November 6, 2009
The USL has put out their press release about the rosy future for their 1st Division during the team owners meetings in Beaverton, Oregon. With TOA member Tampa Bay at the USL meetings, that would appear to give an edge to the USL in this power struggle.
One of the potrential USL-1 expansion teams has some positive stadium news with the City of Baltimore looking at building a 7000 seat stadium for Crystal Palace Baltimore.
There is talk of the USL working with Premier Partnerships to help grow league revenues.
And now there is news that TOA member Minnesota Thunder might be on the ropes. There is a report that there are players and front office people that are still waiting for some paychecks and the team now has only three employees currently. That can't help the TOA's legitimacy.
And The Kartik Report even thinks that Tampa Bay and Detroit are the USL's trump cards in this tug of war.
If Vegas had odds on what league Vancouver and Montreal play in next season, my guess is that oddsmakers would make the USL the favorites at this point.
News & Notes:
- Real Salt Lake knocked the defending champion Columbus Crew out of the playoffs last night.
- TIAS.com has a good interview with Soccernomics author Simon Kuper.
- Here is an interesting list of potential DC United head coaches.
- Greg Lalas has a column up at Goal.com about whether more MLS players will move to clubs during the MLS off season to stay sharp ahead of next year's World Cup.
- The Original Winger has a conversation with one of the people at EA Sports that runs the FIFA franchise.
- The Ebbsfleet United ownership by an internet based trust is falling apart. Now you know why MLS doesn't want anything to do with a team that is owned by a fan trust.
- Sheffield Wednesday is letting fans select their 2010-11 away jerseys.
- The rumor mill has Traffic Sports selling US U-20 defender Gale Agbossoumonde to a club in Portugal.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
