I personally wonder if the story could be triggered or linked to the North Wing of the Main Library. Things that make you go hmmmm.

 

See: https://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,133.msg871863.html#msg871863

What Market is FC Cincinnati’s Biggest Threat for MLS Expansion Bid

 

 

FC Cincinnati find themselves in the dog days of summer chasing a USL playoff berth for the second consecutive year. However, while the club’s league performances have not quite lived up to last year’s incredible inaugural campaign, FC Cincinnati did do well in the U.S. Open Cup. In fact, FC Cincinnati currently holds a 2-1 overall record against Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs. This Cinderella story of epic proportions has a lot of people asking how does FC Cincinnati not get an invitation to join MLS?

 

Going back to January of this year, twelve different teams/cities submitted bids to join MLS. Those twelve bids were from Raleigh, Charlotte, Tampa Bay, Nashville, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Detroit, San Antonio, Saint Louis, Phoenix, Sacramento, and San Diego. Most of them have current USL or NASL teams attached to their bids, but not all of them. Detroit and San Diego would be new teams built from scratch, and Nashville will have a team eventually, joining USL in the Spring of 2018.

 

As of right now, we expect MLS to extend an invitation to two teams at the beginning of December, with two more invitations being offered by 2020. That will bring the total number of MLS teams to 28. MLS could expand beyond 28 teams and if I could speculate if there was such a thing as a “hard cap” on the number of teams in MLS, that number is probably 32. It is worth pointing out here that FIFA has a guideline that top-flight leagues be limited to twenty teams. But in years past, FIFA has mandated that leagues cap themselves to eighteen teams, and well, the world collectively shrugged its shoulders and ignored FIFA.

 

More below:

http://cincinnatisoccertalk.com/2017/08/28/market-fc-cincinnatis-biggest-threat-mls-expansion-bid

^ As far the market and demographics go, Nashville is in a virtual tie with Cincinnati on things like TV market, Fortune 500 companies, and percentage of population under the age of 35.

 

Surprising to read this. I just assumed Nashville was overflowing with Millenials.

Anyone have an extra ticket for the Bailey this weekend they'd be willing to part with? Message me to work out details if so

Anyone have an extra ticket for the Bailey this weekend they'd be willing to part with? Message me to work out details if so

 

Try The Bailey Facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1479848725665133/

Pretty certain the ballet has been interested in finding a new location since before FCC has grown to what it is now, but that doesn't mean that FCC's success hasn't expedited their search.

 

I personally wonder if the story could be triggered or linked to the North Wing of the Main Library. Things that make you go hmmmm.

 

I though the exact same thing about the North Library building, that or the UC Law School.

Pretty certain the ballet has been interested in finding a new location since before FCC has grown to what it is now, but that doesn't mean that FCC's success hasn't expedited their search.

 

I personally wonder if the story could be triggered or linked to the North Wing of the Main Library. Things that make you go hmmmm.

 

I though the exact same thing about the North Library building, that or the UC Law School.

 

I talked to someone at UC who has his finger on the pulse of such things, and he basically told me there's no way in h*ck that the College of Law is moving off campus.

^Yeah from the whole conversation about the Law College moving to the Banks, it sounded like they were set on keeping them on main campus. Speculating about a possible move seems like a waste of time.

^ This is a dead issue now. They closed the door on moving it over a year ago now.

Here's how much money UC makes from stadium lease to FC Cincinnati

 

FC Cincinnati’s big soccer crowds the past two years have netted the University of Cincinnati an extra $100,000-plus.

 

That’s just one of the details unveiled in the pro soccer team’s lease with UC for its use of Nippert Stadium, the on-campus home of UC football, for home games and for practice and training. After weeks of waiting, the Courier has obtained a copy of the lease following a public records request to the University of Cincinnati. The lease, signed in Aug. 2015, covers FC Cincinnati’s first three seasons and is renewable after that.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/09/01/heres-how-much-moneyuc-makes-from-stadium-lease-to.html

Guessing this is where the stadium would go if it's in Oakley?

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/09/06/exclusive-cast-fab-selling-former-oakley-facility.html

This story has been updated several times in the past 36 hours...

 

CVB President: FC Cincinnati practice facility would bring $50 million to Clermont County over 5 years

 

 

^ I highly doubt that.

