I suppose the dream of a MLS club in Ottawa is over, for now at least. Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), along with their partner Ottawa Fury owner and CEO John Pugh, announced today they have applied for a United Soccer Leagues First Division (USL-1) franchise.

The team would play and be based at a proposed new stadium at Lansdowne Park.

“Our application for a USL franchise, at this point in time, ensures that soccer specific elements will be incorporated into the stadium design to optimize the experience for soccer fans and players,” said Jeff Hunt, an OSEG partner. “And I can tell you, the fan experience for USL-1 soccer is top-notch. The caliber of play, the quality of the stadia and the involvement of the players in community activities is second to none. It is a tremendous environment for soccer purists, casual fans and families seeking an affordable, fun outing.”

I’m curious to see how this new team fits into this on-going situation between the new owners of the USL and the current team owners. Its a sticky mess right now with that league but it does look good that they are adding teams for next year.

Ottawa will join the Tampa Bay Rowdies and FC New York as new clubs in the league.

Weighted Lottery System In Question

First up is Kyle McCarthy’s Musings for the day. His big point is about the league’s weighted lottery system and how it needs to go. Honestly I couldn’t agree with his main points any more.

This all stems from last week’s lottery winner RSL who had a 5% chance to win U.S. U-20 captain and former Southampton defender  Kyle Davis. While the club won this lottery fair and square it does seem like it is time to do away with a system that isn’t all that good to begin with.

I think McCarthy hit this one on the head saying that if the player in question is allocation worthy let them go through that process (though even that needs an update to a degree). If the player doesn’t worthy an allocation he should just go through a normal waiver process.

Philly Coaching Search

Funny that the club that will come to be next year is already searching for a coach before it has a name or even team colors. Saying that though the club hasn’t officially said they are looking for a coach just yet here, it’s just a writer in that area putting put a list of coaches that could be a good fit.

Mark Chajkowsky wrote for the Examiner.com about the possibly list of coaches for the Philly club. Chajkowsky made some good points that the club needs to find a guy like Bob Bradley type of coach, one that leads the club to a rare MLS Cup visit in their first year and not the extreme opposite in RSL’s old coach John Ellinger.

The list gives some usual suspects but a couple names pop out to me that I think could be good fits in the end. Dave Sarachan is the top choice here on the list. For one I totally agree with though I think his current boss Bruce Arena could also be under consideration for this position in Philly (espeically if things continue to go sour in LA this season).

Arena going to an expansion team just makes sense at this point to me. Though Sarachan would also make a great candidate.

Two other names worth looking into. The usual coaching candidate Paul Mariner from New England and Mike Sorber, the current second-in-command to Bob Bradley with the National team.

I honestly love the idea of Sorber for this position if he’d take it.

Ottawa Likely Out

It is not looking good up in Ottawa for when it comes to getting a MLS club. Some would say their hopes were already dead a month ago but now it appears things are going cold. Apparently the CFL group won the cities vote over Eugene Melynk and his MLS effort.

Melynk doesn’t appear to want to work with the CFL group so the MLS bid has taken a definite turn for the worst.

I agree with others out there that hope this means Montreal will get back into the fold here.

Carver Fined

That didn’t take long. A few weeks in and John Carver has been fined by the league for his comments regarding Tim Weyland after a 3-2 loss to FC Dallas on Sunday on a penalty in the 84th minute.

Well he was commenting on one of the worst refs so far this year in Weyland. I kind of don’t blame him for it.

According to the Ottawa Sun, Ottawa city staff’s evaluation of two major stadium proposals favors Lansdowne Live over the potential bid by Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk.

The city deems Melnyk’s business plan “below expectations.”

The report says Senators Sports and Entertainment “was deemed not to have satisfied this criteria (business plan).”

It says that the revenues expected from their plan were too optimistic.

A tough blow to this bid indeed. It doesn’t mean it is totally dead but it sounds like it isn’t far off from being the case. Its not like any of us really expected this to be a MLS city in the end anyways.

With the 2009 MLS season about to kick off this week and everything that’s happened the week gone by, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss the future regarding our league.

Last week we saw drama from the Pacific northwest to the Gateway City. The fact that the vote in Portland on Wednesday would not only dictate how far their own bid would go, it would also influence the Ottawa bid and especially the St. Louis bid. However, even before all this 11th hour drama began, what looks like the one certain lock has been the quiet, yet steady bid the whole time since all original bids were announced back in the fall.

