So now we have a new rearrangement. Who are going to be the new rivals in div I. I am really interested in MN and PR, no one is near them. MN in the past has had a bitter rivalty with Mil but now they are gone, are the Thunders rivals the remaining western conf teams, or is it going to be Toronto for geographic reasons? I am guessing the Por-Sea-Van triple, MN has more history with these three than any others.
When our teams can play in the USOC (not that we want to, mind you), we'll talk. Regional rivals for PR are Roc, TO and MTL and the PacNW trio for Minnesotta.
PR regional rivals Roch, Tor and Mtl. Why not the teams in the SE. That seems out of the way. So it seems there are going to be three groups of four Sea, Port, Van and MN Rich, VB, Atl, Charl Roch, Mtl, Tor, and PR some things I question, but I guess I am not in charge
The only reason I can think of is that if they wanted to group Puerto Rico with the Southeast, that would require putting Richmond or Virginia Beach with the northeast teams. And breaking up one of the true regional rivalries in the league is not a good thing.
Yeah, if you think about it, PR was a tough call. You really have 3 teams in the Northwest, 3 teams in the Northeast, 4 teams in the Southeast, and MN and PR. Putting MN with the Northwest it straightforward, although it means a lot of travel for the Thunder. There's no point breaking up a solid 4 team grouping with Atlanta/Charleston/Richmond and V. Beach, so PR gets stuck with being in the Northeast. I'm guessing they'll do something like a 3 games in 8 days road trip twice in the season to get their matches against their "regional" opponenets out of the way.
Hello. I think that concentrating on regionality to determine rivalries is a bit narrow in the thinking department. While not meaning any disrespect to the fine teams in the Pacific Northwest, I think the Thunder's main rival now becomes Rochester. We have faced each other in the finals more than any other teams have faced another team. The Thunder and Rhinos have been in the finals more than any other team in the league. Our teams have a history of being the most stable from an organizational and financial standpoint. The games have always been very competitive. After all, in Spain, the clasico isn't Real Madrid vs. Athletico Madrid. Nor is it Barcelona vs. Espanyol. It's Real vs. Barca. And in USL Division I, it's the Minnesota Thunder vs. Rochester Raging Rhinos. Looking forward to many bi-coastal victories , I remain That little old jersey collector Me
Another factor may be the cost of travel. San Juan to NYC for a cross state bus ride or even another flight to TO may be cheaper.
It doesn't get any bigger in the USL Divison One, or maybe even in North America all together, then Montreal vs. Rochester.
As much as I hate the Rhinos, I have to admit that there are some competing rivalries. The Cascadia 3 have good travelling support but the whole 3-way thing makes the rivalry a bit uneven, especially since there isn't a consistent table-battle between the three. In MLS, bet on Chivas-LA to be HUGE. They play out of the same stadium! Otherwise, DC and Metro have a decent rivalry going. Rochester and Montréal do have an excellent rivalry for many reasons: lots of battles at the top of a division (5 years?), 5 playoff meetings including 3 in 3 years, proximity for travel, ex-players on the other team (mainly for Montréal) and a genuine hatred of the other team's fans and players. Too bad the Lynx never could get their shit in order...
I hope that these rivalries are temporary. I would like to see them evolve over the years. Say over the next few years as we play say Toronto or Atlanta, and we create this heated rivalary with them, I would like to see that being taken into account when selecting the extra games. But I do think regional rivalries is a good first move
It's pretty much uncalled for a league to structure a schedule according to rivalries so I wouldn't expect USL to do it. The radio announcer in Montréal left a message on our forum saying that the premliminary calendar had Mon@Roc twice and Roc@Mon only once. WTF is going on?