SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 2019

USL Cleveland soccer stadium site chosen

 

For 30 years, a forlorn spit of land south of the Inner Belt highway in downtown Cleveland has been eyeballed by different people for different types of sports stadiums.

Now, the latest and perhaps most realistic stadium effort has reportedly targeted land owned by the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) for a 5,000-plus-seat United Soccer League (USL) venue. That's according to two sources, one a major local developer and the other a Cleveland building and construction trades representative.

Brothers Greg and Shaw Abrams, co-owners of six Force Sports fitness centers, are apparently teaming up with as-yet unidentified investors to acquire and develop the site, as well as to pay the USL's $5 million franchise expansion fee. The team will be called the Cleveland Force, as the Abrams brothers acquired the naming rights to the Force, an indoor soccer league team that briefly thrived at the since-demolished Richfield Coliseum from 1978-88. However, the Abrams said they are not in a position yet to confirm the site.

 

MORE:

https://neo-trans.blogspot.com/2019/03/usl-cleveland-soccer-stadium-site-chosen.html

Edited March 30, 20196 yr by KJP

This is also the same site where Bart Wolstein considered building a MLS Stadium. He eventually chose Northfield and that site in Northfield

never got built as he passed away and Scott never had the same soccer passion as his father.

3 hours ago, KJP said:

 

SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 2019

USL Cleveland soccer stadium site chosen

 

For 30 years, a forlorn spit of land south of the Inner Belt highway in downtown Cleveland has been eyeballed by different people for different types of sports stadiums.

Now, the latest and perhaps most realistic stadium effort has reportedly targeted land owned by the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) for a 5,000-plus-seat United Soccer League (USL) venue. That's according to two sources, one a major local developer and the other a Cleveland building and construction trades representative.

Brothers Greg and Shaw Abrams, co-owners of six Force Sports fitness centers, are apparently teaming up with as-yet unidentified investors to acquire and develop the site, as well as to pay the USL's $5 million franchise expansion fee. The team will be called the Cleveland Force, as the Abrams brothers acquired the naming rights to the Force, an indoor soccer league team that briefly thrived at the since-demolished Richfield Coliseum from 1978-88. However, the Abrams said they are not in a position yet to confirm the site.

 

MORE:

https://neo-trans.blogspot.com/2019/03/usl-cleveland-soccer-stadium-site-chosen.html

Just a heads up, it's MLS not MSL in your blog. 

I wish this would have been the area for the Browns stadium...

^Me too. And I'm fairly certain it was under consideration for the new football stadium back in the early 1990s when that decision was made.

Wish they would team up with the Browns and do this next to the Browns stadium and develop a whole community around em. This site is so isolated.

Edited March 31, 20196 yr by marty15

No way with the amount of capital the browns have, will they ever team up with a startup to build another stadium. I know there is a slight push to build another elsewhere, but considering its relatively young in age there is just no logic in tearing down fresh steel. Besides, remember that the county used the sin tax accumulation for the Q's new facade. $140 million just for a facade re-up ain't cheap. It's way more expensive to build new foundations for an NFL stadium. Also remember Atlanta's $1.6 BILLION stadium. They ain't cheap! The Raiders are building a freaking prison under the stadium, making the project cost just over $1.8 BILLION. I'll just say that tearing down a useful structure that is about as old as I am is a rubbish idea, although they didn't think it forward enough to leave the lakefront, FES lives on. There is no money for it.

Edited March 31, 20196 yr by tastybunns

You misread my comment. A soccer stadium NEXT to Browns stadium.

A soccer stadium down on the lakefront has great potential to drawn large crowds on a more consistent basis. Build a neighborhood around those two is what I’m saying. 

The lot west of FES is plenty large enough.

It's already being done. Well the neighborhood aspect. And as a mistake as placing the stadium there really is, there is no way there will be another stadium on the lakefront.

If done right, and a first class facility is built, it has a great chance of spurring development, and expanding downtown south of the innerbelt.  My interpretation is that it’s gonna be a bare bones/uninspiring structure that will be rendered a failure after a few years. 

Not what I was hoping for from a site perspective. 

 

On the one hand, at least it's not located in Strongsville or Macedonia.  But on the other hand, this is pretty isolated and I can't think of what I'd do before/after a game in the vicinity of the stadium.  

I'm late to the game here, but if the proposed stadium is to be for 5,000 seats, the powers that be should be seriously considering working with Case Western Reserve to expand seating at the established DiSanto Field in University Circle, which has an AMAZING intimate environment.

