The south needs a team

I understand your point for a national footprint MLS should be in the south.. But when as any market in the South ever really shown to loyally support professional sports teams. Atlanta is notoroius for not selling out Brave playoff games.

 

dear God...this statement again. that was like 20 years ago!!! let's hear "they don't support their hockey team either although the sport of hockey in the south is nonexistent" too.

People need to realize that MLB, NHL, NBA, and NFL support is not a good indicator for MLS success. Neither does D2 support... Look at Toronto if you disagree. But the support for a couple of the D2 teams in the south is pretty fair given the league they are in.

Put an owner that is dedicated to his franchise and you will see a successful southern club.

 

Stopped reading right there.

 

Well from my point of view many folks from south already rock the Houston Dynamo. Even heard reports of folks wearing gear in Atlanta, Baton Rouge and in Florida.
Even thou I'd like to see a team in Atlanta and San Antonio just so fans from Houston wouldn't have to drive up so damn far for away matches. Dallas doesn't count because it's like a second home for the Dynamo and KC is 12 hours away.

 

Atlanta Hawks 23rd in NBA
Atlanta Falcons 19th in NFL
Atlanta Braves 16th in MLB

Not great.
The South seems to support their College teams with amazing loyalty but not so much for Pro teams.

 

The Dynamo Academy has started up quite a few junior academies in the South, specifically Louisiana an Florida. They serve a feeder into the main academy. I'm hoping we can eventually get a few good players out of that region.

 

The Ocean needs an MLS team.

 

Just curious as to why that is?

 

Now are we talking Pro Soccer team or MLS Team.
NASL has the Carolina Railhawks, the Atlanta Silverbacks, the Tampa Bay Rowdies, and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers (aka Miami Metro area).

 

Find an owner, dipshit

 

How much does that really even matter towards MLS?

i'll play though:

Best-selling teams (all licensed merchandise)
1. New York Yankees
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Los Angeles Dodgers
4. Philadelphia Phillies
5. Chicago Cubs
6. St. Louis Cardinals
7. Chicago White Sox
8. Atlanta Braves
9. Minnesota Twins
10. Detroit Tigers
http://www.beckett.com/news/2011/03/youll-never-guess-who-tops-mlb-jersey-sales/

HARRIS POLL: FAVORITE MLB TEAMS​

TEAM

'99​

'07​

'08​

'09​

'10​

'11​

Yankees

2​

1​

1​

1​

1​

1​

Red Sox

8​

3​

3​

2​

2​

2​

Braves

1​

2​

2​

3​

3​

3​

Cubs

3​

5​

4​

4t​

5​

4​

Mets

12​

7​

10​

11​

6​

5t​

Dodgers

7​

11​

5​

4t​

8​

5t​

Phillies

16​

18​

6​

7​

4​

7​

Rangers

15​

16t​

20t​

15t​

12t​

8​

Cardinals

4​

4​

9​

6​

10​

9​

Tigers

10​

6​

7t​

8​

12t​

10​

Mariners

6​

8​

17​

10​

12t​

11​

Twins

11​

20​

11​

13​

9​

12​

Orioles

9​

13t​

22​

17t​

20t​

13​

Giants

26​

13t​

13t​

9​

7​

14​

Reds

13​

9​

18​

15t​

16​

15​

White Sox

20​

21​

13t​

12​

15​

16​

Indians

5​

13t​

7t​

25t​

17​

17t​

Royals

24​

28​

20t​

29​

19​

17t​

Brewers

21​

10​

13t​

14​

11​

19​

Rockies

14​

27​

13t​

23t​

20t​

20t​

Angels

23​

23t​

29​

27t​

25t​

20t​

Astros

22​

12​

12​

19​

28​

22​

D'Backs

n/a​

22​

19​

23t​

18​

23t​

A's

19​

19​

23t​

20t​

23t​

23t​

Pirates

18​

16t​

23t​

22​

25t​

23t​

Rays

n/a​

25​

28​

17t​

22​

26​

Nationals

n/a​

29​

26​

27t​

27​

27t​

Marlins

25​

23t​

25​

25t​

29​

27t​

Padres

17​

26​

27​

20t​

23t​

29t​

Blue Jays*

28​

30​

30​

30​

30​

29t​

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2011/07/12/Research-and-Ratings/Harris-Poll.aspx

 

The best way to get a MLS team in the south is to support your lower division clubs and hope a billionaire buys the club and moves them to MLS.

