12 minutes ago, YO to the CLE said:

With all the BS with the Browns stadium as well as their continual mediocrity, maybe we will become a soccer city. One can only hope and pray.

I think a lakefront/downtown Soccer Stadium/ MLS Team would be fabulous for Cleveland. A few months ago Indianapolis informed the league they wanted to bid (MLS isn’t adding any more teams at the moment tho but will at some point). Definitely something CLE should look into.

 

https://www.axios.com/local/indianapolis/2024/07/25/garber-mls-end-of-expansion-indy-doing-everything-right

 

MLS Commissioner:

How much will the next expansion fee cost, if and when the league adds more teams? "More than $500 million," Garber said.

 

“Some sources close to the league have speculated that expansion talks may be on ice until after the U.S. hosts the 2026 World Cup, after which expansion fees could grow.”

Edited August 26, 2024Aug 26 by 646empire

MLS won't be happening anytime soon for Cleveland but that could be a good thing. There's enough metro areas that will have USL teams, and MLS being more "exclusive" allows for USLC to grow. Cleveland would be a great add for the league and close rivals in Pittsburgh, Detroit and Louisville. 

4 hours ago, Dino said:

Part of me thinks that the stadium situations in America are out of control.  It's sad our soccer bids are contingent on new stadiums.  We already have a stadium.  There's really no reason that a pro football plus a pro mens, and a pro women's soccer team couldn't share a stadium.  That's what they do in Seattle.  But the general trend seems to be that of KC.  3 pro teams, and each has it's own stadium.  

 

However, knowing that that's not how things work, I really like the idea of a soccer stadium downtown!

50 years ago Baseball & Football shared the same stadium. Today everyone has their own. The NBA/NHL share the same arena. I bet you that in the near future

each team has their own arena.

I think an NWSL team would be more successful than USLC, though if we had both, they could both be successful. 

 

It's my theory that cities used to having major league teams find it harder to support lower level leagues in other sports. I havent done the research at all, so it's completely possible there may be NFL/MLB/NBA cities with successful minor league soccer or baseball teams. I just think when a place is used to a certain level of quality (jokes about the Browns aside) it's hard to accept a league that's a step below "the best". 

15 hours ago, simplythis said:

The NBA/NHL share the same arena. I bet you that in the near future

each team has their own arena.

 

This already kind of happened with the Brooklyn Nets/NY Islanders and Barclays Center. Venue was designed for basketball with hockey as an afterthought. Fast-forward and the Islanders have a new arena and no longer play in Brooklyn. 

4 minutes ago, GISguy said:

 

This already kind of happened with the Brooklyn Nets/NY Islanders and Barclays Center. Venue was designed for basketball with hockey as an afterthought. Fast-forward and the Islanders have a new arena and no longer play in Brooklyn. 

The Islanders never played in Brooklyn except for a short time when the owner was playing chicken on the new building.  They played at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island (hence the name) 

18 minutes ago, Cleburger said:

The Islanders never played in Brooklyn except for a short time when the owner was playing chicken on the new building.  They played at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island (hence the name) 

 

My point was that sport specific arenas are already a thing. The five-ish years that the Islanders tried to play at Barclays was pretty much a disaster from a hockey standpoint. That said, I miss seeing a car in the stands lol.

17 hours ago, daybreaker said:

I think an NWSL team would be more successful than USLC, though if we had both, they could both be successful. 

 

It's my theory that cities used to having major league teams find it harder to support lower level leagues in other sports. I havent done the research at all, so it's completely possible there may be NFL/MLB/NBA cities with successful minor league soccer or baseball teams. I just think when a place is used to a certain level of quality (jokes about the Browns aside) it's hard to accept a league that's a step below "the best". 

 

FYI The Cleveland Monsters lead the AHL in attendance:

 

https://www.news5cleveland.com/sports/local-sports/cleveland-monsters-have-highest-attendance-average-in-ahl-for-good-reason

17 hours ago, simplythis said:

50 years ago Baseball & Football shared the same stadium. Today everyone has their own. The NBA/NHL share the same arena. I bet you that in the near future

each team has their own arena.

