I think MLS has made it crystal clear that any ownership group willing and able to pay an expansion fee and successfully secure the funding for a soccer-specific stadium can have an MLS franchise eventually, because MLS is at this point dependent on expansion fees to remain solvent since its core business of providing soccer-related entertainment is not and has never been profitable.
Here’s a story in which author Neil deMause asks whether MLS is essentially a Ponzi scheme. That’s not technically accurate–MLS is really just like a lot of other unprofitable companies that have to keep issuing more and more equity stakes in order to keep the business afloat–but in the more generic sense in which people use that term, yeah, it’s a pretty good analogy.
MLS’s per-game attendance for 2018 was down compared to 2017; it’s very early days, but per-game attendance so far in 2019 is down compared to 2018. TV ratings, which are the far more important metric, are still terrible–well below what LigaMX, EPL, and others draw in the US, and basically on par with the WNBA.
At some point in the very near future, the music is going to stop, and the league is either going to have to eliminate some teams or adopt the sort of promotion-and-relegation system used in every other pro soccer league in the world, or both. (In the last graf, deMause, who has no particular ties to Raleigh, explicitly name-checks Raleigh as the type of city that could end up getting screwed when this happens.)
The crazy thing is that this has already happened once in the history of pro soccer in the U.S. The only reason MLS even exists is that the NASL, which was actually quite popular at one point, collapsed under its own weight because it added too many franchises.
All of this is to say that if Steve Malik wants to build a new soccer stadium to replace the perfectly good soccer stadium that already exists, he should be the one to pay for 100 percent of the cost of it. Best of luck to Sacramento and St. Louis, though. They’re going to need it.
I think that most people who follow the MLS expansion plans even casually expected that they were going to go above 28, but it is interesting that they have already formally announced it.
It does seem good for the Malik/Kane effort that this announcement has been made since probably was a long shot for slot 28.
I have read a couple of articles and the general consensus seems to be that Sacramento and st. Louis are they favorites for 28 and 29. After that it is more open. This article from NBC has those two teams then Phoenix and Detroit and Raleigh next. Although their math seems to be a little off because they mention two teams with better than 50-50 shots for one slot. I don’t think that’s how percentages work. MLS expansion rankings: Who could be teams 28-30? - ProSoccerTalk | NBC Sports
Charlotte doesn’t have a stadium plan in place, or even the earliest inklings of a stadium plan. No stadium, no team, simple as that from MLS’s perspective.
Yes, they’ve made exceptions for New York and Atlanta, but Charlotte is unlikely to get the same sort of exception as those much larger cities. Incidentally, the new owner of the Carolina Panthers is interested in getting an MLS team and hosting it in the same stadium that the Panthers play in. But the capacity for that stadium is way, way beyond what an MLS team in Charlotte could expect to draw, so I think MLS is unlikely to accede to this plan.
My two cents are that it’s a good thing this town is falling back in love with the Canes, because many are skeptical pro sports can work in this market even if the ownership and stadium were lined up. If the Canes can start drawing consistent crowds again, MLS might be more of a believer that this city can support a franchise. As it stands, FC isn’t drawing well enough to justify an MLS franchise yet anyway.
I agree with you @Kevin. I can’t tell you how exciting and energizing it is to sit in the PNC arena and see it (and hear it and feel it) slammed packed with people and enthusiasm. It’s been quite a different story since the excitement of the Stanley Cup win wore off coupled with some just plain sorry seasons. It’s my opinion that (at least from a NHL perspective) we are quite the fair-weathered fans. We have an engaged owner and a fantastic coach so let’s hope the story continues to improve.
Fair weather? I don’t think that’s fair to the fans.
They didn’t make the playoffs for 10 years in the league where it’s the easiest to make it. I think it’s actually remarkable a) there were still the number of fans that went to games as there were and. b) so many others came back/came on board when the teams finally made it again.
There really isn’t another fan base that wouldn’t have done the same thing if their team had been as bad as the Canes had.
I don’t think the Canes will ever sell out every game for 10 straight years like the Penguins (in part because the building is too big for the regular season Canes) but if they’re good people will come out especially in the spring.
I’m no expert on the subject and won’t pretend to be. There has been discussion on this Board about true attendance numbers and compared to other markets. Don’t get me wrong, there are admirable supporters and I applaud them. But, of the three people I know that had season tickets they have dropped to a 12 pack or less now. Not very scientific I understand.
In part there’s no reason to get season tickets because there’s no fear of not being able to get tickets and usually you can end up getting tickets for much cheaper because lots of tickets find their way on to secondary markets or through team sales.
The season ticket base is one of the most important things to a franchise outside of its media contracts and the size of the building works against the Canes in this regard. But the biggest factor was the fact that the team was so blah for so long. They were neither spectacularly good or bad enough just stuck in the middle mostly for 10 years.
It will be interesting to see how season ticket numbers climb especially if the team advances and makes folks buy packages for next year in order to ensure they get tickets but ultimately I think the building is too large for the regular season. Tarping off about 4K seats might spurn more packages being sold.
It’s still one of if not the loudest building I’ve ever been in tho and that’s even when it’s not full.
There was an article on ESPN this week about season ticket sales. They had 5,000 full-season equivalents four years ago, and now have 7,500 with an outside chance of reaching 10,000 for next season. That’s awesome.
It is amazing especially considering they hadn’t been any good since 2009. I wonder what teams shoot for in season ticket sales, ie what percentage of season ticket holders is good, what’s great, what’s excellent?
Yeah the prices shooting up for Game 6 are great (for the team anyway) because if people don’t want to miss out for the next round or next year can probably guarantee themselves tickets if they buy a package for next year now.
First off, Go CANES!! Hopefully, they can recover from Saturday and take this to a Game 7.
While we are consumed with Raleigh’s return to the national sports stage, in case you missed it Major League Soccer announced its expanding to “30 teams”, not just 28. The charlotte usa observer ran an article about how the new panthers owner wants to make a pitch for a team. Raleigh’s competition is heating up. Wake County needs to approve the funding for the stadium or we will lose this opportunity.
While Steve Malik is well respected in MLS circles and the current proposal seems like a no -brainer when you think of the ROI of what providing hotel funding of a new stadium would achieve, the panthers owner is a ‘billionaire’. Despite Raleigh have 3 billionaires now, well more than any other NC city, none of these guys have shown an interest in supporting sports teams. Malik is a ‘multi-millionaire’ but theres’ a big difference between a ‘B’ and an “M” in the eyes of major sports leagues.
The time is NOW for Wake County to step up with supporting building an MLS stadium. If we wait any longer, charlotte will slowly get their sh$$ together because they are the most insecure city in America and are desperate to have anything that they think makes them “cool”…but they have corporate dollars that are willing to support these insecurities. Raleigh can’t drag out the decision to support a downtown stadium much longer.
Indeed — and for what it’s worth, David Tepper (the new Panthers owner) is actually the wealthiest owner in the NFL at $11.6b. That’s formidable competition for Malik if he wants the 30th team, and Tepper has already shown that he can get things done as a sports owner.
I agree with You Uncle Jesse . I know someone with close ties with James West , County Commissioner , & I will get in touch with him to see if he will speak with Mr. West .
If we do end up building an MLS stadium in Raleigh, we should definitely plan ahead and make sure that its capacity can be cheaply and easily downsized at some point.
