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MLS or go home
enough of this minor league BS
Take it for what it's worth...? Relatively legit minor league soccer source...
http://acstlfanatic.wordpress.com/20...son/#more-3486
MLS or go home
enough of this minor league BS
I'm perfectly fine with NASL. It's one step below MLS (provided NASL gets sanctioned as Div 2 like planned), and MLS takes successful teams from other leagues, so it could easily directly lead to MLS. I don't think there'd be enough support to warrant MLS right now, anyway. Several current NASL teams will be moving to MLS in the next couple years.
Portland and Vancouver are moving up this year. Don't know of plans of anyone else to move up - though Rochester has the support to potentially make the move. Austin is laying the ground work to do something good - but they're moving quickly in the wrong direction if they don't say 2nd division next year because of the politics of it all. Austin staff called trying to get me to renew my season tickets a couple of weeks ago and I told them it all depended on what level they ended up playing... they just said okay and wouldn't even try to lie to me that they were staying up. There is something weird between the Aztex and UT... they are kinda partners, but won't even acknowledge the possibility of using Myers stadium. It's as if it's being worked on in the background and don't want to jinx it. POTENTIALLY, they could move to MLS if they secure the stadium (Myers, likely) for it as the front office knows what they're doing.
My understanding is that USL was going away/merging with NASL to form one Div 2 league. Did I dream this?
I'll be a season ticket holder of the SA team. Hopefully we can generate enough support for a move to MLS eventually.
It's a huge long story about USL/NASL... essentially NASL tried to happen this year but not enough teams broke off. The initial dispute was something about Nike v Adidas... Nike is associated with USL (I think), Adidas-NASL... Adidas claimed Nike had a soccer monopoly, blah blah blah (I could be totally making this up, this is the best I recall it). So anyway, if you look at the league this year, there is a USL conference and a NASL conference. I believe in reality, 8 teams are NASL, 4 are USL (might be 9 and 3). Anyways, everyone committed to NASL next year except for Austin. Vancouver and Portland are going up to MLS, Charleston is moving back up to NASL and I think there may be a new team or two.
Austin refuses to go to NASL because they don't meet the official US Soccer requirements to be sanctioned as D2. Therefore, USL is taking their USL2 (D3) and making it the official sanctioned D2... so essentially Austin may be playing (and essentially crushing) all of the teams in the league currently below them - hence a step backward. That's why I'm saying Austin might have something up their sleeve. The ownership has experience with a team in the Premiership (Stoke) so I trust they know what they're doing - they just won't say anything. They've never publicly expressed wanting to go to MLS... but who knows.
are they going to play at Heroes stadium or what? there is no stadium that ive seen on the STAR complex...
SA had a chance at a MLS team a few years back but pissed that oppurtunity away. I would go back to the drawing board and try again. LoL@minor league soccer
So all signs point to Austin's franchise being moved to Orlando later today... does it possibly hurt SA's franchise? There goes the Austin/SA rivalry. Rumor is Austin was quite unhappy the closest team was St. Louis... SA would face the same problem.
double post... confirmed now...
http://www.austinaztex.com/news/head...article_id=466
Hartman says the goal is to eventually have this team move up to MLS. It's up to San Antonio to prove we can support the team though.
Orlando went on the record during their press conference as using USL as a stepping stone to MLS in 3-4 years... I secretly hoped the organization keeping silent the past month or two of what they were doing league-wise was them working to get a deal at Myers (UT's soccer stadium) to move up to MLS but I knew better... the attendance in Austin showed it.
Orlando with MLS ambitions too... It's gonna be tough when MLS is sitting at 18 or 19 teams, lots of cities vying for that last couple of spots. Phoenix is a city also pushing hard, NY wants another team, San Diego consistently gets the best ratings for the USMNT... You get the point.
well there's what... 16 teams now? Did they ever say what they're final goal was... 20? 22? Portland and Vancouver next year... that's 18. I believe Montreal in 2012. That's 19. And I thought Detroit was a leader in the clubhouse for #20. I'll admit, I don't keep up TOO much with the Euro leagues... but are any of the big ones larger than 20 teams? EPL is 20, right? Most of the others are 18 for the most part. Has MLS said anything publically about going larger than 20? Of course, Orlando, SA, etc can always get their teams via relocation...
MLS is primmed to blow up in the next few years but I'm not sure more than 20 teams is such a good idea.
And I doubt American owners will ever allow a Promotion/Relegation system, which is really a shame.
Totally agree... I would absolutely love it - baseball is semi-set up for it even with the 4 main levels but obviously it would never happen (for too many reasons to even start posting). Makes the games mean a lot more in the end of the season.
Maybe somehow the soccer leagues will take a shot at it if there are 28-30 cities in the end that are showing the necessary support for MLS level... stadium, attendance, etc... and if MLS wants to stand hard at 20 cities. COULD be possible if you find the right cities. You could maybe throw together 30ish towns that would take a shot at it - especially if you start having multiple teams in some cities as has been discussed. I'd be concerned some places would lose too much interest once booted down though (KC, SJ, Dallas?) but I'd assume that same thing can happen all over the world in the national leagues... yall know your MLS much better than I though.
Would be entertaining to see Orlando, SA, Raleigh-Durham whoever making a push to win their league for the priviledge to move up. Would the teams outside of the US complicate the matter though if a system were to get set up (Toronto, Montreal, etc). Would USSF have to merge professional leagues with whatever lower Canadian leagues (and I think PR has a league too)... I'm probably just speaking out of my ass though and have no idea what I'm talking about. It'd never happen.
I found this statement interesting, considering that the past "failed courtship" with MLS was San Antonio's fault. The Dynamo were a done deal to be San Antonio's team, until Hardberger (who I thought was an otherwise great mayor) came in and squashed the deal.Stung by failed courtships with the NFL, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer, and fielding pressing questions regarding pro sports, the officials decided to gauge what should or shouldn’t be pursued.
Of course this study will probably lead to some dead-end chase for an NFL team that will never come, despite how many threads Buddy Holly tells us otherwise in. MLB has a chance, but a slim one. MLS is San Antonio's best hope.
Yes, in retrospect the pushing away of the MLS was pretty damn poor decision making. I can only imagine how it would have blown up this past year after the world cup. A true shame.
Ed Garza put MLS to S.A. up on a tee for Hardberger and he didn't even get the bat off his shoulder.
With a second team in N.Y. wanted and no teams in the southeast, San Antonio lost it's chance. I think the best chance has to be for FC Dallas to crash and relocate here.
Well respected soccer journalist Brian Quarstad on the SA soccer situation:
http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/0...s-nasl-or-usl/
I fear two teams in San Antonio could end up cannibalizing, and eventually killing both.
I the worst case scenario, I fear the Spurs will put out the inferior product but draw the most fans as they have the marketing dollars to throw at the team, and that Hartman's team will die out for lack of fans then the Spurs team will die out for lack of quality product.
It's a tougher situation here that it appears on the surface.
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