 

The baseball/football thing is an entirely different animal to NBA/NHL or American football/Real football (soccer).  Baseball park dimensions don't easily square with football stadium dimensions, which is why almost all of the multiuse stadiums were great for one sport and pretty mediocre-or-worse for the other.  There's also the issue of capacity, where baseball has way more attendance in a season, but spread over a lot more games compared to the shorter football season

 

Baseball stadiums can be smaller and more efficient, fit better into an urban environment, and provide a significantly better experience if they don't have to cater to football.  Also, the grass/turf quality matters a LOT more in baseball than football, which tears up its ground pretty aggressively.  A lot of baseball players hated municipal stadium because fielding balls was harder because they'd take weird hops on the uneven, poorly maintained surface.  Modell treated maintenance like a football guy, and it showed in how bad the experience was for baseball.

 

Soccer stadiums use a similar field to football, so the overlap of design for the stadium is much greater.  I am not for separating out sports generally, but baseball and football should not mix.  And if the trend we're drawing is based almost exclusively off baseball teams breaking away from football arenas, it's not (solely) because teams don't want to share a space.

If the Browns move to Brook Park could the current stadium be converted to facilitate a rehab for soccer? How much does one think it would cost to make use for another kind of team to lease it?

it sounds like there is a finalists pitch next week in NYC for the franchise.  No politicians invited

1 hour ago, BelievelandD1 said:

it sounds like there is a finalists pitch next week in NYC for the franchise.  No politicians invited

I wonder how Cleveland stacks up. Cincinnati has an MLS stadium that they could play in. WE don't have a financing plan wrapped up. I don't recall City/county voting on the 90m public money. Even if they were awarded the franchise doesn't it take 2 years to build a stadium. Am i missing anything.

Cleveland will be well positioned IMO because of the in roads and relationships the Cleveland Soccer Group has built the past 3-4 years with the NWSL and MLS Next.  They arent some detached guys looking for a pet project.  There is a ton of passion there and the NWSL knows it.  They want to grow their league and they need masive community activation to do it.  That may just be a separator for Cleveland.  My guess is there is some trust that has been built there.  Cleveland is right at the table, i don't think the stadium will be as much of an issue as everyone is making it out to be.

20 hours ago, dave2017 said:

If the Browns move to Brook Park could the current stadium be converted to facilitate a rehab for soccer? How much does one think it would cost to make use for another kind of team to lease it?

 

I've been looking through current soccer-specific stadiums, and I haven't located any instances of converting an old NFL stadium into a smaller soccer-specific stadium.  I'd guess it's prohibitively expensive.  However, there probably hasn't ever been the confluence of an NFL team abandoning a stadium at the same time a soccer stadium is in planning.

 

The closest I could find is DC United continued playing at RFK Stadium for about a decade after the Redskins moved into their new stadium.  It doesn't sound like they made any substantial modifications to do so though.  Then, they decided to move to a new stadium because it was too expensive to maintain RFK.

 

I'd imagine any new team might play temporarily at Browns Stadium with the upper deck covered, but continue with plans to build their new stadium.  Unless somehow immediate demolition of Browns Stadium could be planned and a new soccer stadium built from scratch on-site.  (side note: near immediate demolition of retired stadiums was more common than I thought.  Candlestick Park in SF, the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh were all demolished within about a year of their last game.)

On 8/28/2024 at 10:43 AM, acd said:

 

I've been looking through current soccer-specific stadiums, and I haven't located any instances of converting an old NFL stadium into a smaller soccer-specific stadium.  I'd guess it's prohibitively expensive.  However, there probably hasn't ever been the confluence of an NFL team abandoning a stadium at the same time a soccer stadium is in planning.

 

The closest I could find is DC United continued playing at RFK Stadium for about a decade after the Redskins moved into their new stadium.  It doesn't sound like they made any substantial modifications to do so though.  Then, they decided to move to a new stadium because it was too expensive to maintain RFK.

