MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER

bige · **Posted:** Tue May 21, 2013 2:22 pm

ncaanopaawaa2000 wrote:

With the MLS will have a 2nd New York franchise by 2015, I guess that Houston should go automatically to the Western Conference by default. Now what's left is that the league should decide to have their conferences divisions or not. Example: Both the East and the West would have 2 divisions of 5 teams each.

Houston was there before and knew the move East was temporary

jlog3000 · **Posted:** Tue May 21, 2013 2:50 pm

bige wrote:

ncaanopaawaa2000 wrote:

With the MLS will have a 2nd New York franchise by 2015, I guess that Houston should go automatically to the Western Conference by default. Now what's left is that the league should decide to have their conferences divisions or not. Example: Both the East and the West would have 2 divisions of 5 teams each.

Houston was there before and knew the move East was temporary

Ok, but then Houston should return back to the West, which I forgot to re-correct myself on that.

BePcr07 · **Joined:** Thu Feb 07, 2013 10:45 am **Posts:** 331

ncaanopaawaa2000 wrote:

bige wrote:

ncaanopaawaa2000 wrote:

With the MLS will have a 2nd New York franchise by 2015, I guess that Houston should go automatically to the Western Conference by default. Now what's left is that the league should decide to have their conferences divisions or not. Example: Both the East and the West would have 2 divisions of 5 teams each.

Houston was there before and knew the move East was temporary

Ok, but then Houston should return back to the West, which I forgot to re-correct myself on that.

4 divisions with 5 teams would work...maybe:

Western Conference
Northwest Division
Vancouver Whitecaps
Seattle Sounders
Portland Timbers
Real Salt Lake
Colorado Rapids
Southwest Division
San Jose Earthquakes
Los Angeles Galaxy
Chivas USA
FC Dallas
Houston Dynamo
Eastern Conference
Midwest Division
Sporting Kansas City
Chicago Fire
Columbus Crew
DC United
Philadelphia Union
Northeast Division
Toronto FC
New York Red Bulls
New York City FC
Montreal Impact
New England Revolution

jlog3000 · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2013 9:48 am

BePcr07 wrote:

ncaanopaawaa2000 wrote:

bige wrote:

ncaanopaawaa2000 wrote:

With the MLS will have a 2nd New York franchise by 2015, I guess that Houston should go automatically to the Western Conference by default. Now what's left is that the league should decide to have their conferences divisions or not. Example: Both the East and the West would have 2 divisions of 5 teams each.

Houston was there before and knew the move East was temporary

Ok, but then Houston should return back to the West, which I forgot to re-correct myself on that.

4 divisions with 5 teams would work...maybe:

Western Conference
Northwest Division
Vancouver Whitecaps
Seattle Sounders
Portland Timbers
Real Salt Lake
Colorado Rapids
Southwest Division
San Jose Earthquakes
Los Angeles Galaxy
Chivas USA
FC Dallas
Houston Dynamo
Eastern Conference
Midwest Division
Sporting Kansas City
Chicago Fire
Columbus Crew
DC United
Philadelphia Union
Northeast Division
Toronto FC
New York Red Bulls
New York City FC
Montreal Impact
New England Revolution

Like your predicted format BePcr. But now what I'll be wondering will be about the part that if the league would plan to adopt it or not, plus the scheduling format.

BePcr07 · **Joined:** Thu Feb 07, 2013 10:45 am **Posts:** 331

[/quote]Like your predicted format BePcr. But now what I'll be wondering will be about the part that if the league would plan to adopt it or not, plus the scheduling format.[/quote]

I just don't like how few teams the MLS has, but with the limited schedule and interest level in the MLS, it's probably not going past 20 for a while. I would like to see 30-32 teams eventually, but I'm not sure they would ever go that many. I would expect 20 to be the max, but I could see as many as 24.

jlog3000 · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2013 7:02 pm

BePcr07 wrote:

ncaanopaawaa2000 wrote:

Like your predicted format BePcr. But now what I'll be wondering will be about the part that if the league would plan to adopt it or not, plus the scheduling format.

I just don't like how few teams the MLS has, but with the limited schedule and interest level in the MLS, it's probably not going past 20 for a while. I would like to see 30-32 teams eventually, but I'm not sure they would ever go that many. I would expect 20 to be the max, but I could see as many as 24.

