Minnesota joins MLS

[Ruben Rivas]

Major League Soccer awards expansion team to Minnesota that will begin play in 2018 | MLSsoccer.com

Major League Soccer announced on Wednesday that Minnesota has been awarded an expansion team that will begin play in 2018.

The new club will be owned by a Minnesota ownership group led by Dr. Bill McGuire, and the team will play in a new soccer-specific stadium in downtown Minneapolis.“We are proud to welcome Minnesota to Major League Soccer,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in a league statement. “The ownership group’s commitment to soccer and the community, the area’s growing millennial population and the region’s rich tradition of supporting soccer at all levels in Minnesota were key indicators that this was the right market. The passionate soccer fans in Minnesota will soon have a world-class, downtown soccer stadium that will serve as the home for the new MLS team and become a destination for marquee international sports events.”

 

[LongTimeListener]

Pretty clear that with this move MLS just moved past baseball, hot dogs and apple pie in the American consciousness.

Chevrolet is next.

 

[Ric Flair]

I'm sure their first big move will be signing Messi.

 

[Ruben Rivas]

Sacramento is mad, they want in badly...

 

[TyWebb]

I did see this story today and thought of you, Rube:
MLS Expansion Continues, Are We Witnessing The Rise of America’s Next Major Sports League? | The Big Lead

Maybe I'm quick to dismiss the MLS. It certainly seems to have found a niche in certain cities and is doing well overall. But I worry it may be stretching itself too thin with all these recent expansions. Eventually it will expand to a city that just doesn't care and the team will flop. My money is on Atlanta, as a native and someone who knows how fickle this fanbase can be. We only show up for winners, and sometimes not even then.

The fact that the MLS will never be THE league in the same way the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL are will always keep it from passing all four of them in America. And people are only going to spend so much on their professional sports team tastes.

 

[Ruben Rivas]

I did see this story today and thought of you, Rube:
MLS Expansion Continues, Are We Witnessing The Rise of America’s Next Major Sports League? | The Big Lead

Maybe I'm quick to dismiss the MLS. It certainly seems to have found a niche in certain cities and is doing well overall. But I worry it may be stretching itself too thin with all these recent expansions. Eventually it will expand to a city that just doesn't care and the team will flop. My money is on Atlanta, as a native and someone who knows how fickle this fanbase can be. We only show up for winners, and sometimes not even then.

The fact that the MLS will never be THE league in the same way the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL are will always keep it from passing all four of them in America. And people are only going to spend so much on their professional sports team tastes.

Soccer is growing, slowly but it is.

Im just glad we have a pro league, I like the sport regardless of the level, I can watch high school and college soccer and still enjoy it, the Clemson-Carolina soccer games are intense.

As far as Atlanta, it will be ok, is a big city with a lot of foreigners and a good amount of Americans following the sport.

 

[micropolitan guy]

“The ownership group’s commitment to soccer and the community, the area’s growing millennial population and the region’s rich tradition of supporting soccer at all levels in Minnesota were key indicators that this was the right market. The passionate soccer fans in Minnesota will soon have a world-class, downtown soccer stadium that will serve as the home for the new MLS team and become a destination for marquee international sports events.”

Next comes the request for the Minnesota state legislature to fund the stadium those "committed to soccer" owners don't want to pay for. A special tax on hot dish or Tim & Jerrys, perhaps?

 

[Batman]

Next comes the request for the Minnesota state legislature to fund the stadium those "committed to soccer" owners don't want to pay for. A special tax on hot dish or Tim & Jerrys, perhaps?

Every time Adrian Peterson demands a trade, everyone is taxed 25 cents.

 

[SnarkShark]

I didn't believe in soccer's inevitable rise until the MLS expanded to the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Now that they've secured this market, I'm in.

If Sacramento is next, I don't know if I'll be able to contain myself.

 

[Ruben Rivas]

Going back to Atlanta, I think some of you understimate the growing of the game in this country, that Atl team is going to have the whole state of Georgia with them, thousands of soccer fans from both South and North Carolina, possibly some from Tennessee since these states are close to each other, you think only natives of Atlanta will go to those games? Think it twice.

