Yeah, they seem to be in the wrong league. It's hard in Northern California and Oregon, beyond Portland and the Bay Area (by extension, the cities that are in that SF-Sacramento area). I thought initially that a Hood River team could bring Southern Oregon Fuego and North Coast Tsunami back into the fold, as I think both are still going in lower-ranked leagues. However, the distances for North Coast are prohibitive whatever league they play in.
Just out of curiosity, but this club be located in southern Oregon? Would that make decent travel to/from California to play?
Sacramento Gold (nearest club I believe) are almost a 10 hour drive from Hood River... it's on the Northern border of the state.
https://www.facebook.com/sosambafac?fref=ts and http://www.hoodrivernews.com/news/2013/aug/07/semi-pro-soccer-team-taking-shape/ Again the distance is unrealistic, if three or four teams in the Oregon/Washington area join NPSL too, Prob better off in PDL as is. Maybe some of the PDL clubs could be persuaded to change too NPSL i dunno.
I used to have a lot of discussions in the Pac NW, so there were about 10 groups there looking to play in the NPSL before I left. So maybe that is finally the start of it.
Thanks. I have no idea about the pacific northwest. I've never been there, so it's good to have that info. It'd be awesome to see it happen. And, it'd be awesome for me to get out that direction...
Samba will be playing friendlies, im guessing one of these will be against Lane United. If both of these were in the same it would be good, Being the same as Timbers u23 is good idea too, I think Samba want to keep costs down and the expansion fee is less but reducing travel and possibility of bigger away crowds would be better.
The problem out west is that between the Bay Area and Portland, population densities are low. Looking at Southern and Southeast Oregon, there’s only one reasonable-sized metropolitan area in Medford. Southern Oregon isn’t exactly densely populated and has about 9.5% of Oregon’s total population, nearly 60% of which live in the Medford/Ashland area. Unbelievably, Lake and Harney counties are so agricultural, the population density is less than 1 person/square mile. Of the major markets in Oregon, it would only make sense for Medford to travel south to California for games, everybody else would be better off going to PDL. Even then, the Southern Oregon Fuego gave it a try and they didn’t make it work for whatever reason. If you look at the North Coast and the Shasta Cascade region in California, there are two MSAs (Chico and Redding) and six μSAs (Red Bluff, Susanville, Eureka, Ukiah, Clearlake and Crescent City). Chico went under for reasons other than travel, Redding never really got going and North Coast in Eureka decided to play in the USCS NPL rather than play NPSL again. I don’t blame them, getting anywhere outside the Eureka-Arcata-Fortuna area is just a nightmare due to the infrastructure. Chico and/or Redding would make Medford much more viable but we’ve all been saying that for years and wishing gets us nowhere. If the NPSL want to be in the Pacific Northwest, they need a “big bang” of teams the number of which would be comparable to the original formation of the MPSL or the addition of the Midwest region. keem-o-sabi - Didn’t those teams you were trying to bring into NPSL end up in the NSSL, which was one and done in 2010? What happened to those teams? Some were talking about continuing in other leagues beyond that ill-fated season.
you're right they were from that league. They were going to form their own thing after the demise of the NSSL and then I got busy concentrating on the Midwest as there were much more solid leads. The groups in the NW didn't want to pay expansion fees as they were screwed over by the NSSL, but they weren't going to get in without becoming members of the NPSL which was a massive stumbling block. We did have 4-5 groups that want to get it kick-started up there in the Pac NW, but only 3 were pretty firm at the time. It's too bad, as much as there are some groups who make it seem truly amateur hour the league is pretty good. It is only getting stronger and stronger in my mind. I'm happy to watch from afar and see how it goes.
If hood river just took part in the Oregon Premier league, they would have shorter distances to travel. Considering the population of the town i think the NPSL is a bigger league than needed but lets see how it goes.
The only Flower Mound I'm aware of is in the Metroplex. It's where Liverpool Warriors train according to their website after a quick Google.
there is an eteamz site for a Flower Mound FC. no info on the site though. will try and find the url.
What is going to happen to the South Central Division with the Houston Hurricanes, Regals SCA, and potential npsl teams splitting off and starting the TPSL?
What are the odds of adding Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia to the West Region? They already have regional leagues: Oregon: Oregon Premier Soccer League (http://www.opsl.org/home.php), 4 teams Washington: Evergreen Premier League (http://www.evergreenpremierleague.com/), 6 teams so far British Columbia: Pacific Coast Soccer League (http://www.pcsl.org/), 9 teams (Bellingham switched to Evegreen) With news of SO Samba FC wanting to join, they could compete against the OPSL teams. Perhaps such a move would bring back South Oregon Fuego and North Coast Tsunami FC, expanding OPSL to 6-7 teams. The northwest already have a cup, the J. F. Kennedy Cup (http://www.pcsl.org/tournament-kennedy-mcadams.htm), that pits champions from each league against each other. Perhaps the 3 leagues can be approached, told their leagues will run as normal, just that the J. F. Kennedy Cup winner, or "Northwest Champion", will play against the winner of a playoff between the Golden Gate Conference and Southern Conference, or "Pacific West Champion". If this were to happen, the West Region would have 32-33 teams. Perhaps the Northwest vs. Pac-West Title could be a National Semi-Final? Possible?
A fair number of these teams have considered NPSL and opted out due to league fee's. I doubt they would want in if they had to pony up, and I don't think NPSL would want to let them in without getting the fees (especially since its a member owned league).
I believe the TPSL is running Sept. - March. I'm not sure that these teams are actually leaving NPSL, maybe just adding a winter season.
That is a fair point. Doesn't seem fair to just add teams when everyone else pays the expansion fee. Considering the number of teams and the 3 existing leagues, could it be viewed as a merger, waiving the fee per team or making it less? Or perhaps be a trial period/season, in which the 3 leagues pay the fee for the 3-4 representatives in the playoffs? This just seems like a great opportunity that is stopped before the first step due to red tape. With the PDL having 7 teams in the Northwest (4 in Washington, 2 in British Columbia, 1 in Oregon), 3 of them academy teams for MLS clubs, this is an opportunity to not only extend into the region, but to take control of the region. 19 teams to 7 teams, might even be enough to convince some of those clubs to switch. Such a move would also give NPSL more clubs than PDL.