The All-Encompassing Pro/Rel Thread on Soccer in the USA

Boreham Wood demolish Jason's Wealdstone 4-0 to make things very interesting in the battle to avoid relegation from the National League. Wealdstone have two games in hand, but have lost five of their last six...

 

Man City are fighting the allegations. Forest and Everton said "we did it, please don't deduct any points".

It's all very silly.

 

Well, UNLV had men's basketball penalties from the NCAA when the players at the time were in nursery school.

 

Wealdstone fired their manager yesterday (their replacement for Stuart Maynard who went to Notts County midseason) and will rely on first team coach Sam Cox to try to avoid the drop over the last 5 games.

 

Stuart Maynard is under pressure at Notts, from the fans more than the club.

The club even put out an April Fools video suggesting he'd been replaced by a former manager.

 

What difference does it make? Fact is clubs know the rules and if they cheat they get punished! If Man City are found yto have cheated they too will be punished! Don't expect them to be punished just because rival fans on social media 'claim' they've cheated though! They will be investigated, the 'may' then get charged (depending on the results of the investigation) and then if needed they will be punished.

 

I'm glad to see the lower divisions growing in the US.

 

When promotion and relegation are decided on a yearly basis and gigantic sums of money at stake that can make or break a team it makes a huge difference. Why should City skate buy for multiple seasons while they're being "investigated" while Forest and Everton feel the impact of cheating more recently first? How is that being fair to everyone involved in the EPL (and Championship in Leicester's case) this season? How is that fair next season when the teams relegated from the EPL and the end of this season might have been different? "Sporting merit" my ass. Teams are getting relegated based on when the EPL/FA decides to look into their case, not be any reasonable standard.

 

I don't think The Premier League is favoring Man City because they have more money. Everton is not a small club.

City's alleged offenses are more complicated and happened over a long period when the current checks and balances weren't in place and they're denying them.

Forest and Everton's breaches were recent, upfront and obvious and they admitted them.

 

Long article in the NY Times about the woes of minor league baseball teams and their stadia. It focuses on the struggles of the Eugene team to build a new stadium.

So despite this:

"In 2020, Major League Baseball imposed new guidelines for its minor league stadiums. They include LED lighting, changing rooms for women, new fencing, expanded training facilities and a larger clubhouse. Those fixes are pricey."

I then read this:

"In minor league baseball, the parent club (the Giants) pays for players but typically does not finance ballparks, which are generally owned and operated independently of their parent teams."

Oh, how "convenient".

So of course it then becomes a case of how much money can be extracted from taxpayers:

"As of now, the Emeralds are counting on $35 million from a county lodging tax. County commissioners need to give final clearance for revenue from the hotel tax, which was passed in 2022, to go toward the stadium. The team also needs $15 million from a city bond issue, which voters will decide on May 21.

Thanks in part to an appearance by Sluggo at the statehouse in Salem, the Emeralds have received $15 million from a state appropriation. They also have $1.5 million in federal funds and $23.5 million committed by the Emeralds organization in their coffers.

Ok then... with this kicker:

"The Emeralds’ owner, the Elmore Sports Group, a Bloomington, Ind., conglomerate of several minor league teams, would not own the stadium; Lane County would. Thus, Elmore Sports holds the option to move the team.

What a f***d up system. Except for the cartel of major league owners, that is.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/07/business/minor-league-baseball-real-estate.html

 

I agree with that. However, the fact that no conclusion has been reached on the charges against Man City leaves a bad smell over the Premier League. If I were a fan of Everton or Nottingham Forest, I'd feel pretty bitter about the way this is playing out.

 

You don’t know that yet. You shouldn’t base your argument on things that haven’t happened yet.

 

Blah blah blah ... this poster has been shown two different kinds of direct evidence on more than one occasion. Rather than accept that there are empty seats at plenty of matches across every competition that Manchester United plays in, this poster quintuples down on calling the Manchester Police reports as "fake news" and inserts his own selected highlight videos in hopes of erasing the provided pictures. That, on top of trying to insert strawmen into the argument.

Absolutely pathetic. This poster needs help.

???? What do you think they're doing ???? They're actively doing this as well as getting into SSS if they can't afford to build one.

 

The baseball stadium exit plans continue, though if Brooklyn happens you'll have to add another.

El Paso


New Mexico


I don't know what those two ownership groups will do if they don't get approval/public funding.

