In a monent of pondering, I wondered how much of an impact Bigsoccer.com has on the soccer community. Let me explain. A few years ago there was the big commotion about FC Trenton Union (or whatever the name was) getting an MLS team. It got picked up by the media, and was reported as a potential expansion city. The current thead about New Orleans has the potnential to do the same thing. I know the writers on MLSnet.com reference things discussed on Bigsoccer.com, and the NY Times alluded to the discussion of the YA in Romania in its article. How else would they have known about the guy? The Fire GM posts here, and The Washington Post soccer writer also. If ideas from this board make it into print, they can influence others. Who knows. Mabye someone from the MLS HQ will come accross the New Orleans thread and look into the possibility further. Any thoughts?
It's a city in Louisiana, their legal system is based on Napoleonic code and...uh, oh! Actually, having live in New Orleans through several evolutions of semi-professional & professional soccer, I think it's best to first see how their PDL team does this year. One of my favorite summer treats was catching games at Pan American Stadium involving the Gamblers back in the old USISL. But MLS? Right now I don't see that happening. The Magpie
Don't forget, Beau Dure, Grant Wahl and Jeff Bradley all post here and read the board, as does "FSW Producer", as does Ridge Mahoney (though I haven't seen him for a while), as do I'm sure many others. No doubt this adds up to "influence", though on what scale would be hard to calculate.
I'm sure we have very little influence over the media, aside from the occasional reference to Sam's Army. Where we do have some visibility is with the marketing department of MLS and various sponsors. They get an inside look at American soccer fandom. One can only hope they don't come to a conclusion that we're a bunch of whiners and their time is better spent helping people where they have a chance of succeeding, like settling the Arab-Israeli conflict. Sachin
there is truely a deep problem rooted in the way people see professional sports here, and I realy don't care about any other sport but soccer. reading that line from Magpie prompted me to say or ask Why can't teams go thru lower divisions first allowing them to grow and prove themselves On and OFF the field first before jumping into the big Time league. If I were the commish i would make it clear no one would be admited into MLS no matter how much money they had, without going thru a few seasons of professional soccer in the lower divisions. Take your time get your stadium in order,build a home town fan base , get your own sponsonrs, and give the fans something to realy cheer about when you with the second division championship and announce you will join first division soccer. In other words EARN your right first,
I don't think you can gage support for MLS based on the performance of a PDL team. If New Orleans can put a proposal together with a solid investor, then MLS should look into it.
of course !!! lets say I am a bilionare ( i wish ) and tell MLS i wish to join. They say fine you may but must start at the very bottom and prove yourself. OK, fine, i hire people ,sign players , and after one or two seasons i win that championship. Things go well , my adds are clear, everyone in the comminity is behind the project, we start looking into a stadium, while we go up a level maybe second division. Meantime things get rolling , staff in place, community awarness, fan support,sponsors lining up, stadium almost ready, That is how things should be done, Now i am ready to step into MLS with everything in place.
I agree that teams should earn their way into the top division. But that is not the reality that is MLS.
no it is not, but this thread is about the impact WE the members have on the soccer powers. It is so so sad to see that most people here accept MLS as it is run and managed. Please say what you wish to be as well, You can make a difference.
I'm sending Tom Benson my résumé tomorrow. I've alerted some of the local media and have them asking questions. I'm going to on the local New Orleans sites and pose questions. [cue evil laugh] https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=46153&perpage=15&pagenumber=1 All this just so I can move home and get a job. King Cakes all around! Hurricanes for everyone! Let's all push this through and make it come true. Show the power of Bigsoccer, be the ball, make it happen. You can stay at my house when you come support the team you created.