 

I'd imagine any new team might play temporarily at Browns Stadium with the upper deck covered, but continue with plans to build their new stadium.  Unless somehow immediate demolition of Browns Stadium could be planned and a new soccer stadium built from scratch on-site.  (side note: near immediate demolition of retired stadiums was more common than I thought.  Candlestick Park in SF, the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh were all demolished within about a year of their last game.)

 

Personally, I would prefer they develop the proposed site south of the Innerbelt.

 

We could get a new Rapid station served by all three lines that could also better serve Progressive Field and RoMoFiHo, more pedestrian infrastructure, and the biggest of all: expanding Downtown south of the Innerbelt.

 

Opening Downtown up to develop the no-man's-land towards the post office is a huge opportunity for the city. With another Rapid stop, a nice little stadium village or other development could pop up and eventually connect to the Tri-C area if the post office is relocated. Maybe wishful thinking though.

 

I think if they used the old Browns stadium it wouldn't be bad, but it would feel like the team and fans are staying in someone else's house. Not to mention how much it would cost to repair and maintain that death trap.

 

Ugh, I just want a Downtown Waterfront Loop. That would make everything so much easier.

55 minutes ago, Zagapi said:

Ugh, I just want a Downtown Waterfront Loop. That would make everything so much easier.

This a million times. Imagine how quickly all of those lots would sell and develop between E13 and E21. 

 

Soccer fan bases typically have such great pregame culture too.  The team(s) could have sponsored pregame parties all over town, that then either walk or ride transit to the stadium. The chant/singing filled pregame walk/ride to the stadium from the bar is half of the fun in going to a soccer game. 

 

Imagine....

 

-A green/blue line train on the loop picking up CSU students at the student center, pregame groups at Becky's/Parnell's/Hofbrauhaus, another at Noble Beast, the Flats, and a Flat Iron group at Settlers Landing before dropping them off. 

-Also blue/green from Van Aken and Shaker pregame events. 

-EB red line picking up Gordon Square and Ohio City groups

-WB red line picking up Little Italy, Case, and other UC groups. 

-a bike bus from Tremont bars to ride 5ish minutes. 

I know people don't want to hear this... but I hope an activist owner with DEEP pockets gets involved (thinking the Mark Cuban 1999 mold)... 

 

We need people within USL to advocate for a promotion/relegation system in order to have any chance of sustainable success. Frankly, it's absurd how against it the MLS is, when their bottom tier clubs draw almost no one and top tier USL clubs are electric. 

The USL doesn't have a salary cap. So it would be super intriguing to have a Mark Cuban grab investors to assemble an entire team of ringers who could surpass the MLS squads.  

 

I wanna say the guy who owned and was restarting the NY Cosmos was that type of guy.  

 

Also agree promotion/relegation makes a lot of sense for USL.  I always like the idea of an underdog situation where the teams like Albany's or Salem NC can graduate and play the bigger dogs in USL like OKC, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Phoenix, hopefully Cleveland.... 

Edited August 29, 2024Aug 29 by surfohio

57 minutes ago, YABO713 said:

I know people don't want to hear this... but I hope an activist owner with DEEP pockets gets involved (thinking the Mark Cuban 1999 mold)... 

 

We need people within USL to advocate for a promotion/relegation system in order to have any chance of sustainable success. Frankly, it's absurd how against it the MLS is, when their bottom tier clubs draw almost no one and top tier USL clubs are electric. 

I think this would actually make me care about soccer.

On 8/29/2024 at 3:46 PM, surfohio said:

The USL doesn't have a salary cap. So it would be super intriguing to have a Mark Cuban grab investors to assemble an entire team of ringers who could surpass the MLS squads.  

 

I wanna say the guy who owned and was restarting the NY Cosmos was that type of guy.  

 

Also agree promotion/relegation makes a lot of sense for USL.  I always like the idea of an underdog situation where the teams like Albany's or Salem NC can graduate and play the bigger dogs in USL like OKC, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Phoenix, hopefully Cleveland.... 

 

At that point for a Mark Cuban type, though — why pour that money into USL when you could just then get an MLS franchise or become part of an existing group, etc?

