MLS in Charlotte - 2021

[go_vertical]

Yeah, I'll never expect them to "care", they just need to understand the sport better . That video with Marcus reminded me of the horrible X Games bid video that went out a couple of years ago. IIRC that was also spearheaded by the Smiths. That video was universally mocked and ridiculed. It included way too much motorsports which is not what the games is really about. This video had a very similar vibe. I just think they feel if they point out their NASCAR success then that is enough to win.

[elrodvt]

I'm just saying I doubt the MLS cares what they know about Soccer. They'll be expected to hire the right people.

[cjd5050]

14 hours ago, elrodvt said:

I'm just saying I doubt the MLS cares what they know about Soccer. They'll be expected to hire the right people.

Agree.  The MLS owners, who are deciding who will join the league, would put familiarity with the sport pretty low on the list.  I think the wealth of the ownership groups would be the most important.  Second to this would be the actual market and community support.  

The average MLS player salary right now is about $140k.  The average Premier League player salary is $3 million.  If the MLS is going to make the jump to the next level (Group of 4) it will need owners who have the resources to pay higher salaries until other revenues catch up.  Not saying they are going to go out and compete with the PL but they will need to go out and find ways to pull in some stars.  

[ssh214]

Just a random note and this may have been already mentioned...

The city may have been opposed to getting financially involved because they just approved the Bojangles renovation not too long ago. I personally think that was the wrong move to even do anything with Bojangles as it is pretty far from uptown and no really connectivity to the center city.

Thoughts?

[J-Rob]

At the time it was opened, the Coliseum was the largest unsupported dome in the world.  In my mind, it is worth preserving, and more pointedly better than the alternative.  Much of Independence is in dis-repair, so it is not like the land itself offers some great development opportunity along Independence.  If you didn't spend money on the Coliseum, it would lead to an even worse image of dis-repair along Independence.

I actually would like to see the city make a deliberate effort to add mixed use projects stretching from the Bojangles Coliseum and the expo center over to Monroe near Smokey Joe's.  If done correctly, I think it could actually spark a mini development boom in the area.

Especially considering the Silver Line will run next to the Coliseum at some point in the future.  The Silver line will at some point provide the connectivity you mention.

Edited February 3, 2017 by J-Rob

[elrodvt]

4 hours ago, cjd5050 said:

Agree.  The MLS owners, who are deciding who will join the league, would put familiarity with the sport pretty low on the list.  I think the wealth of the ownership groups would be the most important.  Second to this would be the actual market and community support.  

The average MLS player salary right now is about $140k.  The average Premier League player salary is $3 million.  If the MLS is going to make the jump to the next level (Group of 4) it will need owners who have the resources to pay higher salaries until other revenues catch up.  Not saying they are going to go out and compete with the PL but they will need to go out and find ways to pull in some stars.  

My first MLS game was to see the "dips" in DC. I saw Pele play there. Picking Diplomats as the team name was a fatal mistake though. 

[cjd5050]

4 minutes ago, elrodvt said:

My first MLS game was to see the "dips" in DC. I saw Pele play there. Picking Diplomats as the team name was a fatal mistake though. 

I would have paid to see Pele but he was like 35 and had already retired.  By spending money I was talking about paying large contracts for players in their 20s.  

What was it like to see Pele?  

[SouthEndCLT811]

4 minutes ago, cjd5050 said:

I would have paid to see Pele but he was like 35 and had already retired.  By spending money I was talking about paying large contracts for players in their 20s.  

What was it like to see Pele?  

Atlanta has used their 3 designated player spots on some supposedly great young talent.  They'll be the "it" club to watch being new, the fan experience with 27k season ticket holders and all the talent their bringing in.

Giovinco in Toronto is another 20 something making millions in MLS through the DP spots.  As the league becomes more valuable I imagine they'll start to add more designated player spots or raise the salary cap.  But the years of all teams overpaying for old "big" names seems to be coming to an end.

Edited February 3, 2017 by SouthEndCLT811

[elrodvt]

20 minutes ago, cjd5050 said:

I would have paid to see Pele but he was like 35 and had already retired.  By spending money I was talking about paying large contracts for players in their 20s.  

What was it like to see Pele?  

He was pretty old at that point but you could easily see how skilled he was. It was the mid 70's and i don't think I had really seen much soccer before so probably wasn't a good judge. I think he played for the NY Cosmos? I do remember one of the guys in the back of the car barfed up his colt 45 all over my back seat. ;-(

Edited February 3, 2017 by elrodvt

[kermit]

Sounds like they are having some trouble finding a decent stadium sites in Raleigh. The phrasing in the article makes it sound like they have written off the possibility of downtown Raleigh (but its just an implication, not a statement).

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2017/03/20/north-carolina-fc-still-searching-for-stadium-site.html?ana=e_ae_set2&s=article_du&ed=2017-03-20&u=jDmEk%2BCKbYnAvaVfOFOlFGXcGSC&t=1490042657&j=77697631

Meanwhile lots of silence from the Smiths (I think)

 

[deleted]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

Sounds like they are having some trouble finding a decent stadium sites in Raleigh. The phrasing in the article makes it sound like they have written off the possibility of downtown Raleigh (but its just an implication, not a statement).

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2017/03/20/north-carolina-fc-still-searching-for-stadium-site.html?ana=e_ae_set2&s=article_du&ed=2017-03-20&u=jDmEk%2BCKbYnAvaVfOFOlFGXcGSC&t=1490042657&j=77697631

Meanwhile lots of silence from the Smiths (I think)

 

I'd like Charlotte to get a team and think it would be better for the league long-term but it feels like Raleigh is more deserving.  Ideally, both would get a team eventually but that seems very unlikely.  With only two teams up for grabs currently, I expect neither will get a team (even though geographically and demographically NC makes a ton of sense for the league).  Too many bigger players (cities and owners) with plans that are further along and/or cities with a much better history of support.  I'll be shocked if NC gets a team...  

[UPNoDa]

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2017/03/21/charlotte-shut-out-of-international-soccer-for.html

 

HB2 related??

 

[Guest]

On 3/23/2010 at 4:52 PM, cltheel.sdl said:

I think for it to work, however, it can't be done by the same people who own the Charlotte Eagles. They have their own agenda, and while I love the Eagles and have attended many of their games and soccer camps, I think their agenda would be a wall in the success of an MLS team, and I doubt that MLS would even allow a religion-based team to take the field.

There Charlotte Eagles are in no way affiliated with the ownership group trying to bring MLS to the City. Nor are the Charlotte Independence at this point.

[CLT2014]

47 minutes ago, UPNoDa said:

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2017/03/21/charlotte-shut-out-of-international-soccer-for.html

HB2 related??

$$$ related. They picked the largest combined statistical areas in the USA this time: New York City (#1), Los Angeles (#2), Washington DC (#4), SF Bay Area (#5), Boston (#6), and Miami (#10).

Then there are two outliers outside the top 10: Orlando (#17) and Nashville (#31).

Manchester City wanted to play in Nashville due to corporate sponsor Nissan Motors North America being headquartered in Nashville and the stadium being called Nissan Stadium. BOOM made a big sponsor super happy. Orlando paid big bucks to guarantee a match. Visit Orlando is the official "US Tourism Partner"  of the International Champions Cup in the USA and became a sponsor. If Charlotte was a sponsor, we'd have a match.

So Charlotte didn't get a match because European soccer didn't pick up a sponsor by playing here last time, they wanted to consolidate their games in the biggest cities, and we didn't cough up big dough to be a sponsor of the ICC. 

Edited March 22, 2017 by CLT2014

[ah59396]

1 hour ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

There Charlotte Eagles are in no way affiliated with the ownership group trying to bring MLS to the City. Nor are the Charlotte Independence at this point.

The moment you realize you responded to a post from 7 years ago...

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, ah59396 said:

The moment you realize you responded to a post from 7 years ago...

I blame it on having to use a different browser to look at UP now that I gotta turn off Ad Blocker 

[ah59396]

Just now, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

I blame it on having to use a different browser to look at UP now that I gotta turn off Ad Blocker 

Haha no worries.  Happens to the best of us!

[Neo]

5 hours ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

I blame it on having to use a different browser to look at UP now that I gotta turn off Ad Blocker 

Sorry, gotta pays the bills. 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Neo said:

Sorry, gotta pays the bills. 

heh, heh. It doesn't actually bother me. 

[deleted]

https://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2017/04/05/mls-expansion-st-louis-stadium-san-diego-miami-beckham-detroit-charlotte

Update on things...

[eastsider]

New website for the Charlotte bid http://mls4clt.com/ filled with almost no information other contact details for city and county reps.

[Synopsis101]

Quote

On July 18, MLS4CLT is rallying to show our support for building a multipurpose soccer stadium and bringing Major League Soccer to Charlotte. MLS representatives will be there, so let’s show them we want to make Major League Soccer a part of our city!

The event is free and will include food and beverages available for purchase, live music, giveaways and more.

https://www.facebook.com/events/319417425175958/

[KJHburg]

I would say our chances of getting a MLS team are going down by the minute. County commissioners just cancelled any meetings with the league officials. My guess they would rather be in Charlotte than Raleigh but I now believe one team will go there. I think they like the fact there is a billionaire owner here but in a city council mayoral election year there is no political will to make it happen. 

[Jack152]

15 hours ago, KJHburg said:

I would say our chances of getting a MLS team are going down by the minute. County commissioners just cancelled any meetings with the league officials. My guess they would rather be in Charlotte than Raleigh but I now believe one team will go there. I think they like the fact there is a billionaire owner here but in a city council mayoral election year there is no political will to make it happen. 

I don't think Raleigh fits the template for what MLS is looking for in an expansion city. Charlotte is a better fit, but you are correct about the lack of political will. It seems like the city and county are looking for a way to blow this up, while making it appear like they put forth a good faith effort.

It wouldn't surprise me if Nashville sneaks in and grabs the last "southeastern" spot.

[Green_man]

If there was a magical way to combine the Charlotte and Raleigh bids it would be the best of the bunch.  But each has positives and negatives.

Charlotte +:  big money owner, big corporations, large population center, stadium plan

Charlotte negative: govt support needed and lacking, fans haven't really shown passion for soccer, disjointed bid in general

Raleigh +: soccer-passionate area, massive academy/youth system, connected/dedicated owner with US Soccer, existing club + NWSL + U23, etc shows abilities

Raleigh negative: smaller population/spread out metro area, not many major corporations, stadium situation unknown (to be unveiled next week)