USA catching up

[usagullmichigan]

Detroit won't bid for Chivas will they? The city is broke.

[happytorq]

Detroit won't bid for Chivas will they? The city is broke.

situation in Detroit is interesting. it's not actual cities who bid for it, it's potential ownership groups who do, although depending on the situation cities might offer to help offset the cost of stadium building. Obviously that won't happen in Detroit, because they're totally skint. However, the group that has expressed interest in owning an MLS already owns the Silverdome (they picked it up on the cheap) and they have some excellent plans for it, and the current USL team is getting pretty good crowds.

[cambgull]

Surely creating a team in a city that has no money would just be stupid business? It's like setting up shop in a town centre which is completely run down and has no decent shops. You're asking for failure.

[usagullmichigan]

Surely creating a team in a city that has no money would just be stupid business? It's like setting up shop in a town centre which is completely run down and has no decent shops. You're asking for failure.

When I think about it , half of Detroit is in ruin and the buildings need to be torn down but there is no money to do it. Selling a bunch of this to build a stadium makes sense. Detroit would have a good catchment area with Canada (who really like soccer, Ohio, and Indiana plus you have Lansing and Grand Rapids near by that are two of the biggest cities in Michigan.

Not being funny but Chenobyl looks a pretty sweet place to live compared to some of Detroit and Flint.

[DTUFC]

It's Seattle vs Portland.

Ah, cheers. Didn't realise the Sounders' stadium was that big (CenturyLink Field, I think it is?). And yeah, Dempsey's an impressive signing - him, Obafemi Martins and Eddie Johnson is a pretty decent attack.

Thanks for the info about attendances and the MLS' expansion; will be interesting to see how the new franchises settle in when they start to join. I know New York are joining in 2015 - is that any link to the Cosmos, or did that project never amount to anything?

You're right about it being an exciting league to follow, and I think the trade system (worst teams get first draft pick) makes it less predictable than the Premier League, where you know who's going to be in the top 4 every year.

Don't know if you've seen it, but the MLS YouTube channel really is a credit to the league - they put highlights of every game on there, plus tactics dissection, previews, debate on controversial decisions etc, all free to watch. Not sure the Premier League even has a YouTube channel.

[happytorq]

Surely creating a team in a city that has no money would just be stupid business? It's like setting up shop in a town centre which is completely run down and has no decent shops. You're asking for failure.

Not really - Detroit always manages to get out for their sports teams, even the Lions who were shocking until about 2 years ago. The Tigers get decent crowds too so the people of the city have always found a way to get out there...MLS being there wouldn't even cost that much to attend to either.

When I think about it , half of Detroit is in ruin and the buildings need to be torn down but there is no money to do it. Selling a bunch of this to build a stadium makes sense. Detroit would have a good catchment area with Canada (who really like soccer, Ohio, and Indiana plus you have Lansing and Grand Rapids near by that are two of the biggest cities in Michigan.

They don't need to sell anything - assuming the Silverdome would get it, they already own the stadium. And the only way to really build a city back up is to get new things in; a sports team helps because not only do you hire people to work there, you then create a demand for other ancillary stuff like restaurants, bars etc, near there. and it sort of radiates out from there. At least, that's the theory.

DTUFC - New York City FC has nothing to do with the Cosmos; they're actually playing in NASL therse days (first game was last week) which is quite some level below MLS. I think they 'expected to get get asked to join MLS but the previous owners messed about so much that the League went and found somebody else. And, oh yeah, the new team in 2015 is 25% owned by the Yankees. The other 75% is owned by an up-an-comer known as Manchester City. So they should be ok for cash. (they paid $100m just to join MLS)

All this goes nicely into futher expansion talk, which is helpfully just what I've written about here - go check it out if you have time..

http://www.lefootydaily.com/mls-expansion/

[happytorq]

oh, and speaking of US football, the national team has now won 12 games in a row. Not bad. Ok, some of them were against pretty shoddy opposition, but still impressive.

they were 2-0 down in Bosnia and won 4-3 thanks to a Jozy Altidore hat-trick (who I cleverly backed at 200-1 to be top prem scorer a couple of weeks ago)

[bixieupnorth]

Surely creating a team in a city that has no money would just be stupid business? It's like setting up shop in a town centre which is completely run down and has no decent shops. You're asking for failure.

you talking about newton abbot??!!

[cambgull]

Unfortunately Im talking about most town centres. You should know, you're from the north. Its right grim up there.