2 minutes ago, Gordon Bombay said:

 

I mean, I'm personally a fan of the European/International style naming convention. Soccer is set apart from the other major American sports in many ways (especially with how the fans support, celebrate, and rally around their respective clubs). If the name can pay homage to where that sporting culture comes from and give people pause/recognition as a soccer club (as opposed to sounding like a AA baseball club), I'm all for it. 

 

I feel like all the good sports team names are already taken. Lions, Tigers, Bears....Eagles. So tired! I'd prefer using the historic Force name or something Euro, as long as it's not Cleveland United. 

 

p.s. There is precedent for Forest City in local sports

12 minutes ago, ryanlammi said:

You're not a fan of the Montgomery Biscuits?

 

The logo is awesome!  Maybe someone could mock up one for the Cleveland River Flames?    ?

All fun aside -  Does anyone have any update WHATSOVER on the land acquisition, Stadium , joining USL ?

Anything ? 

As far as I know, acquiring land from ODOT is really tricky. If someone was truly ambitious to acquire land from them and it wasn't initially for sale, even though there is an interest to buy and a large amount of money in your face for it, you may as well be asking a girl out on a date, showing up to a fancy restaurant, and voila! You get stood up...

22 minutes ago, tastybunns said:

As far as I know, acquiring land from ODOT is really tricky. If someone was truly ambitious to acquire land from them and it wasn't initially for sale, even though there is an interest to buy and a large amount of money in your face for it, you may as well be asking a girl out on a date, showing up to a fancy restaurant, and voila! You get stood up...

So if that is the case - why haven't the abram Bros just come out and say that the deal is dead. Supposedly they were close in april.

4 hours ago, surfohio said:

as long as it's not Cleveland United. 

 

...But I used to play for Cleveland United. I have all the retro merch ready to go!

Who said it was dead? @tastybunns just said, and accurately so, that buying land from ODOT is tricky and thus time-consuming. We may not hear anything for another year. Hopefully it will be sooner, but this is ODOT....

2 minutes ago, KJP said:

Who said it was dead? @tastybunns just said, and accurately so, that buying land from ODOT is tricky and thus time-consuming. We may not hear anything for another year. Hopefully it will be sooner, but this is ODOT....

Then it that case No News is Good news

No news is no news. It means we have to wait and see.

Being ignorant of Ohio law—is this something Congress could legislate to override ODOT’s mercurial bureaucracy? The “State of Ohio Competitive Championship and Economic Returns (SOCCER) bill—selling land to developers in Cleveland to create a third soccer team in the state, build a single-sport rivalry between the three biggest cities in the state to spark intrastate tourism?

 

Think Miami vs. FSU vs. UF with the Florida Cup trophy. 

Idk why the city wouldn't be more aggressive in trying to bring an MLS team to the city!! New 50k stadium ( plenty of worthy sites ) either DT or maby close to UC? How about in MidTown as a hub to connect both areas? Wherever it was built would immediately see millions in additional investment in the surrounding areas.

1 hour ago, 86henryw86 said:

Idk why the city wouldn't be more aggressive in trying to bring an MLS team to the city!! New 50k stadium ( plenty of worthy sites ) either DT or maby close to UC? How about in MidTown as a hub to connect both areas? Wherever it was built would immediately see millions in additional investment in the surrounding areas.

 

As much as I would love for Cleveland to have an MLS team (having two teams so close to Columbus would be amazing) it is highly unlikely to ever happen. If it does happen, it will be decades from now. With current and already approved expansion teams, MLS is up to 28 teams. Sacramento has not been approved yet for expansion, but is likely to be soon. Then you have cities like Detroit, Indianapolis, Louisville, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Phoenix, Vegas, and San Diego that are way ahead of Cleveland in terms of landing a team. 

 

The best hope for Cleveland is that MLS decides to expand to a total of 40 teams and then implement a two tier system where teams are promoted/relegated between the two tiers each season, just like most countries around the world. Even then, it will be tough for Cleveland to sneak in. 

2 hours ago, 86henryw86 said:

Idk why the city wouldn't be more aggressive in trying to bring an MLS team to the city!! New 50k stadium ( plenty of worthy sites ) either DT or maby close to UC? How about in MidTown as a hub to connect both areas? Wherever it was built would immediately see millions in additional investment in the surrounding areas.