^ I highly doubt that.

 

Yeah, I agree and frankly I'm surprised to see local governments scrambling to offer incentives for not a stadium, but a practice facility.

Berding talks about FC Cincinnati’s upcoming record crowd

 

Amid a sea of records set by FC Cincinnati in its first two years of existence, the one it will set Saturday might be the most impressive.

 

The club will break the United Soccer League regular season single-game attendance record Saturday when it hosts New York Red Bulls II at Nippert Stadium on the University of Cincinnati campus.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/09/14/berding-talks-about-fc-cincinnati-s-upcoming.html

PX: FC Cincinnati stadium issue back in political spotlight

Jason Williams, [email protected] Published 4:56 p.m. ET Sept. 22, 2017 | Updated 9:09 p.m. ET Sept. 22, 2017

 

 

It's been really quiet lately on the FC Cincinnati stadium front.

 

But the public debate will heat back up on Tuesday night. Soccer fans are expected to show up en masse for a 7 p.m. public meeting at the Hamilton County Board of Elections in Norwood to implore commissioners to spend taxpayer money on a new stadium.

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics-extra/2017/09/22/px/690116001/

FC Cincinnati stadium’s potential economic impact detailed

 

A new FC Cincinnati stadium would have a total ongoing economic impact on the region’s output of $62 million, according to a new study of the stadium’s financial effect on Greater Cincinnati.

 

That impact combines the effect of the soccer team’s operations and the visitor impact on Greater Cincinnati’s 15-county region, according to the study.

 

Stephen Buser, professor emeritus at Ohio State’s business school, and Bill LaFayette, owner of Columbus economics firm Regionomics, conducted the study, which was commissioned by law firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/09/28/exclusive-fc-cincinnati-stadium-s-potential.html

FC Cincinnati rival for MLS bid finalizes stadium financing

 

The clock is ticking on FC Cincinnati, and the ticking just got louder.

 

A rival of FC Cincinnati in the race for a coveted Major League Soccer expansion franchise appears to have financing lined up to build a soccer stadium.

 

Nashville, Tenn.’s Metro Council approved a plan on Monday to provide financing for a $250 million stadium that would seat 27,500 fans. The stadium would be paid for by $200 million in revenue bonds, $25 million in Metro general obligation bonds and $25 million from the team’s ownership group.

 

FC Cincinnati’s MLS expansion bid is competing with 11 other cities, including Nashville, for four expansion franchises. MLS will award two of those in December and two others at a future date. MLS has said expansion franchises need to have firm plans for a soccer-specific stadium. That means they need to have a site under control and financing in place. Sacramento, Calif., has already started pre-construction work on a site for a new soccer stadium.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/10/03/fc-cincinnati-rival-for-mls-bid-finalizes-stadium.html

Hamilton county portune to prioritize FCC stadium and 3 other Hamilton county projects. Final decision on financing and whether or not it's feasible to fund stadium will come in November

I'm sorry I would rather have them put all their marbles in getting the Amazon HQ instead of another stadium.

I'm sorry I would rather have them put all their marbles in getting the Amazon HQ instead of another stadium.

 

I would've rather seen them truly give a damn about transit at any point since 1973, but here we are.

Carl Lindner III wrote this: http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/contributors/2017/10/05/viable-stadium-plan-essential-winning-mls-bid/732592001/

 

But he doesn't include details about what options are being pursued regarding public-private partnership structures. Seems clear he does NOT want to put anything before the voters, so he's hoping something can be put together just at the city/county level. He mentions Hamilton County, but no details about any idea of how they could partner with the City of Cincinnati, the Port Redevelopment Authority, or any entities in Kentucky.  I understand that Lindner wants to raise public support for the idea, but it annoys me that we haven't gotten any more specifics in the last few months. And with the MLS decision looming in the next month or two, I'm worried the team isn't making progress on a financing plan.

No rush needed. Mls has a December deadline. Anything before that is really irrelevant.

WVXU links to the text of the 1997 Bengals lease re: shared use of the stadium by a soccer team:

http://wvxu.org/post/lease-says-stadium-could-house-soccer-franchise#stream/0

 

Some have suggested that Hamilton County could sell Paul Brown Stadium to FC Cincinnati and then The Bengals could become a tenant.  That would require a renegotiation of the 1997 Bengals lease, obviously.

