The death of my team, the Metrostars

[Metrostars]

Metrostars, what would be the REAL soccer towns/cities in the US - if you follow me????

The closest you would get is a soccer "area". Places like Southern California and New Jersey are known for producing a lot of good talent mainly due to the interest in those areas e.g. Claudio Reyna, John Harkes, Lalas, Meola and a number of other current/former internations all came from the same area in New Jersey. Other guys like John O'Brien, Donovan, Cherundolo, Mastroeni and Bocanegra(I think) - all current internationals came from southern Californina. The teams with the best following in MLS are LA, DC, Chicago. I think the new team in Houston(formerly San Jose) will do well.

[NJTom]

I would just like to point out that Claudio Reyna (Man City), Tim Howard (Man U), and Giuseppe Rossi (Man U) are all from New Jersey.

[ken foree]

youth-wise, texas has a huge bed of talent. i believe they host a significant underrage championships there every year? i think the revs' dempsey is from there

[Ash]

Sorry to hear about your club Metrostars. I tell ya, if Athlone Town changed their name to Athlone Budweisers or something like that, I'd find it very hard to continue supporting them.:(

Yep, cos Bud is pish ... now if it was something like Athlone Carlsberg .. :eek:

[Metrostars]

youth-wise, texas has a huge bed of talent. i believe they host a significant underrage championships there every year? i think the revs' dempsey is from there

Yep, in Dallas. Teams from all over go to that one: http://www.dallascup.com/

Also on Dempsey, I think he will do well at the World Cup.

[Volcán Masaya]

What kills the MLS for me is that so many teams get into the playoffs. For a while there it was a complete p1sstake with 8 out of 10 teams (80%) qualifying!! It meant that the first 2/3rds of the season was more or less meaningless.
It's gotten better with 8 out 12, but that's still way too much. I think it should be top team in each conference gets to SF, with 2nd and 3rd playing off for the other SF spots.
Also, the conference setup doesn't sit well with me. It reminds me of the old provincial set up in GAA, before they brought in the back door. If the strongest 4 teams are in the one conference, then that's unfair.

As far as REAL soccer town, historically St Louis has probably the richest tradition in the sport....... and yet they have no MLS team? Go figure.
Likewise Seattle has a USL/A-league (2nd div, but remember there is no pro/releg) team, the Sounders that is well supported, and that used to play in the old NASL and drew average crowds of 25k or so back in the 70s and 80s....... yet they never get a look in for an MLS team.
I've never been able to understand the logic of that.

MLS is a strange bird sometimes. But it has come a long way though. It was weird there for a bit, with "shootouts" instead of draws, weird points system and that stupid count down clock with the buzzer. The cool thing was that it actually got stronger when they got rid of the silly "americanizations".

[Metrostars]

You make some good points, Volcan. I agree the playoff system is a bit stupid with the majority of the teams still getting in. But OTOH, being that there is not relegation to prevent the poorer teams from fighting to stay in the league, the other objective of having a lot of teams qualify for the playoffs is to make sure all teams play meaningful games throughout the season e.g. all the teams in the Eastern Conference were still in with a chance of qualifying for the playoff last year going into the last day. If only one or two teams made it, the other 4 teams would have chucked it in with a month or two to go. I think something like you suggest would be better though. As for the conferences set up, there isnt much you can do, e.g. last year Chivas and Salt Lake were new teams in the West and were pretty crap while all the teams in the East was tough.

Regarding places like St Louis and Seattle, it really comes down to money and league management. MLS is not the same as NASL and they are going about it in a better way than NASL did. NASL grew too quickly in the 70's, sometimes teams would come and go in a 2 or 3 year time frame. The criteria for adding a team is you have to provide a $10-$15 million franchise fee but also have agreements with local authorites to build a sss(soccer specific stadium) in place. I have read that places like St Louis, Seattle, Philly, Miami, Rochester, Minneapolis have recently been in talks with MLS to add a team but a lot of these places have not committed the money.

Having teams play in huge 70K NFL stadiums where you only get 15K-20K for MLS is a poor experience. Also because teams dont own the stadiums, they have to pay rent, and lose out on parking money, concessions etc. The Metrostars pay $200K in rent each time they play at Giants Stadium. So getting teams into their own stadiums will help the league get in the black. Teams such as LA, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas now own their own stadiums. Other teams will be adding new facilities in the next few years.

I like the way MLS is doing things. It is not a traditional way of operating a league when compared to Europe. But it's the way it has to work here for it to succeed.

[hamish]

now if it was something like Athlone Carlsberg .