At first we all thought Montreal would be in instantly including yours truly. Montreal already have a state of the art stadium that can easily expanded to meet the needs of MLS. The Impact already have a rivalry with Toronto FC and it would be enhanced in league play. Of course not forgetting fan support. It looked like potential ownership had deep enough pockets but maybe not deep enough as we thought.

Arthur Blank and his Atlanta bid dropping out was not a complete surprise as he has apparently lost some money in this downturn and it was always an underdog at best. Atlanta should be kept in mind for the future though, but at the moment other cities are better fits currently then them.

Then the biggest surprise of them all thus far, was Miami dropping out of the race. Not only having a billionaire potential owner from Bolivia, but with the help of arguably the biggest club side in the world joining the bid was something MLS simply could not ignore not only because of what the name FC Barcelona stands for globally, but because the club already have a marketing partnership with SUM for the next five years.

I for one was never a fan of the Miami bid for a number of reasons and the only reason why Claure and company lasted as long as they did was because of the Spanish giants involvement. In the future MLS should try the Miami market again depending on the economic climate and measuring it up with other bids that may come into play. Currently there are just more deserving cities right now.

So with two near enough certainties dropping out early the field, it then became an open race for the most part.

Vancouver has been the one bid that nobody heard a peep from and at the moment, that is good news. Everything has seemed to fall in place in BC: deep pockets, stadium deal done and fan support. Of course stranger things have happened such as two early favorites dropping out so don’t count them in until it’s officially announced, but it does look an almost certainty.

If Vancouver is in, that leaves a closer race for the last spot. Portland got what they needed Wednesday, however, they were not counting on Anheuser-Busch joining Albert Pujols and Jeff Cooper the same day. Who would have thought competition for expansion franchises in MLS would get this competitive five years ago?

It doesn’t take a Ivy league graduate to figure out that Portland would be an excellent fit for MLS. They have the owner with deep pockets, extremely strong fan support with an instant local rivalry with the Sounders and Whitecaps (if Vancouver gets in) and now have officially a stadium deal in place. Although it seems that $15m must come up from somewhere which looks like the final hurdle that needs to be cleared.

St. Louis must be thinking what else have we got to do to impress Don Garber after losing the 2010 expansion race to Philadelphia and possibly the 2011 race. The question that remains is not so much a potential ownership group with deep pockets now because of the events that took place last week, the question is are they too late? One wonders why Jeff Cooper could not get Anheuser-Busch on board much earlier. However, it certainly gives MLS much to think about by extending the decision to March 31st.

The other Canadian bid in the capital did raise a number of eyebrows when the bids were announced. Classed as an underdog just as Atlanta was is a credit to the Ottawa bid that they have lasted this long. However, just as the Atlanta and Miami bids before them, they should be considered for future expansion should the league choose to expand further. Right now, there are other bids that just fit better currently plus the stadium deal hasn’t been officially put in place yet.

Jeff Cooper said recently in a interview with Gol TV he thinks all original seven bids were good enough and in an ideal environment MLS would like all seven bids to join the league. It’s hard to disagree with that statement. Unfortunately, putting aside all the paperwork and obstacles that need to be cleared, the truth is the talent pool is not big enough to accommodate seven new clubs all at once in North America. Include the current salary cap in the equation then it would be more difficult to bring in more foreign players. However, with roster size changes, number of foreign players per team, the cap will increase and therefore teams will have a little bit more room to be flexible in bringing in new talent. Should MLS continue to expand by another two teams in 2012 or 2013, the choices should be obvious ones.

MLS should do whatever it takes to get the Montreal Impact in the league simply because it makes so much sense in every way and there is too much potential there to ignore. The other should go to either Portland or St. Louis whichever is the one that loses in the current race.

At the moment Portland is favorite and all signs point to them winning, but just as Miami and Montreal showed us nothing is guaranteed.

For weeks I had said that since the league didn’t go a head and grant Miami a bid like most had thought they would before today that something was going wrong. A few months back most expected Miami to already be planning for 2010. But instead there was a delay and that delay ended today as bid died.

Sorry Miami fans, it just wasn’t in the cards for you after all. And to be real honest it is a smart move on the league’s part to not try that market just yet here. One day down the road for sure but definitely not now.

