Tipsheet: San Diego rejects MLS stadium, thins expansion field

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https://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/jeff-gordon/tipsheet-san-diego-rejects-mls-stadium-thins-expansion-field/article_17d7a27b-336d-50fc-ae96-64a8cc200f37.html

Tipsheet: San Diego rejects MLS stadium, thins expansion field

As St. Louis awaits word from the Major League Soccer on its revived expansion bid, voters in San Diego kept that city's bid on the back burner.

Folks there were confronted with two ballot proposals regarding stadiums -- one for a new 35,000-seat football facility for San Diego State University and one for a new 22,000-seat soccer edifice.

The soccer proposal received just 37.4 percent voter support. SoccerCity project manager Nick Stone had this declaration for the San Diego Union-Tribune on Tuesday night: “Major League Soccer is gone from San Diego if we lose.”

If that's true, that eliminates one direct competitor for St. Louis in the current MLS expansion race. Austin, Sacramento, Phoenix and Detroit have also shown interest, with Austin likely to get in.

"Cincinnati will join next year. It's a current USL club. We'll work on finalizing the actual launch dates for Miami and for Nashville," MLS commissioner Don Garber told reporters in September. "That gives us two more teams to get us to 28. There's still many, many cities that are a part of that process and we engage with them regularly.

"We have not established a timetable for that next round, but between the five or six or seven that are still in the mix, we'll pick two of them and we'll figure out how they're going to roll out so that we can be a fully expanded league."

San Diego's football stadium proposal -- which also included other SDSU facilities for the Mission Valley Campus -- won with 54.44 percent of the vote.

"SDSU Mission Valley will not rely on taxpayer dollars, student tuition or student fees," San Diego State president Adela de la Torre said. "This is important to understand. The university will not raise student tuition or fees. The Mission Valley site plan is a self-supporting project that will be paid for by revenue generated by uses on the site."

Currently San Diego State plays in the SDCCU Stadium, the old home of the San Diego Chargers. That aging stadium and its surrounding parking lot will be the site of the new development.

Meanwhile the Chargers are stuck playing in a MLS stadium in Carson City while waiting to move into Stan Kroenke's stadium in Inglewood. The new San Diego State stadium will be designed to allow expansion past 50,000 seats in case the Chargers want to come home some day.

The Chargers moved to suburban LA after voters shot down an initiative for a new downtown NFL stadium and convention center expansion in 2016.

San Diego State also sounds willing to share its football stadium with a MLS team, although the league strongly prefers cozier stadiums tailored to soccer. Earlier talks with potential MLS team investors broke down because they wanted a smaller stadium.

“We’ll reach out to them and let them know we’re really interested and try to understand if they’re still interested in the San Diego market," SDSU athletic director John David Wicker told the Union-Tribune. "They’ve talked about it as such a strong market, so how can we move forward together?

“We’re excited to sit down with them.”

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https://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/ben-frederickson/benfred-compared-to-other-markets-st-louis-should-look-even/article_e21dcb40-161c-5e70-8723-4567042be13e.html

BenFred: Compared to other markets, St. Louis should look even better to MLS

The home website of Major League Soccer featured a banner Friday across the top of the page that displayed the crests of the league’s 23 active teams.

To the right of the elaborate designs rested three empty crests marked only by the city abbreviations for the league’s teams-to-be.

An updated look around the field of play makes it easier to imagine “STL” appearing there in the near future.

League expansion, like soccer itself, is not solely dependent on your team’s plan of attack.

The strength, skill and organization of your opponents matter.

If the team you are facing stumbles, you gain ground.

That seems to apply here.

Friday made it one month since the MLS4TheLou group announced its plan to secure an expansion team. This renewed effort, backed predominantly by private funding from the Taylor family, should be appealing to the league and the city. Gone is the out-of-town ownership element and the request for $60 million from the public. In its place is increased private funding, a sensible request for a tax on concessions and other sales within the stadium, and an ask for an assist from the state in developing a piece of blighted land already deemed desirable by MLS.

Since that encouraging announcement, wheels have turned quietly.