 

[Liut]

Mention of Atlanta reminds me of the Chiefs on the old WTCG-TV. Jomo Sono, David Byrne. Fond memories of the former Colorado Caribou.

 

[Batman]

It's not a question of the market's potential, Ruben. It's the fact that Atlanta is a notoriously fickle, apathetic even, sports town. Successful teams in much better leagues than MLS have had lukewarm results at the box office. The Braves were one of the best teams in baseball for 20 years and couldn't sell out on a regular basis. The Falcons have had trouble filling the stadium even with some good teams. The Hawks have sneakily been one of the NBA's most consistent, if unsexy teams (I think they currently have the league's longest consecutive streak of playoff appearances) and Phillips Arena has been a mausoleum for years. Maybe that's changed some this year, though.
And, of course, they lost an NHL franchise. Twice. Neither lasted longer than 12 years in the city. Hockey and soccer have a lot in common in the pro sports hierarchy, so that's a lesson that should be studied closely.
Even if an MLS team comes in and succeeds right off the bat, it might not be enough. Check back in five or 10 years and see how they're doing.

 

[Liut]

Excellent points, Batman. You old enough to remember WTCG? Braves, Hawks, Flames, Chiefs, preseason Falcons. I still remember someone, Bob Neal I think, doing his opening stand-up for a Chiefs game from atop a press box in Rochester, New York.

 

[Batman]

Excellent points, Batman. You old enough to remember WTCG? Braves, Hawks, Flames, Chiefs, preseason Falcons. I still remember someone, Bob Neal I think, doing his opening stand-up for a Chiefs game from atop a press box in Rochester, New York.

Not quite that old. I'm a child of the 80s and from a different part of the country. Old enough to remember 7:05 reruns of Andy Griffith on TBS followed by the Braves game at 7:35, though.

 

[TyWebb]

Going back to Atlanta, I think some of you understimate the growing of the game in this country, that Atl team is going to have the whole state of Georgia with them, thousands of soccer fans from both South and North Carolina, possibly some from Tennessee since these states are close to each other, you think only natives of Atlanta will go to those games? Think it twice.

As Batman perfectly stated, this isn't the issue with Atlanta. The issue is that Atlanta is not a ravenous sports town. I've lived in it long enough to know this. Unless you are an established part of the city - Braves, Falcons, Hawks - you aren't going to do well. The Atlanta Flames, the Atlanta Thrashers, the Atlanta Attack (an indoor soccer team), the Atlanta Silverbacks (a pro women's soccer team) all failed.

Atlanta has one of the better WNBA teams, yet no one cares. Try to convince me there are more soccer fans in Atlanta than basketball fans.

Sure, the Atlanta MLS team will be the closest team for a large region, but that doesn't mean EVERY soccer fan is going to fill that stadium regularly enough to keep the team afloat.

 

[da man]

Excellent points, Batman. You old enough to remember WTCG? Braves, Hawks, Flames, Chiefs, preseason Falcons. I still remember someone, Bob Neal I think, doing his opening stand-up for a Chiefs game from atop a press box in Rochester, New York.

I'm old enough to remember Manfred Kammerer, Phil Woosnam (as a player) and Emment Kapengwe.

I can't remember the announcer's name, but when the Chiefs had a decent buildup going, he'd say, "Oh... It's a good one! IT'S A GOOD ONE!" And I used to love hearing him say "Emment ka-PENG-wee!"

Full disclosure: I had to look up how to spell Kapengwe's name.

 

[JC]

I would bet you there are more soccer fans in Atlanta than WNBA fans

 

[da man]

Excellent points, Batman. You old enough to remember WTCG? Braves, Hawks, Flames, Chiefs, preseason Falcons. I still remember someone, Bob Neal I think, doing his opening stand-up for a Chiefs game from atop a press box in Rochester, New York.

Not to mention the Banana Splits and Bill Tush.

 

[TyWebb]

I would bet you there are more soccer fans in Atlanta than WNBA fans

Point conceded.

 

[Batman]

I would bet you there are more soccer fans in Atlanta than WNBA fans

There's probably more jai alai fans in Atlanta than WNBA fans.
But then again, that's true everywhere.