Fellow Ottawa soccer fans, we are entering the final phase of this round of MLS expansion and the outcome is still very much in doubt. We need to make sure that Ottawa City Council are in no doubt that about the level of support for soccer in Ottawa. Nothing gets politican's attention like the possibility of thousands of disgruntled voters. The following is a quote from a Montreal Impact player after yesterday's game, played in front of over 55,000 people in Montreal. If you want MLS Soccer in Ottawa, make sure your councillors get the message that there is support for soccer in Ottawa as well. "The support we had in the stands was unbelievable … everybody wants to make it seem like this is a hockey nation. This is not a hockey nation, this is a soccer nation," said midfielder Sandro Grande, who played a key role in the win. Here are the e-mail addresses of council members. Use them to let council know how you feel. Make your voice heard: Georges.Bedard@ottawa.ca; Michel.Bellemare@ottawa.ca; Rainer.Bloess@ottawa.ca; Glenn.Brooks@ottawa.ca; Rick.Chiarelli@ottawa.ca; Alex.Cullen@ottawa.ca; Diane.Deans@ottawa.ca; Steve.Desroches@ottawa.ca; Clive.Doucet@ottawa.ca; Eli.El-Chantiry@ottawa.ca; Peggy.Feltmate@ottawa.ca; Jan.Harder@ottawa.ca; Diane.Holmes@ottawa.ca; Peter.Hume@ottawa.ca; Gord.Hunter@ottawa.ca; Rob.Jellett@ottawa.ca; Kitchissippi@ottawa.ca; Jacques.Legendre@ottawa.ca; Maria.Mcrae@ottawa.ca; Bob.Monette@ottawa.ca; Shad.Qadri@ottawa.ca; Doug.Thompson@ottawa.ca; Marianne.Wilkinson@ottawa.ca; Larry.OBrien@ottawa.ca Also write to the Ottawa Citizen, the Ottawa Sun, Dalton McGuinty, Larry O'Brien's Blog, the Ottawa MLS Facebook group and anywhere else you can think of. We can still win this, but we need to show real support.
it won't hurt to send it... But you should know that councilors get hundreds of these, each arguing the merits of CFL football, MLS Soccer, non of the above, Lacrosse etc.etc. So I think most of them will be glanced at and forgotten. But like I said, it won't hurt to send it.
Agreed, but I have had a few questions back from Jan Harder, Bob Monette and Gord Hunter recently, as well as from Randall Denley and Richard Starnes of the Citizen, so they do read and question what is raised to them. I certainly wouldn't go as far as to say it would sway their opinion, but ... The thing I most want to avoid is soccer fans assuming there is no point in voicing their opinions to councillors, and this being perceived as a lack of interest by any of them.
Good luck with the campaign, I hope its successful. I'm considering trying something similar with the Orlando USL bid.
Appreciate the support, buddy. I don't think there is any one approach that works in things like this, it's a combination of things, but if you have a good bid from a solid ownership group, it's up to the public to back it up and show their support. Good luck with the USL bid!
It's official - Miami is out of this round!! http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20090303&content_id=221343&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp If only we can get the council on side, we might just win this thing.
The odds are certainly better, although Ives is saying Vancouver is the front-runner now. Having both slots awarded to Canadian teams, while probably a great idea, is unlikely to happen.
I agree that two Canadian teams are probably unlikely, assuming that there are more than two teams left in the race at the end, but I would still put the Ottawa bid in front of Vancouver, only because of the SSS.
So it looks as if Portland and Vancouver will be in for 2011... http://24thminute.blogspot.com/2009/03/vancouver-and-portland-win-expansion.html
I am thinking more and more that this will either be an All-Canadian expansion or an All American one. The biggest issue the Canadian teams have is convincing MLS that they add economic value (read sponsorship/marketing value) to the league. If you bring the total Canadian contingent to 3 you have a better chance to draw large, national, Canadian sponsorship deals that offset the fact that two more Canadian teams do little to the value of the US deals. So, if Vancouver really is the clear front runner....then I think that is good for Ottawa.
One consistent thing in this whole process is that every single rumour from a "high placed" source has been wrong. Maybe this is the one that breaks the streak, but it ain't over yet.
The biggest thing hurting Ottawa right now is the lack of government support for the stadium (as of now). Obviously, MLS doesn't like to take chances. If they did, St. Louis would have had a franchise years ago.
If MLS really like the Ottawa bid as much as they are saying, but they can't wait for the council decision, maybe they will award Ottawa a conditional franchise for 2012. At least that would put the Melnyk bid on an equal footing with the CFL in discussions with council.
Why would MLS want to grant a conditional franchise? If St. Louis, Vancouver or Portland get a franchise, MLS cashes $40 million cheques. Now if Melnyk is willing to give MLS a $40 million non-refundable deposit for an Ottawa team, I'm sure they'd be happy to oblige. Ottawa does not have a SSS, a finalized location for a SSS, blueprints for a SSS or funding for an SSS. Melnyk has a nice artist's rendering for a SSS. Ottawa can't even use Lansdowne unless the lower stands are rebuilt. St. Louis does not have a SSS either, but everything else is lined up. That's a huge difference. Vancouver does not have a SSS. But Kerfoot owns some land, and will finance the stadium by himself. You've got to say that Vancouver is farther along the SSS path than Ottawa. And at least Vancouver has a temporary/permanent home at BC Place.
Sorry, my point was that Portland and Vancouver (or whoever) would get franchises awarded for 2011, but if MLS wanted to support Ottawa in their battle with the CFL, they could chose to even their footing with the CFL by awarding a conditional franchise for a future round. I wasn't suggesting that they would award a conditional franchise for 2011.
Le'ts not give up on this one. After all, there were supposed to be 9 bids for MLS to consider, three of them (Montreal, New York, Miami) were considered locks. Only seven bids materialized (no Phoenix, no New York). Then Montreal was pulled (another less lock), Atlanta bailed out, now Miami (who was a definite lock) also withdrew.... There are four bids currently and nothing is definite until MLS says so. I still think there is a chance we see Ottawa (and perhaps St.Louis) win this out. Neither Portland or Vancouver have SSS garantees at the moment. MLS could also pull a trick up it's sleeve... And announce Vancouver and Portland as expansion in 2011, and St.Louis and Ottawa as *conditional* expansions in 2012/2013 *IF* their stadium situation is resolved. We can still win this.
Except that St. Louis's stadium is already approved (with funding) pending the granting of a team. So making StL wait a year will do nothing for their bid. If it is true what we hear that Garber&Co. are not fully enthralled with the ownership group....then it is what it is and they should tell them that and move on....granting them a conditional franchise does nothing, really. That said, I am still of the belief that it will, either, be an all-Canadian or all-American expansion. Sadly, I think it will be all-Canadian.
My biggest concern is still Ottawa council not voting on the issue until April 22. I just can't see MLS waiting until then for their 2011 decision, unless Melnyk has some magic up his sleeve.
The only reason they would not wait is if there were two bids/offers which MLS deemed "perfect enough".....that does not seem to be the case as someone (MLS) has managed to find fault in all of the bids and is, therefore, reluctant to commit to any of them.