I heard the thunder were going to move out of the jimmy next year. I'm guessing it would hafto be somewhere like macalester. They should just move back to Blaine IMO and get rid of that track. Twin Cities United it is... we need to get a grassroots movement going with potential supporters and the dark clouds. We can do this!
If we get an MLS franchise I'm all for honoring the history of the Thunder and the Kicks and the Strikers at the stadium, like how Chicago has the Illinois soccer hall of fame at Toyota Park, but I want to see them start over with a new identity and create there own history. Besides who from the Thunder would you really want on an MLS side? Realistically the only thing they would carry over is the name. So we might as well start over fresh. I also should mention I don't like the name Thunder and would possible feel different if they had a name I liked.
Hello. I tend to lean toward the traditional in this case, so my vote goes to moving the Thunder up to the MLS. First off, (and this would make for great press) moving the Thunder up to the bigs would be the closest any club in this country would come to full promotion as in a promotion/relegation system. For it's first four years of existence, the Thunder were an unaffiliated amateur club. In 1994, it joined what was then the bottom rung of the USISL as an amateur team. In 1995, it became a professional team in the USISL Professional League (3rd div. level). It played in the USISL Select League (again, 3rd div.) in 1996. In 1997, it advanced up to the USISL A-League (now USL Div.1) in US soccer's 2nd division, where it has played ever since. Each year it moved up, it posessed an on-pitch record that would have qualified it for promotion, if we'd have had that system here. The, for the moment, current team president and co-owner, Jim Froslid, was a player for the Thunder in it's first year, 1990. As bright pointed out earlier, Buzz Lagos founded and coached the team until 2005 and his son, Manny, is now Director of Soccer Operations. It's current head coach, Amos Magee, is the all-time Thunder top scorer, having been with the club since 1991. It's physical therapist , Liz Schorn (sp?), has been with the club since the beginning. It's Strength and Conditioning Coach, Aaron Leventhal, was a midfielder with the club in the mid-to-late 90's. This is a club that is steeped in tradition. It has maintained a continuity that is exceedingly rare in modern professional sports. It has worked its way up from the bottom while retaining very strong ties in local soccer culture. This is an organization that deserves, as two USISL Organization of the Year Awards indicate, to reach the top. It has major amounts of organizational infrastructure in place, with strong political and business relationships formed, a complete player developmental structure formed, backboned with the largest soccer camp business in the US. To toss all that away for nostalgia (and understand, I have a great deal of affection for both the Kicks and Strikers) or a misguided notion that a new organization could easily form the kind of relationships and contacts with the local soccer community that the Thunder currently enjoy would be short-sighted. As for the name, I think that the current one is just fine. But, hey, I'm not dogmatic. I may have a compromise, here. Call it Minnesota (it is a tradition in this state to name major league teams after the state and not a city or cities; besides the Thunder have played games all over the state for most of the years of its existence) United, with it's official nicname Thunder. Like Arsenal's nicname is the Gunners or St. Patrick's Athletic's is the SuperSaints or Club Deportivo Guadalajara A.C. is Chivas. So, I say bring this sports fairy-tale, this modern day Horatio Alger soccer story, to the proper conclusion that this club, its fans, and the professional sporting world deserves. Ringing down the curtain to ?, I remain That little old jersey collector Me
You know I herd an interview with the Seattle Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer after his team just won the USL championship last night but there was still no mention of him wanting to move up to the MLS. You would think a team that has been in 3 out of the last 4 USL championship matches would be considered but still no deal on the horizon. I just don't think the MLS wants to deal with any of USL clubs. I'm not exactly sure why but I think they want their own kind so they can dictate to them a lot easier.
Well, we've had a couple down years, but you wouldn't know it by looking at our record against your club this season. That little old jersey collector Me
Excuse me! No I'm under a rock and am well aware of these boards! I'm just going by what the MLS says and wants in their expansion teams and from what Adrian Hanauer said and/or implied last night when he was asked an indrect question. There is no mention other than these boards from anyone in Don Garbers office about a Seattle Sounders expansion team!
Months ago, at the AllStar game, Garber mentioned Seattle in addition to Philadelphia as leading candidates for a team. I can't remember the other city but there was a third. Don't you think it would be inappropriate for Hanauer to get into detail about MLS while his team is celebrating their USL championship? Believe me, there's a lot of negotiation going on right now and Garber's office is working hard on a deal to get a team in Seattle.
