Jump to content

OFFICIAL: MLS expansion bids list


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 123
  • Created
  • Last Reply

The Orange Bowl is no more...it was torn down in March. Miami would start out at Florida International Univ. while scoping out its SSS. Back in the Spring, the Mayor of Miami offered the vacant land on the Orange Bowl site to anyone who wanted to bring MLS back to Miami, along with financing. Now it seems that offer has been extended to the Florida Marlins instead.

(Not that it's the best source...but it's a source):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Orange_Bowl#Soccer

It's no secret that MLS wants at least a half-successful team in Miami. Although the city's Latin roots are mostly Cuban, Miami is THE monster link to Latin America in the United States. They could attract major S.A. stars, who might cost less than Europe, and open a link to the massive sponsorship dollars available in the southern hemisphere.

When the Fusion were created, MLS didn't really have a clue how to market to Hispanic-Americans. Since the contraction, Soccer United Marketing, who holds the rights to Mexican National Team games in the US, have turned their strategy completely around. I think they know they would draw flies without a few major stars in Miami. But I think they also know that the link with Barca could be Chivas X 20. Unlike other current MLS cities, Miami could have a half-full stadium, but it would be okay because many of the players would be big names that play well on TV in Latin American markets, including the US. It might be a fair trade off in their eyes.

Once again, it's the age old question for MLS. What does it want most? Money? To build soccer in the U.S.? To be "Major League" in North America? Or do they just want to be a successful soccer league...period?

I think Barca's backing of Miami should not be underestimated. But then again, six of the seven bids look solid on the surface. There are forces at play we have no effect over...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by piltdownman

60,342 on June 20, 1983. See the last post on the last page.

Yeah, I'll admit that I haven't been following this thread closely (hardly at all) so I didn't see your post, just caught the claim about Montreal having set some club record. I'm familiar with the date and the attendance at that game, that youtube clip was captured by me from an old beta tape that I had recorded on my mums birthday back in 1983.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is hard, as an Impact supporter. But Vancouver should be the home of football in Canada. Weather. Snow. It all fits. And I support you guys because of that. You can play, on grass, year round. Hard to do on my island. But your current stadium sucks. And so does double-hatting with the BC Lions. If you ever get that SSS in Gastown approved, I am all over Vancouver in the MLS. But until then... I just don't see it happening.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by Cyrus

This is hard, as an Impact supporter. But Vancouver should be the home of football in Canada. Weather. Snow. It all fits. And I support you guys because of that. You can play, on grass, year round. Hard to do on my island. But your current stadium sucks. And so does double-hatting with the BC Lions. If you ever get that SSS in Gastown approved, I am all over Vancouver in the MLS. But until then... I just don't see it happening.

Saputo's grass pitch is horrible since a few weeks just because of a heavy rain summer. Not sure if the weather in Vancouver really fits with a year round use of a SSS since they had their own problems with the pitch at Swangard too.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by piltdownman

Sports Illustrated thinks Vancouver has the best chance

Altough I must admit it they didn't seem to do much research.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/soccer_america/10/17/mls.expansion/index.html

They say this about Montreal:

MONTREAL: If Canadian mogul George Gillett or one of his partners can step up as the lead investor, Montreal looks much stronger than it did with just the Saputo family on board. Otherwise, MLS officials will look somewhere else. Great stadium, good USL team. Chances: Fair.

Am i missing something? Is George Gillett not already deeply involved with this bid?? It is not just the Saputo family on board.

This writer really does not seem to know the facts at all...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by the biologist

Saputo's grass pitch is horrible since a few weeks just because of a heavy rain summer. Not sure if the weather in Vancouver really fits with a year round use of a SSS since they had their own problems with the pitch at Swangard too.

The problem with the pitch at Swangard was caused by a pointy ball football match played under sudden and unexpected very local heavy rain downpour conditions which would have caused the field to be closed by the owner (City of Burnaby) for any games, soccer or pointy ball, to protect the grass. So with a SSS owned by the club (Whitecaps Waterfront Stadium) this kind of thing can be avoided (no pointy ball football, rain or shine). The reason Montreal's SS is so crappy at the moment when it rains is that the grass is not yet firmnly established. Takes at least a season or two, longer when it keeps being torn up.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Jeffery S.
quote:Originally posted by the biologist

I join you on this, and I'm far to be the only one in MTL to think the same.

You know, the same happens to us from TO fans saying "Well, we always sell out our 20K stadium but you can't do the same with your 13K one". If 12,500 can't be considered a sellout, we all agree that's almost it. Montreal has the highest average attendance in the USL since what, 3 or 4 years ? In the Lynx era, they were all jealous of our (both MTL & VAN) box-office success.

That being said, we all know we both gonna draw 20K in attendance once we get an MLS team. If the poor support for the Lynx is now replaced by strong support for TFC, why the hell can't the same happen in both cities where team support for a USL team is waaaaaaay better than what we saw in TO ?

So I really think we both deserve EQUALLY a team in the MLS, the slight difference being the fact that we already have a SSS easily expandable to 20K.

N.B. About the NASL argument, who's got the record attendance for club football ? J.S.: montreal. A little louder please, we didn't heard anything. J.S.: MONTREAL. Oh, yeah, that's it. :D

Well we agree, because I am not comparing with Montreal. I am just responding to those in Montreal who criticized Vancouver for not selling out the semi vs. Montreal (the fun answer from the left coast should have been that the rival was not interesting enough to put fans in the seats, meaning if Vancouver can't sell out vs Impact it is the rival's fault; just to pick your butts).

