(If I'm USSF, I can't wait to rubber-stamp that NISA application with the Cosmos and hand it to the lawyers. What possible incentive would they have to do otherwise?)
I wanted this to come straight from me. Tomorrow will be the last day the @JaxArmadaFC store will be open at the St Johns town center. It’s been an amazing two years, with great memories and events, specifically like last week. Another end of an era in the Armada history books...— Nathan Walter (@ArmadaPresident) October 30, 2019
*taps head Fan merchandise stores fail when most fans don't know that your soccer club exist or not...
Isn't retail space generally expensive, depending on where it is? And in a 1.4 million square foot upscale outdoor mall, it would seem like you would need a lot a lot of foot traffic and merchandise sales to make that nut. I mean, let's be honest: the Armada has not played a professional match in more than two years and don't appear likely to play in the near future. They weren't particularly popular at the time of their last pro game. Why would anyone buy any Armada merchandise unironically?
"It's been an amazing two years" he says, just like it's been an amazing 60 years for Major League Baseball in Brooklyn.
MLB still selling Brooklyn Dodgers gear. https://www.mlbshop.com/Mens_New_Er...Y_yk&msclkid=49137e9111e31ee2e3ea2354e2df1cb7
Why not? They can make money off of it since there are people who will buy that stuff... They also sell "retro" gear from various teams who have changed their uniforms over the years, so this is no different. I actually saw a guy wearing a St. Louis Browns jacket (complete with the elf) a few years ago.
Fans want to believe that their teams are just for them, while from the very start of the era of professionalism, they've been about making money for their owners with other concerns being secondary. Yes, there are some counter examples, but the whole of professional team sports has always been about owners having toys that either feed their ego or their wallet, hopefully both. I understand why hard core fans convince themselves otherwise, and it leads to cognitive dissonance with presented with evidence to the contrary (those Carolina Hurricanes Whalers jerseys last year were legit!).
Really? I was hoping some millennial who had had no idea of history somehow thought the old team was the Wailers, and they came up with a red, gold, black and green jersey to make everyone feel I-ree.
Fans have been wearing the Whale in Greensboro (97-99) and Raleigh (99-now) since the team relocated. When I used to go as a fan (before I was media) I would wear the Whale to Sunday games. The team came down with a lot of Hartford (and New England) ties with Chuck Kaiton. Glenn Wesley's and Ron Francis (who they brought back) both have their jerseys retired. John Forslund and Trip Tracy still call the games on TV. Hell, in the early years Chris Berman and other Bristol folks used to show up at games. A lot of Hartford(ers)(ians) send a lot of shade Raleigh-Durham's way (including one poster on BigSoccer in particular), but the Triangle's hockey fans have always honored and learned the team's prior NHL history - and some of us the WHA days. The one Stanley Cup we won was the first one played between to former WHA teams.
Honestly don’t know if I consider any of that a good thing. The Whalers were and are Hartford’s not Raleigh’s.
I don't see any problem with honoring the team's past. The last media guide I have (seven or eight years ago) had three sections - Hurricanes Records, NHL Records, and a small WHA section. While Gordie Howe's #9 is not officially retired (and the other retired Whalers numbers were recycled), no Carolina Hurricanes player has ever worn the #9. (The only other unofficially retired number is the #3 for Steve Chaisson who died in a car crash late at night after the team returned from a playoff game against Boston back in 99).
It's deeply disrespectful. The @LAClippers brought back their Buffalo Braves throwbacks! 🔥 or 🗑?#NBA #NBATwitter #Clippers pic.twitter.com/KaWWE5qAY8— Hoops Podcast (@hoopspodcastaus) November 8, 2019
Hell, the Oakland Athletics wore Kansas City A's uniforms in a home game against the Kansas City Royals. And the Royals, for their part, regularly don different versions of the old Negro Leagues Kansas City Monarchs uniforms.
Can't wait for Rocco to respond to this: David Villa involved in group granted Queens-based USL franchise https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-...d-in-group-granted-queens-based-usl-franchise
Kenn, if you're replying to me and my post, I agree that sports are fun. You can also learn life lessons from them ... in the case of the NeoCosmos, there's a great lesson in the impact of hubris. In my day job, I look at organizational design and leadership. I've found the rise of MLS under Don Garber to be fascinating. However, the situation from the early 2010s to now where NASL imploded and USL rebounded has been even more fascinating. I really blame the Cosmos for that situation. Hopefully, we'll get a good book with insider information on this in the future.
No I am speaking to the type of person who holds onto their outdated, misplaced grudges against this city or that city because they either beat their team that one time or their favorite team moved there for whatever reason or someone wore a throwback that reminded that person of what they used to have and blah blah blah blah. Sports is entertainment. That's all it is for the end user. It's not a referendum on you or your city or your school, and it's not a morality play. If someone doesn't win the MVP or isn't unanimously awarded something or doesn't make the hall if fame, so frigging what?