Not to be a downer, but I really don't think Cleveland can support a soccer team of that caliber, at least not now. We have three major franchises currently and when one team is hot, attendance falls off with the other teams. I went to my first MLS game this past year and it was awesome, but it takes years to cultivate such rabid fandom, and to me, we should have a lower level team and build from there.

2 minutes ago, GISguy said:

Not to be a downer, but I really don't think Cleveland can support a soccer team of that caliber, at least not now. We have three major franchises currently and when one team is hot, attendance falls off with the other teams. I went to my first MLS game this past year and it was awesome, but it takes years to cultivate such rabid fandom, and to me, we should have a lower level team and build from there.

I disagree. You’ve never seen the Browns attendance suffer because the Cavs were hot. The Browns attendance finally began to suffer the last couple of years because they sucked. The Indians have historically had struggles in attendance and a lot of that is because of the fans general distrust of the Dolans and the attendance woes that MLB has as a whole across the entire league. When the price points are right and the team is exciting, they can draw fans. Whether it’s 10,000 people on average for an arena football game (which I saw personally as a former season ticket holder) or Monsters attendance numbers that are among the highest in that league, or even the former performance level of the Cleveland city Stars (which, again, I saw personally, that time as part of business that I conducted with them at the time), we have seen plenty of examples of teams outside of the big 3 drawing an audience if they’re winning and the price points are right. If you were saying that we can’t support a BAD team, I’d agree with you. But I don’t believe it’s true to say we can’t support an MLS team period, in a northeast Ohio market with 14 million people in it, in the 19th largest television market in the United States. 

1 hour ago, inlovewithCLE said:

I disagree. You’ve never seen the Browns attendance suffer because the Cavs were hot. The Browns attendance finally began to suffer the last couple of years because they sucked. The Indians have historically had struggles in attendance and a lot of that is because of the fans general distrust of the Dolans and the attendance woes that MLB has as a whole across the entire league. When the price points are right and the team is exciting, they can draw fans. Whether it’s 10,000 people on average for an arena football game (which I saw personally as a former season ticket holder) or Monsters attendance numbers that are among the highest in that league, or even the former performance level of the Cleveland city Stars (which, again, I saw personally, that time as part of business that I conducted with them at the time), we have seen plenty of examples of teams outside of the big 3 drawing an audience if they’re winning and the price points are right. If you were saying that we can’t support a BAD team, I’d agree with you. But I don’t believe it’s true to say we can’t support an MLS team period, in a northeast Ohio market with 14 million people in it, in the 19th largest television market in the United States. 

14 million people is more than the entire state of Ohio.

1 hour ago, STRIVE2THRIVE said:

14 million people is more than the entire state of Ohio.

Typo. 4 million is the correct number

Just now, inlovewithCLE said:

Typo. 4 million is the correct number

4,529,596 to be exact. 

5 hours ago, 86henryw86 said:

Idk why the city wouldn't be more aggressive in trying to bring an MLS team to the city!! New 50k stadium ( plenty of worthy sites ) either DT or maby close to UC? How about in MidTown as a hub to connect both areas? Wherever it was built would immediately see millions in additional investment in the surrounding areas.

 

Surrounding stadium investments can be a bit of a boondoggle. There are more examples of promises of stadiums bringing more than parking lots and olive gardens but many fail to become fully realized. The idea of immediately seeing surrounding results is often difficult unless the stadium is already part of a larger, well thought out pre-planned district where land is already acquired and slated for resulting development. Could Cleveland support an MLS team, probably. But a 50k seat stadium, that's a bit steep for any MLS franchise. The sweet spot seems to be about 20k league wide. 

 

11 minutes ago, DTCL11 said:

 

Surrounding stadium investments can be a bit of a boondoggle. There are more examples of promises of stadiums bringing more than parking lots and olive gardens but many fail to become fully realized. The idea of immediately seeing surrounding results is often difficult unless the stadium is already part of a larger, well thought out pre-planned district where land is already acquired and slated for resulting development. Could Cleveland support an MLS team, probably. But a 50k seat stadium, that's a bit steep for any MLS franchise. The sweet spot seems to be about 20k league wide. 

