Expansion World Cup 2018 a windfall for Aussie Rules

[Azzballz Deluxe]

What is the MLS doing?

Expanding all over the US, and getting hundreds of millions of dollars for new rectangular stadiums.


The league has expanded by four new teams:

Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA for the 2005 season.
Houston Dynamo for the 2006 season,
Toronto FC for the 2007 season.

For the 2008 season, the Earthquakes return to the MLS bringing the current total number of clubs to fourteen.

The league plans to have two more expansion teams by 2010, and to have a total of eighteen teams by 2012.


Seattle had been awarded a franchise for the 2009 season,


The MLS is currently trying to add another team, as early as 2009, to make the league 16 teams.


The official list of "priority" candidate cities for future expansion includes
Atlanta, Las Vegas, Miami, Montreal, a second team in New York in Queens, Philadelphia in the area of Chester, Portland, St. Louis in the area of Collinsville, and Vancouver.



Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell announced a $47 million package to help finance the construction of a stadium in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester.

Major League Soccer president Mark Abbott had a meeting with Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and city commissioners, and said he left feeling "very pleased" with what he heard about plans for a 25,000-seat soccer stadium at the Orange Bowl site.

The $100 million stadium would receive half of its funding from an MLS ownership group. He has said MLS is attracted to Miami because of its Latin diversity, its affinity for soccer and the fact that it is a large market and "the gateway to Latin America."


After the success of Toronto FC in its first and second years of existence, interest in professional soccer has been rekindled throughout the rest of Canada.

Talks have already taken place between the management of Toronto FC and the Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps of the USL-1 league which indicates both Canadian USL teams may apply for MLS franchise candidacy in the near future.

Each has plans to build or expand stadiums to capacities suitable for MLS.

How many cities with over a million people does america have?

You would think they could easily expand up to at least 20.

Australia is a different situation

 

[jackmac7]

Poor old NBL has seen better days in the 90's. Even I was going to games back then.

But that's what happens when you have a league of poor standard. Crowds will eventually drop because they know they're not getting the best basketball. The A-league is no different to the phase that NBL went through, things might be buzzing now but what will happen in 10 years time when people just stop going to games because of the ongoing poor quality the league delivers year after year, just look at the MLS. Frank Lowy is 76 and he won't be around for long to keep funding the A-league, it could be a count down for the A-league to days remenisent of the old NSL.

 

[jackmac7]

MLS Average Attendance by year
1996- 17,306
1997- 14,536
1998- 14,231
1999- 14,333
2000- 13,619
2001- 14,941
2002- 15,653
2003- 14,882
2004- 15,581
2005- 14,978
2006- 15,354
2007- 16,629

Now how is expanding the MLS going to change that?

If that's all the MLS can dish up than the A-league can expect much of the same after 12 years.

 

[genghiskhan]

MLS Average Attendance by year
1996- 17,306
1997- 14,536
1998- 14,231
1999- 14,333
2000- 13,619
2001- 14,941
2002- 15,653
2003- 14,882
2004- 15,581
2005- 14,978
2006- 15,354
2007- 16,629

Now how is expanding the MLS going to change that?

If that's all the MLS can dish up than the A-league can expect much of the same after 12 years.

Yeah, pretty poor when you consider the size of American cities, and we would have to assume the MLS is of a higher standard.