The new ownership group has adopted a low-key public approach after its initial splash, but that’s not a bad thing. Those who have heard briefings by ownership group member Jim Kavanaugh have described his outlook as intensely optimistic regarding his discussions with city, state and MLS leaders. Kavanaugh shared during a recent podcast appearance with broadcaster Dan McLaughlin his hopes of checking significant boxes within the next 90 days. Asked for specifics Friday, a representative for the ownership group said more information could be available as early as next week.

That 90-day timeline would be an impressive goal, considering the Board of Aldermen has not approved a financial package, and the requested tax credits have not been approved by the state. But again, optimism remains high at this point. If city leaders who donned scarves at the news conference are as eager behind closed doors as they were in front of cameras, there should be no hurdle that can’t be cleared. Gov. Mike Parson has been interested and helpful, a direct contrast from his predecessor, who was pulled down by scandal after undermining the previous attempt to secure a team.

Vibes remain upbeat.

Even more so if you consider the competition.

In last month’s announcement about the future of the Columbus Crew, MLS said it would solve consternation about the Crew’s potential relocation by a) welcoming in new owners who planned to keep the team in its current location and b) assisting departing Crew owner Anthony Precourt in establishing a team in Austin, Texas. What does that mean for St. Louis? Well, if the league’s previously announced plan is followed, the math would suggest MLS would have just one vacant spot to fill before reaching its goal of 28 teams by 2022.

The count: 23 existing teams, plus the announced additions of Miami, Nashville and Cincinnati. And then the plans for Austin.

That leaves one big TBD with more than a handful of cities in the mix. Sounds competitive. But let’s look closely.

San Diego voters just sided with a college football stadium proposal for land the San Diego ownership group hoped to claim. This was after the ownership group there referred to the vote as a referendum on the hopes of landing a team.

Sacramento remains without an ownership group with deep enough pockets to impress the league. Columbus staying put would spoil hopes of the Crew relocating to California.

Detroit’s plan for modifying Ford Field as a soccer venue instead of building a soccer-specific stadium has been publicly rebuked by MLS Commissioner Don Garber.

Charlotte and Raleigh heard Garber say in September that he does not envision any more southeastern clubs joining the league soon.

Phoenix is fascinating. The city’s United Soccer League club is strong. Billionaire Chinese investor Alex Zheng seems determined. But all the money in the world won’t change the fact that MLS would have to compete with the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA in that market. That’s a tough act to follow.

The MLS did not respond when asked Friday for an expansion update.

“The timeline for announcing the next MLS expansion teams has not been set,” read an MLS statement provided to the San Diego Union-Tribune this week. “Markets and potential ownership groups remain active.”

When it comes to expansion, the league is smart to keep the ball in the air.

St. Louis is a prime example of how a seemingly down-and-out city can recover in time to strike.

Wait too long, though, and an opponent might do the same.

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https://kmox.radio.com/articles/prospective-st-louis-mls-team-owner-hopeful-good-news-soon

Prospective St. Louis MLS Team Owner Hopeful For Good News Soon

Here's where things stand at the moment

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http://www.startribune.com/in-mls-successful-teams-either-spend-big-or-develop-well/500151461/

In MLS, successful teams either spend big or develop well

Spending is one option, developing is the other. Neither is a guarantee.

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https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/11/05/election-day-mls-expansion-san-diego-miami-votes

Election Day Has an Impact on MLS Expansion

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https://www.constructiondive.com/news/fairground-advocacy-group-files-injunction-to-stop-construction-of-nashvill/541353/

Fairground advocacy group files injunction to stop construction of Nashville MLS stadium

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https://www.reddit.com/r/TampaBayRowdies/comments/9uqevo/mizel_is_among_new_mexicos_first_6/

Mizel is among New Mexico's first 6

Toni Soler played at UT, this is his first pro contract. Also played PDL for Tormenta. I picked him out at the beginning of the college season too, cause I'm a smart soccer fan

& Josh Suggs had a cup of coffee in Pinellas. Loaned to us by San Jose but never appeared in a league game.

