https://www.stltoday.com/sports/soc...cle_e30ee7e6-0761-53b7-b2de-0adc8b6226ad.html It was revealed today that the 28th club is a race between St. Louis and Sacramento. Of these two who deserves to be and would be the best choice for Major League Soccer's next club?
How I would rate the next cities to join MLS.. The legit contenders: ▪︎ Sacramento ▪︎ Phoenix ▪︎ St. Louis The outsiders: ▪︎ San Diego ▪︎ Indianapolis ▪︎ Detroit The unlikely cities: ▪︎ San Antonio ▪︎ Louisville I could (most likely) be wrong but I'd love to what others think, especially fans in these cities.
I personally believe the Carolinas and Vegas would be about your "Outsiders" but beneath your "contenders". That would assume we go past 28. I believe StL gets the 28th spot but Sac gets 29th (either immediately or within the year). 30 is where PHX/Car/LV would fall in (going off of Garbers recent comments). San Diego would need an investor and I'm understanding Indianapolis to be a Longshot while Detroit is considered dead (for now?).
Cincinnati is almost exactly the same driving distance as St. Louis from Chicago. As the crow flies Cincinnati is slightly closer.
Bridgeview to St. Louis = 286 miles Bridegview to Cincinnati = 298 miles So depending where the St. Louis stadium is built, St. Louis is 2 miles closer.
No way to know. They both are equally good. My money is on which ever one they think could best bolster their media rights in the run up to negotiation on a post 2022 media deal. So I guess, Sac? They are a sure thing. No doubt STL would kill it with some strong owners and front office as well tho.
I think Sac can be ready to go faster, so I would give it to them. 2020: Nash & Miami 2021: Austin & Sac Then they can go ahead & announce plans to go to 30 in 2022 or 2023. With St. Louis as #29. Then Phoenix, Detroit, SD, Indy, SA, Raleigh, Charlotte, Vegas, & Louisville can fight for #30. Then MLS can announce plans for 32.
Yesterday The Indystar reported this. Having a team in Indy just got a bit more likely. The Indiana senate voted 44-4 to keep the Indiana Pacers in town for another 25 years and find ways to pay for a new $550 million soccer stadium for the Indy Eleven. Still a long ways to go but this should help if the governor signs this bill. The link to the article was posted Monday, April 22nd 2019 on the newspapers Facebook page if anyone wants to read it.
Would love to see Indy 11 over Phoenix. https://www.bgn.fm/could-indy-eleven-join-m In this article, the writer stated that some believe Indy in MLS would split fans enough to saturate the area, area being the mid west. What do you think? Here's another article https://www.ibj.com/articles/73440-lawmakers-send-funding-bill-for-pacers-soccer-st
Great to see that the US and Canada will soon have 96 professional soccer teams. That will be even more than the 92 professional soccer teams in the English league system. 28 first-tier clubs: Atlanta United Chicago Fire FC Cincinnati Columbus Crew DC United Impact de Montréal New England Revolution NYCFC Red Bull New York Orlando City Philadelphia Union Toronto FC Colorado Rapids FC Dallas Houston Dynamo LA Galaxy LAFC Minnesota United Portland Timbers Real Salt Lake San Jose Earthquakes Seattle Sounders Sporting Kansas City Vancouver Whitecaps Inter Miami Nashville SC Austin FC St. Louis FC 36 second-tier clubs: Atlanta United 2 Bethlehem Steel Birmingham Legion Charleston Battery Charlotte Independence Hartford Athletic Indy Eleven Loudoun United Louisville City Memphis 901 Red Bull New York II North Carolina FC Ottawa Fury Pittsburgh Riverhounds Swope Park Rangers Tampa Bay Rowdies Austin Bold Colorado Springs Switchbacks El Paso Locomotive Fresno FC LA Galaxy II Las Vegas Lights New Mexico United Oklahoma City Energy Orange County Phoenix Rising Portland Timbers 2 Real Monarchs Reno 1868 Rio Grande Valley Sacramento Republic San Antonio FC Tacoma Defiance Tulsa Roughnecks San Diego 1904 Oakland Roots 25 third-tier clubs: Atlanta SC California United Strikers Los Angeles Force Miami FC Stumptown Athletic AC Connecticut Providence City Chattanooga FC Detroit City Michigan Stars Philadelphia Fury Chattanooga Red Wolves Forward Madison Greenville Triumph Lansing Ignite North Texas Orlando City B Richmond Kickers South Georgia Tormenta Toronto FC II FC Tucson Penn FC Union Omaha New England Revolution II Rochester Rhinos 7 Canadian Premier League clubs: Cavalry FC Edmonton Forge FC HFC Wanderers Pacific Valour York9
To put that comparison in a different perspective.. (yes, i had some time and did the math ) England and Wales has 58,744,400 people, and cover 58,324 sq mi. US and Canada have 364,769,537 people, and cover 7,651,842 sq mi. If we had the same people/team density the US/CAN would have 571 teams (in div 1-4) If we had the same area/team density the US/CAN would have a staggering 12,070 teams. Just some totally useless facts for your Tuesday morning.
me too midwest team with an indoor option for the early spring with plans for an outdoor SSS too and a NFL relationship (which Garber luvs).
The midwest is undersarurated with teams. Just looking at 2 mil+ populations without a team (CSAs), the midwest has the most: Midwest (5): Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Milwaukee. Southwest (4): Phoenix, San Diego, San Antonio, Las Vegas. Southeast (3): Tampa Bay, Charlotte, Raleigh. Unless you split SF/SJ, DC/Balt, or want a team in Puerto Rico, that is the list. Or you could dip under 2 mil (NO, OKC, Memphis, Jacksonville, Buffalo, Louisville, Tulsa, etc).
So looking at this list.....there aren't any MUST HAVE cities left. These are all nice to have, but not necessary. None of those cities really move the needle commercially, media or sponsorship wise. Maybe Vegas does, and even that is a big maybe. Possibly Charlotte does with all of the financial companies centered there?
So, of the cities that currently have teams, which would fall into your category of 'must have?' I've got New York, Boston, DC, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Minneapolis, Dallas, LA and maybe Seattle. The rest of the cities that currently have teams could be interchanged with one's on the list of cities without teams. Did I miss any Must Have cities that currently have teams?
Must haves: New York Los Angeles Chicago Boston (New England) Philadelphia Dallas Washington DC Miami Atlanta Minneapolis - St. Paul Denver Toronto* After that, most cities are nice to have but not need to have. *Since MLS is in Canada, if you're going to be in the great white north, you HAVE to be in Toronto.
You guys are overestimating. The only must haves are: New York - largest city Los Angeles - largest west coast city Miami - gateway to Latin America Chicago - large, world known city Toronto - largest Canadian city Maybe add DC because it's the capital and Boston and Philly because it's an old, well known city around the world. That's it. People overestimate how well known huge cities like Minneapolis and Atlanta are outside of America. Atlanta has a leg up because of the Olympics though. For soccer, where a lot of your roster will consist of foreigners, name recognition means something. You ask some kid from China or Nigeria or Uruguay what they would think of playing for Minnesota United and they would look at you funny. Actually Las Vegas and Orlando are probably two others that would be close. Maybe not must haves but definitely foreigners would know the names and would be more likely to go because of it.