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Stadium Battle In New York Heating Up

By on June 13, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |
Yankee Stadium could be a temporary home to New York City FC in 2015. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

Yankee Stadium could be a temporary home to New York City FC in 2015. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

The hour, nay, the second that Major League Soccer announced New York City FC last month, the biggest question in my mind ‘was where will they play?’. A lot of people had that question on their mind as well.

What we do know for now is that the new club will begin their expansion season in 2015 in a temporary home that will likely last them a couple of seasons. Now we also know that there’s legitimate competition and lobbying within the city to land what is expected to be a $340 million soccer stadium, funded by NYCFC’s owners.

MLS is out of the stadium hunt picture for the moment now that the new owners are said to be on the hunt. It doesn’t totally mean that the stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park area is dead in the water. MLS did spend a lot of time and money on that project and the new owners could still see it through.

But with the new owners in charge of the stadium hunt, one borough in New York City is starting to voice their desire to house the new expansion team. In an open letter, drafted by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. to MLS Commissioner Don Garber, Diaz proposes that the newest club comes to the Bronx.

So for now, Queens is battling the Bronx for a stadium. In a way that isn’t the worst thing that could happen here.

 

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MLS Expansion: Ranking The Hopefuls

By on June 12, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |

mls-expansion

Most of you reading this space know that I have long been on the pulse of MLS expansion. From back in the Seattle and Philadelphia days for expansion, to the Portland and Vancouver double dip in 2010 and most recently with New York City. Some of you have asked recently where I feel the league is going next in terms of expansion, so I hope in a way this will shed some light for you on what I am thinking.

I haven’t done a full fledged Power Rankings on these parts in nearly a year. But lately I have gotten the itch to bring it back for a special post. With all of the MLS expansion rumors floating out there I thought it would be fun to give you all my top list of cities.

Some of the rankings below are based on how well I feel a certain city or three could be the next MLS expansion cite. Naturally this order is purely based on my opinion and some parts do involve my dreams/hopes for the league. And the last little bit of the ranking does involve what I am hearing our there from sources, agents, etc. None of it is perfect so let’s keep the comments civil if your city is lower than you expect it to be.

So where we go, a special WVHooligan.com Power Rankings. Continue Reading →

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MLS Responds To Double Expansion Reports

By on June 7, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |

Well, it is time for Major League Soccer to respond to the recent expansion rumors of a double Florida bid.

Dan Courtemanche, executive vice president of communications for MLS spoke with the Sun Sentinel in Miami about some of the recent discussions that are going around the web.

“We eventually want to have a team in the Southeast. It provides geographical balance, and we also think a team, or potentially multiple teams, in the Southeast could be very successful,” Courtemanche said.

The article does open up the talk that the league will be discussing expansion in July, something I had mentioned would be the case in my post recently on the ‘double expansion’ in Florida. Those meetings will be handled around the time of the MLS All Star game in Kansas City.

“We’re going to start to formulate our plan for the future and potential growth for beyond 20 teams,” he said, adding, “We certainly believe that an MLS team could be very successful in both South Florida and Central Florida.”

The fun part is that the article states that Courtemanche “chuckled” at the reports earlier this week about a “double expansion” in Florida for 2016. Whether or not that means anything remains to be seen but I take that as the league acknowledging the fact that this is a real possibility and that it is likely where things are headed next in terms of expansion.

(Editor’s note: The link to the Sun Sentinel may be a tad annoying to some folks out there. Lots of “the MLS”, “an MLS team”, and things like that litter the article.)

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Designs Popping Up For NYC FC

By on June 6, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |

Obviously none of these below are final designs for logos, colors and jerseys for the new expansion club in MLS, New York City FC. But still, I love seeing the creativity out there.

One designer is basing New York city FC’s new logo and kit design around the historic token New Yorkers once used to ride the City’s subway. The coin with the pentagon shape in the middle will represent the five borough’s of NYC.

 

Simple. I like it too. Continue Reading →

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Orlando Hires Former Garber Assistant

By on June 5, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |

Trying to stay one step ahead of their potential expansion rivals Miami, Orlando has gone out and turned up the heat just a little bit more today.

Brett Lashbrook, who previously served as special assistant to Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber, has officially joined the Orlando City SC front office, the club announced Wednesday. Lashbrook spent the last seven years at MLS’ headquarters in New York City, working closely alongside Garber and MLS President Mark Abbott.