 

And it has access to great public transit with stops along the Heathline and Red Line. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DiSanto_Field

 

Edited April 1, 20196 yr by MuRrAy HiLL

This is going around Twitter today: https://neo-trans.blogspot.com/2019/03/usl-cleveland-soccer-stadium-site-chosen.html

1 hour ago, ML11 said:

Not what I was hoping for from a site perspective. 

 

On the one hand, at least it's not located in Strongsville or Macedonia.  But on the other hand, this is pretty isolated and I can't think of what I'd do before/after a game in the vicinity of the stadium.  

 

1 hour ago, Gordon Bombay said:

This is going around Twitter today: https://neo-trans.blogspot.com/2019/03/usl-cleveland-soccer-stadium-site-chosen.html

Isn't First Energy Stadium isolated? Everybody walks to the warehouse District, Flats East Bank and restaurants downtown before and after games.

Isn't the E.4th District within walking distance of this site?

2 hours ago, MuRrAy HiLL said:

I'm late to the game here, but if the proposed stadium is to be for 5,000 seats, the powers that be should be seriously considering working with Case Western Reserve to expand seating at the established DiSanto Field in University Circle, which has an AMAZING intimate environment.

 

And it has access to great public transit with stops along the Heathline and Red Line. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DiSanto_Field

 

 

But isn't it heavily used by CWRU? That's sounds like a scheduling nightmare for the USL.

 

Edited April 1, 20196 yr by KJP

2 hours ago, Gordon Bombay said:

This is going around Twitter today: https://neo-trans.blogspot.com/2019/03/usl-cleveland-soccer-stadium-site-chosen.html

 

Hahaha, my apologies @KJP - I just realized that not only did you post this to the thread already, but you authored it. 

And I thought I was following this topic closely, lol. 

3 hours ago, ML11 said:

Not what I was hoping for from a site perspective. 

 

On the one hand, at least it's not located in Strongsville or Macedonia.  But on the other hand, this is pretty isolated and I can't think of what I'd do before/after a game in the vicinity of the stadium.  

 

Might be a good opportunity for the Stone's Levee area just down the hill. That's probably closer than walking to north of the Q or Progressive Field.

1 hour ago, KJP said:

 

But isn't it heavily used by CWRU? That's sounds like a scheduling nightmare for the USL.

 

 

Perhaps.  But I would guess it is used less than the Q (which balances all types of events).  Like anything with enough notice, I don't see why it would be a problem. 

 

It's be a win-win, the more I think about it.   Plus, the team would have a Cleveland city address. 

Edited April 1, 20196 yr by MuRrAy HiLL

43 minutes ago, Mendo said:

 

Might be a good opportunity for the Stone's Levee area just down the hill. That's probably closer than walking to north of the Q or Progressive Field.

Within the next 2 years is there anything going to be built at Stones Levee?    Is stoness Levee a pipedream like Scanton Peninsula and Cumberand/Pace 

lakefront development? 

2 hours ago, simplythis said:

 

Isn't First Energy Stadium isolated? Everybody walks to the warehouse District, Flats East Bank and restaurants downtown before and after games.

Isn't the E.4th District within walking distance of this site?

From East 4th and surrounding area, you cross the Nucleus site, the Q and Progressive Field, and then cross Carnegie and under the Innerbelt Bridge... it's doable, but I suspect may be a little long for the average fan.  Another reason to embrace the plan for upgrading the western side of Ontario and Huron perhaps.  

 

Edit to Add: put another way, there are no natural candidates for being a pre/postgame bar.  I don't think FES is a positive example of a well-integrated stadium, but even that feels closer to West 6th than this does to the other side of downtown.

Edited April 1, 20196 yr by ML11

I'm fine with this. A second tier soccer league is going to struggle to get better than this in a market as big as NEO and it fills an otherwise barren area. 

 

Nice response to the article.

 

If they can build a stadium downtown sign me up for season tickets. We would immediately have a stadium, albeit smaller and for a team a league below, in a better location than a lot of MLS teams whose stadiums are out in suburbs or surrounded by nothingness making the trip for fans who live in the city prohibitive. Im looking at you Chicago, Denver, Columbus, Salt Lake, New York Red Bulls. Also having Columbus and Cincinnati from MLS to possibly play in meaningful US Open Cup games and having Pittsburgh as a USL Chanpionship rival is a very exciting prospect!

KJP:  Any insider news since your blog in early April?

Nope. Not a thing. All quiet.

38 minutes ago, KJP said:

Nope. Not a thing. All quiet.

Ugh so damn frustrating. Appreciate you keeping tabs on the progress, KJP.

