Bill Ault Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Could just be posturing but... Philadelphia's soccer-specific stadium could be in trouble Chester, PA (Sports Network) - Nick Sakiewicz, CEO and operating partner of Keystone Sports and Entertainment LLC, which owns the yet-to-be-named Major League Soccer Philadelphia club, made some less than optimistic comments earlier this week about the 2010 expansion club's soccer-specific stadium project. "I wish we could give you hard commitments today, but we're not even sure the stadium is going to be built," he told the Delaware County Times. "If the [financial] markets tank next month, then we won't build this thing. We'll be out $15 million and everyone goes home." The comments were made after a meeting to discuss a request for the expansion of a tax-exempt building zone for the developers. The request was withdrawn after several hours of tough questioning when it became clear they would not be able to strike a deal with the Chester Upland School District before an end-of-the-year deadline, according to the Delaware County Times. Ground was broken on Dec. 1 on the stadium, which was originally scheduled to be ready for the 2010 MLS season. If an agreement cannot be reached with local politicians, it could put the whole project in jeopardy, as evidenced by the comments made by Sakiewicz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calgary Boomer Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Miami Barcelona are circling Chester like vultures... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sébastien Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Taken off cyberpresse.ca: http://blogues.cyberpresse.ca/soccer/?p=928 L’année ne commence pas très bien pour la MLS et la franchise de Philadelphie qui doit faire ses débuts lors de la saison 2010. Après avoir échoué dans sa tentative de bénéficier d’exemptions de taxes pour son futur stade de 115 millions $, le président de Keystone Sports and Entertainment LLC et l’un des instigateurs du projet, Nick Sakiewicz, y est allé d’une déclaration assez pessimiste cette semaine. «J’aimerais prendre des engagements clairs mais je ne suis même pas certain que le stade va se construire. Si le marché plonge le mois prochain, alors nous ne le bâtirons pas. Nous serons à court de 15 millions $ et tout le monde rentrera chez soi.» Même s’il pourrait s’agir d’un coup de bluff, le ton est en tout cas bien différent de celui affiché lors de la première pelletée de terre symbolique le 1er décembre dernier. De là à annoncer la mort du projet au complet, il n’y a qu’un pas que certains n’hésitent pas à franchir. Sakiewicz a été à l’origine de la construction du Red Bull Arena après un imbroglio de six ans. Cette fois, il devra gérer le dossier un peu plus rapidement. Sinon, il peut toujours se rabattre sur le luxueux stade (mais aucunement adapté au football) des Eagles, le Lincoln Financial Field. Qu’en pense la MLS? Pas de réaction pour l’instant. De toute façon, tout va toujours très bien avec Don «langue de bois» Garber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Calgary Boomer Miami Barcelona are circling Chester like vultures... Because you are ready to go you are a vulture? Get real. They simply have the easy solution of a little NCAA stadium, so low overhead getting started. Plus the know-how of how to run a team. Plus the money for the franchise. Whether there will be a public is another question, but I bet they could start this April if they were asked, it would not be hard at all for them. A lot of other candidates are dependant on way more money from the start, for stadiums, club structure and other, so their level of risk if much higher. Especially in this economy. But that does not mean that Miami Barça would want Philadephia to fail, because the whole point is to help give the brand visibility to the widest market possible. In principle that would mean the bigger the league the better, the more healthy teams the merrier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ag futbol Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Regardless of Phily's current situation i'd still consider them a better market for MLS to enter as opposed to some of the places it's in currently. Garber's Betman like insistance on staying in some of these dog markets is completely rediculous. MLS needs to take a page from the NFL's playbook and use some of their proceeds to secure loans for teams to build stadiums. Either that or actually force guys like Bob Kraft to build stadiums or sell their share. You have otherwise well supported teams like Houston and DCU that are losing money because they can't get get anything built. At least Toronto FC has established that building your stadium in the burbs is the wrong way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbailey62 Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 quote:Originally posted by ag futbol Regardless of Phily's current situation i'd still consider them a better market for MLS to enter as opposed to some of the places it's in currently. Garber's Betman like insistance on staying in some of these dog markets is completely rediculous. MLS needs to take a page from the NFL's playbook and use some of their proceeds to secure loans for teams to build stadiums. Either that or actually force guys like Bob Kraft to build stadiums or sell their share. You have otherwise well supported teams like Houston and DCU that are losing money because they can't get get anything built. At least Toronto FC has established that building your stadium in the burbs is the wrong way to go. Yikes! Let's not get started on Gary Bettman. Personally, I think he was planted by the NBA as a mole in order to kill off the NHL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 more trouble for Philadelphia? seems to be the case http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2009/01/10/news/doc4968219977610956148415.txt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ag futbol Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Very interesting article, and i can't say i'm inclided to disagree with their arguements (they want financial statements from MLS). The league counts on various stakeholders to progress, if they want to get into the public purse, they should pull back the iron curtain on the finances. It would be very interesting to see what they actually say. I've also been wondering a lot lately if the organization isn't outgrowing Don Garber. Sure he has turned this ship around bigtime, but seems to be providing the league with an ever increasing set of cringe worthy moments (handling of the Mtl situation, MLS cup finals presentation, Superliga controversy with the players). Maybe letting someone else be the public face of the league would be a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandstander Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 If Portland's bid wants public money, I wouldn't be surprised if their council got wind of this and started asking the same questions. Now is really bad time to be doing things with public money. Maybe Obama can include money for these stadiums in his stimulus package to create construction jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianSoccerFan Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Portland