Well first off you have to come up with an agreement between MLS and USL, or MLS has to start their own minor league of franchises. So lets say MLS opens up 10 new teams Rochester Houston Philadelphia Seattle New Orleans (of course) OKC Tulsa Hartford (Just to honor another thread of mine) San Diego Portland (I left out Toronto on purpose) So these teams cost $2 Million. They share in the sponsorships from the league, get a slot on FSW and they have a $1 Million salary cap. The top two teams get promoted...well is it based on standings or profitibility? Maybe one of each or just the teams with the best records and most money. You know, this could work...see above post for the "evil laugh bit". MLS creates their own 2nd division, screws USL and we are all over the moon over the possibilities. Okay two teams get promoted, we add two new teams for $3 million. Who's next... Atlanta Milwaukee St Louis Salt Lake City Phoenix Austin San Antonio Sacremento Cleveland Pittsburgh. You might get some A-League teams that want a piece of the pie. This just might work. What do you think?
One problem is mutually exclusive facilities. Any facility that is acceptably sized for one level is by definition badly sized for the other levels. And you have basically the same scenario with budgets. And a $2 million fee is pretty rich for lower division US soccer.
This isn't going to be A-League, this is going to be MLS2, if you want to play with the big boys, you better have the diñero. Unlike the A-league, these teams will actually see some sponsorship benefits, and it MLS may find some sponsors who are interested in these new markets as well. Makes the league much more attractive, but without as great a risk. The idea is to give these teams the opportunity to prove themselves and be ready to go. As far as facilities, we might be able to give them a break on the size, 10K seats minimum to start, but to get to MLS they have to have 18K seats or something like that. Looking at Dallas and Chicago's current situations we could make the stadium situations work. Plus it would give them time to prove that they need a bigger place and hopefully lure some financial support from the local municipalities.
There have been rumours that this may be the last A-League season, at least as far as it is currently constituted.
I hadn't heard such rumors. Tell me more... I heard it might be the last PSL (D3) season by a few people.
Is this a thread on BS's impact on the soccer world, or trying to get relagation in MLS. Because theres a thread just for that issue here: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=46673 Not to mention many other places. I've heard specific references to BS in the media and I've also heard references that only users who pay attention would catch. I dont think it influences a lot of the media, but one has to think that Jack Edwards saw what people said about him. One also has to believe that many of the players know about BS and may hear a thing or two that is said on here. (Note: Me and a few of the Mystics were talking with Meola at the Superdraft and mentioned BigSoccer. He had absolutely no clue what it was or that it existed.)
Let's not forget: Beau Dure and: Jamie Watson and (allegedly, once or twice) Joe Cannon! we, however, should all forget: Dan Loney
Look at the EPL, when a team gets promoted sometimes there facilities aren't up to snuff. They are given a time limit in which to make improvements, or they have to find a facilility to use that meets their requirements. Case in point if Fulham who in their first season played at Craven Cottage but it needed to be refurbished. Fulham played at a different stadium this past season ( I think Loftus Road) and were in talks with Chelsea to use their stadium since they are still homeless and without a plan. There are ways to deal with inferior/inadequate facilities.
Yes this thread is about influence of BigSoccer and not BS(some may think) . I am a premium member here paid $10 i think. I would pay a lot more if we could bring everyone on board here and actualy become a powerful force . We could help with sponsorship and get some advertising inside stadiums. It would help BigSoccer.com and also the teams . I am not sure how many members are here on this boards and how many would be willing to actualy help out in this fashion. But I think BigSoccer could become much more then it is right now. One thing to remember Your Voice Counts. !!!
Gaining / maintaining "influence" rests on keeping the board full of interesting comments and threads, effectively moderated, rather than chirping rivalry. Coming here is a natural for a writer eager to discuss issues, find ideas, get feedback, and most importantly, procrastinate while feeling like he's (she's) at least doing something that helps them with work. Treat these people with some degree of respect, and they're happy to stick around - they're just as starved for quality information as the rest of us.
I'm just curious if the people who are so into relegation also drink soft drinks warm... Relegating MLS teams would do nothing to help MLS right now. Some things that would help MLS are more owner operators, more sponsors, and a better youth development system.
It would be awful right now, but in time...long time it could be very interesting. I like my soft drinks at least chilled though. More owners, more sponsors, a real youth system, and more stadiums. We need it all and we'll get it, over time.
I am fully confident that BS got O. Zombrano fired from the MetroStars head coach job last fall. We have power.