Carolina Railhawks

Atlanta Silverbacks

Fort Lauderdale Strikers

Tampa Bay Rowdies

 

Given that this is the MLS: Expansion Thread, I assume we are talking about future MLS teams.

 

I think Orlando and Miami will get a team before ATL. And yes, I think hockey is a good barometer as both considered niche sports in north America. So the Thrashers fail and move to Canada, I don't see any MLS ATL team succeeding.

 

I'm a little more optimistic about MLS in Atlanta than you, but I agree with your overall premise: Atlanta is certainly further down than Florida (and the hockey comparison)...

 

Well, considering that the highest level college soccer in the Deep South is played in the SOCON, Big South and A-Sun, I don't think this would apply to soccer. There are no SEC teams and only a hand full of ACC and Big East teams to take away attention from a potential pro team, and none of these college programs have the tradition and heritage of Bama football or Arkansas baseball.

Also, another random factoid that probably has nothing to do with pro-soccer success in the South more broadly (not just Deep South):
4 of the top 11 most attended women's NCAA programs are in the South (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida)
6 of the top 20 (Wake, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Charlotte and Clemson) and 18 of the top 50 most attended men's NCAA programs are in the South. The Top-50 includes the sports powerhouses of Furman, Radford and High Point among others.

 

Atlanta has one of the biggest sprawls of any city metro. That for me is a big reason why NHL and NBA are constantly in the bottom 5 for attendance in Atlanta; and part of the reason the NHL team left. Teams that can draw 90% of capacity plus when they are losing is the sign of a large and suitable market. Atlanta is also 24th in attendance in MLB by percentage of capacity.

Its a big TV market, but its population is spread out in a way that makes attendance tricky in lean periods. MLS is about TV and that may be enough to see Atlanta get a franchise in the future.

 

I'm from North Carolina, and I would love to see a team in Charlotte or Raleigh. I guess the railhawks struggle with attendance, but it seems like the hurricanes do pretty well for a sport that isnt otherwise popular in the area, especially because there are no other major pro teams in the triangle.. NC isn't a major market, and im far from an expert in these types of things, but i think raleigh would support an ml team well.

 

To say the Thrashers "failed" does not shed any light on the situation at all.

The NHL and MLS are extremely dissimilar to each other. The MLS has far fewer match days and plays in a different season. A hypothetical MLS team in Atlanta would not compete with the Hawks, Falcons, or numerous college teams in and around Atlanta. The MLS would but heads with those teams late in the season, but you build momentum toward a playoff push in July, not September.

Additionally, the Thrashers were one of the worst run franchises in NHL history (and I say that as a life-long Penguins fan). The ownership alienated fans and mishandled what little key talent they were handed (you draft in the top 5 enough, you'll stumble on the occasional gem). When the Spirit Group weren't suing each other into oblivion, the little attention they had was turned toward the Hawks. It was a fuster of clucks of the highest order.

 

I really hate thread titles like this.

Unless you put an MLS team within 100 miles (reasonable range of a round trip on game day), it won't be my team. That pretty much rules out every metro area in the "South" over a million population except 2.

An Atlanta based MLS team wouldn't be my team even if you called them Southeast SC (shudder).

I think MLS is past the point that looking at a map should be driving expansion.

 

I doubt that point ever existed.

 

Except for, you know, some discretionary income, mindshare and corporate sponsorship.