 

 

Beyond that - in person attendance is on the decline for sporting events generally. I agree with you, an intimate stadium of 20-25k is it. 

3 hours ago, YABO713 said:

 

Beyond that - in person attendance is on the decline for sporting events generally. I agree with you, an intimate stadium of 20-25k is it. 

I agree as well. 50k is too much. 20k would work

I'm sure a few here remember this, but for those who don't...Cleveland had a shot at MLS about 15 years ago. IIRC, they wanted to put a stadium + shopping development in the Macedonia area. The early stadium rendering:

 

 

I believe the project eventually lost to some sort of waste treatment project.

Was hoping for some current USL Downtown Stadium news. It has been

extremely quiet on that front.

3 hours ago, MikeInCanton said:

I'm sure a few here remember this, but for those who don't...Cleveland had a shot at MLS about 15 years ago. IIRC, they wanted to put a stadium + shopping development in the Macedonia area. The early stadium rendering:

 

 

I believe the project eventually lost to some sort of waste treatment project.

 

Sounds like the Richfield Coliseum all over again.

19 minutes ago, infrafreak said:

 

Sounds like the Richfield Coliseum all over again.

For real, sounds like we lucked out on that one.

At the time, MLS was going through a suburban stadium boom (Chicago, Dallas, Colorado, and Real Salt Lake building in Frisco, TX; Bridgeview, IL; Commerce City, CO; and Sandy, UT). That stadium would have been par for the course.  While those stadiums have been largely unsuccessful (Chicago, for example, just paid $60m to move back to Soldier Field), I would say having a team is better than not having one. It would have been relatively easy for Cleveland to get a team if that stadium were built; the league was practically begging for new teams. Now, as someone else mentioned, it would likely take quite a while to get in (short of an FC Cincy sort of fan presence that would be impossible to ignore).

Edited November 8, 20195 yr by MikeInCanton

1 hour ago, simplythis said:

A poster in the big Soccer thread posted that his source said things are still ongoing as far as the stadium is concerned.

 

Did the source say what stadium site(s) are still active?

 

3 hours ago, KJP said:

 

Did the source say what stadium site(s) are still active?

 

No. But the talked about Downtown ODOT site was not ruled out.

Stumbled on this grain of info: https://www.golocalprov.com/business/pawtucket-400m-soccer-developers-says-they-are-going-to-baltimore-cleveland

 

"Johnson during the interview said that Fortuitous Partners is also looking at Baltimore, MD; Cleveland, OH; and other cities for their opportunity zone driven sports complex model...Johnson told Consol that the costs of the developments would cost between $100 million and $1 billion."

 

Seems like these guys could add financial muscle to the Cleveland Force crew, though I don't think it's too common in the USL for there to be primary owners/investors with stakes in multiple cities.  The proposed project in Pawtucket is mixed-used surrounding a stadium, so at the very least this might point to additional development surrounding a potential stadium in CLE. 

I’m not sure this has anything to do with soccer.  In Pawtucket yes.  But they are interested in doing some kind of development outside a stadium. 

  The main person, if you read the article, just left Kona Grill as CEO after he put it into bankruptcy.  Now he’s trying to take advantage of opportunity zones and get local financing to do some entertainment zone i guess outside some stadiums in Cleveland and Baltimore.  I doubt we’ll ever hear anything of this again. 

State of Ohio news. https://www.cleveland.com/business/2020/02/odot-to-sell-land-near-progressive-field-including-site-considered-for-soccer-stadium.html

 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2020

Downtown soccer stadium project takes a time-out

 

A 10,000-seat soccer stadium proposed to be built in downtown Cleveland is on hold until pandemic-hurt finances improve among backers of the project so they can acquire a site for it.

 

Last spring, the Ohio Department of Transportation began soliciting responses from prospective real estate brokers or auctioneers to help it dispose of at least 30 acres of land it owns immediately south of the Inner Belt section of Interstate 90 next to Ontario Street. The goal was to put the land on the market in November.

