Comments on: When Success Doesn’t Pay in America: MLS Attendance

By: Jay

Jay — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:52:08 +0000

MLS is close to adding a team in St. Louis. OnGoal is working on a stadium. This combination helped the Rapids, where the Rocky Mountain Cup helped increase attendance, the Dick gave them another boost. I think KC will hold out and hope for similar results. If they don’t get the same results, they’ll remain there till their lease runs out. Look for them to sign a short lease.

By: OKTerrific

OKTerrific — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 05:29:45 +0000

As someone said earlier, Philadelphia absolutely does NOT want someone else’s team. It was discussed a year or so ago when KC was about 2 hours from moving to Philly (the day they were bought by OnGoal). We would rather wait a while and get our own team with a clean slate.

Granted, we’ll take a relocated team, but it’s not our ideal situation.

http://www.sonsofben.com

By: Max J.

Max J. — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 20:53:07 +0000

@Dave: True, but you’d think there’d be much more resistance to importing a team from KC of all places. And since this still a niche sport, there’s no massive popular outcry to just get a team and any team. I think KC should and will probably move, but St Louis seems pretty unlikely. The league would be fine with it, I question whether the fans would.

By: Daily Dose 10.26.07 - World Football - The Offside - Soccer News and Opinion from leagues around the world

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:30:45 +0000

[...] Success doesn’t always lead to more MLS fans (Pitch Invasion) [...]

By: ursus arctos

ursus arctos — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 07:53:51 +0000

Only because Tom inexplicably supports the Pale Hose, I fell obliged to point out that they have never called anywhere other than Chicago home. The current club was one of the founding members of the American League in 1901 (the earlier incarnation of the Chicago White Stockings went on to greater things in the National League before the dawn of the Century of Futility).

The general point is of course true, and since we are talking about St. Louis, it may be worth pointing out that the football Cardinals were originally from Chicago.

By: Matth

Matth — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 23:46:24 +0000

Let’s not forget that moving franchises is an American tradition. White Sox didn’t start out in Chicago, nor did the Orioles in Baltimore. And let’s not forget that Jackie Robinson played for the *Brooklyn* Dodgers. Fans may poo-poo it now, but I would bet money that no one in Philly would care for more than a season if KC were to be moved there.

As for MLS expansion on a whole, I would not be surprised if the next fifty years see a sea change in the American sports landscape.

By: Mr. Held Over

Mr. Held Over — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:24:55 +0000

Hear me out, Mr. Dunmore…it’s likely to sound VERY familiar…

Steps to solve this crisis by 2012:

1. Award expansion franchise “A” to St. Louis at the end of 2007 season. (Total Teams in MLS: 14)

2. Award expansion franchise “B” to Philadelphia at the end of the 2007 season. (Total Teams in MLS: 15)

3. Move Chivas USA to San Diego by no later than 2010. as a means of expanding the Western Conference. (Total Teams in MLS: 16 – I’m now including San Jose)

4. Tell the Kansas City Wizards (in 2007) they have two or three more years to break ground on a new, soccer specific stadium or else they’ll be moved. Not to Seattle, but…

5. When Kansas City doesn’t meet their obligations, move the franchise to Portland, Oregon in 2011. (Teams in MLS: 17)

6. Award the third expansion franchise to Seattle in 2011. (Teams in MLS: 18)

Boom, 18 teams in the MLS. Doug Garber gets his expansion dream fulfilled and can leave things on cruise control for the next decade or so before thinking of expanding to 20 teams.

By: Dave's Football Blog

Dave's Football Blog — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:22:38 +0000

Max J.: St. Louis already has a retread NFL franchise, which just happened to play in two Super Bowls and win one of them. If it comes down to Wizards or nothing, I don’t think they’ll object too strenuously to letting the Wizards slide down I-70 into town.

MLS doesn’t look like it’s going to expand beyond 16 teams. Seattle’s a lock to be #15, and Philadelphia should get #16 if the PA Senate passes the necessary legislation to get the stadium built. Either way, you’d have to think that whoever loses the battle between St. Louis & Philly might decide it’s worth it to court the Wizards. The only way that club is going to make any money next year is by selling Eddie Johnson to Reading in the next transfer window.

By: Thomas Dunmore

Thomas Dunmore — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 19:23:31 +0000

Max (the first one), Chivas San Diego is an idea I’ve heard before that has some merit to it, and would have made more sense in the first place.

I also think, along those lines, Chivas Los Angeles would have been a better name than the absurdly vague Chivas USA. Teams need to be clearly attached to where they’re based.

By: Max J.

Max J. — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 19:06:02 +0000

The problem there is that a) StL and Philly have their own long-standing and rapidly advancing expansion plans and b) neither wants a retread from some other city. Many of the Philly fans are were at one point dedicated DC supporters, and they’re all resolutely against the idea of taking in DC United as their own if the stadium situation got too bad to remain in the DC Metro area. God only knows what they’d think if someone tried to foist KC on them.

I don’t really know what the long term solution to KC is. Even if they get a stadium, it just doesn’t seem like a viable market. Maybe they’ll drag along until they can be moved to some place that just wants a franchise badly enough. Vegas? Milwaukee?