Checketts Says Soccer Stadium Deal is Dead

That's it. That is what is missing from most of the play-by-play/color teams in the sport in the US. I also like the guy who does DC United's games on Comcast but he needs a counterpart to do color and the same with that guy who does FC Dallas's radio broadcasts.

Who would you consider the best? Note: You can not name yourself (though you're not bad and i'd put you up there with Sean Wheelock).

 

Why would it be integral to their survival? The Mariners survive without teams in Vancouver or Portland. The Seahawks survive without teams in Vacouver or Portland. The Canucks survive without teams in Seattle or Portland. If the Sonics leave Seattle, the Blazers should survive without teams in Vancouver or Seattle.

 

Bring back the Blitzz in USL-1!

Vancouver, Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake, San Francisco, and Minnesota. Nice.

USL should be waiting to pounce on that.

 

We're talking USL budgets, not MLB or NHL budgets. They are the only USL-1 teams on the west coast. Thier other nearest club is in Minnesota which is not exactly a bus trip.

Monetary reasons aside, these teams (or should I say their fans) all have a real desire to beat the other 2 teams; they have all been hating on each other since the 70's when they were NASL clubs (the names were at least). NY & DC hate each other but that's what, 12 years old? Nothing fuels passion for a team like a rival. I imagine it wouldn't be nearly as fun to be a BoSox fan if the Yanks weren't around.

Not being argumentative, just my 2 cents.

 

I remember RSL's first home game...


GOOD LUCK RSL fans!!!

 

But it is very unrealistic to believe all 3 could or would enter -at-the-same-time-

Someone has to be first and Vancouver will not be allowed or even ready until 2010, Seattle if you talk to people here could happen next year or never, Portland is the only city with a stadium ready for a relocated or expansion club.

Now as far as rivalries, new ones would likely form. Portland and San Jose? Who knows.

 

Very. I wonder if it is real or if the 27.5 million number is just a ruse...

 

No stadium. Aloha was locked into the wrong configuration for soccer this year.

 

Huh? Where?


And don't mention that baseball stadium they play in right now as that's not going to work for MLS. DCU is trying to get OUT of a baseball stadium right now...I doubt another team wants to work hard to get into another.

 

Why would anyone even consider an MLS club in Hawaii, wasn't Team Hawaii in NASL one of the reasons that league folded?

Has transportation cost and time gone down since then?

I remember watching Once In A Lifetime, and i remember one of the quotes from that film was "We had no business having a team in Hawaii."

Are any other pro sports teams based in Hawaii?

 

You have to walk before you can run.

By the way that "baseball stadium" like RFK was originally not built for Baseball. In reality PGE is more of a football/soccer stadium than baseball which is one reason the owner of the Beavers would like a new stadium.

So my question to you is this, which scenario would be more attractive:

MLS in Seattle, a city which flat out has voted for no funds to support or build stadiums and whose USL-1 club receives mostly tepid support and nearly non-existent coverage in the local media and whose only option is playing in the cavernous Qwest paying god knows what for rent and at the mercy of someone elses schedule.

MLS in Portland where the USL club already has die hard, core soccer supporters, where a stadium exists which has hosted soccer and done well doing so, where the only obstacles are on a smaller scale than in Seattle. Building a minor league baseball stadium and taking over and upgrading PGE still likely to costs less than building an MLS SSS in an unproven soccer market. Additionally, the Portland media covers the Timbers. Even in a worse case scenario, rent at PGE is likely far less than at Qwest.


Qwest Field: 67,000

PGE Park: 19,566

 

i admit, my knowledge of NASL history is lacking. (The league went under when I was 3 years old.) I only remember that quote from the Cosmos movie.

Has any professional sports team done well in Hawaii?

 

Ooook, that STILL doesn't prove that PGE Park will be a viable venue for an MLS side. Who's going to control revenue streams? Priority schedulling? And that crap about an "unproven soccer market" is just that.

-SLC was an "unproven soccer market" yet they average consistently in the top 3 since they've been in existence.

-Qwest Field was COMPLETELY SOLD OUT for the DCU-Real Madrid match

-COMPLETELY SOLD OUT for the ManU-Celtic match a few years back

-Had the highest World Cup tv ratings of any non-MLS city.

The Sounders already get a sweetheart revenue sharing deal at Qwest Field and get awesome scheduling during the summer as well. That would be a perfect place for an MLS team temporarily while a stadium is being built. Furthermore, they don't have to rush to get out of there like RSL has to do with Rice-Eccles.

Portland is a great market, but to diminish Seattle as a market in return is pretty silly.

 

California is also quite liberal, that didn't help the SJ Earthquakes now did it?

Best of luck to RSL fans . . . I'm not counting you out until the official MLS Press Release says you're moving. There's still time left in this match.

 

My condolences to the RSL fans...this really sucks to see that politicians in your state have such a lack of vision. I remember when Ken Behring almost moved the Seahawks to LA...seeing the moving vans outside the Kingdome on the news was really gut-wrenching. Luckily the team was sold to the right investor: Paul Allen! Hopefully, Checketts will sell the team to an investor with enough assets to keep the team in Utah...'cause RSL supporters have shown that they deserve an MLS franchise!

 

Yes, you can buy a ticket to Hawaii from NYC for less than $600 today. Galaxy & Chivas players can get to Hawaii in less time than NY/DC/NE

The fact that Honolulu has no other pro-team would make it a plus in my book. It makes no sense for MLB to have a team there as they play a million games per season. MLS teams have 15-16 home games/year and each Eastern conference team would have to make the trip once a year. I doubt many players would object.

 

Hawaii's Pacific Coast League baseball team, the Hawaii Islanders, lasted 25 years and led the minor leagues in attendance in 1970. For a number of years (the late 60s), they were the model franchise in the minors and a massive box-office draw.

Things went south in the 80s...they ping-ponged from major league parent club to parent club and attendance suffered.

But, yeah, there is precedent for pro sports success in Hawaii.

 

It's now permanently in the football config, not baseball.

But that's beside the point -- the problem isn't the travel for the teams from the continent to Hawaii, it's the travel for the team that plays in Hawaii. It's seven months worth of constant unshakable jetlag. That, and the Honolulu population is under 400,000, under 1 million in the MSA, far smaller than any other MLS city.

 

Jesus Christ, you're an idiot.

 

As a fellow Seattleite, I agree with Sempu...Qwest would be a great temporary home for an MLS team! I've always dreamt of having an MLS team in Seattle. And besides, Qwest was specifically built to house both football and soccer. Now, yes, MLS games wouldn't sell out Qwest, but I can really envision Qwest getting an adequate enough attendance to support a franchise. Plus, it is located in an ideal transportation hub...heck, you could even take a train there from the state capitol (which is 60 miles south of Seattle). But to be honest...I find it hard to believe that Seattle would support a new SSS. 1) They didn't support a new stadium/upgrade for the Sonics...they might have a stadium elsewhere outside of Seattle (in Renton or Bellevue), but that remains to be seen (please correct me if I'm wrong on that Sempu). 2) It's already assumed that a stadium for soccer exists in Seattle: Qwest. Qwest was publicised as a "football and soccer" stadium from the beginning...so, most people in Seattle might ask, why do we need a "football and soccer" stadium and a "Soccer Specific" stadium???