 

MORE:

 

https://neo-trans.blogspot.com/2020/10/downtown-soccer-stadium-project-takes.html

 

That Louisville stadium is really nice. Great design and view of the skyline.

i wonder could the wolstein center site be an option? doesn't csu want to get rid of it anyway? i dk if they have other plans for the property tho.

OHIO CLUB LOOKS TO EXPAND PRE-PROFESSIONAL OFFERINGS IN THE NEAR FUTURE

Oct. 26, 2020 - https://www.uslleaguetwo.com/news_article/show/1129770

 

 

"Youth soccer organization Cleveland Force SC today announced its intention to purchase a USL League Two franchise in the coming years. As one of the top youth development clubs in Ohio, Force SC leadership is seeking to add both a senior team in USL League Two and an elite pre-professional side competing in the USL Academy League to the apex of its development pyramid. 'We’re very excited by the possibility of Force SC joining League Two and expanding elite pre-professional opportunities for its players in the near future,' said USL League Two Vice President Joel Nash. 'This is a club with a lot of potential, and moving forward we hope to be able to help it continue to grow.'"

 

On 10/27/2020 at 3:21 PM, NorthShore647 said:

OHIO CLUB LOOKS TO EXPAND PRE-PROFESSIONAL OFFERINGS IN THE NEAR FUTURE

Oct. 26, 2020 - https://www.uslleaguetwo.com/news_article/show/1129770

 

 

"Youth soccer organization Cleveland Force SC today announced its intention to purchase a USL League Two franchise in the coming years. As one of the top youth development clubs in Ohio, Force SC leadership is seeking to add both a senior team in USL League Two and an elite pre-professional side competing in the USL Academy League to the apex of its development pyramid. 'We’re very excited by the possibility of Force SC joining League Two and expanding elite pre-professional opportunities for its players in the near future,' said USL League Two Vice President Joel Nash. 'This is a club with a lot of potential, and moving forward we hope to be able to help it continue to grow.'"

 

I know I'm a bit late here. Pandemic must be really biting. My initial hope was USL Championship and a stadium on the edge of DT somewhere.

 

Instead it looks like USL L2 and probably playing somewhere like John Carroll or Lakewood.

Interesting timing considering recent rumors about the Browns....

1 hour ago, KJP said:

Interesting timing considering recent rumors about the Browns....

Maybe this has went right over my head, but can you please elaborate!?

2 hours ago, snakebite said:

Maybe this has went right over my head, but can you please elaborate!?

 

https://neo-trans.blogspot.com/2019/09/stadium-sites-are-as-much-about.html

2 hours ago, KJP said:

 

https://neo-trans.blogspot.com/2019/09/stadium-sites-are-as-much-about.html

The intermodal site was identified for the USL team wasn't it?

 

Interesting.

 

 

Cleveland Force Soccer Club Set to Join USL League Two for the 2022 Season

"The United Soccer League (USL) today announced Cleveland Force Soccer Club as the latest club to join USL League Two. The Ohio-based club will compete in League Two’s newly formed, Valley Division starting in the 2022 season."

 

 

This is cool I guess, but now we have two teams playing at in competing leagues at basically the same, low level in the US soccer pyramid; this and Cleveland SC in the NPSL. Force definitely have the stronger brand and the USL seems like more of a route up the divisions, but a city the size of Cleveland really should have something at a higher level. Until promotion/ relegation is in place, like literally everywhere else in the world, we’re gonna have to wait for some sugar-daddy to buy the cities way into the higher pro-levels. Until then, this is kinda like having two Low-A baseball teams. Even the USL 2’s own website touts itself as a development league for  the players, not for the clubs. 

29 minutes ago, roman totale XVII said:

This is cool I guess, but now we have two teams playing at in competing leagues at basically the same, low level in the US soccer pyramid; this and Cleveland SC in the NPSL. Force definitely have the stronger brand and the USL seems like more of a route up the divisions, but a city the size of Cleveland really should have something at a higher level. Until promotion/ relegation is in place, like literally everywhere else in the world, we’re gonna have to wait for some sugar-daddy to buy the cities way into the higher pro-levels. Until then, this is kinda like having two Low-A baseball teams. Even the USL 2’s own website touts itself as a development league for  the players, not for the clubs. 