Promotion/Relegation isn’t going to happen in the United States soccer system anytime soon, if at all (for better or worse). Aside from the play talent gulf (which is wider for some USL teams, but not all (yet still wide)), the wealth gap and valuations of franchises are immense. You’re also never going to get MLS to agree (in its current existence) to drop one of its “franchise” down to USL and de-value their whole product (MLS is a single entity structure). The only benefit in pro/rel goes to USL. Even if it’s a more “fair” or “just” system based on “sporting merit,” it’s just a fact that the major money (and all it entails with development, stadiums, etc) is in MLS.

USL may eventually try their own pro/rel within their own system, but it will simply be a novelty. 

Could soccer eventually grow to demand it? Sure, but MLS is probably going to welcome in/expand any major franchise who’d be a threat (and currently, the existing USL business is not). 

 

Not saying it’s good or right, but MLS probably isn’t too worried about the USL and its teams challenging them in any way soon. And if there’s a market they really want, well, unfortunately they usually make sure to get it (see San Diego). 

Edited September 3, 2024Sep 3 by Gordon Bombay

50 minutes ago, Gordon Bombay said:

 

At that point for a Mark Cuban type, though — why pour that money into USL when you could just then get an MLS franchise or become part of an existing group, etc?
 

 

Because you can theoretically buy a  team with much better talent than an MLS team.  

17 hours ago, surfohio said:

 

Because you can theoretically buy a  team with much better talent than an MLS team.  

No you really can’t. Your hitting on the no salary cap point but USL doesn’t have a revenue structure (bigger modern cash making stadiums, TV deals, merchandise deals, sponsorship deals, etc.) to support the payrolls of the “much better talent”. They can’t sign better talent than a MLS team without a way to pay for it lol (no they aren’t going to pay them just to pay them out of their personal wealth) and you’re also assuming that the better talent would even sign to a USL team which is highly unlikely even if the money from some rogue USL billionaire was good. Too much to type right now but if your point was correct the MLS Billionaire groups would have built up USL teams they did not and for good reasons. Keep in mind some of the Most popular MLS squads like Cincy now was in the USL if I’m not mistaken.

Edited September 4, 2024Sep 4 by 646empire

2 hours ago, 646empire said:

No you really can’t. Your hitting on the no salary cap point but USL doesn’t have a revenue structure (bigger modern cash making stadiums, TV deals, merchandise deals, sponsorship deals, etc.) to support the payrolls of the “much better talent”. They can’t sign better talent than a MLS team without a way to pay for it lol (no they aren’t going to pay them just to pay them out of their personal wealth) and you’re also assuming that the better talent would even sign to a USL team which is highly unlikely even if the money from some rogue USL billionaire was good. Too much to type right now but if your point was correct the MLS Billionaire groups would have built up USL teams they did not and for good reasons. Keep in mind some of the Most popular MLS squads like Cincy now was in the USL if I’m not mistaken.

 

Agree to disagree. The buy-in for San Diego was $500M. Some anti-establishment maverick owner like the guy who owned the NY Cosmos (and now owns ACF Florintina) could raise that money and instead of paying MLS, could put it toward salary and operations. It wouldn't even matter that the USL-C league is not great across the board...this team would be eligible for playing teams all over in  Champions Leagues, US Open Cup, etc. etc.  

 

But look, MLS being exclusive leaves a lot of room for Cleveland and other MLS excluded cities (Detroit, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Phoenix, Buffalo...) to compete at a high level. Logically USL is that place and there is plenty of room to grow in the future.  

Breaking:

 

 

 

 

I like how this along with CCF Global Peak Performance Center will be viewed as coming north on 90.  

 

Metroparks, GCRTA to aid soccer stadium project
By Ken Prendergast / September 18, 2024

 

In two different ways, two Greater Cleveland public-sector organizations are stepping up to support the Cleveland Soccer Group’s (CSG) effort to build a $150 million, 12,500-seat soccer stadium just southeast of Downtown Cleveland. Tomorrow, the Cleveland Metroparks’ board will vote on whether to acquire land for the stadium while the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) is pursuing an amendment to its long-range plan to add a rapid transit station to serve the stadium area.

