http://www.mlsnet.com//news/mls_news.jsp?y...s&fext=.jsp

St. Louis has such a strong history of Soccer in the US, but Philly is closer to me and I might be able to make a trip down there once in a while to catch a game

Which city would do better supporting a team though?

I'm just happy to see that the MLS is taking off enough to gain the interest of other cities. I mean, if it wasn't going to make any money why would Cities and States through millions of dollars into Soccer Specific Stadiums?

I don't think there's much interest in soccer here. Since the stadium would hold less than 20,000 it wouldn't take nearly as many people to fill it up.

But they're building it in Chester. The plan is to build the stadium plus townhouses and apartments, retail and office space, a convention center and riverside promenade. They hope that all of that, plus a slots parlor that recently opened, will revitalize a downtrodden city that doesn't even have a supermarket right now. (Some of the state money is earmarked for a supermarket.) But even if I were interested in soccer (at least the outdoor version) I wouldn't be able to get to Chester easily on public transit, and I can imagine some people not wanting to drive there either.

20,000 seats for a soccer specific stadium is pretty standard for MLS teams. I know that BMO field in Toronto only holds a little over that...The new Red Bull Park which will open next year (2009) is only 25,000...the largest Soccer Specific Stadium in the MLS is the Home Depot Center in LA and that holds 27,000 or so. 20,000 is about on par.

The larger non-soccer specific stadiums hold tens of thousands more, but they also dont sell out or anything. I remember going to a game at Giants Stadium in NJ and only one side of the field had people seated to make the TV coverage look like there were more fans. It just make sense to have teams play in their own stadium, they don't have to worry about leasing the space from other sports, and can even rent out the space to make money by hosting concerts and other events.

IMO I think it's MLS' way of keeping prices up. If they can limit the number of seats and continue to grow in popularity then they can charge 50 dollars (and up) for tickets.

Here in Toronto all of that is exactly what is happening. BMO Field was booked for a Genesis reunion concert last year as well as a number of games for the Under 20 World Cup. In the winter they have put a bubble over the pitch to allow the team and other soccer groups to use the facility for training. And Toronto FC get to schedule their games for whenever they want to schedule them. Good luck getting good dates if they were tenant number 3 at the Rogers Centre - trying to schedule games around the Jays, Argos of the CFL and now the two Buffalo Bills games that are going to be played there.

And you are bang on about charging $50.00 (and up) - lots of 'and up' in fact. The team has already sold out all 16,000 season seats and their other 7 game multi game packs leaving just 2,000 or so seats per game available for single game sales. And the prices were in the $80.00 per game range for Club Seats, and $70.00 for 'regular' midfield seats. Hopefully with a new head coach John Carver - who was the head coach of Tier Two Luton town in the UK and before that Assistant Manager with Leeds United and Newcastle United - the team will have more success on the field than their first season when Mo Johnson was trying to be coach and general manager. His new role will be that of GM with his title being Manager and Director of Soccer in the MLSE organization that owns FC along with the Raptors and Maple Leafs.

And on the expansion topic, I know there is a lot of talk of eventually adding Montreal and Vancouver based not only on the overwhelming success of Toronto FC - but also because of how well supported the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact are in the USL. Vancouver - who drew over 48,000 a couple of months ago for a 'friendly' against Beckham and the Galaxy - have preliminary plans for a new stadium on the waterfront in Vancouver. They sell-out most of their games in a 5500 capacity facility now. And the Impact move into their brand new 13,000 Saputo Stadium in Montreal this spring that is built to easily expand to 17,000 - 18,000 seats if they were to get an MLS franchise.

Looks like the MLS is coming here. Philly.com cites sources as saying the official announcement is tentatively set for a week from today. Um, yay?

Seattle Sounders FC got off to a fantastic start clubbing RBNY 3-0 in front of a sold out crowd of aprrox 32,500 fans. Any gay SSFC fans out there? It was a great match last night. Too bad it came up against the opening day of the ncaa bb tournament on tv.

2011 Expansion Teams have been announced.
Vancouver
Portland

I ressurected this topic even though the last expansion talk was on the MLS 2008 discussion thread:
A lot changed from October to March. Looking at the list below, it seems like everyone fell off it except Vancouver and Portland...

Ottawa and St Louis were still bidding - they just did not get picked for expansion - this round at least. For various reasons the other cities (Montreal, Atlanta and Miami) had pulled out prior to the MLS selecting the two cities for expansion.

And speaking of expansion - word is out here in Toronto that MLSE are looking at expanding BMO Field - now that it looks like support for TFC is not a fluke and is something that just continues to grow and grow. There are something like 16,500 season ticket holders with now a waiting list that tops 14,000! Preliminary plans are being looked at to add about 8,000 seats to the 20,000 seat venue.

While I love to see soccer doing so well in North America, I am a little concerned with the way MLS operates. A $40 Million expansion fee is a tad excessive in my opinion. $20 Million would be reasonable.

I think the league would have been very happy with the Montréal Impact, it's just too bad both sides couldn't get over the expansion fee.

I also hope that the MLS doesn't force the Vancouver Whitecaps to abandon their EXCELLENT feeder system of Youth - Reserve - 1st Team. It's a model that all teams should strive to have in their organizations.

Well, the MLS did away with the reserve league this year and the team rosters were cut from 28 to 23 players. But the Youth Academy system is very much supported. The Dynamo just signed their first player from the youth academy, GK Tyler Deric. Also, the Dynamo Academy has been playing in Mexico and in Europe.
I did read "somewhere online" that teams would set up matches for the non-starters to keep them fit.

For those who care...the new MLS team is going to be called the Philadelphia Union. Even though they're playing in Chester, PA. Note the new logp with the blue and gold:



Does the blue and gold color scheme remind you of anything?

Congrats to the Union for winning their inaugural home game in the new PPL stadium in Chester. There's a summary with match stats and highlights here.

I wonder though whether they'll match the sounders' accomplishment of selling out every home game their first season. This game may have benefitted from being the first, occuring near but not on the fourth of July and the hubbub surrounding the World Cup.

But there was a recently announced curfew for the underaged in Chester due to a spate of murders - not the sort of thing to attract the suburban crowd that are the backbone of USA soccer.