Lashbrook was heavily involved with MLS’ recently completed New York City expansion project, including negotiation and planning for construction of a proposed new soccer stadium.

Orlando snagging a guy with tons of expansion experience as Lashbrook has is a big coup for the club. While he isn’t a David Beckham in terms of name recognition, he may be just the guy to help get them their expansion team in MLS by their target date of 2015.

Truthfully though, they’ll likely still enter in the league in 2016 with a Beckham-run Miami team.

Gotta love how quickly this expansion race is heating back up again.

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New York Cosmos Still Talking With MLS

By on June 4, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |

A story that doesn’t seem to want to die huh? But hey, dreamers can dream.

The New York Cosmos announced today a new sponsorship deal with Emirates Airlines in a special press conference in New York City.

Cosmos’ club Chairman Seamus O’Brien addressed the media and was pretty darn bullish on the future of the club.

“When we do get to the top again – and trust me, we will – we will stay there long past my lifetime.”

But let’s go a step deeper here with O’Brien. When pressed about that comment, he stated that he continues to have a dialog with Major League Soccer and its commissioner Don Garber. He believes that MLS and even New York City could handle three teams in the league.

Bullish indeed. Continue Reading →

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Double Florida Expansion Set For 2016?

By on June 4, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |

The day Major League Soccer announced New York City FC for 2015, I was told the following was a very strong possibility for the next round of expansion.

I have confirmed with my sources along with reports from yesterday on a Florida soccer site called The Scoring Third (you should all check it out to stay up to day on everything Orlando based here), that MLS could ‘package’ a deal to bring in two Florida cities to the league in 2016.

Two expansion teams in one season isn’t unheard of for MLS. They’ve done this three times in the league history bringing in Miami and Chicago in 1998, Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake in 2004 and then again in 2010 with the Portland Timbers and the Vancouver Whitecaps.

MLS would bring in both Miami and Orlando together in 2016. Bringing the total number of teams up to 22.  Continue Reading →

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Beckham Tours Miami

By on June 3, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |

Yeah, he’s back in the States and is hitting up South Beach.

David Beckham spent most of last weekend with billionaire Marcelo Claure, who has unsuccessfully tried in the past to return the MLS to South Florida.

After attending Game 5 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals earlier in the week, Beckham visited Sun Life Stadium and the football stadium at Florida International University on Saturday.

Beckham also was given a key to Miami-Dade County on Saturday by Mayor Carlos Gimenez. Yes, the key to the county. Impressive.

Beckham had a clause in his Galaxy contract that allowed him to create an MLS team at the discounted price of $25 million after his retirement.

Obviously this is the early stages of Beckham’s expansion process. Miami has always been seen as the front-runner for his bid but I’ve been told he will also be touring a couple other potential cities.

Getting a team back in Miami has been discussed for a while now within the league offices but a lot has to go right for it to happen. The Beckham-Claure combo wouldn’t be a bad one to see in this league as Beckham brings his brand that is well known while Claure brings billions to the owners table (something the league certainly wants to tap into).

As I’ve stated many times before on here regarding Miami, a lot has to go right for this to be successful. Stadium location, ownership, fan support, and possibly something that is equally important, some geographical rivals to Miami. You can’t just go back to the southeast with one club, and the league knows that.

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Beckham Set For Meetings In Miami

By on May 29, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |

Miami may be the destination for David Beckham. At least for now.

A report on Tuesday by Reuters’ Simon Evans indicates that Beckham will be visiting Miamithis week for “exploratory” talks regarding a potential MLS expansion team in the city.

The former LA Galaxy star is said to meet Marcelo Claure, the owner of Bolivian side Bolívar, who was previously involved in an MLS expansion bid for Miami. Continue Reading →

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Fans Already Designing NYC FC Logo, Kits

By on May 22, 2013 | Follow @WVHooligan |

It didn’t take long for some folks to get in on the MLS expansion fun yesterday with the 20th club New York City FC. While no decision has been made on colors, logos or anything design related, it didn’t stop one person on Reddit from mocking up something of their own.

 nycfc-mockup

[Click the image to make it larger.]

Obviously this is a big dream for someone but I have to admit, I love the color scheme. It is very New York City to me. I love the ideas of pinstripes for the home jersey.

Have you seen any other better mock-ups for NYCFC yet? Let’s hear them.

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