 

MORE:

https://neo-trans.blog/2024/09/18/metroparks-gcrta-to-aid-soccer-stadium-project/

On 9/4/2024 at 12:03 PM, surfohio said:

Some anti-establishment maverick owner like the guy who owned the NY Cosmos (and now owns ACF Florintina)

 

That's Rocco Commisso. Who *checks notes* couldn't even keep the New York Cosmos playing in an American third-tier league.

 

The USL rivaling MLS in any way any time soon is just soccer Twitter fantasy fodder. It's a great league, but there's a reason why even its best performing markets have continually sought out MLS over the years... for better or worse. 

EDIT: That being said, the USL-C (and USL League 1) is a way better league for fans than MLS Next Pro.

Edited September 18, 2024Sep 18 by Gordon Bombay

59 minutes ago, KJP said:

 

Metroparks, GCRTA to aid soccer stadium project
By Ken Prendergast / September 18, 2024

 

In two different ways, two Greater Cleveland public-sector organizations are stepping up to support the Cleveland Soccer Group’s (CSG) effort to build a $150 million, 12,500-seat soccer stadium just southeast of Downtown Cleveland. Tomorrow, the Cleveland Metroparks’ board will vote on whether to acquire land for the stadium while the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) is pursuing an amendment to its long-range plan to add a rapid transit station to serve the stadium area.

 

MORE:

https://neo-trans.blog/2024/09/18/metroparks-gcrta-to-aid-soccer-stadium-project/

KJP - Great article and very informative. But I have 3 questions - 1) Is CSG still considering a training facility for the men's NextPro team next to the stadium.

I had assumed that if they acquire Notre Dame College campus that the training facility for both the  men's next-pro team & women's NWSL team would be at Notre Dame College campus. Please correct me if I am wrong

2) If environmental studies take up to 240 days ( eight months ) and they need to wrap-up financing with the 90 million public funding bond issue - I cannot see construction starting until May 2025. This is not enough time to build a state of the art Stadium to be ready for the start of the 2026 Season which is approx March 2026 if they are AWARDED the franchise unless they play the 2026 Season at a temporary site like Huntington Bank Field or if the NWSL pushes the start of the franchise to 2027.

3). What happens if CSG is not awarded a franchise ( Cincinati is ready to go). IS CSG still going to go through with the stadium if they have to get a women's team in a lower league.  What do you know? 

2 minutes ago, simplythis said:

KJP - Great article and very informative. But I have 3 questions - 1) Is CSG still considering a training facility for the men's NextPro team next to the stadium.

I had assumed that if they acquire Notre Dame College campus that the training facility for both the  men's next-pro team & women's NWSL team would be at Notre Dame College campus. Please correct me if I am wrong

2) If environmental studies take up to 240 days ( eight months ) and they need to wrap-up financing with the 90 million public funding bond issue - I cannot see construction starting until May 2025. This is not enough time to build a state of the art Stadium to be ready for the start of the 2026 Season which is approx March 2026 if they are AWARDED the franchise unless they play the 2026 Season at a temporary site like Huntington Bank Field or if the NWSL pushes the start of the franchise to 2027.

3). What happens if CSG is not awarded a franchise ( Cincinati is ready to go). IS CSG still going to go through with the stadium if they have to get a women's team in a lower league.  What do you know? 

 

1. both options on the table right now. No decisions made.

2. due diligence (including enviro view) will likely take 120 days. They have two 60-day options to extend time if needed. A temp site is probably going to be needed no matter what.

3. I don't know anything about the future. I can only speculate. That and 25 cents gets me 15 minutes of metered parking.

8 hours ago, Gordon Bombay said:

 

That's Rocco Commisso. Who *checks notes* couldn't even keep the New York Cosmos playing in an American third-tier league.

 

The USL rivaling MLS in any way any time soon is just soccer Twitter fantasy fodder. It's a great league, but there's a reason why even its best performing markets have continually sought out MLS over the years... for better or worse. 

