Minneapolis is a very wealthy city with 17 of the largest 500 companies in the US headquartered there.
here is the list:
14: UnitedHealth Group (unchanged from last year, revenues $130 billion)
36: Target (unchanged, $74.5 billion)
69: CHS Inc. (down 7, $42.6 billion)
72: Best Buy (down 12, $41.9 billion)
98: 3M (up 3, $31.8 billion)
138: U.S. Bancorp (up 2, $21.3 billion)
164: Supervalu (down 70, $18.3 billion)
171: General Mills (down 12, $17.9 billion)
203: Land O’Lakes (down 4, $15.2 billion)
213: Ecolab (unchanged, $14.2 billion)
225: C.H. Robinson (down 5, $13.4 billion)
247: Ameriprise Financial (up 2, $12.2 billion)
255: Xcel Energy (up 2, $11.6 billion)
310: Hormel Foods (up 1, $9.3 billion)
320: Mosaic (down 37, $9 billion)
333: Thrivent Financial for Lutherans (up 2, $8.5 billion)
466: St. Jude Medical (down 4, $5.6 billion)
The former chairman of number 14, UnitedHealth Group, is the main owner of Minnesota United and it is where the the name came from.
Well that and its a two cities area and the supporter's preference. Unlike Atlanta who ignored their supporter's ideas and then whined about Minnesota taking that name.
Minnesota looks to be in over their heads but Atlanta although clever is a corporate machine of Home Depot.
They averaged 14k with a reduced capacity of 16ish. What's the problem?
Charlotte, NC, is creating a big blip on the MLS radar.
The Charlotte Observer reports that billionaire NASCAR track owner and promoter extraordinaire, Bruton Smith, and his son Marcus, have declared an interest in acquiring a franchise. Smith's company, Speedway Motorsports, owns the track generally regarded as 'the home office' in NASCAR, Charlotte Motor Speedway, home of two major events per season plus NASCAR's annual all-star race. They also own popular tracks in Bristol (Tenn.), Las Vegas, Atlanta, New Hampshire and Texas. They also own Z-Max Dragway, a state-of-the-art drag racing facility that lets cars run four-wide at a time.
These are the men who organized the Battle of Bristol, using the iconic, steeply-banked half-mile track's 160,000-seat grandstands to hold an NCAA football game this past season. And packed the joint. With tifos and everything:
The Smiths are seriously adept promoters with bottomless pockets. The boy Garber must be delighted to see these two emerge in a vital area where MLS needs to establish a footprint to help make Atlanta and Miami work. If that wasn't enough, Dale Earnhardt Jr., one of NASCAR's most popular drivers, is a soccer fan, confessing to learning to love the sport whilst playing midfield for his high school team.
I've always been pleasantly surprised in the amount of interest in soccer uncovered in travels throughout the south on business.
Last edited by greatwhitenorf; 12-19-2016 at 12:45 AM.
That stadium is great for Nascar.
Anything else and its way too far away from the field.
FC Dallas is investing millions into the stadium, why do you think they will move now.
They have the best developmental program in the league and are the support shield winner, I don't see the problem.
Their 14K would be in the top three in attendance in almost ever European league.
hope the renovation will help, but they have struggled in MLS with attendance, it's been on the low end even when they are on top of the league. In MLS with tight restrictions, going from the top of the league to the bottom or vice versa can change very fast, a few bad seasons and things could go down hill quickly for Dallas attendance. I hope they could change things around with the renovations, but they got there work cut out for them. Location could be one issue, but they obviously don't plan on building a new stadium in a new location in the city any time soon.
A lot of us on this board have discussed the shockingly low attendances from many leagues around the world, often only having a few big clubs that actually draw big crowds while other teams even in the top division draw crowds of 3k, 7k 10k exc. on average but are finishing in 15th, 10th, 5th even 3rd in the league. Some how despite low average attendance many of these clubs still actually have much better skilled teams then clubs in MLS who draw over 20k fans, how this is even possible I don't know, how do they financially survive, I have no idea. But some how they almost always seem to keep on going hoping to just make money off of a one off deep run in league cup match or making Europa or even Champions League. Some clubs with lower attendance are even spending much more money then MLS clubs. How this works, I don't know.
not to say San Francisco couldn't support a team as well as San Jose (or Sacramento) but I think with the number of clubs in MLS rapidly growing and the numbers starting to get near 30 clubs, the league is probably trying to decide on creating new teams in markets that have no clubs at all, having another club near San Jose and also Sacramento who has also been bidding for a team, I'm not sure how many clubs the league wants in that region.
One of the issues with Pro/Rel that ignored by Ted and his stalwarts is TV revenues in the US require you to be in certain markets.
Its not like Europe where the whole country is within a 2 hour drive and you can support a team from the other side of the country.
Travel in N.A. cost millions, most European countries could fit into southern Ontario so don't need to spend millions in Travel.