I feel ya on that one. But if that happens (the 30-32 team expansion plan), then the number of games should expand too. Like upto a maximum of 50-60 games. And like playing 3 times a week.

bige · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2013 7:12 pm

ncaanopaawaa2000 wrote:

BePcr07 wrote:

ncaanopaawaa2000 wrote:

Like your predicted format BePcr. But now what I'll be wondering will be about the part that if the league would plan to adopt it or not, plus the scheduling format.

I just don't like how few teams the MLS has, but with the limited schedule and interest level in the MLS, it's probably not going past 20 for a while. I would like to see 30-32 teams eventually, but I'm not sure they would ever go that many. I would expect 20 to be the max, but I could see as many as 24.

I feel ya on that one. But if that happens (the 30-32 team expansion plan), then the number of games should expand too. Like upto a maximum of 50-60 games. And like playing 3 times a week.

no one plays three times a week. there need to international days so they can participate in friendlies as well as the CONCACAF Champions League. These are usually midweek games. So twice the week max

jlog3000 · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2013 7:19 pm

bige wrote:

ncaanopaawaa2000 wrote:

BePcr07 wrote:

ncaanopaawaa2000 wrote:

Like your predicted format BePcr. But now what I'll be wondering will be about the part that if the league would plan to adopt it or not, plus the scheduling format.

I just don't like how few teams the MLS has, but with the limited schedule and interest level in the MLS, it's probably not going past 20 for a while. I would like to see 30-32 teams eventually, but I'm not sure they would ever go that many. I would expect 20 to be the max, but I could see as many as 24.

I feel ya on that one. But if that happens (the 30-32 team expansion plan), then the number of games should expand too. Like upto a maximum of 50-60 games. And like playing 3 times a week.

no one plays three times a week. there need to international days so they can participate in friendlies as well as the CONCACAF Champions League. These are usually midweek games. So twice the week max

Ok. Twice a week sounds fair enough. At least play between 3-4 days between the two games per week. So if most games would be expanded, the weeks are half of the total games scheduled in a season. For example, 50 games = 25 weeks.

pounder · **Posted:** Sun Jun 02, 2013 7:41 pm

With national team games (at age levels as well as the big boys) and international competitions and the US Open Cup, a 50-game schedule would be brutal and unnecessary. This is not the NBA or NHL.

For that matter, FIFA has recommended no more than a 30-game domestic schedule. Granted, that's self-serving... FIFA wants to make more money from more international competitions. Most of the bigger leagues have told them to pound sand... Italy even added two teams to Serie A (and thus went from a 34-game schedule to a 38-game schedule) partly in protest. There is plenty of tension between FIFA and major domestic leagues on this matter.

Most MLS fans (in my unscientific opinion) aren't that happy with the current scheduling arrangement (only one game against each team cross-conference) and would prefer 38 games home-and-home. I think the owners disagree; everyone makes more money on extra Portland v Seattle games, but some owners aren't making money on the current 34.

Some owners ARE thinking beyond 20 teams, and there's cities like San Antonio and Orlando drawing well at lower levels and gaining some attention. Furthermore, David Beckham seems to be talking with Miami people about his franchise ownership option. So there's that possibility... but Chivas USA has become a dumpster fire and could be moving fodder. So where this operation goes from here, um, ?

BePcr07 · **Joined:** Thu Feb 07, 2013 10:45 am **Posts:** 331

MLS Expansion News

Orlando MLS Expansion is a go

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/201 ... -franchise

With this expansion, Orlando becomes the third Florida city to have an MLS team; the former two folding - Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny)

Miami MLS Re-Expansion discussions between LeBron James and David Beckham

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/mls/ ... ons-111813

tute79 · **Joined:** Fri Jun 23, 2006 4:25 pm **Posts:** 2260

I live in St. Louis and there is a contingent here that aspires to get an MLS expansion team.

During hte last few months, Busch Stadium (48,000 seat home of St. Louis Cardinals) has had some sell-out crowds
to watch some exhibition games between European / English Premier legue teams
(I'm not so familiar with those leagues, Man. City was in one of the games...)

Albert Pujols (whose wife and kids still live here, at least while Albert is out in anaheim during hte season) was once mentioned as part of a potential ownership group.

St. Louis was once THE U.S. hot-bed of soccer (during the 1950s-1970s) with St. Louis U. and Southern Illinois U. (across the river) dominating NCAA soccer.