A new USL stadium near Chattanooga for the Red Wolves is creating a whole campus around it for a $125 million investment. Hopefully as the sport grows in popularity, Cleveland can jump in with a stadium village of our own!

It has extremely quiet on this thread. Hopefully no news is good news.

My guess, and it's only a guess, is that working with ODOT on a property sale is a long and laborious process. I hope that it's not to due to funding issues.

This is pretty much a total guess, but if I were a betting man I'd say this lot would be a safe bet for where they're going to build it. 

 

EDIT: whoops, I somehow totally missed the blog post that literally pointed out where the site will be. I was so close! 

Edited July 17, 20195 yr by ethlaw

We still don't know who the buyer even is, correct?

Tangentially related: https://theathletic.com/1083944/2019/07/18/sources-usl-may-drop-mls-owned-teams-from-second-tier-championship-to-third-tier-league-one-by-2021/

Looks like the USL Championship may be looking to force down the "II" teams by 2021.

 

The USL has a long and winding history filled with ups and downs since the old USISL days. In my opinion, its "modern history" starts in 2014 when they first started moving toward ambitious stronger markets (Orlando joined in 2011, but things didn't start picking up until Sacramento in 2014, followed by Louisville in 2015, and Cincinnati in 2016 among others along the way). Since 2016, the league has actively worked to strengthen both itself and its franchises. Shaky, struggling clubs playing in high school football stadiums such as Wilmington, NC's Hammerheads left while larger ownership groups from bigger markets joined. Poaching teams from the death of NASL 2.0 also helped. 

One of the things that has helped stabilize USL, though, was the dissolution of the MLS Reserve League. Through an agreement, MLS placed its reserve teams into the USL (Orlando City B, New York Red Bulls II, Toronto FC II, etc.). This provided stable franchises and a steady rotation of opponents (although sometimes those matches sucked to watch i.e. 35,000 people at Nippert then you turn on the tv next week and FCC is playing in front of 20 people in suburban Orlando). The last few years, though, USL (which is now USL Championship) has had incredible growth with really strong franchises in larger market (they also started a division 3 league known as USL-1). It makes sense to start transitioning the reserve teams down to the third division league and allow the Championship to keep growing with independent, stronger teams that have followings and fans. 

It's very likely that the USL is about to lose St. Louis and Sacramento to MLS. Indy, Vegas, and Tampa could also jump to MLS at some point (and you could maybe make an argument for New Mexico and Louisville). Now is the perfect time for USL to snatch up key markets that don't have teams (at least at their level). Baltimore, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Jacksonville. If the reserve teams drop down and the USL-C is stocked with truly independent teams, it could be an awesome time for Cleveland to come in. Technically, the league is in the "2nd Division" of American soccer, but not at all like AAA baseball. 

I just love the idea of having two pro leagues in the pyramid finally stocked with independent clubs. USL is a great league already, but those changes could make it even stronger. 

^Thanks for this! Outstanding high-level view. I currently consider myself a passive fan. I haven’t been truly fanatical since I was a kid on travel teams, and Kai Haaskivi, Gino DiFlorio and the Force were running around the Coliseum in the old MISL. But I love the game, and am following this thread closely. 

On 7/19/2019 at 2:41 PM, CCC said:

^Thanks for this! Outstanding high-level view. I currently consider myself a passive fan. I haven’t been truly fanatical since I was a kid on travel teams, and Kai Haaskivi, Gino DiFlorio and the Force were running around the Coliseum in the old MISL. But I love the game, and am following this thread closely. 

 

Thanks for taking the time to read my rambling nonsense, haha. Very cool to hear your memories and if this proposed team goes with the Force name, I think that's the kind of nostalgia they're hoping to tap into. 

Count me in for season tix if this goes down.

 

Now, I might be barking at the moon here, but for the love of everything holy, don't dredge up a team name from the Eighties that references a long-dead movie franchise. 

 

How about a little creativity?

Edited August 13, 20195 yr by AnthonyD
remove boldface

Long dead? The last Star Wars movie was released two years ago. The next one, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, is coming out December 20, 2019.

 

And The Force never dies. ?

 

1 hour ago, AnthonyD said:

Count me in for season tix if this goes down.

 

Now, I might be barking at the moon here, but for the love of everything holy, don't dredge up a team name from the Eighties that references a long-dead movie franchise. 

 

How about a little creativity?