With Columbus and Cincinnati having MLS teams I think the prospects of Cleveland getting a team is slim. 

 

Don't know the professional soccer structure well though so if my bad if that's not what you were saying.

13 minutes ago, Luke_S said:

With Columbus and Cincinnati having MLS teams I think the prospects of Cleveland getting a team is slim. 

 

Don't know the professional soccer structure well though so if my bad if that's not what you were saying.

 

I believe what @roman totale XVII was suggesting is that USL 2 and NPSL are both considered 4th division American soccer. Kind of like single A baseball. There tends to be some good excitement, crowds, and investment in teams that are in the USL Championship (2nd division of American soccer) and even USL 1 (3rd division).

 

I believe it is really easy for a team to jump up or down in the USL structure if they have enough money and proper facilities to host, though. So if the Force are interested in using this as a way to get their foot in the door and build a team, USL 2 is the way to test out some of the logistical issues with owning a team. It likely won't bring big crowds, though, and not being the new thing in town will likely hurt their chances if they want to bump up a division or two in the future. They won't have the big news release and hype that a brand new team would have.

17 minutes ago, Luke_S said:

With Columbus and Cincinnati having MLS teams I think the prospects of Cleveland getting a team is slim. 

 

Don't know the professional soccer structure well though so if my bad if that's not what you were saying.

Haslem does own the Crew. Maybe he will choose to Consolidate his teams in Cleveland one day

Looking into it a little more, Cleveland Force seems to pride itself on being a development program and appear to be hanging onto that niche. I doubt they currently have any ambitions to start a team in USL 1 or Championship, but I admittedly don't know a lot about them. And the Haslem's aren't moving the Crew to Cleveland. It simply won't happen. 

10 hours ago, ryanlammi said:

Looking into it a little more, Cleveland Force seems to pride itself on being a development program and appear to be hanging onto that niche. I doubt they currently have any ambitions to start a team in USL 1 or Championship, but I admittedly don't know a lot about them. And the Haslem's aren't moving the Crew to Cleveland. It simply won't happen. 

I agree. The only way I could see it happening would be if Soccer blows up hugely over the next 20 years and starts justifying stadiums of 40k+ and the new stadium of today becomes obsolete. Then I could see a retractable roof stadium being built and Haslem putting both teams in it. Or maybe the browns move to Columbus and the stadium is built there lol yikes (just kidding not happening with Ohio State dominance in that market)

Edited January 20, 20223 yr by 646empire

I remember the Force drawing big crowds at the Coliseum back in the 80s, so maybe pro soccer would do well in Cleveland.  What is the average attendance for the Crew?

9 hours ago, 646empire said:

I agree. The only way I could see it happening would be if Soccer blows up hugely over the next 20 years and starts justifying stadiums of 40k+ and the new stadium of today becomes obsolete. Then I could see a retractable roof stadium being built and Haslem putting both teams in it. Or maybe the browns move to Columbus and the stadium is built there lol yikes (just kidding not happening with Ohio State dominance in that market)

 

Lol, the Haslems are not moving the Browns or the Crew.

Just wanted to throw this out there. I think Cleveland should bid to get a Womans Pro Team the NWSL. That would be much more progressive.   Lets build them a stadium.  This whole MSL is kinda of a a scam. They call themselves Major league but they barely rank top 10  in the world.  All these mid market cities who are laying out tons of public money keep saying they have a major league team.  If you have an nfl, nba, mlb, nhl team you can call yourself a major league city, because they are the best in the world..I think a Womans team would be a  better fit, lets pack that stadium. Build a killer 10k  capacity stadium. The Force could use it to

I believe the NWSL has a bright future, but I fully expect the US to be surpassed pretty soon by a lot of European women's leagues. The days of NWSL being the Pinnacle of women's soccer is a very limited time. England is likely surpassing us soon. And the NWSL has been nothing but controversy the last few years: inappropriate conduct by coaches, ownership battles, the league ignoring reports from players, poor pay, etc.

 

The European league model is probably able to pay players better and provide a higher level of competition in the near future. As an FC Cincinnati fan, I want us to get a NWSL team, too. I'm not against it, but I think you might be looking at the league with rose colored glasses