I liked the passion some people had about the Miami bid. Believe me there were plenty of commentors on here about how Miami would get a club in 2010 and that good news was around the corner for the bid. Turns out their wishful thinking was just that.

Today all we will see is a flood of Miami bashers out there and a slew of Miami fans that will just be upset more than anything.

In the end we have four left on the floor to pick from. Portland, a strong bid that is close to getting the public support that it needs to get a bid; Vancouver, a well-backed bid in a city that would probably handle a MLS team pretty well; St. Louis, once seen as a front-runner is now probably more of a dark horse than anything today; and Ottawa, the most laughed at bid in the bunch.

I am still hopeful that St. Louis can get it done in the end but money has and will probably continue to be an issue with them.

My money today, just like it has been for the last several months is on Portland for one bid and now more than ever I believe Vancouver is the other. We will see in a couple short weeks.

Where do you see the league going to now? Miami, the bid seen as a front-runner for months is gone…so who is now in line to take the bids?

The Ottawa Sun is reporting that MLS commissioner Don Garber practically assured Ottawa  an expansion team if the ownership group gets a go-ahead from the city council to build a proposed $110 million soccer stadium.

“It’s highly unlikely and almost inconceivable that with a stadium deal in place we would not grant an expansion team to Ottawa,” Garber told the Sun.

I still don’t see it happening. Too many pieces have to fall in place for this bid to get the nod. Not to mention the amount of backlash it will create if it does go through. I won’t lie, it would be a dumb thing for MLS to go to Ottawa right now. Its nothing against the city or the area (which is beautiful by the way), it just won’t work for the league in my opinion right now.

Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk met with league brass today to attempt to sway the league’s decision to the Canadian capital. He laid on a series of meetings for MLS commissioner Don Garber and president Mark Abbott with all three levels of Canadian government.

Ottawa is the final expansion candidate to be visited by Garber and Abbott as they attempt to choose two cities to be awarded the two MLS expansion bids in 2011. St. Louis, Portland, Vancouver and Miami are the other four remaining candidates.

MLS is expected to choose the winning bids by mid-March.

Garber’s only comment on the Ottawa situation was not a bad one but not a great one either.

“The only drawback at present is that there is no stadium.”

Take that for what you will. Ottawa is still a big long-shot in this race but definitely a dark horse in some minds out there. Could they really sneak in and get one of the two spots? I still doubt it but its a never say never kind of thing. I was always shocked to see Salt Lake in the league and that seemed to work out alright for everyone. Maybe Ottawa would be more like that.

Miami is still the front-runner for the expansion race.

We started a few months ago with seven hopefuls. Now we are looking at just five. Montreal cooled their jets about MLS expansion back at MLS Cup  and Atlanta did the same last week during the SuperDraft.

Five cities remain in what is starting to sound like a nasty episode of Survivor. Portland, Vancouver, Ottawa, Miami and St. Louis remain. Only two will move on.

Yeah, sounds too much like a reality show.

Anyways, what do we make of the final five here? Will another fall through before the league announces their plans? It’s possible with comments Don Garber made about St. Louis and their situation recently.

Money is still a big issues with most of these bids. Even if the owners have deep pockets that still may not be good enough for the league. And even if the bids have good stadium projects it may not matter.

So where do I see the remaining five? I figured it would be best to rank the final cities before the league made their decision. Here is where I see them standing right now. You may agree or disagree with what I am about to say, and that is fine. Just because a city is ranked above another does not mean I fully support it’s bid for expansion. I think you all know that already though.

[And please spare us all from the typical "City Name and 2010 or 2011" comments...if you have anything to say about this stuff please actually put a thoughtful comment on here and not something that I will want to delete. Believe I get way too tired of saying those kinds of comments everywhere I go that has an expansion discussion. Sorry for the rant. ]

1. Miami

It’s pretty clear that the league won’t be able to pass up this bid. Barca Miami or whatever it will be called (God I hope they come up with an actual name and not that) is bid with loads of money…and a big name in FCB. The league’s relationship with the Spanish club would probably go to waste if this bid is passed up for some reason. I have my doubt about it as I have probably made clear but for right now they are the clear favorites to be selected for a bid.

