Every time you mention "Victoria Street" and not Home Depot you're defeating MLS' growth. Without those corporate dollars there is no way to look toward financial stability... Ask WUSA... So, stop the nonsense of Avalon, Victoria, Woodshed, etc... HDC. Thank you for your support...
Send it to Real Madrid... Why don't you get a new name for the Bernabeu... I thought you were smarter... Let's see how you call the Chicago's stadium once it gets a corporate sponsor..
Not much to add. Clearly, this is huge news for MLS. A great, great day. I'd just warn some of you not to get all hot and bothered about a Denver SSS. Might happen by 2006, might not. A few years ago, Anschutz told his clubs that he'd built stadiums for each of them, too. Each was to have some connection with the city/area in which the team was located. That's where the whole "Firehouse" theme came from. He even had a Rocky Mts.-themed design for a Rapids stadium. I'm not doubting Kroenke's sincerity. Just stating that these things take time. Sometimes, a whole lot of time (just as Metros fans).
http://sportstravelmagazine.com/t2002/TimLeiweke.htm My guess is that Mr. Leiweke had a heavier hand in these negotiations than Garber. Let's give Garber his due, but I believe it was the ever so influential Tim that landed the Rapids their new owner and stadium. Leiweke is making damn sure he doesnt eat crow a year after he made promises of expansion and ownership.
That is the first time I have used Victoria Street to describe the HDC in 4 or 5 months. I have to believe that the $200 a month on average I spend at Home Depot b/c of their MLS partnership has more of an impact than my inane ramblings on an obscure soccer message board.
A new owner for the Rapids and potentially a new SSS, this is pretty darn nifty news. While I praise St. Phil to the heavens for what he has done for soccer, we really shouldn't have to rely on one guy to keep things afloat. The addition of Kroenke to MLS will take some weight off of the shoulders of AEG, and hopefully this will make the league more inviting to other potential investors.
If he is attempting to corner the market on Denver sports, there's something positive in that for the league (though perhaps not necessarily for Denver TV watchers). If I understand correctly, Tom Hicks assembled a sports combine in Dallas consisting of the Rangers and the Stars, and used the threat of establishing a separate cable sports outlet (on the model of YES) to extort enough money from the existing cable franchises in Dallas to pay for A-Rod. If Kroenke is attempting the same thing in Dallas it means that he sees MLS as a meaningful element in such a package, which suggests a promising view of the value of television rights to MLS matches. On the other hand it also means that cable rates are likely to go up in the Denver areas. Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. perce
Outstanding news. Look at the goals of the week on MLSnet. Now think of how much better these goals will look when there aren't football lines on the field, and a crowd explodes out of their seat and raises their arms at the sight of a great goal. Here's hoping for progress elsewhere (like, San Jose )
Close, but you've got the cause and effect wrong. Tom Hicks owns both the Stars and the Rangers (as well as the Mesquite Rodeo) and was interested in starting a regional sports network centered around those three properties. He was in negotiations with ESPNEWS and CNN/SI about providing "filler" programming to the network when they weren't showing original programming. He even owned a local TV channel (KXTX 39) to whom the proposed network would farm out some of its games, much the same way that YES has sold some of its games to WCBS 2 in New York. But two things happened. First, the Southwest Sports Group (Hicks' company that owns the Stars and Rangers) was having a tough time getting the local cable systems to carry the new channel. Also, Fox Sports Net came back with a very lucrative offer -- $45 million a year for 10 years for the local TV rights for both teams. Under the agreement, all the games not carried on national TV would be carried on FSN, the Fox-owned independent station KDFI 27, or the Fox affiliate KDFW 4. Half the teams' games would be shown on Fox Sports Net. The other half would be shown on either KDFI 27 or KDFW 4. At this point, SSG signed the agreement with FSN and dropped its plans for a new network. KXTX was sold to Telemundo and is now the local Telemundo affiliate. But at the end of the day, both teams are near the top of the list in TV revenues in their respective leagues. And Hicks got this without the capital outlay that his new network would've required. That money enabled the Rangers to sign A-Rod (and otherwise have one of the top payrolls in MLB, for all the good it's done them) and the Stars to have one of the top payrolls in the NHL. Maybe, maybe not. If Kroenke can lure in the Rockies, then he can effectively put Fox Sports Net out of business in the Denver area. Then, it would just be one RSN replacing another. A similar thing happened to Sports Channel Philadelphia several years ago when Comcast SportsNet was started. CSN owns the Sixers and the Flyers, and locked up the Phillies' broadcasts, leaving SC Philly with no local pro teams. SC Philly shut down. And My only caveat is that this sounds similar to what happened with WUSA. They were allegedly going to provide cheap programming to the cable TV companies that owned them. However, the main difference is that Kroenke, with his investment in MLS, his investment in SUM, and his intentions to build a SSS, appears to have more commitment to the cause than AOL Time Warner, Comcast, and Cox did.
I agree. It's HDNTC. I'm not in to any of the Brit naming traditions - it's an uphill battle - and frankly if you have to try that hard to give someone/something an nickname - it never ends up sticking. Folks let's be realistic - there are still some people out there who think of MLS as MSL. We need to adapt to the times and to this country and that means refering to the Galaxy's new stadium as HDNTC.
What an absolute crock. My calling it Victoria Street or HDC is not going to sell one more piece of lumber at Home Depot. Its a nickname on a soccer board. Do you think ANYONE on this board doesn't know about Home Depot's sponsorship of Victoria Street? (whoops - there I said it again and set back the growth of MLS by another millisecond).
If you guys insist calling on HDC based on its location, why not call it "Avalon"? After all, HDC's address is 18400 Avalon Boulevard, Carson CA.
The nickname was created when the site was identified. "Stadium at the corner of Victoria and Avalon." Either name would have worked. Luck of the draw that the LAG picked an Avalon street address instead of a Victoria one. But, the nickname was already in place on the Galaxy mailing list long before we ever knew where the front door was going to be. Like a lot of things in life, history explains it, not logic.
Are you serious??? I didn't know that Home Depot had people looking through the BigSoccer boards to see whether or not people call it the HDC or Victoria Street or mecca or whatever. It makes no difference what anyone calls it. Such statements are absolutely ridiculous, but are perfectly placed on this website.
Congrats to all Colorado and MLS fans such as myself. I will be much happier when I see shovels hitting the dirt on these stadium deals.
Very interest, EJ, thanks for the clarification. Kroenke may not, in fact, see the acquisition as part of a strategy to collect the media rights to sports in Denver. It's an extremely positive development for MLS regardless, but would be so much more so if it suggested that MLS was beginning to be seen as an attractive sports TV product. perc
I know this is saying a lot, but the argument over the name of the ground/pitch/field/stadium the Gals play in has to be the lamest one ever seen on these boards. Must be the same guys who helped write the history of rock. http://www.*#*#*#*#*#ion.com/3936/
I wouldn't doubt that RFK is out in the cold if new stadium get built. Also, it's never truly "Home Field" when El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala come to town, anyway.