Now it really get more important than ever for Raleigh to get an MLS cause news has It MLB is planning to remove 40 MILB teams. So now it more important than for Raleigh to have MLS if oRaleigh and you guys want Raleigh to be this and that and a great city then we need to have 2 professional sports teams most cities have that.
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By far, the absolutely most bonkers part of the discourse on this thread to me is the idea that Raleigh getting or not getting a franchise in America’s fifth most popular professional sports league (and a very, very distant fifth at that, and that’s not even counting college sports, which are also vastly more popular than MLS) is going to be in any way a factor of Raleigh being a great city and/or this and that. I’m also not really sure how MLB eliminating a bunch of bottom-of-the-barrel minor league teams in tiny, tiny towns changes this analysis in any way.
FWIW, the WNBA gets national TV ratings that on par with, or better than, MLS, so if we feel like Raleigh really needs a second sports team to signal that Raleigh is a city on the rise and force to be reckoned with and all that jazz, we’ve got options here.
@Francisco Yeah, Raleigh area legislators are going to make absolutely sure that Charlotte gets absolutely no state funds for a soccer stadium, and Charlotte area legislators are going to make absolutely sure that Raleigh gets absolutely no state funds for a soccer stadium. It’s beautiful. (dance, puppets, dance.)
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I’m with you on this one. The Mudcats stadium in Zebulon is an absolute eyesore, to put it mildly, and they were able to stay off the chopping block even though their parent club (Milwaukee) was one of the teams spearheading this minor league contraction. That should speak to Raleigh’s market strength.
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Of the 12 MiLB teams in North Carolina, only one—the Burlington Royals—are on the elimination list. I think that speaks to the market strength of the state as a whole.
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It does speak to the strength of the markets here, but some of it is also historical coincidence. The large majority of the carnage is limited to four leagues in two classifications–Class A short season and Advanced Rookie–that are near the very bottom of the ladder and realistically aren’t needed today. (Only a handful of teams have affiliates in both leagues as it is.) Mostly by historical accident, there’s only one team in North or South Carolina in any of those leagues, and it’s on the chopping block. Outside of those four leagues, there are only 14 teams on the current list, and it wouldn’t shock me if at least some of them bought their way off of it.
How about Raleigh showing that it’s the leader in progressive movements, outdoing Austin, Portland, or San Francisco, by finally ending gender segregation in professional sports.
Steve Malik has stated his opinion that the HB2 bill (‘boys use the boys bathroom, and girls use the girls bathroom’) was terrible as it discriminated against people due to their gender.
SO, why have sports teams that segregate people by… their gender? The much higher paying mens team would benefit from the diversity of having people of all genders on the team.
Why have separate teams? No where else in our society is this type of discrimination allowed - police forces, fire departments, the US military, UPS, FedEx, … you name it, all are opened to mixed gendered work forces.
As Steve Malik doesn’t want to see bathrooms have gender segregation, I’m sure he’s in support of de-segregating the MLS league. I haven’t heard him talk about that, but it would be a consistent stance based on his HB2 comments. In fact having only male and female teams is so unsupportive of people who have gender identities that don’t fit into two neat categories. It’s time to end all gendering in the sport!
Here’s his chance to stand out from the pack and propose the first MLS team that’s fully inclusive. A first in the league. I think the gesture will be bring a great outpouring of support and propel his Raleigh Downtown South proposal into first place and will mark a turning point in civil rights with the vanquishing the last bastion of ‘separate but equal’.
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Hahaha uhh what?? Come on now
This, but for real instead of sarcastically.
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Something along the lines of mixed doubles tennis might be fun. Recreational leagues do this too. A professional league where there have to be at least 5 women on the field at a time might be pretty fun to watch.
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Soccer would basically be the perfect sport in which to do this, too, because there’s a massive worldwide ladder of professional leagues and teams spanning a vast array of talent levels. I fully understand why USWNT players are so committed to developing the women’s pro league at the moment, but suppose Megan Rapinoe or somebody announced tomorrow that she wanted to play in the men’s leagues and see how far up the ladder her talent could take her, and how much money she could make in the process. Why shouldn’t she be able to do that? I think that’d be great to watch.
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I honestly doubt she would encounter much resistance if she tried that, even today. But realistically that’s not quite the same. Few women would get the chance to play at the highest levels on the biggest stages in that scenario. Equality, but not equity.
I think a league with a pre-determined gender mix as a part of its rules would be both better and more fun to watch. If half of your team on the field must be women, then the competition for the top women players would be just as intense as the men, and their salaries would probably rise to match.
Call it affirmative action soccer, I guess.
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The risk is that Rapinoe’s ceiling might be as a role player on an USL team. If the best of the USWNT isn’t able to climb the ladder it could have a negative affect on the perception of the NWSL, and on the fight for equal pay.
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Considering the women’s national team is the best in the world and our men’s team couldn’t even make the playoffs last time, I think there’s probably a number of women that would do better than their male counterparts. I’m actually surprised more sports aren’t coed. You’d have to be able to make the team on merit, obviously, but I could see that happening for many sports.
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Oh, absolutely. All very good points, and I’m sure there are extremely good reasons why no one on the USWNT has pursued this path. But, to @KenAA’s point, if someone wanted to go this path, they should be able to! I’m not sure if there’s any actual rule against this, honestly, and per @orulz’s point, yeah, I don’t think she would encounter much pushback if she tried to do it.
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I’m pretty sure there is a rule prohibiting women from playing in the MLS. I don’t think it’s a necessary rule, because the highest level should be open to anyone with the ability or talent, but it would have to be changed to allow her to play.
I still don’t understand why all curling isn’t coed.
And darts.
And cornhole
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eSports, too! I actually looked this one up, and it turns out that 1) The biggest eSports competitions are all already officially mixed-gender, and some of the biggest ones have already had women competing directly against men at various points 2) In practice, however, there are still very few women in the highest level competitions and 3) The sport is dogged by some horrifically toxic sexual harassment perpetuated by a small but very determined minority of the gaming community. (Shocking, I know.)
But here you go, a significant and rapidly growing sport that has already at least officially done away with separate but equal gender segregation in sports! (Auto racing would also qualify, obviously, given Danica Patrick’s success. I’m sure we could think of some other prominent examples.)
Hey, this was a fun diversion! Thanks for the idea, @KenAA!
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Well the the women’s dominant Olympic team did lose an exhibition to the Dallas FC boys 15year old and under team. Two games (I think). Serena Williams is the GOAT in tennis but was handily beaten by a very low ranking older male player as well. Not trying to take anything away from the top level of women’s sports but there’s only certain instances and specific sports that a coed system would even be viable. And that would also require rebooting the league to support it properly.
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Again. Direct head to head men vs women is not really equitable in a sport where physical attributes like strength, speed, height, or weight matter.
Make it cooperative, like mixed doubles tennis. Men and women cooperating on a team to beat other teams of men and women. I would pay to watch that as surely as I would pay to watch high level competitive mixed doubles tennis.
I coach coed kids’ soccer in a league where equal playing time is a requirement. It really adds an interesting layer of strategy to the game.
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Yeah I could potentially see that. Again, in the right sports and circumstances. Not really sure soccer would be one but it’s an interesting idea. If the sport was adjusted enough to make it work of course then whether or not it would make any money would end up being the real determiner for viability.