Gordon Bombay

That's your fault for keeping a roadrunner email all these years. No one to blame but yourself!

I'm not at all a fan of the attempt to move The Crew to Austin, but while the sites of Nashville and Crew Stadium are both "fairgrounds," the situations are different. Unlike Columbus, the Nashville MLS group has plans to develop the area surrounding their stadium. Yeah, it's going to be at an area named fairgrounds, but it's not going to be the only thing sitting in a vast parking lot with no bars, entertainment, or restaurants around it.

As a casual Islander's fan whose only seen the team on the road, I'd to be able to see them in Nassau Coliseum even if it's only a few one off games. My guess is that it'd only be preseason, though.

I believe that was from supporters group Twitter (who subsequently posted it on bigsoccer). No official announcement yet. League tweeted it out. AFC Cleveland was not "in good financial standing with the league." They will not be in NPSL for 2018.

Not sure if we'd see that with FCC around. The video montage incident certainly didn't sit well with the core group of loyal Saints fans. The owner at the time was also very outspoken about how the new club didn't reach out or even attempt to work with him. He's an interesting character, though, has me blocked on Twitter. Also, a lot of the original FCC FO responsible for some of the flat marketing and questionable communications was replaced rather quickly. With this new owner, not sure if those wounds have healed. Would be interesting to see if FCC goes to MLS, if the Dayton club becomes a USL affiliate.

That's been my thought too. That situation is... odd. The USL trend recently has been that when they confirm an expansion team for the next season (or evern for another year out) they do a big announcement, a video, social media press, etc. They really, really promote it. In one Chicago press release they say a franchise has been purchased, but it hasn't been given anywhere near the fanfare you'd think scoring a team in the heart of a major market would get. My speculation is that this is one of two things: 1) Just the developer posturing to lure Amazone (Build HQ2 and we'll build this as well!). 2) A backdoor attempt for the Chicago Fire to flee the suburb of Bridgeview and land downtown. Even if USL starts backing away from direct MLS affiliation at the D2 level, it's in their best interest to maintain a good relationship with the top league. I doubt they'd really try to cut MLS out of a top market.

Go go, Dyanamo! Ready for some history? The original Dayton Dynamo played in the AISA and then the National Professional Soccer League. This NPSL was an indoor league and the team played at Hara Arena, Nutter Center, and the Convention Center from 1988 to 1995. After the 95 season they moved to the Cincinnati Gardens and re-branded as the Cincinnati Silverbacks. The Silverbacks and Cyclones (IHL hockey) were both owned by Doug Kirchoffer, who purchased the Riverfront Coliseum, renovated it, and named it "The Crown." Many speculated that this was all done in an effort to boost the arena's value so that when the Reds needed to purchase the building and demolish it to make room for a new ballpark, The Crown would be worth more. When the Silverbacks/Cyclones moved, the Gardens got a new hockey team (The Mighty Ducks of the AHL) and they put out posters saying "Hit the road Cyclones, and take the Silverbacks with you!" The Reds ended up building their new park in "the wedge" between The Crown and Cinergy Field. Kirchoffer eventually sold his interest in the arena and the teams. The Crown became The Firstar Center and now is US Bank Arena. The Silverbacks folded relatively quickly, the Cyclones later on(but, since returend). In the wake of the Silverbacks' death, Cincinnati has had a colorful variety of indoor and outdoor teams among the lower divisions of American soccer. The Cincinnati Saints of the 4th division NPSL (a new NPSL not affiliated with the preceding indoor league) played for awhile at various spots around town. They also fielded a women's team and both sides played indoor seasons too at various points. When FC Cincinnati was announced, The Saints were still active. In an early promo video for FCC, the intro started by flashing the logos of teams that had come and gone. The Saints' logo was in that montage of defunct brands, but they still existed. Nevertheless, The Saints relocated their men's NPSL side to Dayton and adopted the old brand name of "The Dayton Dynamo." As ryanlammi[/member] pointed out, they're taking a year off to develop a fully professional side presumably at the division III level in either the new USL D3 or the new NISA. It was recently rumored that The Dynamo could've been one of the NPSL teams brought up to the NASL (and backed financially by other D2 NASL teams) to help keep that league afloat. The NASL's future isn't looking great, though. What will be interesting is if a professional side with more cash can attract more of an audience (although the Dyanamo do have a loyal following) and if FCC reaches MLS, if they will be affiliated in any way. Also, I've seen more and more FCC marketing materials along the I-75 corridor and around Dayton. With no soccer in Dayton for this coming season, I think FCC will aggressively market there. Whether they go NISA or USLD3, I love the idea of Dayton having a fully professional side. Soccer teams tend to be more rooted in the community even if they're lower division. Many D3 and D4 sides have strong followings. I could see The Dynamo becoming a source of pride for Dayton in the way FCC has for Cincinnati. A proper, small stadium tied in to a lot of great things happening Downtown could be great. Also to note: Dayton has another 4th division team. The Dayton Dutch Lions play in the USL Premier Development League, a competitor to the NPSL. There are also the Cincinnati Dutch Lions of the PDL who play at NKU.