Tulsa FC are lobbying but no plans yet.

 

That's an early version of Lou City you've got there for El Paso. I don't know that they've ever even released renderings. Last I heard anything was in 2022 ... but allegedly the plan is still to build.

Latest news from OKC I'm aware of: https://www.energyfc.com/news_article/show/1295720

 

New Mexico's proposals got pushed back last month for lack of neighborhood consultation.

 

Oddly, somebody from the premier league did include Everton when mentioning "small clubs" a few weeks back.

The bigger sticking point at Man City, if you trust what's been heavily implied, is that their owners can afford very expensive lawyers, and the premier league don't want to be wrapped up in a long and very costly war of attrition.

 

Because you can't just 'assume' they're guilty of anything, just because Manchester United & Liverpool fans are screaming 'cheat' doesn't make it so.........not until they are proven to have cheated.

There is a rule of law.................its innocent until proven guilty.

If Forest, Everton (and whoever else) don't want to be punished then I suggest that they don't break the rules in the first place. I include my club Chelsea in all this - every day I see 'fans' of other clubs scream - 'burn them!' but just because that's what fans of 'other' clubs are screaming doesn't necessarily mean that they are guilty of anything. However IF they get investigated and IF they have been shown to have cheated then I expect them too to be punished.

If you want true 'sporting merit' then the FIRST thing you have to do is make sure that people are playing by the rules WHATEVER those rules are that have been put in place.

 

You are right, I (we) don't know if they are guilty of anything (yet) but if they are found guilty of breaking the rules they too will be punished accordingly.

 

Someone should read up on the history of things in regard to MiLB ownership and profitability VS spending from said ownership. Essentially some folks figured out it was quite the racket to own an MiLB club in certain areas and make a mint because the biggest expense was covered by someone else ... which also, btw gave you the very thing that allowed you to exist. Kind of "convenient" set up indeed. But, that's the difference between Independently owned/operated clubs VS wholly integrated clubs. MLB actually has the "right" to set standards for clubs in the minor leagues. And of course, the agreements between the MiLB leagues and MLB also give way for those requirements as well.

MLB pays the salary (which they increased over 30%), housing (even at Spring Tng), and pitches in for travel for all MiLB players. They also REDUCED costs for their affiliates and owned MiLB clubs with the complete restructuring of the system a few yrs ago (each one is 200miles or more closer to the MLB club which reduces travel costs for call-ups for instance). They also have majorly upped exposure with the restructuring (mirroring regional fandom of other sports) by giving significantly more air time on MLB network, MLB.com, holding the draft at the All-Star Game, and pumping money into production on MiLB.TV to show more games.

I mean, when your small city club gets the benefit of having future HOF players do rehab stints and literally make the majority of your revenue for the season in a week period ... or gets your club on SportsCenter and a week long national ballyhoo because a future HOF is making a start for you

But it's all about tossing facility costs onto local town taxpayer ... oh wait no, it isn't. It's the local team's part in all of it. How they choose to do it is on them.

OH, and MLB isn't just ALL about money from taxpayers. MLB is shelling out $ to integrate minor league clubs/leagues too: https://www.milb.com/news/pioneer-league-becoming-mlb-partner-league ... and MLB is spending over 1B$ to operate the MiLB each season (about 750m$ in salary).

Eh, I think the picture is painted pretty clearly at this point.

 

Then process their allegations and make a determination. Again, why should City sit in limbo for multiple seasons while Forest and Everton are raced through the process? Yes, I understand City is putting up more of a fight than the other two but that doesn't excuse the EPL dragging its feet on this. And now Leicester City is trying the same trick as Man City. It will be a ridiculous situation if either City is found guilty but have escaped relegation from their league for an extra season (or more) while the PL penalized Everton and Forest. Some other team suffers while those teams would have gotten away with cheating for an extra season but "sporting merit" right?

 

Sporting merit/who has the best lawyers.

 

It is absolutely impossible to know and obviously if pro/rel actually existed in the US everything would be different but I would say SD Loyal's folding was directly related to our lack of pro/rel.

 

You think if there was pro/rel they would have got that government subsided downtown development the owners were angling for?

 

Why was San Diego Loyal founded in the first place if their survival was “directly” related to pro/rel? That’s like starting a team in England and having your business plan reliant on draft picks.