Looks like the TIF vote was passed last night. Not sure if this was much to talk about, but there was one quote that seemed to suggest it might help Cooper with potentical backers. "City manager Bob Knabel answered Councilman Ciampoli by saying, 'Jeff Cooper (Collinsville soccer owner) needs the TIF in place in order to show potential backers the city is serious about supporting the stadium. Timing is critical.'" http://respublica.typepad.com/respublica/2008/01/collinsville-ti.html
i can see how this would help cooper show the city is definitely in, but i think the owners were no longer worried about the city, more about garber awarding the team
Ironically, you can just replace Rochester with St. Louis, and it is the same cry you have heard from many fans for the last several years. Loyal fan base, new stadium, a shoe in...right? Well, even th emajor Roch paper just wrote that not giving Roch a team looks like a shrewd move by MLS/Garber. The team is going under because the owner doesn't have the cash to support it. A "white elephant" is what the stadium could be. No team and a lot of necks and money stuck in it. Same thing happened in MLS with the Miami Fusion. Stadium, but an owner who couldn't take it. While the financial situation in MLS has greatly improved there are still some serious drains. DC and NY are an auot 8-10 million dollar negative each year as long as there is no stadium. Thank goodness it looks like NY is finally building ours for real...but DC? The collective bargaining agreement is also coming up in 2010. Could get real nasty. The cap and other expenses are going to increase with it. The league wants to make sure the owners have the bucks to handle any short term hiccups, or economic downturns. The elague will still probably be losing money collectively for the next several years. The gulf will be shrinking, but their is still more cash that will be needed to spend on infrastructure (youth teams, practice fac.) and player wages. In 2014 the new TV contracts will be made and that will determine a lot. Don't count on huge increase, but there will be increases there. The last thing MLS needs is a city to bank on MLS, build a stadium, and then face the horor of it sitting there empty as owners who can't hack it pull out. The PR debacle would be huge and it would hamper future endeavours big time. MLS can not afford that.....more than anything. Coop needs another guy with a few hundred mill in his pockets willing to commit. MLS does not need a Rochester. Best of luck to you guys. Hope you get the extra cash.
It would be really nice if you stopped comparing us to Rochester...sure there might be a lot of comparison, but some are rediculous and anyone can make any comparison between all of these teams... the fact is, is that we are dying for a team, know we deserve one... and are just growing impatient... p.s. - I only read the first line of your book you just wrote. Im sure the rest was good =)
Come on, guys - it's a valid comparison. Just look at the success of Rochester's MLB, NFL, and NHL franchises. It's just like St. Louis.
First off I've never come here and compared the 2 before. 2nd, by not reading you show your limitations in general. Second. St. Louis doesn't have a sterling rep with teams overall. That isn't the issue, and anyone witha bit of common sense knows that. I described it pretty clearly. The "I deserve it" reply is simplistic, irrational and emotional. No one deserves anything in this world. That's little kid, immature talk. William Munny - "Deserves got nothing to do with it." I hope you guys get your investors. Undercapitalized ownership in a start up is as big of an error that an entity can make. Business 101.
ill explain...... - because the cardinals only have the second most world series championships - the blues before the strike made the playoffs 25 straight years - soccer tradition deeper than any other and still kickin... quite obvious if u play any soccer - how long did it take the rams to win a superbowl after they moved? ya i have to go to class so thats it in the short amount of time...
SLSU press release Around 11:30 AM this morning, Saint Louis Soccer United issued a press release: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080130/20080130005819.html?.v=1 It has appeared in edited and reduced forms at several other media outlets. Curious timing.
I would hope so. Also I want to applaud Collinsville for being ballsy enough to pass this when the circumstances are less than solid.
Amen to that, brother. Given today's rumored development that the PA legislature will announce on Thursday that the 45MM for Philly will be approved, it shows Collinsville is willing to step up and re-confirm their support for the St. Louis project. Still, if we're to believe the latest MLS/Garber speak, we HAVE to bring on Daddy Warbucks (and SOON) to partner with Jeff. Otherwise, Miami or Montreal or NY2 and potentially Atlanta or Vancouver will jump ahead of us. I'm pushing 60 and don't have 10 more years to wait for our team ...
OK, let's take a look at some St. Louis teams: St. Louis Cardinals; Onfield performance--more pennants and world series titles than any other NL team Off-field performance--Only once in the new millenium have they failed to reach 3 million fans (2003, they had 2.9 million); 2007, with a losing team, they had over 3.5 million, which placed them fourth overall in attendance. For the record, this put them above the LA Angels, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Colorado Rockies, Washington Nationals, and Kansas City Royals. Most of these cities are larger than St. Louis. Several of them made the playoffs last year (including both world series teams). But the other thing they all have in common is that they have, or soon will have, an MLS team. So to say that we don't have a sterling rep with teams doesn't seem to hold much water, considering that compared to other MLS markets, we have sports franchises both on and off the field. St. Louis Blues; On-ice performance--set an American professional sports franchise record by making the playoffs for 25 straight seasons. Off-ice performance-- 2001 we finished 4th in attendance; only MLS(or, in this case, future MLS) city ahead of us was Philly. 2002 we finished 5th. Toronto and Philly finished ahead of us. 2003 we finished 5th. Same two teams finished ahead of us. 2004 we finished 6th, same two teams ahead of us. After the lockout, and the team being put up for sale, we had a downturn, as any franchise would. But with new ownership in place, even though the team right now would not be a playoff team, we would finish in the top half of attendance. And in doing so, we've shown about a 5,000 jump in attendance from last year. We are currently ahead of MLS cities Colorado, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Chicago, Boston, Columbus and Washington. St. Louis Rams; On-field performance--after not winning an NFL title since 1951 (when there were only 12 teams in the league), the Rams win the super bowl in their 5th season in St Louis. They go on to make 5 playoff appearances in the next 6 seasons, including another trip to the super bowl. Off-Field performance--The franchise has reached over 100% attendance in every season but one since moving to St. Louis. That is also good enough to put them in the top half of attendance percentages every season but one. So, that pretty much covers professional sports, where St. Louis' franchise have enjoyed success both on the field and at the gate. As far as soccer is concerned, St. Louis University has finished 1st, 5th, 1st, 6th, 7th, and 5th respectively in attendance figures from 2001-2006 (2007 figures are not on the NCAA website). This success is what lead the NCAA to add St. Louis University as a final four host site, when all of the other locations used were not school-owned sights. Of course, none of this guarantees that we'll be a strong MLS city. I'm not making that argument here. But it does prove that your assertation about us not having a sterling rep with teams is completely unfounded. As for your comparison between us and Rochester, it's pretty much pointless to compare a city of just over 1 million people in the metro area to a city almost 3 times that size.
Just to clear things up. That is not the announcement. The State is issuing its intent to give money. The amount and timing has not been set yet.
Nobody here has ever said St. Louis should get a team solely because we "deserve" it. By not reading you show your limitations in general.
Wow, a "2nd" and a "Second". I'm dazzled by your rhetorical brilliance. Please, educate us more on "Business 101" and St. Louis's sports history.
I would love to see the St. Louis metro area get a team, but for the life of me, why does it have to be so far away? I know personally, I'm not going to be able to show much support if I have to drive all the way out there. What happens if you have a few drinks?
Where do you live? Collinsville is less than 10min from downtown and only 30-40 min. from West County. And at that it isn't any farther than Toyota Park is from downtown Chicago or Pizza Hut Park from Dallas. The stadium site has been chosen you might as well accept it and move on if you are going to support the team.