The "Final 4" announcement came out this morning before the County and City voted. Sports Illustrated even commented on it before all that and ranked Cincinnati as "third place," but recognized that a stadium plan wasn't finalized yet. It was later that day.

Apparently told 700 WLW:

^I think that's what holds Nasvhille back for this particular round. That market will still be there for Round 2, the government has already shown they're willing to pay. Cincinnati and Sacramento have proven attendance and support. FC Cincinnati has unbelievable sponsorship support. FCC also hit 15k STH today. 15,000 people committed for a 2nd Division team.

So Ohio can only support 1 MLS team? Hmm, not that Cleveland is in the running, but there is a wide spread between NEO and SWO. Cleveland has not signaled interest in a team, but sure If Cleveland wanted a team then they could as the population would be spread out enough between the cities. I think Cincy and Columbus could not coexist as easily I think they easily could and have already proven that they have. Columbus hardly ever marketed to Cincinnati, which is fine, but the past two soccer seasons have show there's room for both. Each team is clearly identified with its respective city.

I think it's a red herring.

^I think another thing with Nashville is that it's a market that's not going to go away or become less desirable in the next few years. If MLS skips over it this time, the groundwork has already been laid for the next expansion. Cincinnati's stadium saga has been odd and even as an ardent supporter, I still feel weird about how its all transpired, but I think Sacramento is more likely to get passed over. They've done great things out there and have all the right things in place, but it's another California team and the market is just slightly bigger than Cincinnati. Sacramento was the market that had it all going until MLS opened up the expansion process to more suitors. Nowadays, I'm not so sure if it's as appealing as some other markets. Admitting Cincinnati and Sacramento would both be good and be seen as rewarding grassroots support, but the recent Crew/Austin situation has shown MLS can be just as money focused as any of the other leagues.