Now I also don’t think they will be a MLS club in 2010. Even if Philly continues to have issues I just don’t buy into Miami being back in the league as early as next year. Just my opinion though. I’m sure there will be floods of comments with Miami 2010 or whatever.

I still believe that the Barca owners have no idea what they are really getting into as far as dealing with MLS roster rules and such go. I know it will be more on Marcelo Claure to do the day-to-day running of this club but even he won’t be able to handle the weird rules that the league imposes on clubs. But that is a story for another day.

Pluses on the bid: Loads of money, big name.

Minuses on the bid: History in Miami, Stadium deal isn’t as sweet as some think it is due to two words: Field Turf.

2. Portland

The more bad press St. Louis gets the better for Portland. I know their owners are trying to do whatever they can to get a bid in place for 2011. Right now I have them getting in because I do see Paulson ponying up the cash to get the renovations in place at PGE Park and enough to pay the expansion fee. But if St. Louis get’s their act together in the bank department they may get the nod above Portland…it just all comes down to who the league sees having more money and right now it is Portland.

Pluses on the bid: History in city, supporters group larger than any other bid, most MLS-ready of any bid.

Minuses on the bid: Stadium situation needs to be resolved, money still not all there.

3. St. Louis

This one was tough for me but right now it looks like St. Louis may get left out yet again. The money is the real issue with this bid still and the league continues to discuss it. Not a good sign. Thing is the league wants to be there and they will before long. It just may not be in 2011. In 2013 or whenever I would have to think a deal will finally work out. Sad part too since they actually have a legit stadium plan and not some shared facility with a college.

Pluses on the bid: Stadium deal (the only one with a legit stadium and not a renovation or shared deal), history of the sport in the city.

Minuses on the bid: Money situation.

4. Vancouver

Montreal dropping out really opened the door for Vancouver but right now the bid just isn’t as strong as the other American bids. Sure the makeover to BC Place is nice but let’s be real honest about it here, the league doesn’t have to go to another Canadian city right away again. Toronto has been great but the next Canadian city can wait a little while longer.

Vancouver could still sneak in over Portland but I just don’t think they will right now. The league wants a true rival to Seattle and Portland would be better at that than Vancouver. I know Vancouver supporters will claim that they will be a rival for Seattle and Toronto but I think TFC will be fine without Vancouver where as Seattle will not thrive as well without Portland.

Pluses on the bid: Rivalries to Seattle/Toronto, money situation may be just as good as Miami.

Minuses on the bid: Stadium deal isn’t that great, would be better with a true soccer stadium.

5. Ottawa

Why was this a bid in the first place? How it is still standing is another thing. At least they can say they won’t be dead last in this since Atlanta and Montreal backed out. Its just sad this ownership group wasn’t in another city or we may be talking about it more.

Pluses on the bid: Stadium deal was pretty nice.

Minuses on the bid: Everything else. Just a waste of a bid really.

I’ve been meaning to post this for a day or so now but just haven’t got around to it until today. A few months back I did a story on MLS Expansion and how each potential city out there stacked up. Strengths and weaknesses were listed along with some key questions. So in a way you could consider this a follow up to that article now that we know which cities are up for an expansion slot in MLS.

We have bids from two countries, in different regions, some in current USL cities and some with no actual professional soccer club currently in place. Some bids have billionaires attached, while others hope a loyal fan base and a local rivalry will sound good to the league.

One thing we do know is that we won’t hear a thing about any of these bids for a little while. The league is going to take a serious look at each of the seven bids and then go into the public eye no sooner than MLS Cup next month. Even that may be too soon before the league starts naming expansion sites. But we also know that we will know something definitely before the start of the 2009 season next March.

So its a six month window of guessing and wondering. I for one after this story will probably not go into expansion talk for a while until I get some real evidence about who the league is leading towards. Right now its all a guess and a speculation over each bid.

So how do the seven expansion candidates compare? Here is a closer look at each bid and the chances I think each has to become an expansion club. I won’t offer who I think will be in as I have done that many times before. I just want to offer who I think has a better shot here. I will look at a couple different things for each site like stadium, fan base, rivalry, and money in determining each site’s potential.

(We will go ABC order to keep things safe here too.)

Atlanta (Arthur Blank): Another NFL owner that is serious about a MLS club. That’s probably one if not the only thing going well for Atlanta here. As much as I would love a club in the south in Hotlanta, I just think there are too many things that have to go right for Blank in order to get it done.