EDIT: That being said, the USL-C (and USL League 1) is a way better league for fans than MLS Next Pro.

 

The guy opted to buy ACF Fiorentina and then paid for their $90M stadium out of pocket. Otherwise the Cosmos could have very easily entered USL. What I originally said was that a maverick owner could theoretically build a super team in USL and I stand by that because MLS salary rules absolutely prevent that. 

 

Agree USL-C is a great league. The exclusivity of MLS just about forces the uninvited markets to compete and get better. It will! 

18 hours ago, KJP said:

 

Metroparks, GCRTA to aid soccer stadium project
By Ken Prendergast / September 18, 2024

 

In two different ways, two Greater Cleveland public-sector organizations are stepping up to support the Cleveland Soccer Group’s (CSG) effort to build a $150 million, 12,500-seat soccer stadium just southeast of Downtown Cleveland. Tomorrow, the Cleveland Metroparks’ board will vote on whether to acquire land for the stadium while the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) is pursuing an amendment to its long-range plan to add a rapid transit station to serve the stadium area.

 

MORE:

https://neo-trans.blog/2024/09/18/metroparks-gcrta-to-aid-soccer-stadium-project/

Did I just read that the RTA is ACTUALLY taking steps to make their rail BETTER???

Metroparks approve the purchase of approximately 13.6 acres of land from the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the City of Cleveland

https://www.crainscleveland.com/sports-recreation/metroparks-approve-land-purchase-downtown-soccer-stadium

 

Tremendous opportunity.  https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cleveland/cleveland-metroparks-cleveland-soccer-group-acquires-lot-proposed-womens-soccer-stadium/95-52a501db-65f6-4b38-bf13-5dbf728b1433

Cool new soccer stadium video that flies through the Tower City Riverfront development and shows potential additional development around the soccer stadium. 

 

 

Dang, that's cool.

Some still shots from it. Although at some times the video is moving so fast, it's impossible for it not to be blurry.

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, KJP said:

Cool new soccer stadium video that flies through the Tower City Riverfront development and shows potential additional development around the soccer stadium. 

 

 

Maybe it’s because I’m not familiar with the different levels of pro soccer, but I was expecting a stadium more like the one in Columbus. Perhaps something like Crew stadium is outside of the budget of this league. Also, I think Crew stadium is around 20K capacity, so not apples to apples. 
 

Nevertheless, it’s great to see this empty land developed. 

16 minutes ago, jeremyck01 said:

Maybe it’s because I’m not familiar with the different levels of pro soccer, but I was expecting a stadium more like the one in Columbus. Perhaps something like Crew stadium is outside of the budget of this league. Also, I think Crew stadium is around 20K capacity, so not apples to apples. 
 

Nevertheless, it’s great to see this empty land developed. 

 

Well I wouldn't say it's outside the budget of the league. I'm not sure how most of the stadiums arise in NWSL. But consider the San Diego women's team averages 20,194 fans per game. While Columbus Crew stadium capacity is 19,968. 

22 minutes ago, surfohio said:

 

Well I wouldn't say it's outside the budget of the league. I'm not sure how most of the stadiums arise in NWSL. But consider the San Diego women's team averages 20,194 fans per game. While Columbus Crew stadium capacity is 19,968. 

As I said, I’m not familiar with the different levels/leagues of pro soccer and I didn’t realize it was a women’s league (I must not have read closely,) so my comment was in no way denigrating the viability of women’s soccer (since I didn’t know!) to draw a crowd.
 

Basically all I know is the MLS, hence my comment about my surprise at the smaller stadium since I’m only familiar with MLS stadiums. 

NWSL tidbits.

 

I didn't know until recently that St. Ignatius' soccer team is ranked #1 in the country and Hudson is #13.  U of Akron is typically in the top 10!  For girls, Walsh Jesuit is #1 and Highland is #9.  Apparently Cleveland soccer is pretty top notch!