Losing all my favorite players damn it if we lose Blake I will riot ... peacefully

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https://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/966118

New Mexico United Announces First Six Players

SANDOVAL JOINED BY NEW MEXICO NATIVE SUGGS, GOALKEEPER MIZELL AMONG ARRIVALS

A Georgia native, Mizell was a nominee for the 2016 USL Goalkeeper of the Year award with the Charlotte Independence, where Lesesne was an assistant coach at the time. This past season he competed for the Tampa Bay Rowdies and has seen more than 5,000 minutes of action in the USL during his professional career since attending Clemson University. For the Tigers, he was the starting goalkeeper for all three seasons, winning All-ACC Freshman Team honors in 2010 and All-ACC Second Team honors in 2011. Mizell was also an All-ACC Academic Team selection in 2011 and 2012.

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https://www.reddit.com/r/TampaBayRowdies/comments/9uv0bc/long_sleeves/

https://i.imgur.com/k8oV7Eo.jpg

Long Sleeves

NB for the noobs/outsiders: this is Rowdie Ralph/Ralph Rowdie, one of the Rowdies mascots back in the day.

The other mascot being Soccer Head! Or was it Soccerhead?

So much better than a sock!

Saw this pic on Facebook today, remembered someone was asking about long sleeved Rowdies kit a while back.

This was never an actual Rowdies uniform shirt, but, still, thought this was interesting anyway.

Note this was from 1976; that is a Bicentennial badge on the upper left of the shirt. NASL teams all wore those during the 1976 season.

Ye old sombrero

Long-sleeve jersey?!

[desire for indoor Rowdies intensifies]

Of course it was never an actual Rowdies jersey- just something that the marketing department made for the Ralph mascot.

Right.

And the OG Indoor NASL teams actually look like they just wore their short-sleeve outdoor jerseys inside as well

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https://www.reddit.com/r/TampaBayRowdies/comments/9vh3qv/unused_substitutes_ep_181_one_georgi_hristov_oc/

Unused Substitutes Ep 181 – One Georgi Hristov (OC)

Such a great interview...Georgi couldn't have been more appreciative...

You can hear our interview with Gerogi Hristov on this episode of the podcast. Lot of topics covered.

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http://www.theunsubs.com/wp/2018/11/08/episode-181-one-georgi-hristov/4133

Episode 181 – One Georgi Hristov

The star of tonight’s show is none other than Rowdies Legend Georgi Hristov. He talks with Jake about the end of his time with the club, pays tribute to the owners, players, coaches, staff, and fans, and talks about what comes next (and a lot of other topics as well!)

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https://www.reddit.com/r/TampaBayRowdies/comments/9vl7ho/norwich_city_fc_will_be_hosting_an_open_training/

Norwich City FC will be hosting an open training session at Al Lang Stadium on Thursday, November 15

Thursday at 10. Cool, I'll close my eyes and picture it while I sit at work.

Fuck Yeah Norwich!!! The only team I can say I truly have any kind of some kinda connection to English footy because of dat Green n Gold baby. Unlike all these Man U Man City Arsenal blah blah bandwagon fans over here beating their chest for a team they have nothing to do with whatsoever.

Runcorn Linnets FC babyyyy!

Just like at this mascot

lolol that's pretty epic

‼️‼️@NorwichCityFC will be in the Tampa Bay area next week and they will host an open training session at Al Lang Stadium on Thursday, November 15 with a little help from @VisitTampaBay . Stop by to see our green and gold brethren from across the pond! 🇺🇸🤝🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Attached photo | imgur Mirror

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https://twitter.com/TampaBayRowdies/status/1060898553361399809

Tampa Bay Rowdies
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Verified account

@TampaBayRowdies

‼️‼️@NorwichCityFC will be in the Tampa Bay area next week and they will host an open training session at Al Lang Stadium on Thursday, November 15 with a little help from @VisitTampaBay. Stop by to see our green and gold brethren from across the pond! 🇺🇸🤝🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

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https://www.reddit.com/r/TampaBayRowdies/comments/9w9srt/offseason_update_with_assistant_coach_martin/

Offseason Update with Assistant Coach Martin Paterson

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https://youtu.be/P6qM_nYlWf4

Offseason Update with Assistant Coach Martin Paterson

Tampa Bay Rowdies