Scotsman, American, Afghan have eyes on soccer in Compton Jacob O'Riordan in Copenhagen Three young farming moguls have eyes on a soccer team for Compton. Mr. McInally, Mr. Lennon, and Mr. Mahmoodshahi are all passionate supporters of FC Copenhagen and are keen to bring their love of the sport to the Southern California city. The three feel that the area has been neglected by American sports. "It's a great shame that Compton has been ignored, the area has massive amounts of untapped talent that we look to harness." said "Momo" Mahmoodshahi, who is 28 and was born in Kabul before moving to Larkhall, Scotland at a young age. He and Tam McInally became fast friends and are now, with American born Johann Lennon, the largest non-royal land owners in the Scottish highlands. McInally, 31, became aware of Compton through rap music and developed a fondness for the city. "It seems to be a place with great civic pride." he said. "It is a dream of mine to bring my favorite sport to Compton, as Momo said, it has been ignored by the American sports bigwigs". Lennon, 30, seems the most unlikely investor in the team, an Alabama boy raised on baseball and classic rock. "I grew up playing baseball" he said from behind his elegant glass desk. "In the late 90's I came to Copenhagen where I met my business partners, we went to an FC Copenhagen match and quickly fell in love with the team". But Compton? "Southerners aren't as unaware of the world as the Northern media seems to think we are." he said with a disgruntled look on his face. The trio built their empire buying out struggling farmers and now mix farming and real estate into a multi-million dollar company. The company is based in Copenhagen, says McInally, due to the group's fondness for Danish women. "We would ideally like to see a 29,000-seat venue with an athletics track so we could host local school events." said Lennon, "Growing up in America I'm well aware of the weight that school sports carry". However, the group could see their dream blocked my a Major League Soccer rule which prohibits new franchises from moving into an area already claimed by an existing franchise and Compton, part of Los Angeles, is claimed by both the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA. The two existing teams play at the 27,000-seat Home Depot Center in nearby Carson. This seems unlikely to stop the group though. "We've been in contact with an organization called the United Soccer Leagues, we'll place the team there if MLS refuses our entry." said Sofie Sørensen, personal assistant to Lennon. "Analyzing the league's current situation they don't seem to be in a position to refuse us, the Danish league offers a superior financial product. We'd be helping MLS out." The current plan calls for the team to rent Veterans Memorial Stadium in Long Beach while they build a stadium in the mold of Brøndby Stadion, a stadium on the outskirts of Copenhagen. Design changes would be made to fit the athletics track. -------------------------- do you think they can get the franchise? it would be cool.
LOL GOOD LUCK!!!!!!! Compton is next door to the HDC. And seeing how hard it is to get any stadium built in LA. All this seems highly unlikely.
They'll be lucky to get a USL franchise but I suppose it's possible. And they have 0 chance of getting an MLS franchise in Compton as long as the Galaxy and Chivas are next door. Cheeky buggers too.
It seems like they chose Compton just because they think it'd be cool to have a team named Compton. None of these investors have any ties to the city, except that they're NWA fans. Compton borders both Long Beach and the city of Los Angeles (not to mention Carson), so they can seriously get away with naming the team LB or LA. Seriously, first impression is that they don't know what they're doing.
I beg to differ. This is an incredibly smart move. I don't think MLS was really part of their business plan - it's likely been planned for USL all along. Unlike MLS, USL teams have full control over merchandising rights. Why is this important? No matter where you go in North America, you will see kids proudly wearing hats and other sports apparel with "Compton" scrawled across it in old fashioned script. Compton is a massive part of west coast hip hop culture, and kids of all creeds and colors have embraced it as part of their wannabe gangsta fashion sense. If these guys get a Compton team off the ground, watch them rake in the dough hand over fist. If they're smart about it, they'll be the first significant Compton-based sports entity with T-shirts in the mall from coast to coast. They'll sell like crazy to people who aren't even soccer fans. USL D1 also has a brand new franchise this season based out of the Bay area (San Francisco) so that sets up a foundation for a great fan rivalry between the hoodrats in Compton and Oakland. Very, very clever. I hope this works out for them.
Sofie Sørensen seems like a bitch though, hope she isn't the spokeswoman. http://www.google.com/maps?hl=en&lr...,-118.134994&spn=0,.02&sa=X&oi=local&ct=image Long Beach Memorial Stadium. Not the best looking stadium.
I this article a joke? I was waiting for the punch line about "securing a large amount of money and they need my help by sending my bank account number." A very funny read and thanks for posting.
Unfortunately the USL is a soccer league. And hip hop and soccer have about as much in common as Peanut Butter and Ham. I'd agree if this were an IBL team or an NBA team, but soccer? Don't think so.
I think you're misinterpreting the business opportunity. You have no idea how many blacks I see wearing NASCAR team jackets in North Carolina. And the reason they're wearing them is not because they like the sport (which they don't). If there's a unique side business in this case to make money off the name of a team, so be it. It would help finance the soccer side of the business. It seems they have the money to do the operation. They're not going to be in MLS, that's a given. USL most likely.
If they are serious, they should get with Chivas USA. Paying big bucks to play in the HDC can't be a good long term option for them. Most of their MLS games draw less than 12k, so they would only need a 18-20k stadium to begin with.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compton,_California Compton is mostly an Hispanic community btw..60%.. The Bush family lived there for a while after WWII..
My first reaction to this headline was "uh, we've already got two of them. . ." I mean, how much closer to Compton city limits is Long Beach Memorial than the HDC? All in all, I think this is terrific if its true. My feelinging that the stronger the USL is, the stronger MLS gets, in terms of player development, quality of competition, footprint of teams in major cities, etc. If LA can have two MLS teams, a USL-1 team, and 4 PDL teams, hey, the more the merrier. My second reaction was "I hate to bust your bubble, but Compton and Long Beach, man? You KNOW you got trouble".
OMG yes! I can hear the chants already!††† "Straight Outta Compton, City of Compton!" I feel MLS should modify its rules regarding territorial rights in densely populated areas such as New York City and Southern California. If they really want to build a league which thrives on rivalries then that would only make sense. Perhaps they can let FC Compton enter and allow them to pay LA Galaxy and Chivas a small amount over 10 years to make up for it. If they enter with their own stadium as they are talking about, it would be foolish for MLS to refuse to grant them some sort of exemption or reduced territorial rights fee. Should Chivas be moving to Pomona as has been talked about then that would give the area 3 good solid rivals with their own distinct fans. Here is a map to demonstrate: If they hold the All Star Game or MLS Cup there they could even have Nina Gordon perform her totally sweet version of "Straight Outta Compton". http://homepage.mac.com/bigsoccer12/covers-straightouttacompton.mp3
There's always the option of bumping Chivas USA to San Diego, and forcing them to build a stadium with their Mexican Mega-bucks to stay in the league. That opens up a spot for another team in LA, and one in the Bay Area, which would give California it's own 4 team division.
If Chivas leaves LA I don't see LA getting another team until several other metro areas like the bay area, st. louis, seattle etc... get teams.
There's a pretty simple remedy for that... Open it up and let the teams in... this league should be 16-24 teams by now... When I suggested a 4 team division in california, that's under the assumption they've expanded enough to have several 4 team divisions... 6 x 4 = 24... That would include adding teams in st louis, philly, that one in san diego... hopefully bringing in the three big teams in the northwest, and some in the southeastern us, as well... However, we all know MLS is going to drag it's feet, and nothing is gonna happen... So obviously the best they could do is USL... I was just suggesting a way it could be worked out with adding a team in Compton...