MLS

[Deuce]

Rather he stay in MLS than jump south of the border in that case!

[afar]

I liked the old thread title, this new one doesn't make any sense.

[Guest Nixon]

Interestingly, he's only on loan this season. As much as I love having players of his caliber in the league, it is nice to see them "graduate" to Europe. Some kind of vindication for MLS. Hope he makes a move at some point.

 

He's been and failed IIRC, generally players from SA don't go back twice but you never know. More like to stick with the US or even Mexico given the money on offer opposed to Argentina.

 

He's always been a reliable 7/10 player in my time following Argie football. Lanus, his parent club are a rare bastion of stability which probably helps mind.

Wonderfully elegant player. Very graceful on the ball and looks taller than 5'10 in a weird way because of it. If Portland have any sense they'll pay whatever Lanus want as right now he's the best AM in the league.

[Kanj]

$50m for a franchise is what Orlando City has been telling us.  I also don't believe in just handing out franchises to anyone who can afford it.

Of course not. No one is saying that. The point is though, they already have a healthy standing in the game. They're willing to not just invest the startup fee but also three times that in a plush stadium (which will benefit the community whether they stay or not). I would agree that in some ways it is a concern given their potential motives, but ultimately there are a lot of upsides to this.

 

Do a little research into Orlando City on OrlandoSentinel.com and see how much money they have already put up and the land downtown that they have already bought that will be used to build the stadium on, which is more than half-way financed by the owners of the club.  If a franchise gets awarded to NY and not Orlando in the next few weeks it will be a huge travesty.  We already average over 9k people for USL matches and our owners have put forth the money to make it happen. Beyond that, it's out of their control.  If the NYC franchise wins it's politics and money exchanging hands.  I'd love to see them give it to the Cosmos and for them to f***ing flop on their face to teach them right for offering a franchise with no existing fan base.  They should have to get in the old fashioned way of the best clubs in MLS - Portland, Seattle, and places like Montreal - who already had existing fan bases.

 

This. Would be an absolute joke if we don't get it given what MLS commissioner has already hinted at. By the way, an MLS team in Orlando with a new a build stadium will do absolute wonders for the city, our economy, and our overall downtown master plan. I've met with city planners numerous times for my hotel investment work and a lot of our urban growth is pinned on "that" side of downtown having the Amway Center (Magic) and the Orlando City stadium surrounded by parks, new office/retail, tech-campus, hotels, etc.

 

Would be a kick in the gut given how on board and dialed in the city is now for this team and the Cosmos just buy themselves one without a real fan base and really, no damn work what-so-ever.

[Mike]

It'd be shit to support Man City B.

[timeEd32]

I don't know all the details on both sides, but you can't call it a travesty if MLS decides to put a team in NYC over Orlando. A team in Queens/LI could flourish and it puts a second team in the biggest media market in the country. That's what it's all about.

 

MLS having locally successful clubs in Seattle/Portland/Montreal, etc. is great, but that only takes a league so far. For MLS to really go the next level, which is Garber's job, it needs to command attention in NYC, LA, Chicago, Dallas, etc. Orlando might be a wild success locally, but it's not going to make ESPN/NBC/FOX come forward with a huge offer for TV rights.

[Deuce]

Orlando and Cosmos will be the next two. I'm not sure in which order, but both will ascend in the next two seasons.

 

And I could see future expansions in Atlanta, Carolina, Sacramento, and Pittsburgh.

[Mike]

I don't know all the details on both sides, but you can't call it a travesty if MLS decides to put a team in NYC over Orlando. A team in Queens/LI could flourish and it puts a second team in the biggest media market in the country. That's what it's all about.

 

MLS having locally successful clubs in Seattle/Portland/Montreal, etc. is great, but that only takes a league so far. For MLS to really go the next level, which is Garber's job, it needs to command attention in NYC, LA, Chicago, Dallas, etc. Orlando might be a wild success locally, but it's not going to make ESPN/NBC/FOX come forward with a huge offer for TV rights.

 

Don't get me wrong, I want a team. I'm going to latch on to these Cosmos and hope that they make the jump to MLS.

[Kanj]

While, I totally see your point....All of those markets already have teams. Florida needs one (again) and this time its built a loyal fan base and its being done the right way. I just don't see the need for another MLS team in New York.

 

Not through the pocket books of 1 dude and his sovereign money, but through years of building a team, creating a fan base, lobbying local politicians to get city/state funding, etc.

 

Some things never change, and that's about a real success story through visions, planning and local support vs. what could be another plastic lifeless club.

[timeEd32]

I don't disagree with you. Just pointing out the other side - or more likely the perspective of the only side that truly matters.

 

Hope you get your team.

[Kanj]

Also to add - I'm not against the Cosmos getting one, I just would be really upset if it was at the cost of my own city's team and we'd have to wait longer. I mean there seems to be some really positive and strong momentum to get this done here.

 

I don't disagree with you. Just pointing out the other side - or more likely the perspective of the only side that truly matters.