Just now, Dino said:

I didn't know until recently that St. Ignatius' soccer team is ranked #1 in the country and Hudson is #13.  U of Akron is typically in the top 10!  For girls, Walsh Jesuit is #1 and Highland is #9.  Apparently Cleveland soccer is pretty top notch!

 

My son desperately wants to play for Iggy. And when he was in Akron last spring for a regional science competition (he won that and then won state -- brains AND brawn, baby!), we stopped by their soccer practice and I showed him where their players come from -- ie: all over the world.

1 hour ago, Dino said:

I didn't know until recently that St. Ignatius' soccer team is ranked #1 in the country and Hudson is #13.  U of Akron is typically in the top 10!  For girls, Walsh Jesuit is #1 and Highland is #9.  Apparently Cleveland soccer is pretty top notch!

Why do you think our football team sucks now? Everyone plays soccer and rugby. To be fair the soccer team has been premier for over two decades now. Rugby is more of a last five years. 

Scene Story on CSG https://www.clevescene.com/news/metroparks-approves-purchase-of-downtown-site-for-cleveland-womens-pro-soccer-stadium-45154098

On 9/24/2024 at 6:41 PM, KFM44107 said:

Why do you think our football team sucks now? Everyone plays soccer and rugby. To be fair the soccer team has been premier for over two decades now. Rugby is more of a last five years. 

People playing soccer or rugby has no bearing on why the Browns suck right now.  People play soccer and rugby in Kansas City as well...

Just now, cfdwarrior said:

People playing soccer or rugby has no bearing on why the Browns suck right now.  People play soccer and rugby in Kansas City as well...

I mean Ignatius football.... The browns sucking probably needs an entire books worth of info. 

1 minute ago, KFM44107 said:

I mean Ignatius football.... The browns sucking probably needs an entire books worth of info. 

Once hockey season begins, Ignatius will have their groove back in contact sports...

On 9/24/2024 at 6:41 PM, KFM44107 said:

Why do you think our football team sucks now? Everyone plays soccer and rugby. To be fair the soccer team has been premier for over two decades now. Rugby is more of a last five years. 

 

I actually think the two are unrelated - and as a frustrated football alumnus who understands how incredibly absurd it is for me to be so angry about the athletic performance of 17 and 18 year old boys, I could provide a dissertation-length opinion on this topic... 

19 minutes ago, YABO713 said:

 

I actually think the two are unrelated - and as a frustrated football alumnus who understands how incredibly absurd it is for me to be so angry about the athletic performance of 17 and 18 year old boys, I could provide a dissertation-length opinion on this topic... 

And in spite of all the new sports Ignatius still doesn't have 100% participation -- there are still a lot of kids not playing any sport.  And there are plenty of potentially talented kids who really don't even get much of a chance -- you're not going play on the top hockey team unless you were playing elite hockey before entering high school, and the same is highly likely for lacrosse and baseball as well.  Kids get sorted early and its tough to break through that early sorting even though teen bodies and minds change dramatically over four years.

On 9/24/2024 at 4:59 PM, Dino said:

I didn't know until recently that St. Ignatius' soccer team is ranked #1 in the country and Hudson is #13.  U of Akron is typically in the top 10!  For girls, Walsh Jesuit is #1 and Highland is #9.  Apparently Cleveland soccer is pretty top notch!

 

Ignatius just lost to Chaminade and dropped in the rankings, but still, if you look at the national top 25, Ohio is very well represented:

 

 

Last year's Division I boys soccer state final was between Ignatius and Moeller and they're both right up there in both the state and national rankings this season, too.  But Hudson, New Albany, and Pickerington North all make the national rankings, too.

 

As one of the comparatively few Akronites here, I'll be interested to see where the Akron area pipeline goes; not everyone can move to Hudson (or Revere, which made the Division II state final last year--by perhaps coincidence, Hudson and Revere are the two most expensive Summit County public school districts to move into).  Walsh has put together an amazing program on the girls' side but we don't have a private school contender on the boys' side, suggesting that most Akron talent still goes up to Cleveland (and the older brother of one of the boys on my son's team does play for Ignatius).