Bring the MLS to STL. It’s all the rage isn’t it. I don’t know if it is genuine or whether or not people are just looking to replace an emotional void left from the Rams relocation to Los Angeles.
If it is genuine, where were all these people for the past 10 years when all St Louis has had is one successful USL season and a one hit wonder in NASL. Aside from the few people on the fringe of professional outdoor soccer in Saint Louis such as Tony Glavin with the Lions out in Cottleville and Sonny Zigic with his once NPSL team, FC Bordo. There really hasn’t been much to cheer about from a soccer standpoint here in St Louis.
It truly makes me wonder and shake my head that Saint Louis couldn’t find a willing investor and owner when the franchise expansion fee was less than $10m but all of a sudden an ownership group is about to drop out of the ether now it is upwards of $60m+
But either way what are our chances? Realistically, aside the “momentum” nonsense mentioned by all and sundry after the Rams relocation, what are our chances?
Firstly. MLS has 20 teams right now and expansion is currently capped at 28 teams. After Atlanta, LAFC, Minnesota and Beckhams folly in Miami that only leaves 4 more spots available right now.
We have to assume Sacramento is a certainty with San Antonio making strides to be the next club to write a massive check to Garber. So that leaves 2 open spots. I would say it is 2 spots for Indianapolis, Louisville, Cincinnati, and St Louis. However 2 spots won’t go to the midwest, I suspect one will go to the Carolinas to build out the southeast with Atlanta and Florida.
That leaves one expansion spot to fight for with Indy, Cincinnati and Louisville
Indianapolis.
With the Indy11 they’ve shown remarkable ability to attract fans and have a thriving soccer culture. Peter Wilt built an excellent club that has been far more successful off the field than on it in NASL. Indianapolis have touted building a soccer specific stadium and while they’ve never shown MLS aspirations and seem happy in the second tier NASL, don’t think for a single moment that Indianpolis and the Indy11 isn’t on the radar for MLS. They have a good club, a solid fanbase which has over 10,000 fans every game, and could transition over to MLS easily.
Cincinnati.
An expansion team into the USL in 2016 FCC have made a splash with letting everyone know how much money they intend to spend and that the USL is just a stepping stone for them. General Manager Jeff Berding is quoted to say that he didn’t get into this game to remain a USL general manager. With John Harkes as the first team coach, this club is going all out to show their MLS credentials. That is bolstered by already having a 40,000 outdoor stadium to use. Their drawback is that at this time, nobody knows quite how full it isn’t going to be if they don’t hit the ground running in USL this year.
Louisville.
Ah Louisville, the team and fans I love to rip on. Our current closest geographical rival in USL and a fanbase and supporter culture which has grown and fed off the rivalry with the Saint Louligans with Saint Louis FC. However when it comes to MLS expansion it is Louisville doing more than us. Despite currently playing in a minor league baseball stadium, the mayor has submitted a feasibility study into the city building a soccer specific stadium for 8000 initial capacity with the possibility of expanding to 20,000 attendees. So while we may mock the purple team and the Coopers in Louisville, they’re city is actually doing something and are on the path to firstly get out of Slugger field and have the possiblity of making the next step.
St Louis.
Well, we had a plan to be secondary tenant in the new stadium to the Rams and allow the Rams to control the revenue streams. This wasn’t ideal, but at least it was somewhat of a plan. I always thought Dave Peacock was floating the MLS carrot to garner support for an NFL stadium off soccer fans. Either way it didn’t work and I think we’re on the outside looking in compared to the cities above. They’ve stolen a march on St Louis in the past 18 months and without any action on our part will continue to leave us in their wake.
What we do have is Saint Louis FC, a team that entered the USL alongside Louisville City last year. It was a good time and sold out many games in and around the 5,500 mark. All we can do right now, with nothing else on the horizon is to support this team. Any potential investor, be it a new ownership group or one that includes the Saint Louis FC front office will look at that is happening right now for MLS market viability. Portland, Montreal, Orlando, Vancouver, Seattle, soon to be Minnesota, Sacramento and San Antonio have all made the jump from the lower leagues. Sit at home waiting for MLS if you want, but what we do now counts and you’ll have some fantastic times into the bargain.