 

Hope you get your team.

 

Hopefully the side that truly matters for the MLS is building it properly. The last time they followed money and money only they failed miserably. There's a reason why Seattle, Portland and Montreal are doing so well and have become the gold standard on how to build the MLS.

 

But thanks man, would be awesome for not only having a local team to go support, but also it would be a key puzzle in transforming the Orlando/Central Florida region.

[Mike]

Hope you get your team too, Kanji. It must suck not having a football team down there.

[Kanj]

Hope you get your team too, Kanji. It must suck not having a football team down there.

 

[Mike]

I actually thought that was extremely subtle.

[SEMTEX]

Been offered a super amazin' ticket for tomorrows game against the Sounders. Canny.

[Kanj]

I actually thought that was extremely subtle.

 

Give it a rest bro. Just go on and will the Knicks on to get through and don't let those awful Bucs jokes bleed into the MLS thread.

[Mike]

Fucking with Karma before game 6. I apologize and recognize the Bucs as a thing.

[Kanj]

and I take back what I said about the Knicks in the other thread, hope you beat Boston.

[Kanj]

On a side note, if Orlando City becomes an MLS team; that would mean we'd get some lush MLS adidas kits. Just realized that.

[SEMTEX]

Conor Casey is so damn fat

[Deuce]

The American Grant Holt.

[Deuce]

Orlando’s ongoing plans for a Major League Soccer expansion franchise took a major hit on Friday, when the Florida House of Representatives killed a bill that would have provided funding support for the a proposed MLS stadium in downtown Orlando.

 

The bill also killed the funding for renovations to Miami’s Sun Life Stadium, widely considered the home to an MLS franchise if the league someday ventures back into South Florida.

 

“We are bitterly disappointed that House Bill #7127 reached in impasse in the HOR today,” the Orlando City Soccer Club tweeted out Friday night. “We will continue to work to bring MLS to Orlando.”

 

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who has been one of the biggest proponents of bringing MLS to central Florida, blamed House Speaker Will Weatherford for killing the bill, but Weatherford defended the move in the Orlando Sentinel.

 

"I don't think anybody was blocking the stadium from coming through," Weatherford told the Sentinel. "I think that at the end of the day some bills pass and some bills die."

 

Weatherford told the Sentinel that the complication was that there were multiple professional teams looking for a tax break with the bill.

 

Orlando City SC owner Phil Rawlins (above left, with MLS Commissioner Don Garber) took to Twitter with his discontent over the decision, tweeting “bitterly disappointed with the politics I just witnessed in Tallahassee. On to the next step!”

 

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/05/04/stadium-bill-shot-down-orlando-mls-expansion-bid-suffers-major-setback

 

[Kanj]

Yeah. I saw that after I posted above and just said fuck it.

[Kanj]

A good summary, and fuck the Miami Dolphins.

 

The first significant setback of Orlando City Soccer Club's bid to bring Major League Soccer to Florida was felt Friday when the House of Representatives failed to hear a bill providing funding towards the team's stadium project.

 

Over the last week, legislation that would allow Orlando City and other sports franchises to tap into roughly $13M in state funding annually was moved around Tallahassee like a soccer ball.

 

On Monday, Senate Bill 306 (SB-306), which contained the funding mechanism, was approved by the Senate by a vote of 35-4 and was moved onto the House for review and approval.

 

After sitting in limbo for several days a move was made that transferred the stadium funding from SB-306 to Senate Bill 1828 (SB-1828) and was approved again by the Senate 37-2 and sent to the House.

 

However, with still no movement on SB-1828 late on Friday the Senate went back and amended House Bill 7127 (HB-7127) to include the stadium funding and approved that at 3:35pm Friday by a 40-0 vote.

 

A tense few hours of waiting ensued for Orlando City supporters as they held their breath hoping the bill would be processed and moved onto the House for presentation. At 4:41pm the bill status was changed to reflect that it was ready to be received by the House.

 

At 6:10pm the House returned from recess and heard several bills that had been approved by the Senate ranging from health care to education. Hope of HB-7127 being heard went right up until the last minute of the session, but ultimately Speaker William Weatherford decided not to hear the bill during this session.

 

Ultimately the flaw of the bill was not the Orlando City portion, but the funding request from the Miami Dolphins to support their renovations to Sun Life Stadium. Miami-Dade County was to hold a sales tax referendum vote in two weeks that would allow for the state funds to be directed towards the Dolphins stadium. With South Florida still feeling the impacts of several publicly funded stadium projects over the last decade the bill never made it to the House floor for a vote.

 

What happens to Orlando City's timeline for stadium plans and possible MLS expansion is now a bit unclear. Team President Phil Rawlins stated that he was "bitterly disappointed with the politics he witnessed in Tallahassee" but encouraged supporters to carry on with the push towards MLS.

 

http://www.scoringthird.com/2013/05/orlando-city-stadium-bill-falls-short.html

[Deuce]

No one likes the Dolphins. Not even Dolphins fans like the Dolphins.