2009 MLS Thread (R)

[SirFozzie]

Yeah, it kinda snuck up on me too. The Seattle Sounders, MLS's 15th and newest team, will take on Western Conference champion (*snickers*) New York Red Bull tommorrow night on ESPN, and the rest of the league swings into gear over the weekend.

Thoughts?

[Young Drachma]

Congrats to Vancouver, who will join MLS in 2011!

http://vancouvermls2011.com/

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

I'm moderately excited (never really got into MLS though will try again this year) but picking tomorrow as a start date is an odd move. One of the only days all year that sports fans are solely focused on one sport.

[Young Drachma]

I wonder where the next expansion team will go. Adding Portland would be great because of the regional rivalries that it could create, but St. Louis is a great soccer city too.

[SirFozzie]

Looks like Portland for 2011, and St.Louis/? for 2012

[Young Drachma]

Vancouver is #17, so there's only room for one more. Well obviously they could go beyond that, but...Philly #16 for 2010, Vancouver for 2011 and perhaps one other team for that same year or the year after.

[SirFozzie]

Looks like Portland will be team 18 for 2011, and then 2 more in 2012.

This is a column I wrote for a certain much maligned Soccer Rumors blog (don't know if they're going to publish it.. so posting it here)

At the Vancouver press conference announcing the Whitecaps entry into MLS in 2011, Don Garber noted that while we were at the finish of one round of expansion, that they were looking at doing another round of expansion where two more teams (which would be the 19th and 20th teams in the league) will join MLS.

Assuming, as widely expected, that Portland will be team 18, that leaves a wide open field. If you handicap the top challengers, they are as follows (odds are strictly recreational and should not be used for gambling in any way):

1) St Louis (Even Odds) : One of the true hotbeds of soccer, they made a big push near the end of the current expansion round, but just didn't have time to catch up with the front-runners. However, if the backing is still there, one has to believe that this week's events are just a delay, and that St Louis will be the top candidate to join MLS in 2012.

2) New York City (4-1): All we have right now are rumors. But we know Don Garber wants to capture the New York market in the worst way, in a way that Red Bull hasn't been able to penetrate. If the will is there, if the money's there, and the stadium's there.. then a team will be there. The question is... do they have the first three that is required to get the fourth?

3) Ottawa (6-1): They may or may not have the will to push through the stadium proposal that has been bandied about (especially now that there's no guaranteed carrot at the end). They may instead put their efforts to acquiring a Canadian Football League team. Several factors work against Ottawa.

4) Montreal (8-1): There's no doubt they have the fans, and the support. 55,000 screaming Impact fans makes a big impression on anyone. One thing that may spur the Impact to move is to see all their Canadian rivals move to MLS (first Toronto, and now Vancouver). But here's the thing. No matter how much or little of an expansion fee MLS wants.. Montreal's owners have tried to get discounts from MLS previously. And fans do make an Impact (pun intended), but with the statement of Montreal's owners just a month ago that they only wanted to pay $20 million of a $40 million fee, and sink the other half into stadium improvements... there's just a fundamental conflict. MLS wants investors to pay their full freight, and Montreal doesn't want to pay full price. I don't see that changing.

5) Miami (10-1): Another untapped market. They have the money (billionare investors). They have possible locations. However, the league has tried twice in Florida, and failed both times. Considering how fast the current Miami expansion bid collapsed when FC Barcelona pulled out? I just don't see the will or the back bone required to get to the finish line.

6) Off The Board: (25-1) This means one of the various rumors (Vegas, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Phoenix, etcetera) or an unknown group makes a serious run at bringing in a team at 2012, as the window of expansion starts to slide shut. Any of these bids has a LONG way to go to get up to the level of even the Miami bid, but as we all know, these races are not sprints, they're marathons.. and if the forerunners drop off one by one, they might get in at the last moment.

[Big Fo]

I'm pretty hoopsed out after watching most of the day so I switched over to the MLS season opener, there's a fantastic atmosphere in Seattle tonight.

At halftime Garber will announce Portland as the 18th team.

[Young Drachma]

Looks like Portland will be team 18 for 2011, and then 2 more in 2012.

This is a column I wrote for a certain much maligned Soccer Rumors blog (don't know if they're going to publish it.. so posting it here)

At the Vancouver press conference announcing the Whitecaps entry into MLS in 2011, Don Garber noted that while we were at the finish of one round of expansion, that they were looking at doing another round of expansion where two more teams (which would be the 19th and 20th teams in the league) will join MLS.

