Expansion teams

[Holla at ya boy]

I have seen a couple threads about specfic places fighting for a MLS team but here u can say what tems are ready for a mls or a wishlist for teams

[Rover]

Originally Posted by Holla at ya boy

I have seen a couple threads about specfic places fighting for a MLS team but here u can say what tems are ready for a mls or a wishlist for teams

There are two ways to look at the issue:

1. Cities that should get an MLS team;

2. Cities with the three criteria required by MLS for a team (solid ownership, ability to generate 5,000 season tickets, and a soccer specific stadium or a viable plan for one).

In category 1, I'd like to see teams in Seattle and Rochester to start, then Houston and Oklahoma City or Tulsa. Expansion beyond that could be to cities like Toronto, Charlotte, Orlando, Portland, or Minneapolis. I'd like cities with a tradition of soccer support to get teams, as well as a mix of regions and city sizes.

In category 2 there's only Milwaukee right now, and maybe Houston if Club America comes through. But CA will likely buy the rights to the Earthquakes and move them to Houston, so that's relocation, not expansion.

In the end, I'd like to see 18-20 teams in MLS with a good distribution around the country and no more of this two teams in the same city experiment. We need to expand the market as much as possible, not oversaturate the same place. I know not everyone will agree with this, but it's the conclusion I've reached after watching this league for ten years.

I'm also not sold that we need to expand right away. We don't have the money to buy top talent from around the world and the domestic talent pool can't yet support six to eight more teams. The quality of play has increased in MLS every year since inception, and I don't want to see that trend reversed just because we have rosters to fill.

[Holla at ya boy]

good idea
1.i would like to see atlanta and miami to have teams
2.tampa or miami beacuse they used to have those teams fusion and mutiny

[SoccerPrime]

Really expansion is all about the money. No one even mentioned SLC as a potential before Checketts showed up and within a week, SLC got a MLS franchise. Why? Because Uncle Dave wrote the check. Oh he said that his team would build a SSS soon but I really think that was secondary to the big fat $$$ check.
It certainly didn't hurt that youth soccer participation is very high, Blitzz performance and the medium sized market has no real competition besides minor league baseball and NBA. But lets not fool ourselves, it was the check that changed everything.
Otherwise someone would be talking about the sucky Seattle SuperSounders right now.

[Holla at ya boy]

Originally Posted by SoccerPrime

Really expansion is all about the money. No one even mentioned SLC as a potential before Checketts showed up and within a week, SLC got a MLS franchise. Why? Because Uncle Dave wrote the check. Oh he said that his team would build a SSS soon but I really think that was secondary to the big fat $$$ check.
It certainly didn't hurt that youth soccer participation is very high, Blitzz performance and the medium sized market has no real competition besides minor league baseball and NBA. But lets not fool ourselves, it was the check that changed everything.
Otherwise someone would be talking about the sucky Seattle SuperSounders right now.

good point and maybe instead of calling the team miami or tampa could call the team the florida whatevers would they then have to support the team as a state just like the florida marlins

[SoccerPrime]

Tampa and Miami are unique situations.
Tampa was league-owned when MLS was having $$$ problems.
Miami was owned by a owner that didn't want to spend any money supporting the team and unwilling to lose any money on the team.
Thus when the 2002 Contraction happened, they were 2 easy targets.
If it hadn't been for good owners in KC, SJ, Denver, Dallas and Boston, those MLS teams would have also been in danger.

However there is a lot of talk about rebuilding the soccer "infrastructure" in South Florida (Miami) and with the Glazer's owning ManU and controling Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, the "City That Was Mutiny" might be seeing MLS again soon.
Plus there are also rumors of Ajax America trying to get into MLS and they are HQed in Orlando.
Lets pray.
For me at least. :D

[Holla at ya boy]

thanks for the info

[Holla at ya boy]

what about another california team?

[JasonMa]

Seattle, though at this point MLS may have burned too many bridges with the fans there, including this one...

[SoccerPrime]

Originally Posted by Holla at ya boy

what about another california team?

:kwasny:
What? Florida is the 4/5 largest state, give us at least 1 pro soccer team before you bloat the Bear State any more.
😉