If a propective ownership group congeals, I would think St. Louis would make a push to get an expansion team.

BePcr07 · **Joined:** Thu Feb 07, 2013 10:45 am **Posts:** 331

St. Louis is still a hot bed for soccer. I played club and then for my college, and I know St. Louis has a lot of talented players and coaches.

NYCFC is #20, Orlando is #21. Assuming Miami (with LeBron and Beckham) add again as #22, I would add as follows:

#23/#24: St. Louis/North Carolina
#25/#26: San Diego/San Antonio
#27/#28: Minneapolis/Cleveland

1st Changes: Houston back to West, NYCFC to East, Orlando to East, Miami to East, Kansas City to West (11/11)
2nd Changes: St. Louis to West, North Carolina to East (12/12)
3rd Changes: San Diego to West, San Antonio to West, St. Louis to East (13/13)
4th Changes: Minneapolis to East, Cleveland to East, St. Louis to West (14/14)

pounder · **Posted:** Sun Jan 05, 2014 7:36 pm

While I'm in agreement, for reasons beyond my understanding, potential St. Louis ownership was fly-by-night and nobody else was- or is- stepping up.

So, sadly, St. Louis isn't even in these sweepstakes.

Everyone knows Miami is #22, there's an island stadium proposal on old Port ground, seems interesting enough (and much closer to South Beach than Fort Lauderdale... or even FIU).

The sad part: Arthur Blank is all but shouted as getting #23 for Atlanta. MLS acknowledges discussions with Blank as sharing the new Falcons stadium. It's one thing that Seattle sells all those tickets. I'm not buying that Atlanta is a good idea, but there it is.

So, #24 is an interesting discussion.

Minneapolis, those talks seem to have taken notice here.

San Antonio just got an expandable stadium... and much better attendance numbers than Minneapolis in NASL.

Sacramento has made noises, but the problem is a suburban stadium proposal. A USL PRO expansion already has 3,000 season ticket deposits, however.

Detroit has momentum due to their NPSL team, and a group that had ties to the old Silverdome property apparently has acquired land closer to downtown Detroit.

The surprise: Indianapolis. Their new NASL team has 7,000 season ticket deposits sold.

The answer: who can get a stadium close to downtown funded first... probably.

bige · **Posted:** Tue Feb 11, 2014 9:42 pm

David Beckham exercises MLS expansion option
on future Miami franchise

David Beckham is getting back in the game with Major League Soccer.

The league announced Wednesday that the former LA Galaxy superstar has exercised his option for an MLS expansion team and will seek to build that team in Miami, a move rumored for months that now looks like a reality for soccer fans in South Florida.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber made the announcement with Beckham and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez during a press conference at Perez Art Museum Miami. Beckham’s ownership group will now work with MLS and local officials to finalize a deal for a world-class soccer stadium, but a timeline for when negotiations need to be completed or when a Miami team might join the league were not revealed.

The favored stadium site among Beckham’s group is reportedly Biscayne Bay’s PortMiami, but Beckham visited a number of sites last year, including SunLife Stadium, Marlins Park and the FIU stadium on the Florida International University campus.

According to a report in the Herald last year, roughly 25 acres of the county-owned PortMiami site could be made available – enough for a 25,000-seat stadium with expandable seating for various events – if the site is chosen.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2014/02/05/david-beckham-exercises-mls-expansion-option-future-miami-franchise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHw3wqZN4Tw&feature=player_embedded

bige · **Posted:** Tue Feb 11, 2014 9:45 pm

David Beckham's Miami partner Marcelo Claure
says team hopes to begin play in 2017

MIAMI – David Beckham and MLS Commissioner Don Garber didn't give a specific target date as to when the recently announced Miami franchise hopes to begin playing.

However, Beckham’s Bolivian ownership partner did.

Speaking to substantially fewer reporters than Beckham in a more private area at Perez Art Museum Miami on Wednesday following the global icon’s announcement, billionaire Marcelo Claure revealed just when the club expects to officially kick things off and other details surrounding their current plans.

“Three years, three years, 2017,” said Claure of when he hopes the club will begin playing. "That’s the idea if it all works out like we hope."

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2014/02/05/three-years-david-beckhams-miami-partner-marcelo-claure-says-team-hopes-begi

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