Not an option. MLS require full control of revenue streams. FCC would miss on all concession stand revenue streams and would go instead to bengals .

^You didn't pay attention to what I wrote. Earlier, people proposed that UC sell Nippert to the soccer team.  This is a similar speculative proposal. 

MLS would not allow it and FCC would not accept it. It would be an awful venue for soccer. I'd rather stay in the USL and keep the games in Nippert than have the games played in a stadium with 40,000 empty seats every match. It's a lazy political move by Portune and Driehaus to act like they're trying to save money. Their complete lack of awareness and leadership on this issue will cost us the bid or allow the stadium to be built in Kentucky.

As a big FCC fan (disclaimer: my first choice would be to stay at Nippert)... my initial thought was to also think that Paul Brown would be a bad venue for FCC... but I'm not sure *why*? Is it just because it's "too big"? Could that be solved with banners on the upper level (like Nippert)? Seeing Atlanta average 48k this past year sets a new standard for the MLS. I'm not sure we could average Atlanta-level attendance, but at the same time it seems short-sighted to spend $200+ million to build a small 25k stadium.  If we really believe soccer is only going to increase in popularity (as I believe), why should we spend so much money building a deliberately small new stadium?

 

As we've seen in Columbus recently, the owners and the MLS want dedicated stadiums because it gives them great leverage to negotiate ongoing public investment. I would really like to avoid that situation here in Cincinnati, though I know we don't have a ton of bargaining power when there are so many cities clamoring to get a new MLS team.

Paul Brown Stadium won't work for several reasons:

 

 

1) MLS won't let us in if our long-term plan is to utilize PBS. I shouldn't have to go further, but I will.

2) Mike Brown would receive way too much of the revenue to justify using it.

3) PBS is a characterless dungeon and provides no atmosphere

4) It's enormous. Atlanta has almost 3X the metro population of Cincinnati. We shouldn't expect to get close to Atlanta's attendance, even with the growing popularity of the sport. The biggest damper to a loud stadium is empty seats. A poor atmosphere decreases attendance. Part of the reason Nippert works right now is that it's an intimate venue where an empty upper deck doesn't seem bad.

 

 

They want a dedicated stadium for a lot of reasons. They want it so the MLS team can dictate scheduling. NYCFC has had to play two games in Connecticut because the Yankees went deep into the postseason. That makes the look look amateur. MLS teams in rented facilities often don't receive much from concessions or advertising because there are already deals in place and the revenue structure is established by the primary tenant.

 

Nippert has a lot of issues too. Aside from not controlling scheduling and revenue, FCC also doesn't have a locker room outside of game days. From what I've heard, there has been tension between UC Athletics and FCC due to the limited space availability. There isn't even a kitchen at Nippert to provide high quality food (which in turn, can charge a premium for club seats). It's worlds better since the renovation, and UC football should never leave Nippert, but it just isn't a great long-term solution for FCC.

^Yeah... certainly using Paul Brown wouldn't make sense unless major changes were made to the ownership structure of both the stadium and FCC.

 

 

Detroit just today announced something along those lines, bringing the Ford family into the ownership group so that they can make Ford Field their preferred site. This is a change from their previous plan to build a new, dedicated 23,000-seat soccer stadium.

 

 

From the MLS's perspective, I have to think this puts Detroit near the top of expansion cities.

 

 

http://www.wxyz.com/news/ford-family-joins-bid-for-detroit-mls-team-with-ford-field-as-stadium

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nba/pistons/2017/11/02/detroit-mls-bid-ford-field/823112001/

A bit more detail on Detroit's decision to use Ford Field as their stadium site for their MLS application:

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20171102/news/643951/plan-for-mls-stadium-scrapped-team-would-play-at-ford-field

From the MLS's perspective, I have to think this puts Detroit near the top of expansion cities.

 

I thought that too, until I saw MLS' response: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DNpvMxDVoAA6mTh.jpg

 

Specifically, the bottom comment about "prioritizing" soccer-specific stadia.

 

Even if Ford Field is allowed to be a venue and Detroit is awarded a bid, the scuttlebutt seems to be that they're lining it up for Atlanta-style renovations which provide a more intimate atmosphere and make soccer a priority on par with the football team.