:eek: :eek:

Oh God forgive ya Ash.:D

BTW - hoping to get over to the game next weekend if the brother in law is going or maybe might get the bus. If so, are you, Battery Rover and atfconline on for a pint??

If Bubbles isn't working, she might go too.

or maybe Micky Brennan, Michael Francis or Tony Knight might have a spare room and I can "crash" there if there is no late bus back to Beeslow after the game.LOL

[CollegeTillIDie]

Play off bonanzas are part and parcel of American team sports. You see it in Ice Hockey , Basketball, Gridiron and Baseball... it was always going to happen to real football alas!

[anto eile]

i hate the whole franchise aspect of american sports,its so soul-less.
sad to see any team get raped by a company for profit.
red bull are parasites.theyve already destroyed austria salzburg-a very annoying story that any true football fan would despise.
anyhoo, no to franchise football, ie red bull fc, milton keynes dons, dublin city fc etc

[ken foree]

Yep, in Dallas. Teams from all over go to that one: http://www.dallascup.com/

Also on Dempsey, I think he will do well at the World Cup.

re: dempsey, has talent but seems a bit lazy sometimes, him and franchino just had a punch-up at their practice! had to be separated and it continued in the dressing room with nicol in-between them, i think dempsey was suspended by them. franchino who seems pretty tough was sent to hospital for x-rays. more like this from the revos please!;)

[Metrostars]

Yeah I heard about that too. Franchino is a bit of a head case though. Dempsey suspended for 2 weeks but will still probably be called up by Arena for the friendly against Germany next week. Pity the Revs didnt have that kind of fire last week :p

[Jerry The Saint]

BTW, have you seen the Budweiser ads that's been on British TV, Metrostars? Takes the p*ss out of the Americans and soccer - 'Machester United? Manchester City? Why not just Team Manchester?; And we'll have to change those team names. How about the Portsmouth Pirates? (Cue cartoon pirate saying 'Aaaaaargghh!!!') And there's too many teams in London. Let's move Arsenal to the Lake District!' It concludes 'OK! You do the football, we do the beer!' Yeah, if only!:rolleyes:

Those Budweiser ads are strange - 'Too many teams in London. Let's move Arsenal to the Lake District!''. More like 'Too many teams in London. Let's move Wimbledon to Milton Keynes!'':confused:

Having said that we should all be eternally grateful to them for inspiring the genius that is 'Extra-Time Multiball' (coming soon to an eircom League ground near you!)

[gspain]

Those Budweiser ads are strange - 'Too many teams in London. Let's move Arsenal to the Lake District!''. More like 'Too many teams in London. Let's move Wimbledon to Milton Keynes!'':confused:

Having said that we should all be eternally grateful to them for inspiring the genius that is 'Extra-Time Multiball' (coming soon to an eircom League ground near you!)

I thought that ad was brilliant.

When I watched it for the first time - SOCCERtainment etc etc I thought some American marketing department had screwed up big time.

The punchline though

"You do the football we do the beer" was brilliant.

Still ****e beer though. :D

[dcfcsteve]

Don't think they had a choice at the start Macy. They needed ANYBODY to start up the teams. i'm sure they'd love to have one owner one team (as is the case in all the other major sports there)


An old thread that someone dug up for a current discussion, so thought I'd reply on this ! :D

The idea that MLS went down the franchise route because they had no choice is just wrong. Franchising is a core part of the American culture/approach to, and model of, sports ownership. There are numnerous other ways in which ownership of a team and membership of a league could be structured - they just chose the one they're most familiar with.

Granted - franchises with tonnes of money thrown at them probably offer the greatest chance of success for new teams ina new league. But as the League of Wales showed - there are other ways to establish a new league. The US is full of existing adult football teams operating at the highest non senior level. Any of thos with ambition could've been encouraged to secure the funding requried to take the step uo. But no - that's not the American way.

So instead the MLS has a model of sports ownership that is rootless and insecure by its very nature. hence Red Bull taking over NY/NJ, or a team moving to the other side of thwe country regardless of fans, is the price American soccer fans will just have to pay for such a model.

[Metrostars]

Update....

Thankfully, RedBull is putting their money into the team. Up goes the new Red Bull Arena: (webcam) http://www.earthcam.com/clients/redbullarena/ modeled on the Hypo Group Arena in Austria. It is due to be completed in about a year. Not only that, all the other new soccer stadiums in the US are being built with a few for other purposes e.g. open ends for concert stage etc, Red Bull is building a true soccer stadium. The team still is not great but I'm just estatic that the stadium is finally getting built after years of false promises from the previous owners.