1. Stadium: Currently we do not know what kind of stadium proposal Blank is offering up to the league. More than likely he will have to go out and talk with local government to get a stadium in the Atlanta suburbs of Cobb County and Gwinnett County.
2. Fan base: Currently in the USL the Silverbacks have a decent following thanks to a small stadium outside of the city. Its perfect for USL but obviously too small for MLS. Thing is they don’t always pack the stadium in Atlanta.
3. Rivalry: Unless Miami gets in they won’t really have any natural rivalry in MLS.
4. Money: Blank can afford a club, there is little doubt about that. He could easily pony up the cash for an expansion fee and for the club and possibly the stadium.

Chances: Not good. The lack of stadium will kill this bid. If they don’t get over that soon enough with a solid stadium plan then you can bet this bid will be at the end of the list when it is all said and done. I understand that Blank wants to add to his sports club list but let’s be honest its a silly thought to go for a MLS club in a city that doesn’t really need it right now.

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Miami (Marcelo Claure and FC Barcelona): When a soccer club giant enters the picture you listen, no matter what. The biggest concerns though is the history of MLS and Miami. It didn’t work well the first time and the current USL club isn’t pulling in great numbers either. But things are apparently getting better on South Beach…or so they seem to be. They want to launch the bid in 2010 instead of 2011, you think they believe they already have one of these bids in the bag?

1. Stadium: Sharing a stadium with FIU is one thing but by the time soccer will start in Miami the stadium is expected to be much bigger than most soccer-only stadiums in MLS. Not a good thing, though the rent-free thing is nice. I still believe deep down that they need their own stadium to work properly in Miami. A couple years at the FIU stadium but then open up a brand new soccer stadium. That will work.
2. Fan base: The Ultras are great, small but great. The Fusion had a small and loyal (at the time) following and I would imagine this club will too. They just have to hope Barcelona works its magic in the area to get more butts in the seats this time around.
3. Rivalry: Eh, no Tampa this time so that is out the window. If they get good because of the whole Barca thing then I would expect a lot of clubs would want to rival them. Still this isn’t a card that they are playing in this process.
4. Money: Yeah they have plenty of it. No worries here.

Chances: Good. Their chances are good solely because of Barcelona being on the bid. They are already a little cocky about wanting to start in 2010 though I think. They have to show the league though that it won’t be a repeat of the Fusion and that they will fill a stadium or at least get an average of 15-18,000 at a game on a regular basis. Chances of that aren’t too good really if you ask me.

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Montreal (Saputo and Gillett families): Probably one of the best bids out there for the league to look at. You have a loyal fan base, a nice expandable stadium and owners with deep pockets. Oh and there is this natural rivalry with one of the current clubs already budding in the background.

1. Stadium: Saputo Stadium was built for MLS, sorta. They planned all along to build it first for USL and then expand it for MLS. It was a smart plan from the start and should pay off for them in the end.
2. Fan base: May be the second best out of this group. They pack the stadium as it is right now and I doubt they would have any trouble packing it once it gets expanded.
3. Rivalry: Their selling point is that they would be a great rival for Toronto. Duh, they already are.
4. Money: No worries here. With Gillett on the card they have no worries about money.

Chances: Very good. Between Montreal Impact owner Joey Saputo and Liverpool co-owner George Gillet, the Montreal has plenty of soccer experience on the management side and plenty of experience on handling the money side. Don’t be shocked that they will be able to swing a Canadian TV contract as well, another thing that MLS cannot ignore here because it would bring in loads of extra $$.

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Ottawa (Eugene Melnyk): Easily the biggest and longest of long shots in the field is Ottawa. To most it is a surprise bid with little chances given not only its American rivals to the south in line for expansion but the other two Canadian bids in line.

1. Stadium: One thing going is the potential soccer stadium that Melnyk is proposing here. It looks lovely all over (even if it is a slight duplicate of the old layout of the Red Bulls Stadium). The quicker they can get this stadium complete, the bigger the chances are for this bid.
2. Fan base: They had a good showing in the FIFA U-20 World Cup a couple years ago but that may not be enough. I just don’t think that buzz will be enough in the city itself.
3. Rivalry: Toronto is the obvious choice here but Montreal is also backing on having a rivalry with TFC.
4. Money: One thing that isn’t in doubt is the mount of money that Melnyk and his group have. That helps but only so much.

