impact. no i dont want to see that because they are S*** and to this day we would still would take it to the Impact Montreal regardless the league. go ask any montreal supporter who their rivals are and they would say rochester
i also think its bull s*** a mls 2 team took a historic name such as Bethlehem steel. mls is crushing soccer culture here not expanding it.
If the Rochester Rhinos 2 were a more talented team than say a Austin Aztex or Minnesota United, I don't think I'd have an issue. I'm less worried about the name on the front than the talent on the field, call me crazy that way. And I don't see how MLS2 teams are incapable of putting talent equal or better to any of the independent USL teams. I hope that MLS 2 teams can eventually help develop the next generation of talent at a higher level than anything this countries had in the past (a lack of development at the professional level for the 20-24 y/o age range was an issue in the past IMO). The players that don't make the MLS first team will trickle down to the NASL and USL independent teams and raise the level of their play as well. It will be up to MLS 2 teams to keep up with that talent curve. To me, I could care less about the names on the crest than the talent on the field and the number of professional clubs that are run the right way from a business perspective now and the trajectory of that growth, it has me excited. Sorry if you don't share the same excitement because of a silly "2/II/B" that comes on a crest or in your gameday program. Keep worrying about the names on the crest and how they're ruining American Soccer culture!
IDK if they are bad but it's much better if the MLS2 team has their own city or at least their own identity. Bethlehem Steel is a good example of what a MLS2 team should be not Red Bulls II.
Bethlehem Steel WAS one of the biggest and most successful soccer clubs in the US Open cup, now with this new franchise, they cant participate in the tournament.
So they're in the same spot today as they have been in the last XX number of years? Bethlehem Steel wasn't playing in the Open Cup tournament anyways ... so there is no change ... it now at least "lives" as opposed to being just history. It has a league to play in ... as opposed to being "dead"!? I just don't understand how MLS did something wrong by the history of Bethlehem Steel.
Im sorry i want my club to play top talent, not the same talent pool i play against in sunday league footy, which is the MLS 2. imagine if Sporting KC went down to USL or NPSL and are now playing the RHINOS 2, and Orlando City 3, there is no way you would be okay with that as a supporter.
I wouldnt have such a problem if there was promotion relegation, because a dominant team like Rochester would go up. But i still look at the schedule and still see these 2 teams and sigh.
It doesnt live on now because its different. The original was a CLUB, meaning it started from amateurs and became something. Now because of that success, MLS puts a stickers with that name on a turd and calls its "Bethlehem Steel" Which is not the same as the original. One was a club playing for the love of the game, now its a cash grabbing business. Two totally different identities forged by the same name. People remember bethlehem steel as the great US Open cup champions, not a stuck in lower division franchise money maker.
I'm sorry, I guess I don't see the talent gap between MLS2 teams and USL teams. I see MLS2 teams signing players that have USL history as well as having some of their MLS talent play for the MLS2 team. If SKC goes down and plays USL or NPSL, I'll watch ... I'll be there watching the Swope Park Rangers play other USL teams and MLS2 teams ... and if they get a PDL team to play in the PDL, I'll likely catch a few of those games too. It's interesting to watch because the MLS2 teams have USL talent and play in USL ... I don't believe they have "sunday league adult rec talent" and play in the USL. Maybe that's just a matter of opinion.
That's fair, but it's wasn't really something I was arguing against either. I think the MLS2 teams have USL level talent, you think otherwise. Maybe they don't have Rochester level talent, but they do have Wilmington level talent ... and I didn't understand how you'd rather only see Wilmington than a MLS2 team with more talent than Wilmington. Just picking a USL name out of the hat there.