MLS Expansion Plans Are Not Going All That Well

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https://www.sportstalkflorida.com/soccer/mls/mls-expansion-plans-not-going-well/

MLS Expansion Plans Are Not Going All That Well

About a year ago, Major League Soccer decided to expand and look for four cities that had owners and public money that wanted an MLS team. Paperwork was submitted from investors in Charlotte, Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis, Nashville, Phoenix, Raleigh, Sacramento, St. Louis, St. Petersburg, San Antonio, and San Diego. But most of the proposals turned out to be worthless. St. Louis voters turned down a chance to put up public money for a soccer stadium. St. Petersburg, Florida voters said yes to a proposal to renovate Al Lang Stadium through a lease deal as long as the owner of the proposed MLS expansion team paid for the revamping of the facility. The Major League Soccer expansion committee was not interested in St. Petersburg. Eventually the committee whittled down the list to four cities, Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville and Sacramento. In December the league said yes to Nashville after the city came up with the money that pleased the MLS owners. In October, 2017. Nashville Mayor Megan Barry proposed throwing a quarter of a billion dollars into a project that would include a 27,500-seat stadium for a Major League Soccer expansion team. In November, the Nashville city council said Mayor Barry’s plan made sense to them and approved the proposal. All of a sudden Nashville had the best proposal for a soccer stadium and leaped to the top of the MLS’s expansion list.

While the league is trying to figure out expansion, there is a problem in Columbus. Columbus Crew owner Anthony Precourt who is threatening to move his team from Columbus to Austin, Texas. Precourt has been talking to Austin officials for a number of months but has run into a roadblock. Austin has delayed a decision on building a soccer venue until May 15. Perhaps the appetite for soccer isn’t as large as the MLS thinks.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2018/02/20/west-end-residents-unleash-concerns-over-potential.html

West End residents unleash concerns over potential FC Cincinnati stadium

West End residents aired out their concerns and opposition, many of them loudly, about an FC Cincinnati stadium in their neighborhood during an often-raucous West End Community Council meeting on Tuesday night.

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https://www.independentmail.com/story/sports/2018/02/20/greenville-fc-announces-2018-schedule-inaugural-soccer-season-npsl/351142002/

Greenville FC announces 2018 schedule for inaugural soccer season

Greenville FC has taken another big step to its inaugural season, releasing its schedule for 2018.

The season begins May 4 on the road against Georgia Revolution FC, while the first home game, played at Furman University's Eugene Stone Stadium, is set for May 12 at 7 p.m. against Inter Nashville FC.

Overall, the schedule features eight home matches.

Greenville, a member of the National Premier Soccer League, is the only NPSL team in South Carolina.

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https://www.reddit.com/r/TampaBayRowdies/comments/7yxe17/hunter_gorskie_a_renaissance_man/

Hunter Gorskie: A Renaissance Man (rowdiessoccer.com)

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http://www.rowdiessoccer.com/news_article/show/888843

Hunter Gorskie: A Renaissance Man

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (February 20, 2018) — One day in the summer of 2016, Tampa Bay Rowdies center back Hunter Gorskie found himself in the lobby of a modeling agency in New York City.

Gorskie, then playing for Miedź Legnica in Poland, was on a short summer vacation in his hometown and wanted to meet his older brother Jason Gorskie for brunch. Jason had recently ended a professional soccer career of his own and was beginning to make his way into a new career path in the modeling and fashion industry.

When Hunter arrived at the agency, Jason brought his director out for an introduction in the lobby and the director pitched a new idea. What if the two brothers, with little to no modeling experience between them, did a photoshoot together?

The idea was kind of laughed off and the Gorskie brothers went to brunch as planned. But while they were eating, Jason’s phone rang. The director on the other end asked if they would return to the agency after their meal and do a test shoot together that he could shop around to some potential clients.

Hunter Gorskie isn’t afraid of the unknown, so the brothers went back to the studio and did a photoshoot together not really expecting anything to come of it.