It wouldn't be 2nd tier without Portland
by Dave Clark on Nov 4, 2009 6:40 PM PST
in Other Professional Soccer (non-Sound)
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PrintWell, it looks like the NuRock v TOA saga is continuing, but only a little bit, while the USL-1 meetings are being held in Beaverton, OR this week.
With the following teams certainly there - Rochester, Portland, Tampa Bay, Puerto Rico, FC New York, Cleveland and Austin.
The TOA clubs, may or may not be - Vancouver, Montreal, St Louis, Miami, Atlanta, Tampa, Carolina, Minnesota. Several are invited.
Charleston isn't there. Ottawa isn't there.
Four possible expansion sites are mentioned in the Democrat and Chronicle link. MatchFitUSA is speculating on Detroit. I will toss in Birmingham, as NuRock does hold rights to the city and it isn't under contention by the TOA.
But you want to know when something is really up? When you head to the USL site and some clubs are blacked out rather than linked and others are not. It isn't all of the TOA cities that are black, only some. Teams that have been kicked out of the USL-2 aren't black, PDL teams that have folded aren't black.
A league in disarray, meetings in Beaverton, and yet the Oregonian isn't covering it. Soccer City USA, get your house in order. Hire some lawyers, and figure this out. We've got a sport to elevate, not to relegate.
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Birmingham
If Birmingham were to get a team, stadium/location would be critical to its success. The previous USISL team here (Birmingham Grasshoppers) had some success, but their field was in a crap part of town. The team was largely associated with Birmingham-Southern College (BSC.) If a new team could be closer to UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) and have an association of sorts with them, I think they’d do much better.
Minnesota has big problems
The TOA is losing a significant partner in the MN Thunder.
They have no GM, no Coach and have now released all players.
Tampa is playing both sides in the dispute.
If NuRock can get all of the remaining and viable TOA sides back in this thing in 2011 they would have professional teams in the following markets – Edmonton, Austin, Ottawa, Baltimore, Rochester, Detroit, St.Louis, Atlanta, Tampa, Cary NC, Charleston SC, Cleveland, Miami, New York and Puerto Rico. Which would be a solid second tier for the US and Canada, except for the idea that there would be no pro soccer in the Pacific Time Zone.
I don’t think we can consider USL-2, nor Pro-PDL, nor the NPSL as fully pro. Not at their salaries.
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