MLS coming to STL!

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Hoot45
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Re: MLS coming to STL?

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Transmogrified Tiger wrote:From what I understand, the biggest barrier to STL getting a team is that MLS wants to stop at 28 teams. 23 were in the league this year, Cincinnati, Nashville, and Miami have all been announced, and a consequence of the Save the Crew effort is that Precourt gets an expansion team he'll put in Austin. That leaves one spot with a bunch of potential suitors: San Diego, Phoenix, Sacramento, Detroit, San Antonio, probably a couple others I'm forgetting. The STL bid is pretty easily in the Top 2-3 both in terms of desirability and in lacking obstacles to being approved(e.g. San Diego just shot down a stadium in a public vote), but it's not clear enough to be super confident they'll be the ones for that "last" spot.
That's my understanding as well. This bid being a majority female ownership, 100% local, Enterprise family (a big MLS sponsor), and privately funded stadium in a non-NFL market is a pretty hard thing for MLS to say no to. The biggest downside I see is that we don't have the TV market that Phoenix does.

There is a rumor that the Taylor's/Kavanaugh have been told by MLS that the last spot is their's if they can get the stadium package together. They've hinted at this multiple times. We also know for certain that they have been in regular communication with MLS along the way. And, people speculate that the owners wouldn't have put their reputation on the line like this if they didn't have assurances from MLS. CBK's recent and public "stadium tour" is another sign that St. Louis has an inside track. They appear to have support from other owners across the league.

But, this is the Don and MLS. So I fully expect it to be a [expletive] show where St. Louis gets screwed over.

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thrill
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Re: MLS coming to STL?

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MLS would be embraced wayyyyyy more in StL than Phoenix. They'd also have to build an indoor stadium which I don't think this town has the appetite for.

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Transmogrified Tiger
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Re: MLS coming to STL?

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thrill wrote:MLS would be embraced wayyyyyy more in StL than Phoenix. They'd also have to build an indoor stadium which I don't think this town has the appetite for.
I only hear about this through the biased lens of Brandon McCarthy's twitter feed, so I guess I had a mental model that Phoenix Rising drew a lot better than they actually do. 6k/game in USL isn't shabby(St. Louis FC is around 4200) but it lags the other USL teams on the way to getting promoted. I did read that they had a proposal for an outdoor stadium that would try to beat the heat somewhat, although they'd have to almost exclusively play summer night games I'd think: https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2018/03 ... -released/

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thrill
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Re: MLS coming to STL?

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Transmogrified Tiger wrote:
thrill wrote:MLS would be embraced wayyyyyy more in StL than Phoenix. They'd also have to build an indoor stadium which I don't think this town has the appetite for.
I only hear about this through the biased lens of Brandon McCarthy's twitter feed, so I guess I had a mental model that Phoenix Rising drew a lot better than they actually do. 6k/game in USL isn't shabby(St. Louis FC is around 4200) but it lags the other USL teams on the way to getting promoted. I did read that they had a proposal for an outdoor stadium that would try to beat the heat somewhat, although they'd have to almost exclusively play summer night games I'd think: https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2018/03 ... -released/
Can you imagine trying to get Zlatan to play in a 105 degree July night game in Phoenix? Hilarious.

Anyway, I live here and have a foot in the soccer community/usmnt watch parties world, and I don't know anyone who would consider themselves an actual Phoenix Rising fan. I've just never encountered an appetite for MLS here.

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Hoot45
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Re: MLS coming to STL?

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thrill wrote:Anyway, I live here and have a foot in the soccer community/usmnt watch parties world, and I don't know anyone who would consider themselves an actual Phoenix Rising fan. I've just never encountered an appetite for MLS here.
Interesting. Do you think that reality matches perception outside of Phoenix? I think a lot of people in St. Louis view Phoenix as the biggest threat to its bid mainly due to market size and the recent addition of Alex Zheng to the ownership group.

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thrill
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Re: MLS coming to STL?

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Hoot45 wrote:
thrill wrote:Anyway, I live here and have a foot in the soccer community/usmnt watch parties world, and I don't know anyone who would consider themselves an actual Phoenix Rising fan. I've just never encountered an appetite for MLS here.
Interesting. Do you think that reality matches perception outside of Phoenix? I think a lot of people in St. Louis view Phoenix as the biggest threat to its bid mainly due to market size and the recent addition of Alex Zheng to the ownership group.
I'm speaking more to the appetite for an MLS club by the average phoenix sports fan. MLS is cold blooded about money and if Phoenix Rising comes with the plan and the cash before StL, they will absolutely get the team.

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CardsofSTL
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Re: MLS coming to STL?

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Transmogrified Tiger
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Re: MLS coming to STL?

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well this seems like good news

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thrill
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Re: MLS coming to STL?

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City of Austin approved an MLS stadium venture. That seals them as an expansion club.

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Hoot45
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Re: MLS coming to STL?

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thrill wrote:City of Austin approved an MLS stadium venture. That seals them as an expansion club.
And probably eliminates San Antonio for the foreseeable future, which I am guessing is going to trigger a number of lawsuits in the Alamo City. I don't care that Austin got a team but Precourt really played MLS and screwed over a lot of legitimate efforts across the country by sidestepping the rules. I loathe Garber saying the league helped save Columbus.

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