I hope you are right but I still get this feeling of animosity between the USL & MLS. I just think they are looking for their own owners as opposed to the USL ones for any MLS expansion teams IE Lynx/FC Toronto etc.
OK, now I understand what you're saying. Let me explain. There's absolutely no chance that the Seattle Sounders will move up to MLS. It simply doesn't work that way because the leagues are different entities and have no business agreements. What will probably happen is that MLS will pick a group of investors and award them a team for Seattle. If Hanaurer is a member of that group or sells the name, then the team might be able to be called the Sounders. Otherwise it's hello Emerald City FC or Seattle Something Else. USL contracts are often short term so the new MLS team will be able to sign most of the USL team's players that they want. As for the USL Seattle Sounders--they will either move to another city or cease to exist. But I hope they keep the name.
I can’t imagine another team name and/or logo in Seattle other than the Sounders. I hope whomever the MLS group would be would buy that name & logo.
It would be great if the Thunder made it to the MLS. I would be a season ticket holder if it happened.
Personally, I like the thought of Minneosta in MLS.... why not Minnesota United or for the Twin Cities just call them Cities United FC
I have said this before and will say it again. The name should be (if not the thunder) North Star FC or North Star United.
If we ever had a MLS side I'd hope it would be called Minnesota FC or Twin Cities United. I'm not partial to the Thunder. I've been to games, but I wouldn't consider myself a supporter. I think Minneapolis should be near the back of the line for a MLS side, even though I would be overjoyed and a supporter from day 1. There's a LOT of fickle, fair weather fans. Our sports talk radio station, KFan, does one thing, bash, bash, bash. There's too much competition for the consumers dollar as well, we have all four sports AND the U of M in Minneapolis. Any MLS side would not be on the radar. Also, we're building a new stadium for the cheapest owner in baseball. We're building a new outdoor stadium for the Gopher football team AND we just built the Wild an arena in St. Paul 6 years ago. The Vikings can't even sniff a new stadium, MLS wouldn't get a SSS for sure. The Dome is horrible, especially for soccer, no chance there. I wouldn't mind the new Gopher stadium as it's about 45K, but it's still not even close to ideal. Although it hurts me to say, Seattle, Philly, St. Louis, Portland, Vancouver, Montrael, NYC and Florida should all be higher on the list for new franchises.
Minnesota can be fair weather in general but not nearly as much as the southeast part of the country (excluding college sports). For MLS teams though I think how they market themselves more than anything over rides any of that. The Twin Cities are more than big enough and diverse enough for success. Whats the population now a days? 3 million plus. The Thunder have the same disease as the Sounders their too small for a market that big. If they didn't try to prostitute themselves completely off to the general sports family and leaned slightly more towards soccer fans (english speaking or not) in general I think they'd find themselves a hell of a market. Stadium? ya, they would be buggered for public money. No way around that one.
IIRC...USL owns the names and merchandise rights to their clubs....it's easier and less expensive to just name a new team something else. Also there has been some acrimonious dealings between USL and MLS in the past. I could be wrong though but I'd be very surprised if USL didn't have at least partial control over the name and merchandise
My own personal issue with the Thunder are the price of tickets and the lack of a consistent location of games... Is it at Griffin? Is it at NSC? Is it in Eden Prairie? Plus, don't get me to relive the $40.00 cheap seats at the DOME to see Beckham against TBA. Unless it is Man U with a full squad, I am not paying more than $20 to see a game inside...damn. ... they have to announce it at some point who they are playing... ... the "wild" is the worst name ever, and because of that the new soccer team should be called "Not Iowa FC" That would strike fear in the hearts of men.
The Wild is the worst name ever, I can't believe Norm stole the North Stars team and name. and Not Iowa FC would be a bad idea, as half the population of Iowa lives in Minneapolis Then again, the other half lives in Chicago so we could start an even more fierce rivarly with the Fire.
reduced tickets for the Galaxy game at the dome...pushed back the dates as well. $15 bucks aint bad...except they are playing the Thunder... hello 5-0.
What a joke the "Copa Minnesota" has turned into. It puts Twin Cities soccer fans in a bad spot... The real draw for me was the opportunity to see a game between an MLS team and a well know international opponent (something we never get to see here in this top level soccer starved city). Seeing Beckham play was just an added bonus. Now I feel torn... A meaningless Galaxy reserves+Beckham for 15 minutes vs. the Thunder's indoor practice squad on the Metrodome turf doesn't really get me all that excited...BUT it will be a big media event (locally) and I'd hate to see it played in front of an empty stadium. What a missed opportunity.