Assuming, as widely expected, that Portland will be team 18, that leaves a wide open field. If you handicap the top challengers, they are as follows (odds are strictly recreational and should not be used for gambling in any way):

1) St Louis (Even Odds) : One of the true hotbeds of soccer, they made a big push near the end of the current expansion round, but just didn't have time to catch up with the front-runners. However, if the backing is still there, one has to believe that this week's events are just a delay, and that St Louis will be the top candidate to join MLS in 2012.

2) New York City (4-1): All we have right now are rumors. But we know Don Garber wants to capture the New York market in the worst way, in a way that Red Bull hasn't been able to penetrate. If the will is there, if the money's there, and the stadium's there.. then a team will be there. The question is... do they have the first three that is required to get the fourth?

3) Ottawa (6-1): They may or may not have the will to push through the stadium proposal that has been bandied about (especially now that there's no guaranteed carrot at the end). They may instead put their efforts to acquiring a Canadian Football League team. Several factors work against Ottawa.

4) Montreal (8-1): There's no doubt they have the fans, and the support. 55,000 screaming Impact fans makes a big impression on anyone. One thing that may spur the Impact to move is to see all their Canadian rivals move to MLS (first Toronto, and now Vancouver). But here's the thing. No matter how much or little of an expansion fee MLS wants.. Montreal's owners have tried to get discounts from MLS previously. And fans do make an Impact (pun intended), but with the statement of Montreal's owners just a month ago that they only wanted to pay $20 million of a $40 million fee, and sink the other half into stadium improvements... there's just a fundamental conflict. MLS wants investors to pay their full freight, and Montreal doesn't want to pay full price. I don't see that changing.

5) Miami (10-1): Another untapped market. They have the money (billionare investors). They have possible locations. However, the league has tried twice in Florida, and failed both times. Considering how fast the current Miami expansion bid collapsed when FC Barcelona pulled out? I just don't see the will or the back bone required to get to the finish line.

6) Off The Board: (25-1) This means one of the various rumors (Vegas, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Phoenix, etcetera) or an unknown group makes a serious run at bringing in a team at 2012, as the window of expansion starts to slide shut. Any of these bids has a LONG way to go to get up to the level of even the Miami bid, but as we all know, these races are not sprints, they're marathons.. and if the forerunners drop off one by one, they might get in at the last moment.

New York would tough, because where would they put the stadium? Not an easy thing to do..maybe Long Island?

Besides that...I think St. Louis ought to have the inside track. But those two would probably be most logical, given LA nominally has two teams.

[SirFozzie]

There's a Long Island team wanting to enter USL soon, and that's rumored to be a test run to enter MLS.

And yeah, St Louis is a prohibitive favorite

[path12]

I was at the game last night. What a fantastic opener.

With the season ticket package a scarf was included, which served as the ticket for the first game. 22,000 scarves being waved around is a cool tradition to start.

[Big Fo]

Hey path12, there is already a backlash against your club.

link (http://www.aces09.com/)

[path12]

Hey path12, there is already a backlash against your club.

link (http://www.aces09.com/)

That is awesome. Dude is from Portland. Figures. :)

[Chief Rum]

Seems likely I am going to the Galaxy home opener against United on Sunday. Would have been nice to see Becks again (maybe later in the year), but at least Donovan will be there.

[BishopMVP]

Nice to see Freddy Montero live up to the hype. It'll be great if he and Toja can establish MLS as a better paying route to Europe for young South Americans. Kevin Alston is also a player for the Revs.

SirFozzie - I'd bump up Montreal on that list, at least above Ottawa, but that may just be personal bias coming into play. I would go St. Louis and Montreal, then stop for awhile. Yes, it sucks that the Southeast isn't represented, but they haven't shown any inclination to support pro teams. (Carolina could work, but I'm not sure that's how much further south than DC MLS would want to go.) If MLS really gives Ottawa a franchise over Montreal because of a $20m or less up-front difference, that's a horrible long-term decision. And I think MLS is really coming around on how much better a passionate fan base can make the experience for other teams and new fans.

[SirFozzie]

Bishop: The only problem with Montreal, is that their ownership has lowballed MLS 3 times already. If they play full freight, their in. If they don't they won't. Plain and simple

[Cringer]

Seattle off to a 2-0-0 start.

The "new look" Dynamo lost in San Jose last night to start 0-1-1. All the talk they had about wanting to start the season strong didn't seem to change what they normally do. :D Last night's game was pretty exciting though, all 5 goals in a span of less then 10 minutes or so. The rest of the game had plenty off action as well.