That is patently untrue and the situation In Columbus is apples and oranges. If you think the Crew are moving because of the lack of a downtown stadium in CBUS you are delusional. This is just a smokescreen to get them to move because the owner wanted to move them to Austin the day he bought the team. He has set the bar so high in Columbus that he knows the city will never meet what he wants so he can move the team. It is called negotiating in bad faith. The difference between Cincy and CBUS is local ownership. All those families live in Cincy and will continue to live here. That makes a huge difference. What happens 25 years later, of course we cant predict that however, I have a lot more faith in the long term stability of the franchise when you have a local ownership group instead of a carpetbagger from California who does not know Columbus from Kalamazoo. I'm not that familiar with other MLS teams that have moved, but obviously it has happened a few times since some of the original teams from 1996 have moved. Were there stadium issues? Lamar Hunt, the founding owner of the Crew was based out of Kansas City and owned the Chiefs. Mike Brown threatened to move the Bengals over the "ancient" Riverfront Stadium despite being local. So far only one MLS team has moved. The original San Jose Earthquakes (also known as "The Clash" once) went to Houston after having trouble building a stadium. Like the Browns -> Ravens move in the NFL, all of San Jose's history, logos, and records were put on hiatus and Houston was considered an expansion franchise although it received all of SJ's roster. A few years later, SJ returned with new owners and have been in the league ever since. The Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny were both contracted and dissolved with no relocation (although a new Miami franchise is working to get started via David Beckham and his original contract and a new Tampa Bay group is in the current expansion hunt). Chivas USA was also contracted and dissolved, but immediately replaced the next season with NYCFC. Chivas drew very, very poorly and wasn't well received as a "colony club." NYCFC isn't considered a relocation although they technically took Chivas' franchise slot. The Crew situation has been very, very interesting. Anthony Precourt has apparently had Austin listed as the only allowed relocation location since purchasing the club in 2013. It seems to have been in his cards for awhile and MLS trademarked several Austin names recently (they don't own any other non-current MLS team trademarks and none of the potential expansion candidates). While it seems to have been planned for awhile, there was an article recently that other teams had reached out to Austin about moving if The Crew don't come through. MLS is kind of at a crossroads, at first teams wanted soccer specific stadiums and would take them anywhere they could get them. Hence why the Chicago Fire play in the transit-less suburb of Bridgeview and draw poorly. The ones that got downtown stadiums in later years had much more success. As the new expansion candidates come in with great venues in great locations, other teams are going to get jealous. While soccer is typically more rooted in the community on the International landscape, there's still A TON of markets available in the US. I fear the Crew situation is the start of several teams who will at least look at maybe moving. MLS teams will probably have NFL/MLB style relocation ambitions until the league is filled out and a true, strong 2nd Division has taken root in the major markets that didn't get MLS. As MLS has grown and grown and grown, becoming more "major league" every year, they've also started to mimic some of the worst aspects of the other "major leagues." Now it's their turn to play the relocation game.

There's a good chance MLS may accept NYRB2's bid as well as ours.

An important question to ask...if FCC doesn't make it into MLS, what happens to this stadium plan? Does the ownership still build the same sized stadium and does the city/county still put up the same amount of money for new infrastructure? Fans keep saying that this stadium is worth the investment because it will help us get to MLS. But if we remain a USL team is it still worth the investment? All signs seems to indicate that if a deal is struck for Newport or Oakley - it only gets built if the FC Cincinnati bid is accepted. As troeros[/member] stated, if the bid is declined then I doubt they move forward and we repeat this same process over again for the next round of expansion. At this time, MLS has only stated that will be "at a later date." What could get interesting is if FCC doesn't get an MLS bid in either round, do they eventually try to push for a smaller, USL friendly, ~10,000 seat stadium someday ala what Louisville is doing?

Not to get too deep into the pro/rel discussion (and maybe there's a better thread for this), but while I think pro/rel can happen someday, it's not going to happen until there are stronger divisions below the clubs that are seen as "major league." The USL has some very strong independent clubs with great ownership, development, and support (FCC, Sacramento, Louisville) and then it has II teams rounding out its operation and clubs like Rochester that are on the brink of folding every year. The NASL also has some strong clubs, but that league's been a mess for years, is on the brink of death again, and has its share of operational nightmares as teams. Until a truly strong second or alternative division exists, the top clubs aren't even going to consider promotion/relegation. Can you imagine the LA Galaxy being relegated to the USL and the Harrisburg City Islanders being promoted to MLS? I think American soccer will eventually be found in several markets ranging from the big cities to the mid tiers to the Louisville's/Dayton's, etc., but we're a long way from that. USL is making some good moves towards creating a strong 2nd division though. As an Oakley resident, I love the idea of being able to walk to matches (goodbye long bus rides or expensive ubers to Clifton), but I think Newport is far and away the best site. People will get over the fact that it's in Kentucky should Newport come to pass. There's a vocal group online who's opposed, but I doubt the entire fanbase or season ticket holder group has some sort of aversion to crossing the river.

