I really want a team. What do you guys think are the chances that St. Louis will get one? Also, I hope it's named Arsenal so that we can sing all the same songs they do at the Emirates, and formerly highbury. Who agrees?
I am an STL and Arsenal fan, but I couldn't tell you what songs they sing from TV. British people sound funny. But if we named them Arsenal, I have a scarf for the first game!
Have you been reading the other threads here? Instead of Arsenal, they need to call them the Gunners (as the official name, not a nickname). That way it's related to Arsenal, but still establishes a separate identity, and it's a nod to the short-lived NFL St. Louis Gunners from the '30s.
Well, obviously that would be the best idea, but every time they get the chance, the MLS is copying European teams for names. I mean Real Salt Lake? What the...? If that happens in St. Louis, too, I just want to see the tribute to St. Louis history as well.
I agree, in the main. I've said it before many times, and I'll say it again. The name (please god give us a team) should be St. Louis Wanderers. Why? It's a reference to Louis and Clark, and the role STL played with Westward Expansion during its formative years. It's also a footballing name (Bolton, Wycombe, Wolverhampton, etc.). It would also gives us great chants - (Stars and Stripes Forever melody) Wan-der-ers, Wan-der-ers,Wan-der-ers... We could adapt some version of the '50s hit The Wanderer (by Dion and the Belmonts) to be our song and, maybe the best... And it's St. Louis Wanderers - clap clap clap St. Louis Wanderers FC! Is by FAR the greatest team... the world has ever seen The name also leaves the color scheme wide open.
It would be nice to have a proper american name, anything but St Louis FC. It's a shame St Louis Strikers has already been taken.
I don't mind the Wanderers; I like the idea concerning Lewis and Clark. I am an Arsenal fan, however, and it would be unbelievably Amazing if they were just named St. Louis Arsenal or something. I believe St. Louis has some kind of historic Arsenal for the Civil War or something, though, don't they? I just hope they don't name us something like the Rivermen or something stupid like that. :|
Yes, it was located on the river at the foot of Arsenal Street, hence the street name. As somebody who used to live on that street, and who still lives just a couple blocks off of it, I'd love St. Louis Arsenal as a team name.
It looks like we are getting a team here, just as soon as the city of Collinsville gets their foot out of their own ass. And what I have heard about C'ville, thats tough thing to do.
I've thought about stealing an Arsenal street sign for some time. I know a girl who lives off of Arsenal.
With all the talk about other expansion cities falling through, and now Salt Lake's stadium deal apparently doing the same, we just need Collinsville to give us the deal for a stadium. Even if we don't get an expansion team in the next couple years, a stadium will eventually land us a team. Someone suggested to me that we stage a peaceful gathering outside the Collinsville city hall (or whatever governmental building they use). Sing some songs, drum up some media attention. I think it's a good idea.
Just speculation, however is there any chance with recent developments of Salt Lake Stadium Deal collapsing, that Checketts and the Saint Louis group joining forces. Evidently the expansion fee, not necessarily the Stadium in Collinsville is holding up operations with MLS in Saint Louis. Meaning that RSL would move to Saint Louis and the ownership group would be split between Checketts and the Cooper/Hughyue group. Just a thought!
I don't think Checketts has any interest in moving RSL to the St. Louis area. This quote was from Bernie Miklasz's column in Saturday's Post-Dispatch: The question was in reference to a potential NBA franchise, but I think that's beside the point. If a team does move here, it probably won't be owned by Checketts.
I'm really surprised by the lack of ongoing dialogue in this forum considering the big news in Salt Lake today. The other expansion city forums have latched onto this pretty strongly.
True, but their seems like enough overlapping elements to make this somewhat newsworthy on this board. Given the hockey side of things and Checketts purchase of the Blues, St. Louis fans have some unique insight into the situation in regards to the Checketts cashflow, commitment, etc... Not slamming anyone here. I was just very surprised. Being from St. Louis and a hockey/soccer fan and one interested in MLS exansion I find this to be a very interesting subject to keep an eye on.
This situation reminds me too much of the NFL expansion fiasco in the early 90s (with apologies to Jerry Clinton who I think tried his best at the time). St. Louis was in the running for an expansion team, and during all of that, James Orthwein purchased the New England Patriots. Because of his St. Louis connections (with the Busch family), everyone thought he would move the team to St. Louis. I think the TV stations even convinced the NFL to allow the Patriots games to be shown locally for a time. In the end, St. Louis lost out on the two expansion teams to Jacksonville and Carolina, partly due to confusion between competing expansion groups. And the Pats were bought by Robert Kraft and stayed put in New England. It wasn’t until we built a stadium that we finally convinced a team, the Rams, to move here when they had stadium issues in LA. Is the RSL situation worth keeping an eye on? Perhaps, but at the moment I think it’s strictly an issue for the folks in Salt Lake City.
The dome, I believe, was built more or less under the assumption that St. Louis would recieve an NFL expansion team. I remember (my memory is cloudy, I was only eleven) a period of time after the expansion fell through when St. Louisans said "We've got this half-built stadium, now what do we do with it?" My point is, because we had a stadium and no team, the first NFL franchise to have problems with its city looked directly to us. A year later, voila. MLS is still somewhat unstable, relative to the NFL. If the stadium gets built, we will get a team, some way or another, in the following 1-4 years. Since MLS is not a winter sport, Checketts may look more favorably on soccer than the NBA. An NBA team has the potential to do major damage to Blues attendence OR to be hurt if the Blues put together some winning seasons. MLS is much less likely to hurt, or be hurt by, the Blues. Personally, though, I'd prefer local owners.
Like the old NFL efforts mentioned above, it seems like the Checketts/RSL story and the Cooper/Huyghue effort are two totally separate situations. Cooper's group is the one that's laid the groundwork for a stadium. Checketts has said not only that he's not interested in moving RSL here, but that if they can't get a Utah stadium, he'll sell the team. So, it's always possible the Cooper group could make a bid to buy the team. So in that sense, the team could wind up here. But not directly because of Checketts moving the team here. Despite some superficial connections, I agree that this doesn't seem like a huge deal for St. Louis's MLS prospects, pro or con.
Agreed, the situation is different in the details. I was mainly looking at it from a coincidental point of view that while in the process of trying to secure an expansion team, another team, with an owner with St. Louis connections, potentially becomes available. I agree that if it were to come to pass, it would likely result from the Cooper/Hughyue partners purchasing the team from Mr. Checketts. But I think there is still much more to play out in SLC first.