Thoughts about MLS and the Soccer Park
OK, it’s been a long day for me, but here’s the lay of the land:
The Portland City Council has approved a bill to fund the stadium renovation in Portland, but not until it took out $15 million. So the plan there is $15 million short. There are also a lot of contingencies in the bill. Who knows how MLS will respond to that.
It sounds like the league will name one team in March, almost definitely Vancouver, and then name the other in April. Portland is probably ahead at the moment, depending on how big that missing $15 million becomes. The fact that the league isn’t going to name the other team until April says they’re going to take a good look at the Portland deal before deciding. I’ve covered enough of these city council votes that I wouldn’t be surprised if the $15 million turns up somewhere else soon enough.
Though the league has never said it publically, the “distance” of Collinsville has hung over the Cooper bid from Day One. This takes it out of the equation, assuming they can build on the site. They’re going to have to do a lot of building along the river to make the site work. Plus, they’ll need a new offramp off 44 (to do one off 270 would require a bridge, I’m pretty sure, which would get pretty expensive, I would think) and some place to put the cars. The site will still be used as a youth soccer facility, so they can’t just pave over the outer fields. Cooper seems optimistic that can be worked out.
Cooper said his group would look at the sites and decide which one makes the most sense. If they can build at the Soccer Park, I think it wins because, well, that’s where the people are. If you can remove one potential hang up from the equation, why not do it?
Collinsville would still be the site for a youth complex, which could lead to some housing construction as well. But let’s face it: Building houses right now isn’t a great idea.
Cooper said that Athletica would probably play some of its games at the Soccer Park. So they could have three home fields this season: SIUE, SLU and the Soccer Park. Even if it can’t hold an MLS stadium, the existing stadium would likely be Athletica’s home. It’s the right size.
The MLS season begins in a week, so expect an announcement on Vancouver any day now.
By the way, Cooper went to both Liverpool and Man U’s Champions League matches while in England, toured various youth facilities, and met with people at Arsenal.
“Cooper seems optimistic that can be worked out” - seems to be a recurring quote from Mr. Cooper.
Looks like his optimism has secured MLS franchises in Seattle, Philly, Vancouver, and Portland.
He should think about trading in optimism for “deep pockets”.
Ha ha - well said, Zico. I appreciate the hell out of everything Cooper’s tried to do so far, and more may be on the way. But this steady drumbeat of optimism hasn’t amounted to much so far.
That’s where all the people are? Correction. That’s where all the rich people are. Madison/St. Clair counties have 515,000 people. St. Charles county has nearly 300,000. St. Louis City has about 350,000. St. Louis County has a little over 1,000,000 which are spread out north, south, and west. The people are all pretty much spread out all over the place. Fenton’s not much closer if any to being a central location than Collinsville. Or St. Charles for that matter.
As for Athletica, while they may draw more at Fenton, having a traveling road show is not a good idea. What do you tell season ticket holders? You will have to remember where each game is, then you will have a different seat at each location. It’s not like the three venues are even remotely close to each other either.
Since Coop is in England right now, I’ll use the English terminology….daft.
You are all forgetting a few things. One, St. Louis is a superior market to Portland Vancouver or Ottawa. The MLS doesn’t want to celebrate “expansion” into the great northwest if it can avoid it. This opens a new door. Will deep pockets walk in? Who knows, but Tom Timmermann don’t think $15,000,000 is easy to find in Portland or anywhere in this economy. I like the Collinsville scenario but if this gives investors another reason to look at St. Louis, then we are in better shape than we were. I would have to think the MLS is listening if Anheuser is making noise. This may be a new ballgame after all.
If I really thought it would get us a team in 2011, I would be all for the Fenton site, in spite of its many drawbacks. But it won’t. You still have to come up with funding to build this stadium, where the Collinsville site is basically already funded. I’m not even sure if St. Louis would have gotten a team, even if the financing, the stadium, and everything else was perfect. I think the league has wanted Portland from the start.
I’m still trying to grasp the Athletica aspect of this. I was originally going to 10 games at SIU, or so I thought and two road games, one at Toyota Park in Chicago, and one at the Maryland Soccerplex in Germantown. Now I’m going to five different places, three of which are different venues 40 miles apart. I just hope the players find the right stadium on the right night.
Has anyone mentioned here that Fenton is a mile further from downtown than Collinsville? If we miss out on this round of expansion, SLSU needs to make a downtown or Casino-Queen-location style stadium happen, within view of the Arch… and get those supposedly concerned AB InBev honchos to get on board as full blown members of the ownership team. Budweiser Park across the river where the Queen is, with an open view of the city… sounds perfect to me…
I believe if you look at the entire picture it becomes pretty clear.
The Fenton location is not viable for a MLS style stadium, the alterations to the property to keep it dry and functional would end up flooding Valley Park on a regular basis.
The MLS has stated all along that this ownership group does not have deep enough poclets to be in true contention and everyone is concerned about the Collinsville plan.
I think what Soccer Park does bring to the table is this…a home for the WPS women’s team and an adquate stadium for a USL1 men’s team. The idea of moving to a USL1 men’s team was floated a few months back and I think with the acquisition of Soccer Park it becomes viable.
It may not be what everyone wants but I think it is the best you can hope for right now and teams like the Rhino’s and the Sounders have proved that USL1 is entertaining and marketable enough to be succesful, especially in a pro-soccer town like STL.
I agree with RealFootball. I don’t really think there’s going to be an MLS stadium in Fenton. It’s perfect for the other pieces of the SLSU operation: Athletica, the youth teams, and the potential USL-1 team.
If Cooper’s thinking about MLS as far in the future as 2013, a USL-1 team could have three years under their belts by then, to further show MLS that there’s a market for pro soccer in St. Louis. And if MLS let him down again, we’d still have that team as a consolation prize.
The big question mark is Tony Glavin’s St. Louis Lions, who could scuttle the whole USL-1 thing by invoking their territorial rights. Personally, I’d much rather have a USL-1 team in Fenton than Cottleville. It would be a shame if, after all Glavin has done for soccer in St. Louis, he wound up killing our best shot at a viable USL-1 side. St. Louisans have shown that they’ll show up at the Soccer Park in large numbers; we can’t say that about Cottleville. I really hope SLSU and the Lions are talking. Team up, reach a gentlemen’s agreement, hell even apply for two USL-1 teams and get a Derby going - but settle it somehow!
I know this isn’t realistic, but I think they should build the soccer stadium on the site of Ballpark Village.
I wouldn’t oppose the Ballpark Village site. It’s certainly more centrally located than Collinsville or Fenton. But I don’t think it’s big enough for a full size soccer stadium plus 18,000 seats. And like you said, it could probably never happen anyway. At least in Collinsville, the financing is set, which is going to be a problem anywhere else you decide to put a stadium. Of course, if they don’t get a team this time around, they probably won’t have financing for a stadium anywhere. Then it will be a real mess trying to get a stadium deal done.