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MLS Expansion - reloaded


coppercanuck

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I just looked up some quick data, being the geek that I am. The numbers are surprising. What would you do if you were commish? Remember your goal is to hit all the big TV markets. The data my be flawed...the boundries definitions may be different in the 2 countries.

2005(usa)/2006(can)

New York -8,143,197 MLS

Toronto -5,113,149 MLS

Los Angeles -3,844,829 MLS x2

Montréal -3,635,571 USL D1

Chicago -2,842,518 MLS

Vancouver -2,116,581 USL D1

Houston -2,016,582 MLS

Philadelphia -1,463,281

Phoenix -1,461,575

San Antonio -1,256,509

San Diego -1,255,540

Dallas -1,213,825 MLS

Ottawa -1,130,761

Calgary -1,079,310

Edmonton -1,034,945

San Jose -912,332 MLS?

Detroit -886,671

Indianapolis -784,118

Jacksonville -782,623

San Francisco -739,426 USL D1

Columbus -730,657 MLS

Québec -715,515

Winnipeg -694,668

Hamilton -692,911

Austin -690,252

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Hate to be the census guy, but metro SF is at least twice a big as Vancouver. I think you're comparing metros in Canada to city proper in the USA. Given the size of the suburbs in most US cities, that's an empirical problem. Carson, CA, home of the Galaxy and Chivas, is not in your sample.

But Whitecaps should get into MLS cause Vancouver is a top 5 soccer market in North America and there's a great owner and partner for MLS here. That should be all they need to know.

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Lots of metro areas missing, Miami, Baltimore, Washington DC, Boston...

Population is hardly the only consideration, anyone who follows the NHL knows that Canadian teams do not draw in American cities.

I don't even know that we have enough quality players to meet the domestic (Canadian) player quotas for 2 more MLS teams.

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Um, "flawed"? The war in Iraq is "flawed" compared to those numbers.

As for "hitting all the big tv markets". See: League, National Hockey. It's under F for failure.

MLS needs to find cities where they will get 20 000 people in the stands. The NBA became successful because they went into secondary markets like Utah, Portland, San Antonio, where, for the most part, they were the only pro game in town.

MLS needs to forget about these fantasies like a 2nd NYC team and focus on cities like Rochester which are big enough to support MLS teams, and at the same time where the MLS team is likely to be the number 1 team in town.

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quote:Originally posted by coppercanuck

Remember your goal is to hit all the big TV markets.

That is ABSOLUTELY WRONG! How has getting into the so called "Big TV Markets" helped the NHL? They need to get to the best soccer markets, and if Don Garber is worth his chops, he'll do just that.

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