St. Louis back in the picture?

Hmmmmm; it does sound interesting, to say the least. Maybe this gets the ball rolling. I would, however, hold off speculation until we see how ACSTL does next year in D-2.

 

what is the status of the two stadium locations? And how 'rich' is this guy? If both of those answers are acceptable to Don...then yes ACSTL is in. If the stadium is ready to go and they launch a 2012 bid to go in with Montreal (if indeed the stadium could be built in 1.5 years). NYC would probably be bumped to 21 in 2013 or 2014 since stadium development there will take much longer than anywhere else.

 

Its good that St. Louis is back in the picture. A strong owner with big pockets will get things moving. The city deserves a team based on the history of the city with the sport

However I have some concern. The recent boom in expansion since Seattle is partly due to cities having successful usl teams that parlayed the success into an mls franchise. The teams were getting semi mls numbers to usl games. The only exception being Philly. I am worried because AC St louis does not have a strong fan base.

the other worry is that unlike Philly, St Louis does not get MLS nor international friendlies or tournament games. So there is no real guage toward the viewing fan base.

You could also add in the fact that the viewership for the WC was not exactly surprising like Baltimore or San Diego. Additionally I do not think they have an academy team. I know that Baltimore has academy youth teams of both Chelsea FC and Crystal Palace FC. Additionally Timbers and Whitecaps have an academy team before MLS.

I hope they get a franchise because historically they deserve one but a couple things may need to be changed. I may be wrong since i am not a St. Louis Resident.

 

there was a 2nd wasn't there? I remember some other group (like Gateway real estate or something) came out with a plan to develop a stadium and I remember Cooper saying he knew nothing about it. So could there be a 2nd option? If St. Louis can get a stadium deal done quickly and this guy is rich, then they are in. If a stadium deal needs to start from scratch and they are a few years away from a deal, then they might get bumped down below NYC.

 

I think you are right to have some concerns. I think we all hoped ACSTL would become an american version of the Impact with really strong attendance and almost be MLS quality in D2. That really hasn't been the case, of course the whole Cooper thing didn't help but I wonder how much long term damage has been done or if the market simply isn't as big as we'd hoped.

I also think people put too much into the WC ratings, I think the amount of people who watch a WC game and then turn on a MLS game is quite low. Despite being the same sport it is often times totally different more casual audiences that really are not interested in following club soccer, they just like to watch the games with friends every 4 years. In a similar way I watch the Olympics every 4 years but if swimming or track is on TV in between Olympics there is about a zero percent chance I'll watch it. The big events gives a clue about the sports market but not a whole picture.

I believe ACSTL has a partnership with Scott Gallagher which is one of the bigger youth clubs in the states.

 

You do have to remember though that the Impact did use to have ACSTL crowds in the beginning as well. It takes years and a lot of money 0to build up fan support in D2. Fans just need to have a bit of patience.

As for Cooper, I always thought he was full of shit and this entire expansion / NASL fiasco pretty much proved it. Glad that a new owner has come forward and who actually has some money is now in charge of the team.

 

Shit. That sucks.
I was all ready for St. Louis stadium porn.
Who is the bastard that started that rumor?

 

so the simple answer is NO!

 

IMO a very unremarked factor in the Sounders success is the strength and depth of football in Seattle for decades. Going back to the 90s, Expats who've spent time in the area have consistently described a city with an amateur soccer scene that could stand with e.g. the British Sunday Leagues => a soccer culture that was already mainstream for a USL side to tap into. Portland is said to be similar.
Obviously there's a lot more to making a USL side a success, like good management , but a city that "gets" soccer will give you a slightly larger and more committed initial fanbase doing a lot of marketing and PR themselves. Interestingly, the Timbers had absentee owners until Paulson showed up.

AC's average - 2,700 - is a long way from strong, but their lowest home attendance of 2,037 (from July IIRC) is encouraging in that there may be a hard core of 2,000 or so that will come no matter what to build on, like the Impact.

Aim at building a fanbase of about 5k, which is as close to "proving" there is an MLS fanbase as you can get, and then assess whether the financials and other issues, mainly stadium, can be made to stack up.

 

Counterattack

this the guy who is interested in AC St. Louis

http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/

 

So Floodplain Footy was talking out of their ass dispelling the rumour? What a shock!

 

We'll also have some news from Cooper himself in the not too distant future.

And you can bet I'll be asking him about all this stuff.

 

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020...meline-released-inaugural-season-newest-clubs

three clubs, all announced in the second half of 2019, will each have their expansion seasons rescheduled by one year. The updated schedule follows below:

• Charlotte: 2022 inaugural season
• St. Louis: 2023 inaugural season
• Sacramento: 2023 inaugural season