City Loves Winners They're up for Sale and in the East Temple Football is on life support opening the Linc A huge market that famously supports any team Do we start a calling campaign to Lurie?
Since KC has had no success in the past with plans for SSS, and hunt wants to sell to someone who has this in their future plans, I don't think they will stay in KC. If the Wizards are going to move to somewhere in the east, you've got to think Philly is on the top of the list.
I'd love to see a team in Philly, primarily because it is a 2 hr drive away from me, perfect for road trips. But if they're going to move anywhere, it would most likely be Rochester. Hunt didn't give a timeframe for when the team has to be sold by, and Rochester will have a stadium by 2006.
I encourage anyone who may know someone in Lurie's org to do the same. Maybe if we provide enough palpable reasons to bring a team here, they'd consider it
can you post the address you sent this to, that others of us may petition them as well? Also, think comcast....
KC to Phila is fine by me. Anything to rid pro soccer of that nickname. Atoms, Spartans, Fury, Talons, Uhrik Truckers... anything but the Wiz. Also some historical justice for KC taking the A's from you guys 'way back when.
Philly is the logical choice. Only top market in the east with a ready facility. Toronto and Rochester are 1-3 years away. The southeast isn't ready. NYC is not going to happen. Wonder if Montreal's baseball stadium could be a temporary facility. It'll be empty. The truly ready markets are Seattle, SA, and Houston. Though Rochester could buy the team and operate it in KC 1 year. That'd be awkward. I hope Philly can one day find an investor that believes in a SSS. It's too good of a sports market to leave out.
philly is an good option, if you want another Revs style organization. The idea is to bring in new ownership committed to building a SSS. i'd love for that to happen in philly, or anywhere really. if it's not going to be in KC, hopefully someone will step up and get the franchise into a SSS soon.
Right, Philly is a great market, but without the SSS, why bother. The only good thing about KC moving would be to get them into an SSS. In fact, considering Mr. Hunt owns two teams with SSS already, perhaps he could be convinced to keep the team if it moved to an area that promises an SSS or already has one, like San Antonio, Toronto, or Houston. Or perhaps they could get bought by the Rhinos owner and moved there. But to put them into another NFL stadium is not ideal, IMO. Otherwise, Philly would be my first choice. Same goes for Seattle. I don't want a team there, either, without an SSS on the table. However, personally I think this will shake something out in KC. A new SSS on the edge of town, with several youth fields around it shouldn't be too hard to sell, IMO. I'm sure people are now convinced that he will move or sell the team otherwise.
DC isn't in a SSS anymore and wasn't for it's first year and that didn't manage to make it any worse. Ideally, a SSS would fall in our lap and start fellating us, but that isn't going to happen. So do you take what you can get now from an unburdened owner AND in doing so complete the Big 4 Chain on the East Coast or do you settle for a small community (and TV market) that will provide no real revenue stream? Houston, Philly and Seattle should be in the running for this team hard core.
The big question is whether HUNT is just using a negotiating ploy or whether he'll sell the team to a KC sponsor.... perhaps if a HEX location goes KC's way, this would be a subtle indicator about KC and mls....same story in philly, with a wcq...perhaps it harkens a move... still the Linc would be the venue for the near future....I don't see SSS getting built in the next 5 years... as the HUNT bailing on KC, perhaps this is just one dominoe in the collapse of MLS...I wouldn't discount MLS failing as a possibility...
Right, and if you go back and listen to the press conference, you'll see that Lamar Hunt pointedly mentioned that the "NFL co-tenant" option is one that MLS is no longer interested in. The only good news -right now- that comes out of this is that the team now known as the Kansas City Wizards should be in an SSS by 2007 or 2008. Hopefully that's in Kansas City.
HDC. Bridgeview. Frisco. Crew Stadium. SUM and some major amounts of cash coming in 2006, as they own the tv rights for WC. Addidas and $150 mill. If anything, what this signals is the strength of the SSS movement and the overall imminent profitability (i.e., w/in 5 years) of MLS.
the sluggish economy is a bother. people getting fed up with tax dollars paying for sporting arenas is a huge problem. the majority of the SSS in MLS are actually going to end up being concert venues that host 20 or so soccer games a year. the idea is to go for stadiums that are tied into youth soccer fields or a complex devoted to growing an underserved/underutilized area of the city (see DC's potential plans for Poplar Point, which no one is really talking about, but seems to be a great plan that is moving along nicely under the radar with all the Nats talk). getting more stadiums in the US like Frisco and Bridgeville in the production pipeline is paramount and i think the current main goal of MLS HQ. and perhaps this sale of the Wizards will get a new SSS built in the next three years. it just blows for the KC fans that it is looking to be more likely that this potential new stadium won't be in their city.
can MLS expand in 2007 if Hunt has trouble finding a buyer with immediate plans for a new soccer stadium somewhere in the US?
I don't think so, Adam. A few years ago you miight be right; but now - too many good things happening: Two SSS, two more under the shovel, and rumors/plans (yea, I know. Still...) of at least four others. Two expansion teams next year. Cities actually WANTING teams. New addidas money, etc. This is disappointing. But I, like many others, have to believe there is more to this than just the announcement. Granted, maybe I tend to be too optimistic about MLS's future, but too much money/time has gone into the first nine years to suddenly back out just when it seems there might be some return.
I think its best if Philadelphia came to MLS as an expansion team because of the expansion fee. MLS would make an extra $10 million.