We're talking about the guy who... - Has consistently set arbitrary deadlines for when the Oasis Rail Line would be running commuter trains for over ten years (remember "by the All Star Game!). - Claimed he was going to talk the Reds into keeping Riverfront Stadium after construction started on GABP and the outfield section was removed, because he liked how it made the old stadium feel. - Claimed he's going to fund FWW caps simply via a TIF on one cap that will then fund the others. - Recently referred to Metro's 3X bus line as "BRT Lite." It's not. - Has suggested that the solution to transit funding problems in Hamilton County is to create an 8 county, 3 state transit agency.

I think these are all fair points and in my opinion, the club has not done the best job of making their case for why these funds should be used for a soccer stadium. Granted, this is all coming post-election and nearing an MLS deadline, but that hastily put together press conference yesterday seemed way too tense. I would counter with this though: I think this project is more deserving than US Bank Arena receiving public assistance.

I'm not disagreeing that there are other projects worthy of funds and I'm not saying a soccer stadium is the top priority. However, "what MLS wants" is the reality. It's not a cultish chant as some seem to imply. If you want to get into MLS, you play by their requirements. If not, there's several other markets (Nashville, Sacramento, Phoenix, Raleigh, STL and SD 2.0) that are also vying. If you apply for a job meeting only some of the qualifications, you're not likely to get that job. Ultimately, it's up to the county/city/etc. to decide if a soccer stadium is worth their investment/money and that's fine, they may not feel that it is, but Paul Brown Stadium isn't an option. If sharing a stadium was an option, they'd be better off going with Nippert anyways, which MLS has already declined an interest in. Trotting out PBS again and again (while it may seem like a "sane" option) is a nonstarter. It's typical Portune.

I'm not sure if they legally bind them, but it's my understanding that they're now wanting to make sure they have something firmly in place, in writing. Essentially, to get the best assurance they can get that the new expansion clubs are going to have the stadium plan they promised. NYCFC (still stuck at Yankee Stadium on an abysmal pitch) and Miami (who knows anymore) are examples of why they don't want to move ahead with stadium plans on "good faith" alone.

I definitely feel where you're coming from. I'm an ardent supporter of FC Cincinnati and I'd love to see a third major league team in the form of MLS, but I'm also bothered by the prioritizing. On one hand, I understand the urgency given the approaching expansion decision deadline. On the other hand, I have a hard time understanding how things like improved transit aren't more of a priority or why something like better buses hasn't received anywhere near the same attention over the years. I also see the argument that we've offered similar incentives to corporations over the years and that maybe this deserves the same kind of incentive. It's a weird thing to wrestle with. Even once this is all said and done, I don't see other priorities in the region garnering the same political enthusiasm.

Olive Garden! This is very true. My hope would be that maybe the stadium would be an impetus or encouraging factor to offer more frequent service or maybe some sort of revised route. In an ideal world, I'd love to see Oakley Square closed off to only pedestrians and transit. Make it an open container zone so as the bars don't need to get over-crowded. Build a pedestrian bridge from 34th/Enyart to connect directly to the stadium. Alas, it's all wishful thinking. Oakley isn't my first choice either.

You could still bike or bus to Oakley? Rt. 11 runs on Madison and the other branch will also serve the new transit center. Also, two crosstown routes will serve that center. Madison's also a fairly good road to ride on. Not sure where your commuting from though.

If MLS doesn't award a bid to Cincinnati, this stadium won't be built. Take a look at the current development and the leadership who brought that forward. It's the same leadership after Tuesday's election. We're not missing out. I'll roll the dice with a stadium (should MLS award a bid) rather than making room for a Chili's, Applebee's, Buffalo Wings and Things, etc.