Chances: Very slim. Why Ottawa is in the mix is beyond me but you just never know. Thing is there are just too many strong bids in their way even with that lovely stadium proposal on the table. I’ve had trouble taking this bid serious from day one and I bet the league is the same way.

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Portland (Merritt Paulson): One of my personal favorites is Portland. This bid will rely on fan support as well as potential renovations to one of the better venues in the USL, PGE Park.

1. Stadium: If the league doesn’t like Paulson’s renovations plans for PGE Park then this bid will have a lot of trouble. Thing is I doubt they will not take it serious because of that stadium upgrades that need to be in place. The two sides have worked well before in the past to create a foundation of what needs to change in order to get a club in Portland.
2. Fan base: The best on this list. No other way to put it.
3. Rivalry: Instant rivalry with Seattle. You think the Houston-Dallas, or the LA-Chivas, or the DC-New York rivalrys are good, wait until you see a Portland-Seattle one in MLS. It will easily be one the best, if not the best.
4. Money: Some have doubts about the money on this bid but Paulson is willing to pay whatever expansion fee that the league throws out there.

Chances: Good. Getting over the stadium issues is the big thing here but aside from that the league knows it needs another club in the Pacific Northwest to be successful. Having Seattle up there is good but adding Portland to the mix will make it even better. Its a small city (the smallest American city on the list) but one that would take this club by storm. No NFL and MLB to compete with will make this a big time club in the city.

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St. Louis (Jeff Cooper and company): Once seen as the next city in is back on this list. They failed to get in this time last year when they were going against Seattle and then Philly. History is on their side, but what else?

1. Stadium: Already has a deal in place to build a stadium outside of the city in Colleyville. Not an ideal spot but the league cannot back away from a stadium deal that is already granted by the local and state government.
2. Fan base: Biggest question mark on this bid in my mind aside from the money issues. We’d like to think this city would take this team by storm but we just don’t know that as of yet. Not even a USL club in the city to let us in on what games would be like or anything.
3. Rivalry: A couple good ones with Kansas City and Chicago. Just what those two MLS clubs need as well.
4. Money: Its what kept them out before and what is likely to doom them again if they aren’t careful.

Chances: Good but not great. The lack of deep pockets still is a concern to the league. But with that the stadium plan and the history of soccer in this city will not be ignored.

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Vancouver (Greg Kerfoot, Steve Nash, and  Jeffrey Mallet): One of the strongest of ownership groups is Vancouver. They’ve been pushing for a soccer stadium in that city for years now and having a MLS club could help their chances there.

1. Stadium: Right now it is BC Place and not the waterfront stadium that most would like to see right now. Its probably their biggest downfall right now in my mind.
2. Fan base: Just won the USL title and had good numbers this year so I would imagine it would easily carry over to MLS.
3. Rivalry: Toronto and Seattle. You  got two right there but the thing is two other cities are using those exact same clubs as their rivalry on their bids. That may hurt this bid’s chances.
4. Money: Plenty of it, no worries there with Mallet, a former Yahoo execuitve on board.

Chances: Decent. The Montreal and Portland bids lower Vancouver’s chances right now for me. Montreal because of the better stadium situation and Portland because of the better rivalry to Seattle. But saying that this is still one of the best ownership groups on the list and the league will not over look that. Still, they have to find a way to look better than Montreal and Portland here. If they can do that you could see them sneak in here.

Once more those in the mix:

Atlanta (Arthur Blank)
Miami (FC Barcelona, Marcelo Claure)
Montreal (Saputo and Gillett families)
Ottawa (Eugene Melnyk)
Portland (Paulson family)
St. Louis (Jeff Cooper group)
Vancouver (Greg Kerfoot, Steve Nash, Jeff Mallett)

Those not in the mix:
Las Vegas
New York

Interesting word out of Miami though too about their bid. Scary as it seems the club could be named Barca Miami. The thought of that makes me want to puke up something awful. I’d much rather keep it simple with Miami FC or something similar to that. Hell even bring back the Fusion name for all I care but just not Barca Miami. That just sound tacky.

I guess too I was wrong about New York for this round of expansion. Don’t sleep on that bid though, it will come around for the next round in a couple years.