Also MLS has been spending a ton in facilities, and youth programs. Most European teams don't build or own their stadiums.
I see no way that the CPL will survive if attendance are below 5K with the travel cost needed for a national league of 6 teams and NASL quality players. If total player salary was under 1 million I can see it surviving however, that would mean semi-pro. I am sure they will spend a lot in the first season though until the reality of the situation hits.
Last edited by troy1982; 12-20-2016 at 08:57 AM.
The goal for this league should first and foremost be Survival! Survive 10 years showing consistent financial growth and stability.
Only then can they begin to see themselves as a viable Tier 2 option in North America.
As you pointed out, Travel alone will be a huge bulk of the cost to running this league.
I don't see stadiums being a problem based solely on the whispers of this being a joint CFL run operation. Stadium share with existing CFL teams would be the smart move.
I see max salary per player being at around 75-100K with the average being around 50K and kids making around 30K.
It's a working man's salary so they should be able to focus 100% on playing football and not have to take on a second job.
It likely said Greater Chicago in the contract. Either way, they're stuck in Bridgeview.
MLS isn't the only League to make deals like this. Just think of how the NHL deals with expansion/relocation and the proximity to other markets (not an apples to apples example, i know).
For those who thinks 14K by FC Dallas is so bad
Here are some 1st division European league attendances for the current season (16/17) for comparison:
Greece
# Team average 1 Olympiakos Piräus 18.154 2 AEK Athen 10.818 3 PAOK Saloniki 10.569 4 Panathinaikos 5.745 5 AEP Iraklis FC 3.007 6 Panetolikos 2.344 7 PAS Giannina 2.128 8 Platanias Chanion 1.892 9 Asteras Tripolis 1.680 10 Panionios GSS 1.389 11 Skoda Xanthi 1.265 12 Veria FC 1.201 13 Panthrakikos 1.166 14 AEL Kalloni 921 15 Atromitos 864 16 Levadiakos 848
Portugal:
# Teams average 1 SL Benfica 56.530 2 Sporting CP 43.538 3 FC Porto 34.686 4 Vitória Guimarães 16.237 5 Sporting Braga 9.378 6 CS Marítimo 6.529 7 Boavista 5.334 8 Rio Ave FC 4.505 9 Os Belenenses 4.452 10 GD Chaves 3.485 11 Vitória Setúbal 3.198 12 Paços de Ferreira 2.928 13 CD Nacional 2.848 14 CD Feirense 2.825 15 GD Estoril 2.402 16 CD Tondela 2.240 17 FC Arouca 1.690 18 Moreirense FC 1.536
Poland:
# Teams average 1 Legia Warszawa 19.080 2 Lech Poznań 16.323 3 Lechia Gdańsk 15.921 4 Jagiellonia Białystok 13.747 5 Wisła Kraków 13.367 6 Śląsk Wrocław 9.988 7 Arka Gdynia 8.342 8 Cracovia Kraków 7.469 9 Pogoń Szczecin 6.475 10 Zagłębie Lubin 6.391 11 Wisła Płock 5.838 12 Ruch Chorzów 5.812 13 Korona Kielce 5.668 14 Piast Gliwice 5.188 15 Górnik Łęczna 3.770 16 Termalica Bruk-Bet Nieciecza 3.740
Scotland:
# Teams average 1 Celtic FC 54.845 2 Rangers FC 48.904 3 Heart of Midlothian 16.364 4 Aberdeen FC 12.765 5 Dundee FC 6.149 6 Kilmarnock FC 5.560 7 Partick Thistle 4.459 8 Motherwell FC 4.365 9 Ross County FC 4.213 10 Inverness CT 4.043 11 St. Johnstone FC 3.958 12 Hamilton Academical 2.351
Last edited by troy1982; 12-20-2016 at 10:47 PM.