 

Paul Brown Stadium lacks a lot of those merits.

 

 

Not to mention, a TIF district exists in Newport and there's a memorandum of understanding with the developer. If FC Cincinnati's options are playing in Cincinnati (but at PBS) or playing in Newport, but controlling dates, schedule, and revenue completely - I think they'll choose Newport.

This will probably kill Detroits bid for this round. Gilbert and company essentially lied about the usage of the prison site. He wanted the prison site, and said it was for an mls sss but when he actually he got the land, he was like sike! That will likely anger mls higher ups alot.

 

Also in the latest renderings they stole alot of detroit city fc logos and branding. The owners of Detroit City FC are livid about this on there twitter.

 

I just wish Portune would see what Detroit just did and realize the idea of playing at PBS is moronic.

I think having three separate stadiums for three sports teams is an incredibly fragile situation. Focusing On FC and the Bengals in particular:

 

 

1. MLS could skyrocket in popularity leaving a ~20k stadium too small and obsolete. This scenario could happen very quickly, perhaps within five years

 

 

2. NFL could decline in popularity making PBS a hardly used venue (might take awhile but look at California crowds)

 

 

3. NFL could continue rise in popularity and go global causing Bengals to leave town

FC Cincinnati season tickets off to record sales

 

FC Cincinnati is selling season tickets at a record-breaking rate that’s blowing away team projections.

 

The team has sold 10,000 season tickets for its 2018 season to date. That’s double the number of season tickets that were sold at the same time last year.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/11/07/fc-cincinnati-season-tickets-off-to-record-sales.html

Are you FC Cincy fans absolutely sure you want to be in MLS?

Lol I don't want to be anymore after this Crew thing and understanding more of how the league works.

Lol I don't want to be anymore after this Crew thing and understanding more of how the league works.

 

Best case scenario would be a successful league operating outside of the strictures of MLS. Cincinnati is a kickass example that this is actually possible.

I have split off the discussion about a new stadium into this new thread in the Southwest Ohio Projects & Construction board. This thread will remain in the Sports Talk board and be used to talk about sporting things.

Someone put together this graphic to show the current roster for 2018. Discussions are still ongoing with defender Austin Berry and goalkeeper Mitch Hildebrandt to my knowledge.

 

 

Here are the announcements about the signing of Paddy Barrett, Forrest Lasso, Dekel Keinen, and Daniel Haber.

 

Also, the news that Harrison Delbridge is leaving FCC to pursue a career with FC Melbourne and perhaps have a shot at making the Australian National Team in time for the 2018 World Cup.

I'd love to keep Hildebrandt, but the dude deserves to play at a higher level.

He played out of his mind in the US Open Cup, and is generally a good keeper, but he ended 2017 pretty poorly. Not saying it was entirely his fault, because we had some bad passing and poor lapses on defense, but he didn't play well in league play after that Open Cup run. He only had one clean sheet in the last 13 games, and he gave up three or more goals on 6 of those 13 occasions. I wouldn't mind seeing him fight for his position next year.

Another signing announced: Midfielder Tyler Gibson from the San Francisco Deltas (they won the NASL in 2017).

 

 

Updated graphic with 3 new signings: Cicerone, Seymore, and Village.

 

 

Also, this is a cool video of Cicerone scoring a goal.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5isd7ys8gpM

^ Sorry to see Quinn didn't get resigned.

If the MLS picks Sacramento and Cincinnati, it would be a validation for the USL, showing that success in the USL is rewarded... but it would also take the top two teams (in terms of attendance) out of the USL. I'm curious how the managers at the USL view it: are they hoping Sacramento and Cincinnati get the MLS bids? Not that they have any say in the matter... but it's just an interesting situation they're in as the USL continues to grow (and the NASL dwindles).

 

If Nashville is passed over, it means Nashville would play the next few years in the USL, presumably biding their time until the next round of MLS expansion. That would probably be good for the USL to have Nashville as an "up and coming" team for a few years.

^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.

Did they hit 15k already? I thought that was the goal by the time the season started.

Did they hit 15k already? I thought that was the goal by the time the season started.

 

Apparently told 700 WLW: