After Orlando, sounds like Atlanta is the next for MLS expansion. Arthur Blank (Falcons owner) is heading the Atlanta bid.
Stadium sharing with Falcons, but this visual drawing does look pretty sexy
Atlanta MLS Expansion thread
After Orlando, sounds like Atlanta is the next for MLS expansion. Arthur Blank (Falcons owner) is heading the Atlanta bid.
Stadium sharing with Falcons, but this visual drawing does look pretty sexy
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
First Orlando, then Atlanta, and then probably the Miami Beckhams. Three southeast sinkholes in every conceivable manner.
This won't end up looking good.
TORONTO FC, 2017 MLS CHAMPIONS!!! (Still the greatest in league history!)
Great, another team Atlantans won't support.
Atlanta Would be good if they have a separate SSS but in a football stadium with artificial turf it will make it crap.
Houston looked crap last week.
New England-Seattle-Vancouver And the league wonders why so many injuries.
Real Football(soccer) is played on GRASS.
they are building the New Georgia Dome to be able to accommodate soccer from what I understand; Blank is also a wealthy owner, so presumably, he'd be willing to spend some money (this won't be done until the 2017 or 2018 season though)
Dear god no. I understand they want to expand in the area so it makes sense to have at least 1... 2 if you think a rivalry can be fostered to bolster each other's growth. But 3 southeast teams? Maybe this is just a way of getting Beckham to waive his discounted MLS franchise rights.
For the record, Atlanta is drawing just about 4k right now. In comparison, Vancouver was drawing just aboutve 5k in their final year in USL. Seattle was about 3300 in their final year in USL.
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
The new Georgia dome, you sure about that. The Georgia dome is only about 20 years old.Originally Posted by prizby
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Falcons_Stadium
if this gets built, they will demolish the georgia dome
http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/new-f...al-turf/nbbTp/
Unfortunately, will have turf.
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
I never thought I'd ever have a reason to visit Atlanta...
Horrible sightlines
It looks like the BC Place model. Ideal for gridiron football, but terrible for soccer. The league should have stayed the course with respect to mandating Soccer Specific Stadiums (preferably with natural grass) for all expansion teams.
Yeah, at some point they are going to have to realize this is at odds with their vision of becoming a top league and with growing a larger TV audience. I know why owners are pushing towards this model (fill up stadium dates, incremental revenue), but I have a hard time believing every market will stomach it.
Personally, the more this happens the less interested in MLS I become. There is only so much I can take. I'll go back to watching european soccer on TV if I have to and catch the odd nats game.
Actually, my family and I saw a game at BC place this summer (Caps vs Philly). We sat behind the east-end goal about halfway up the section from the field and the sightlines weren't too bad. I think the Atlanta design could work, I especially like the angled seats towards the corners to make for less neck turning.
Atlanta is the softest market for expansion (more than Miami even) and they are going about it all the wrong way. Slow motion train wreck. A modest sized SSS might have a chance of looking respectable drawing 12-15K; it's going to look like nothing in a 31K space.
I'm sorry, I would be spending far too much time distracted by all the nonsense going on up above than watching the actual match.
Poor, poor Revs fans. The more MLS teams groundshare with NFL teams, the more cheapo Robert Kraft is reinforced to never build them a SSS.
Edit: I'm pretty sure I heard Brunt say this on PTS on the Fan once upon a time, "Atlanta is where sports franchises go to die".
Last edited by Haddy; 10-29-2013 at 03:32 PM.
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincitie...y-stadium.html
Some serious talking for Minneapolis MLS expansion
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
I personally believe that expanding beyond a total of 20 teams is a SEVERE mistake. We're already having trouble sourcing all the MLS teams with home grown talent GOOD ENOUGH to make for a watchable product. Add to that more franchises, and you dilute the talent even further. Also, it will make winning the league even harder as well. This is a terrible mistake! Absolutely terrible!
I'd much rather see the league move teams from markets not strong enough to carry themselves. So that basically = markets that can't keep up. Also, there should be REAL money behind new teams, so we don't risk adding more markets that we have to keep artificially alive. $100 mil minimum new franchise fee. GUARANTEE that there will be a new SSS in place within a max 3 years.
I hope Garber knows what he's doing.
Last edited by Super; 12-11-2013 at 09:47 PM.
it is all a ploy for tv dollars; Atlanta and Miami are the two largest metro markets (tv markets) that MLS doesn't have a team in, in the United States & Canada
Sure, I can dig it. But what's the point if the product is terrible because we have stretched the talent pool too thin? I'm not seeing it. Let's try and make the product great first. Got a long way to go.
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I don't now about this one either. A team might have a chance if given the proper facilities and were playing in a good location, but I think groundsharing with the Falcons would be a big mistake. It's gonna be a pretty empty-looking stadium.
Yeah, I've been sorta following this for a while. Honestly, I think it's doable. I don't think a team in Minnesota would ever be a huge franchise in terms of popularity and revenue, but I think it would be relatively stable - The Vikings, Twins, Wild, and Timberwolves never top the lists for attendance in their respective leagues, but are consistently trending in the median. Honestly, I know I'd take a trip out to see Twin Cities FC - Minneapolis and St. Paul are big college towns.
Yep. Couldn't agree more.
Actually, let me modify that - MLS could work with more than 20 teams, but not with it's current schedule, format, and certain franchise policies. Unfortunately, there seems to be no desire on the part of the league's execs to get rid of the All-Star match, mid-season friendlies, or figure out a reasonable playoff structure; so we're pretty much screwed.
Last edited by Cashcleaner; 12-12-2013 at 01:30 AM.
Did the USA , of all countries, just fix soccer? - C. Ronaldo, May 27th commenting on the FBI-led investigations into fraud and corruption throughout FIFA.
MSP has its pros and cons as an expansion option, but if the league is going that route, sure as hell much rather have Bill McGuire at the center of it than the Wilfs.
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