Austria
# Teams average 1 Rapid Wien 21.191 2 Sturm Graz 10.848 3 Austria Wien 7.229 4 RB Salzburg 6.699 5 SCR Altach 5.314 6 Wolfsberger AC 3.785 7 SKN St. Pölten 3.754 8 SV Ried 3.521 9 FC Admira Wacker 2.644 10 SV Mattersburg 2.631
Russia:
# Teams average 1 Spartak Moskva 30.158 2 Zenit St. Petersburg 17.506 3 Terek Grozny 14.561 4 FK Krasnodar 12.417 5 CSKA Moskva 11.200 6 Arsenal Tula 10.331 7 FK Rostov 10.100 8 Rubin Kazan 9.713 9 Lokomotiv Moskva 9.151 10 Anzhi Makhachkala 8.513 11 FK Amkar Perm 6.586 12 Krylia Sovetov 6.496 13 FK Ural 6.312 14 FC Ufa 6.257 15 Gazovik Orenburg 5.261 16 FK Tom Tomsk 5.006
Turkey:
# Teams average 1 Beşiktaş 33.577 2 Fenerbahçe 25.819 3 Galatasaray 24.898 4 Atiker Konyaspor 15.398 5 Bursaspor 15.256 6 Antalyaspor 10.425 7 Adanaspor 5.089 8 Trabzonspor 4.338 9 Kayserispor 4.243 10 Akhisar Belediyespor 4.236 11 Osmanlıspor FK 4.069 12 Çaykur Rizespor 3.793 13 Alanyaspor 3.688 14 Medipol Başakşehir F.K 3.158 15 Gençlerbirliği 2.938 16 Gaziantepspor 2.563 17 Karabükspor 2.411 18 Kasımpaşa SK 1.865
Neatherlands:
# Teams average 1 AFC Ajax 48.303 2 Feyenoord 47.500 3 PSV Eindhoven 33.500 4 FC Twente 24.867 5 sc Heerenveen 22.287 6 FC Groningen 19.006 7 FC Utrecht 17.316 8 AZ Alkmaar 14.845 9 Vitesse 14.205 10 Roda JC Kerkrade 13.508 11 PEC Zwolle 12.600 12 Willem II 12.068 13 Heracles Almelo 11.368 14 ADO Den Haag 11.029 15 NEC Nijmegen 11.006 16 Sparta Rotterdam 10.285 17 Go Ahead Eagles 9.414 18 SBV Excelsior 3.924
France:
# Teams average 1 Paris Saint-Germain 44.801 2 Olympique Lyon 41.684 3 Olympique Marseille 33.942 4 Lille OSC 27.375 5 AS Saint-Étienne 26.112 6 Girondins Bordeaux 22.735 7 OGC Nice 22.578 8 Stade Rennes 21.524 9 FC Nantes 21.443 10 Toulouse FC 18.071 11 AS Nancy 17.571 12 FC Metz 16.240 13 EA Guingamp 14.501 14 SM Caen 14.382 15 Montpellier HSC 12.324 16 Angers SCO 11.295 17 SC Bastia 10.273 18 FC Lorient 10.189 19 AS Monaco 9.350 20 Dijon FCO 9.093
Ukraine:
# average 1 Dinamo Kiev 10.353 2 Shakhtar Donetsk 7.997 3 Chernomorets Odessa 5.978 4 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 5.121 5 Olimpik Donetsk 4.889 6 Zirka Kirovograd 3.590 7 Karpaty Lviv 3.369 8 Vorskla Poltava 3.189 9 FC Aleksandriya 2.162 10 Volyn Lutsk 1.789 11 Zorya Lugansk 1.367 12 FK Stal Kamjanske 1.030
Italy:
# Teams average 1 Inter 44.308 2 AC Milan 42.431 3 Juventus 39.703 4 SSC Napoli 30.144 5 AS Roma 29.391 6 ACF Fiorentina 26.013 7 Sampdoria 20.717 8 Torino FC 20.092 9 Lazio Roma 19.667 10 Bologna FC 19.363 11 Genoa CFC 19.334 12 Atalanta 16.150 13 Udinese Calcio 15.376 14 Chievo Verona 15.333 15 US Palermo 14.965 16 Cagliari Calcio 14.026 17 Pescara Calcio 13.837 18 Sassuolo Calcio 11.036 19 Empoli FC 10.398 20 FC Crotone 5.027
Belgium:
# Teams average 1 Club Brugge KV 26.670 2 Standard Liège 21.700 3 KAA Gent 19.762 4 RSC Anderlecht 17.600 5 KRC Genk 15.764 6 KV Mechelen 11.694 7 SV Zulte Waregem 9.652 8 Sporting Charleroi 8.701 9 KV Oostende 7.381 10 Sint-Truidense VV 6.562 11 Sporting Lokeren 6.547 12 KV Kortrijk 6.540 13 KVC Westerlo 5.556 14 Waasland-Beveren 4.447 15 Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz 3.454 16 AS Eupen 3.301
Last edited by troy1982; 12-20-2016 at 10:47 PM.
and Finally,
MLS
# Teams average 1 Seattle Sounders 42.048 2 Orlando City 31.324 3 New York City FC 27.196 4 Toronto FC 26.583 5 Los Angeles Galaxy 25.147 6 Vancouver Whitecaps 22.330 7 Portland Timbers 21.144 8 Impact de Montreal 20.669 9 New York RB 20.620 10 New England Revolution 20.185 11 San Jose Earthquakes 19.930 12 Real Salt Lake 19.759 13 Sporting Kansas City 19.597 14 Houston Dynamo 19.021 15 Philadelphia Union 17.519 16 Columbus Crew 17.109 17 D.C. United 17.081 18 Colorado Rapids 16.278 19 Chicago Fire 15.602 20 FC Dallas 14.099