doesn't have a f***ing prayer of getting a dime out of the government either. St. Louis is suddenly looking attractive with government funding approved already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calgary Boomer Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S. Because you are ready to go you are a vulture? Get real. They simply have the easy solution of a little NCAA stadium, so low overhead getting started. Plus the know-how of how to run a team. Plus the money for the franchise. Whether there will be a public is another question, but I bet they could start this April if they were asked, it would not be hard at all for them. Were you drunk or high when you wrote this? What the hell is your point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piltdownman Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 quote:Originally posted by CanadianSoccerFan Portland doesn't have a f***ing prayer of getting a dime out of the government either. St. Louis is suddenly looking attractive with government funding approved already. Very true, except have you seen the dollar amount? Only $45m. BMO cost $62.5m and FIU stadium cost $50m so I don't know how they expect to build the stadium in their renderings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Calgary Boomer Were you drunk or high when you wrote this? What the hell is your point? The point, is that if you'd responded to me 2 weeks ago when I posted, I'd remember the point. And after mulling over it for two weeks you could only come out with that, I suggest you take a reading comprehension course first, then do the posting. (Calling a club vultures, which is a bird that feeds off the dead, is fine if it is true. But if it is patently false, and the evidence clearly shows that the club wants as many clubs as possible alive and thriving in as many strong markets as possible in MLS so that its investment can pan out better, then it deserves a response like mine. What is worse--in the reasoning--is that since the bid does not feed off the failure of any franchise already granted, and Philadelphia has been granted and will go through in spite of the odd showcasing city councillor--many of those in Toronto when they argued over the stadium as well--then the use of the term is totally inadequate. I know this is all above you but I thought I'd give it a try, just repeat the argument a few times and the loose bolts out there stop rattling). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calgary Boomer Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Your ramblings confirm that you were probably high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calgary Boomer Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Your ramblings confirm that you were probably high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Calgary Boomer Your ramblings confirm that you were probably high. Now you are trolling. Why don't any of you Albertans do anything useful, like wonder why you have to celebrate a centennial with no Albertan teams. Or how is it that you live in the richest region in the world with the corresponding poorest soccer culture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obinna Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 quote:Originally posted by piltdownman Very true, except have you seen the dollar amount? Only $45m. BMO cost $62.5m and FIU stadium cost $50m so I don't know how they expect to build the stadium in their renderings. They are renovating their current USL-1 stadium, so I guess $45m is more than adequate. Unless I'm missing something and they've decided to build a stadium.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Obinna They are renovating their current USL-1 stadium, so I guess $45m is more than adequate. Unless I'm missing something and they've decided to build a stadium.... they would also need money to build a new triple A baseball stadium to house the city's minor league team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piltdownman Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I was actually talking about St. Louis, not portland. Sorry I was really unclear. Everyone says how great the St. Louis plan is, and how they have the government bonds, but $45m sounds really really low to me. They plan on building the following with the bonds: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masster Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 ^I think Pilt was talking about St. Louis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ed Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S. Now you are trolling. Why don't any of you Albertans do anything useful, like wonder why you have to celebrate a centennial with no Albertan teams. Or how is it that you live in the richest region in the world with the corresponding poorest soccer culture. Not trolling. Just fed up with your BS Jeffrey. I had let the abuse to WF on the PM inteview thread slide amongst other things but you got my attention with this post. Don't jump to conclusions due to the actions of the self-serving UK ex-pats running the ASA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piltdownman Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Looks like St. Louis is in more trouble. Those mystery investors that they have been talking about, are still a mystery to MLS and might not even exist. I personally feel vindicated by all the St Louis fanbois on big soccer that keep saying 'St Louis has the richest backers, its just that the public doesn't know', and talking about until Vancouver has a world class SSS they shouldn't get in http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/othersports/story/642C7AC03C0B83E686257540001482C3?OpenDocument Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VPjr Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 ^ I think this is the most damning part of that article "We really want to be in St. Louis," Garber said prior to the league's draft at America's Center, "but in order to be here, we have to be sure that every aspect of Jeff Cooper's bid is solid and one of the weaknesses it has today is that Jeff has not been able to secure the investor who has very deep pockets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masster Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 If Garber was not willing to budge on price for Montreal, he should not budge one cent for St. Louis. Atlanta is out. MLS is only left with 4 bids! Vancouver, Ottawa, Miami and Portland. If they wanted to add 2 teams in 2011 and 2 teams in 2012, then they have their 4 cities right there. But hold on a second, Portland might not get the funding and they might be out as well. Philly might not be ready for 2010, and if they don't get that stadium done, they might never be ready. So if all stars were to align, that would leave Miami for 2010 and Vancouver with Ottawa for 2011. I really want the economy to go into the toilet now!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SthMelbRed Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 You're forgetting about NY2. I think it's more probable that they'll go there before Ottawa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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