• Participation within this 'World Football' is only available to members who have had 5+ posts approved elsewhere.
  • Turn On Christmas Radio

    Bah humbug - to turn off the snow, visit your preferences and select a style that isn't Christmas.

MLS Thread.

Status
Not open for further replies.
I still can't fathom why the MLS hasn't planned an expansion into the mid-South. The Little Rock-Memphis-Nashville-Knoxville belt is a hot-bed of soccer development. I can see where Little Rock probably couldn't support an expansion by itself, but surely Memphis could.

Kansas City - St. Louis - Memphis MLS triangle could be quite the next step.

I'd also love to see Atlanta, Tampa Bay, and Miami get back into it.

Also, if Austin Aztex eventually develops into an MLS franchise, you'd have the Houston-Austin-Dallas market.

There are two major obstacles that I can see: (1) MLS teams still aren't profitable (Seattle and Toronto being the current exception); and (2) where do we draw the line? If MLS teams are financially supportable with 12-15k average attendance, we could talk all day about expanding into new regions, but we would end up with a very large league.
 

Hellerad said:
I still can't fathom why the MLS hasn't planned an expansion into the mid-South. The Little Rock-Memphis-Nashville-Knoxville belt is a hot-bed of soccer development. I can see where Little Rock probably couldn't support an expansion by itself, but surely Memphis could.

Kansas City - St. Louis - Memphis MLS triangle could be quite the next step.

I'd also love to see Atlanta, Tampa Bay, and Miami get back into it.

Also, if Austin Aztex eventually develops into an MLS franchise, you'd have the Houston-Austin-Dallas market.

There are two major obstacles that I can see: (1) MLS teams still aren't profitable (Seattle and Toronto being the current exception); and (2) where do we draw the line? If MLS teams are financially supportable with 12-15k average attendance, we could talk all day about expanding into new regions, but we would end up with a very large league.
Click to expand...

They're on 16 teams now. Portland, Vancouver and Montreal are all in in the next 2 years, taking the league to 19 teams. One more to 20 and the league is as large is the Premier League. MLS would really really really like that to be a second New York team if they could make it work; after that there are several viable candidates. And then, that's it, I'm pretty sure, for a few years.

First, the league needs time to absorb the growth it's undergone. Second, growing the league past 20 teams means that a proper home-and-away single table fixture schedule is a logistical impossibility. How that gets handled presents interesting problems for the league -- promotion and relegation is not going to work.
 
NHRevs said:
They're on 16 teams now. Portland, Vancouver and Montreal are all in in the next 2 years, taking the league to 19 teams. One more to 20 and the league is as large is the Premier League. MLS would really really really like that to be a second New York team if they could make it work; after that there are several viable candidates. And then, that's it, I'm pretty sure, for a few years.

First, the league needs time to absorb the growth it's undergone. Second, growing the league past 20 teams means that a proper home-and-away single table fixture schedule is a logistical impossibility. How that gets handled presents interesting problems for the league -- promotion and relegation is not going to work.
Click to expand...

They are nuts if they go over 20. It would kill the league but leave it to some short-sighted owners greedy for expansion money to blow the whole thing up. There are too many teams that are on life support as it is. Why they are looking to get a 2nd NYC team as well? Last I checked the Red Bulls aren't selling out every match.

The problem with the south (Atlanta, Charlotte, Jacksonsville, Tampa, Miami) is that they aren't considered very good pro sports towns. Its hot, many of the residents are transplants from other cities, and no one wants to roast in the stands watching a bad team. Of those 5 cities only Tampa is able to get regular sellouts for their NFL team.
 

Hellerad said:
I still can't fathom why the MLS hasn't planned an expansion into the mid-South. The Little Rock-Memphis-Nashville-Knoxville belt is a hot-bed of soccer development. I can see where Little Rock probably couldn't support an expansion by itself, but surely Memphis could.

Kansas City - St. Louis - Memphis MLS triangle could be quite the next step.

I'd also love to see Atlanta, Tampa Bay, and Miami get back into it.

Also, if Austin Aztex eventually develops into an MLS franchise, you'd have the Houston-Austin-Dallas market.

There are two major obstacles that I can see: (1) MLS teams still aren't profitable (Seattle and Toronto being the current exception); and (2) where do we draw the line? If MLS teams are financially supportable with 12-15k average attendance, we could talk all day about expanding into new regions, but we would end up with a very large league.
Click to expand...

Memphis is the 50th largest television market in the United States. You can argue until you're blue in the face how great of a soccer area it is, but that is what most decisions are based on. And when you can add foreign markets like Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, it falls even further.

I see them hitting 20 and stopping for a long while.
 
I agree with keeping the league at 20 teams, once they hit the 20 team mark, they should think about relocation. I personally would like to see Chivas USA moved to San Diego. Maybe even DC United to Baltimore, but that one is much more unlikely than the first
 
With DC United...it isn't the manager. Soehn is a good one and was let go. Now Onalfo. Starts in the front office with DC.

On another note, FC Dallas is getting ready to have their friendly against Rafael's Inter Milan. Will swap between this and the Dynamo vs. Morelia Superliga match.
 
Inter fielding a strong side tonight...

(EDIT: I see Balotelli on the sideline. Don't think he's going to City but who knows?)
 

Rook said:
They are nuts if they go over 20. It would kill the league but leave it to some short-sighted owners greedy for expansion money to blow the whole thing up. There are too many teams that are on life support as it is. Why they are looking to get a 2nd NYC team as well? Last I checked the Red Bulls aren't selling out every match.

The problem with the south (Atlanta, Charlotte, Jacksonsville, Tampa, Miami) is that they aren't considered very good pro sports towns. Its hot, many of the residents are transplants from other cities, and no one wants to roast in the stands watching a bad team. Of those 5 cities only Tampa is able to get regular sellouts for their NFL team.
Click to expand...

i think they want to move them to long island. pele is taking charge of that campaign. to bring back the cosmos.

that would be pretty cool
 
Rook said:
They are nuts if they go over 20. It would kill the league but leave it to some short-sighted owners greedy for expansion money to blow the whole thing up. There are too many teams that are on life support as it is. Why they are looking to get a 2nd NYC team as well? Last I checked the Red Bulls aren't selling out every match.

The problem with the south (Atlanta, Charlotte, Jacksonsville, Tampa, Miami) is that they aren't considered very good pro sports towns. Its hot, many of the residents are transplants from other cities, and no one wants to roast in the stands watching a bad team. Of those 5 cities only Tampa is able to get regular sellouts for their NFL team.
Click to expand...

The Red Bulls are in New Jersey, not New York. I understand the distance doesn't seem that far, but it's a completely different world.

The team would be in Queens. Having driven from La Guardia to Newark for business, I certainly wouldn't do it to watch the MLS.
 
Hellerad said:
It was a fun game to watch, great atmosphere--especially in the second half.

I still like Brek Shea a lot.
Click to expand...

I was thinking that same thing about Shea. Kid's got a bright future and my guess is that at some point, it won't be in MLS. But he's a good one.
 
So tonight it's New York (with Thierry Henry, Rafael Marquez, and Juan Pablo Angel) visiting Chicago with Nery Castillo, Freddy Ljunberg, Brian McBride, and Collins John....

We won't discuss the Revs transfer activity this (or any) year, I'll be busy smashing my face with a large brick....
 

Status
Not open for further replies.

Welcome

Join Grand Old Team to get involved in the Everton discussion. Signing up is quick, easy, and completely free.

Register

Shop

Back
Top