Lenarduzzi said in the interview on the bid that after near 6,000 packed into Swangard for the final, would anyone really doubt Vancouver's capacity to put three times that in a stadium for an MLS match.

Obviously, Vancouver and Montreal would push sell-out in a stadium with anything less than 20,000 seats. The stadiums should really have more, because you have to have capacity to accomodate those key dates when more want to go, otherwise you lose revenue. Or you are forced to price out of the popular range and you never take advantage of a fan base eager to go but only in the lower price range.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/sports/soccer/16soccer.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

“We hope our bid is strong enough to be selected,” Joan Laporta, the president of Barcelona, said in a telephone interview from Miami. “This is part of our four-year strategy to develop our image in the States, and in this case we believe that Miami is the gateway to America for a lot of people from South and Latin America.... We believe soccer in the States is growing up,” Laporta said. “And we want to be a part of it.”

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Jeffery S.
quote:Originally posted by SteveBeau

They say this about Montreal:

MONTREAL: If Canadian mogul George Gillett or one of his partners can step up as the lead investor, Montreal looks much stronger than it did with just the Saputo family on board. Otherwise, MLS officials will look somewhere else. Great stadium, good USL team. Chances: Fair.

Am i missing something? Is George Gillett not already deeply involved with this bid?? It is not just the Saputo family on board.

This writer really does not seem to know the facts at all...

The writer knows the facts about Las Vegas enough to mock them, so that is something. As for Gillett, maybe he is saying that it is not clear how far he is going to go in with Saputo. But of course I am not sure any bid says what the partnership breakdowns are, those are internal questions of each candidate.

Does anyone believe that the type of money or profile of owner is relevant? Is new money better than old? Are younger owners better than guys nearing retirement? Just wondering. Partially because the bids from Vancouver involve fairly young guys who obviously are not looking for a retirement toy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by SteveBeau

They say this about Montreal:

MONTREAL: If Canadian mogul George Gillett or one of his partners can step up as the lead investor, Montreal looks much stronger than it did with just the Saputo family on board. Otherwise, MLS officials will look somewhere else. Great stadium, good USL team. Chances: Fair.

Am i missing something? Is George Gillett not already deeply involved with this bid?? It is not just the Saputo family on board.

This writer really does not seem to know the facts at all...

They don't even realize that George Gillett is an American. Born in Wisconsin and wiki says he lives in Vail, Colorado.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S.

Does anyone believe that the type of money or profile of owner is relevant? Is new money better than old? Are younger owners better than guys nearing retirement? Just wondering. Partially because the bids from Vancouver involve fairly young guys who obviously are not looking for a retirement toy.

I don't think so. But if it does matter, I think we're in as a good a position as the Caps are. Joey Saputo is 44 years old (not very old). George Gillett may be 70 years old, but he's got 3 out of 4 sons who already runs his businesses, Foster in particular. So papa has some serious succession to take over the business.

The Impact ain't a toy to Saputo (no more explanations needed). As for Gillett, well, he really takes the Habs management seriously via Pierre Boivin (the pres). He also really likes Montreal, he wants the city to gain somme assets, and he's also trying to help save the Montreal F1 GP.

For the other bids, I don't really know who are the guys backing'em up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by AlanDouglas

The Montreal soccer attendance record that was being grasped for early is probably the 72,000 who saw the 1976 Olympic Final between East Germany and Poland at the Big O. It remains the largest crowd ever for a soccer game in Canada.

Well thanks for correcting my mistake and coming to my rescue ! ;)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by AlanDouglas

The Montreal soccer attendance record that was being grasped for early is probably the 72,000 who saw the 1976 Olympic Final between East Germany and Poland at the Big O. It remains the largest crowd ever for a soccer game in Canada.

Thats true,and I thought as much, but I chucked that out of the window because we were talking club, and specifically domestic club attendance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:Originally posted by piltdownman

They don't even realize that George Gillett is an American. Born in Wisconsin and wiki says he lives in Vail, Colorado.

People also don't seem to realize that he's a billionaire who's main cash cows are Colorado ski resorts and Gillette Entertainment Group which last quarter was the largest business of it's kind in the world, the Habs and Liverpool are not his only holdings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Jeffery S.
quote:Originally posted by the biologist

I don't think so. But if it does matter, I think we're in as a good a position as the Caps are. Joey Saputo is 44 years old (not very old). George Gillett may be 70 years old, but he's got 3 out of 4 sons who already runs his businesses, Foster in particular. So papa has some serious succession to take over the business.

The Impact ain't a toy to Saputo (no more explanations needed). As for Gillett, well, he really takes the Habs management seriously via Pierre Boivin (the pres). He also really likes Montreal, he wants the city to gain somme assets, and he's also trying to help save the Montreal F1 GP.

For the other bids, I don't really know who are the guys backing'em up.

As I said, quite sincerely, I was just wondering. Some money looks more attractive than other money, I know it is irrelevant on the balance sheet but it gives you a sense of future, of building, instead of just looking for a late life distraction.

As for money breakdowns, I was surprised that Barça president Laporta said that their investment was "minimal". So who knows what they are really bringing in, at least it is not on our budget for this year and I don't think for next. Perhaps Nike is going to pay for the equivalent of the franchise fee as part of the deal (they say Nike's deal with Barça is one of their most profitable, perhaps because of the caliber of the stars on the team). Perhaps what Barça can get by playing friendlies in North America over the years.

By the way, an example of the power of the Barça brand: they played the Lakers at Staples Center last night, lost 108-104, first European team to play an NBA side in the States I believe. Not only competitive, but people actually went to see them, I mean, WTF? So the Barça brand certainly has the potential, in spite of what folks say about the problem with the Miami market, which I fully believe.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...