[Pauro 76]

In New York for the week, and myself and a mate were hoping to catch a game. This weekend, on Saturday, New York Red Bull (I prefer Metrostars rather than the corporate branding) vs Toronto F.C., just wondering for a bit of advice on how to go there (I know it's in New Jersey, so wondering about journey times, what trains to get, etc.) and proximity to New York itself. Also is Ronnie O'Brien still playing for Toronto, and Juan Pablo Angel and Landon Donovan likewise for NY? Thanks!

[Dodge]

http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/bus/T0351.pdf

All you need to know Pauro.

[Pauro 76]

Nice one Dodge, extremely useful! :)

[Metrostars]

http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/bus/T0351.pdf

All you need to know Pauro.

Actually that was changed recently. There is no 351 bus, only now for Jets/Giants games. Now you have to get the train to Secaucus and then the shuttle bus to GS:
http://www.njtransit.com/sa/sa_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=CustomerNoticeTo&NoticeId=2104

Train to Secaucus is about 10 minutes, shuttle bus to the stadium about another 20 minutes. For Saturday, I'd recommend the 6:07pm train, that should give you enough time as the game starts at 7:30pm. You can buy tickets for the game at the stadium, no shortage (usually about 15K in a 80K stadium!).


... Also is Ronnie O'Brien still playing for Toronto, and Juan Pablo Angel and Landon Donovan likewise for NY? Thanks!

Ronnie plays for San Jose now. Angel is captain of the team but Donovan plays with Beckham in LA.

[Dodge]

Ooops. THought I was OK when i read it was valid form jan 08

Cheers metrostars

[Pauro 76]

Actually that was changed recently. There is no 351 bus, only now for Jets/Giants games. Now you have to get the train to Secaucus and then the shuttle bus to GS:
http://www.njtransit.com/sa/sa_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=CustomerNoticeTo&NoticeId=2104

Train to Secaucus is about 10 minutes, shuttle bus to the stadium about another 20 minutes. For Saturday, I'd recommend the 6:07pm train, that should give you enough time as the game starts at 7:30pm. You can buy tickets for the game at the stadium, no shortage (usually about 15K in a 80K stadium!).



Ronnie plays for San Jose now. Angel is captain of the team but Donovan plays with Beckham in LA.

Thanks for the info Metrostars! Not sure whether we're going just yet but handy to have a bit of info before going.

[Metrostars]

Was at this game last night. Nice goal on his debut:

4u0tNcq3SGY

[Metrostars]

Who would have believed it? A lovely new stadium built by rb opening in March:

http://redbull.newyork.mlsnet.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=7147801

[irishultra]

the mls looks really good, i mean, yeah i think going to games would be enjoyable.

[Dodge]

Who would have believed it? A lovely new stadium built by rb opening in March:

http://redbull.newyork.mlsnet.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=7147801

YOu still a fan metrostars?

[Metrostars]

YOu still a fan metrostars?

I am, although I only went to 3 matches last year because of work/family commitments. Plus the team was shyte.

I'll definitely get to more matches this year at the new stadium... another new manager, some Swedish guy, probably another turnover of players.

[Metrostars]

New stadium is opening on Saturday night with a match against Santos (robinho & co). Can't wait to finally get there, its been a long wait.

http://imgsrv.wcbs880.com/image/DbLiteGraphic/201003/6251462.jpg

[EastTerracer]

I'll be there Metrostars. I usually get to a couple of games each season but decided that someone had to support the initiative of building the stadium so have invested in a half-season ticket. Looking forward to seeing football in a proper football stadium.

[EastTerracer]

I took a couple of pictures at the opening of the new stadium last night. It's about 45 minutes travel time from Midtown Manhattan. Very impressive stadium though there isn't much in the immediate vicinity of the ground. Overall I was very impressed (although it's not Tallaght!).

On the footballing side the Red Bulls beat Santos 3-1. Robinho wasn't there - either injured, saved for Santos' league game today or the wages haven't been paid yet.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_H4iJqY9xLrc/S6Y2_XnSHXI/AAAAAAAAACQ/g5RkOAGchLI/s640/IMG_1815.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_H4iJqY9xLrc/S6ZEMHcWtlI/AAAAAAAAADA/OU5k3bSLqlM/s640/IMG_1795.JPG

[Dodge]

Wow, that ground looks ideal.

[Metrostars]

It's a fantastic stadium, about 25K in capacity which is perfect. It is a huge change from the awful Giants Stadium. Getting there is quite easy, just a 5-10 minute walk from the Harrison Path station.

ET, the plan is to develop that whole area from the station to the stadium which stores, restaurants, apartments etc.