 

For awhile now there's been a lot of back and forth over revitalizing "historic soccer brands," mimicking European/International naming formats, and using purely "American" names (City name, team name). The internet seems rife with soccer fans who have turned against the European mimic style, but it must be working since so many teams continue to find success with it. The Kansas City Wiz(ards) underwent a re-brand into Sporting Kansas City that helped change the perception of their team (alongside a brand new stadium). Often, revitalizing the older names works too: Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders, San Jose Earthquakes, etc—but those names/franchises still existed in some form past their 70s NASL glory days. I'm curious if The Cleveland Force name would do well from a marketing standpoint since...

1) The Force were an indoor team, not an outdoor team associated with the heydey of NASL 1.0.
2) The name seemed to go dormant when the team did, not continuing in other leagues ala Timbers, Sounders, Cosmos, etc. 
3) While it's remembered by some, is that fondness/history on the minds of a new generations of potential ticket holders/attendees?
4) While "retro" and "history" have become marketable commodities within civic identity/a resurgence of civic pride—does the Force name illicit a positive reaction? For example, I think FC Cincinnati would've immediately had people scratching their head/viewing it as a total minor league endeavor if they had revived the names "Silverbacks," "Cheetahs," "Riverhawks," "Comets," etc. 

Just curious how much weight the Force name still holds in Cleveland. 

59 minutes ago, Gordon Bombay said:

Just curious how much weight the Force name still holds in Cleveland. 

 

I think a "Return of the Force" would be pretty effective marketing vs. a totally new name I'm guessing a lot of people probably won't like. 

42 minutes ago, surfohio said:

 

I think a "Return of the Force" would be pretty effective marketing vs. a totally new name I'm guessing a lot of people probably won't like. 

 

Ohhh, I like that play on Star Wars. 

I've noticed Homage sells a Force retro t-shirt.... could be very cool. 

8 minutes ago, Gordon Bombay said:

 

Ohhh, I like that play on Star Wars. 

I've noticed Homage sells a Force retro t-shirt.... could be very cool. 

 

Plus the hipster "I like soccer and call it football because that's totally not mainstream give me a scarf to hold" soccer fan is going to want something like Cleveland FC, Sporting Cleveland, Cleveland Athletic, Cleveland City, etc. etc. 

38 minutes ago, YABO713 said:

 

Plus the hipster "I like soccer and call it football because that's totally not mainstream give me a scarf to hold" soccer fan is going to want something like Cleveland FC, Sporting Cleveland, Cleveland Athletic, Cleveland City, etc. etc. 

 

You joke, but those types of naming conventions have been super popular the last few years. 

 

Cleveland should go with Burning River SC or Balloonfest 1986 FC. 

4 minutes ago, Gordon Bombay said:

 

You joke, but those types of naming conventions have been super popular the last few years. 

 

Cleveland should go with Burning River SC or Balloonfest 1986 FC. 

Forest City would be a sweet club name. 

 

Lol  Balloonfest

13 minutes ago, Gordon Bombay said:

 

You joke, but those types of naming conventions have been super popular the last few years. 

 

Cleveland should go with Burning River SC or Balloonfest 1986 FC. 

Cleveland Force is fine. I do not like any of the stupid names like sporting kc or real salt. Please leave those nicknames in Europe. 

13 hours ago, surfohio said:

Forest City would be a sweet club name. 

 

Lol  Balloonfest

Agreed. Love the idea of Forest City Football Club. I’m presumably in the minority in this, but I guess I’m one of those European hipsters... as us Europeans say: “c’est la vie.”

 

I have fond memories (and an ample supply of signed football apparel) from growing up a Force fan, but I believe soccer in the US has moved past the US-style team convention. Also agree with @Gordon Bombay that it may make us feel more of a minor league team than a major soccer brand. 

 

Digging myself further into this hole, I’ve always thought Cleveland could do a better job with having team names affiliated more with our City. Philly, Miami, Houston, etc.—the team names resonate with the people and culture of the City. I think we do ourselves a branding disservice by utilizing team names that have nothing to do with our culture, our history, or our geography. Still counting down the days until we change the Indians to the Cleveland Kurents. 

 

Bringing this back to development—I would love to see this stadium be part of a larger redevelopment of the Stones Levee area and even the current MLO property. I wonder if a development is what led them to sue the City?

I'm just laughing at the idea of the team being FCFC

Could do Cleveland Forest or Cleveland Forest FC.

13 hours ago, Clevecane said:

I have fond memories (and an ample supply of signed football apparel) from growing up a Force fan, but I believe soccer in the US has moved past the US-style team convention. Also agree with @Gordon Bombay that it may make us feel more of a minor league team than a major soccer brand. 

 

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. 

You're not a fan of the Montgomery Biscuits?