Photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIphotos.com
As D.C. United continues its quest to find a new stadium location, MLS continues its exploration into whether Baltimore is a viable market for league expansion.
The league sent out a survey to fans in the Baltimore area in an effort to gauge interest in an MLS franchise in the city. Almost a year ago, the Maryland Stadium Authority completed a viability study to determine the benefits of potentially building a soccer-specific stadium in the Westport area of the city, where a prospective MLS franchise would ultimately play.
An interesting note from the survey is that not all of the questions pointed to D.C. United as the only potential club to play in Baltimore. One of the questions asked if a fan could choose to have a club relocate to Baltimore which team would it be, listing Columbus, FC Dallas, D.C., Philadelphia Union, New York Red Bulls or No Preference as the options.
Here are a few more stories from around the soccer world:
CASSANO NEEDS HEART SURGERY
AC Milan's Antonio Cassano will reportedly undergo minor heart surgery after having stroke-like symptoms on the team's flight following a weekend match at AS Roma.
Milan released a statement saying that Cassano should be able to return to action in a few months and that he did not suffer any permanent brain damage during the incident.
REDKNAPP TO MISS EUROPA MATCH FOR SURGERY
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp also needs to undergo a minor heart procedure to clear a blocked artery.
Redknapp, 64, will miss Spurs' Europa League match at Rubin Kazan on Thursday, and the club is expected to announce when he will return to the sidelines at some point on Wednesday. Assistants Joe Jordan and Kevin Bond will assume Redknapp's duties while he is in the hospital.
SHARP SCORES WITH HEAVY HEART
One of the more touching stories to emanate from soccer this year took place on Tuesday, when Doncaster Rovers' Billy Sharp scored a goal just days after his two-day-old baby son passed away.
After scoring in the first half of Doncaster's 3-1 loss to Middlesbrough, Sharp lifted his jersey, revealing a shirt with "That's for you, son" printed on the front. He was not cautioned for the act, like others normally would be for celebrating in a similar way.
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What do you make of the Baltimore survey? Could you see Baltimore housing an expansion team while United remained in D.C.? Do you think D.C. United will ultimately relocate? What do you make of the Cassano and Redknapp heart scares? What do you think of the Sharp story?
Share your thoughts below.
It pretty much was to lessen the reaction of DCU fans. Why do you think that the survey ends right after the question “Are you a DC United season tickets holder?” is answered in the affirmative.
The RFK owners are the city and they are keeping the land so they can eventually lure back the Redskins back to the city.
well, the owner of RFK happens to the the National Park Service, with an open ended second to the DC Sports and Entertainment Division, with the provisio that if there is no professional team as a paying tenant at RFK for a year, control reverts to the Feds.
Honestly, as much as I love DCU (and I have had tickets for a decade) and as much as I love RFK (tell me the halftime drum circle isn’t one of the most primal events in US sports, it’s dark, dank, chanting, singing and bouncing around like some long gone tribe.) nonetheless, the whole place should be razed and redeveloped, DC needs more housing, more of everything, and fewer parking lots that get used once a week.
190 acres is a lot of urban space, with a metro stop already there (actually, two of them, if you include the old DC General Hospital land, which brings you to over 300 acres. that’s half a square mile of prime urban real estate, waterfront, being used for four things: a TB clinic. a morgue. 20 soccer games a year and the odd festival in the parking lot. that is a serious waste of land. the neighborhoods around RFK are increasingly being redeveloped, ten years ago it was an economic and social wasteland, now there are vibrant communities, crime is down, employment and wealth are up. this is unfortunately driving out a lot of the people who once lived there, and can’t afford the new world (in DC in the past ten years this has happened to seven or eight neighborhoods already) we need more reasonable housing, more retail, more commercial space. Sure if it could be worked out, a 25k stadium would be a nice addition, but it’s never going to happen.
From the article:
“As D.C. United continues its quest to find a new stadium location, MLS continues its exploration into whether Baltimore is a viable market for league EXPANSION.”
Then:
“An interesting note from the survey is that not all of the questions pointed to D.C. United as the only potential club to play in Baltimore. One of the questions asked if a fan could choose to have a club relocate to Baltimore which team would it be, listing Columbus, FC Dallas, D.C., Philadelphia Union, New York Red Bulls or No Preference as the options.”
So, are we talking expansion (a new club into the league), relocation (moving an existing club) or are both considered possible at the moment? If we’re only talking about the possibility of relocation, this was a sloppily written story.
I live in Baltimore and took the survey. I’m disappointed they didn’t have a “Would you purchase season tickets” option that I could check, rather than just “5 or more games”. Really? For a chance to NOT have to drive 45 minutes to DC to see a game in a rickety, dilapidated stadium with no stands behinds the goals? Where do I sign?
Also, credit to the Ref for appreciating the moment and not showing a yellow card in the last story. And yes, despite the rules, I’ve seen them given for less.
Sounds like you just supported my argument they could be a good candidate to move, too, by your glowing assessment of their fans.
As a Dallas fan I pray that ownership takes notice and starts thinking seriously about trying to boost attendance.
Pretty sure?? You work in the league office?? Columbus isn’t going anywhere. Some suit had a brain fart and included them in the survey. Word is spreading through Crew nation and MLS inboxes are sure to be flooded with ranting responses from the MASSIVE. FO is making efforts to put more fans back in the seats. Garber even came to town to help with the push and I hear it is working with season tickets on the uptick.
Atlanta is a horrible pro-sports town. The just lost their second NHL team and the Braves can’t even sell out playoff games. They should be way down the list of potential expanson cities.
the addition of philly, rbny, crew, dallas are just fillers for the poll.
this type of survey had to come eventually. part of MLS and DCU’s due diligence in the search for a new home.
I can understand a problem with heat for attending FC Dallas games, I’ve lived in Frisco, its dang hot in the summer. But proximity to Dallas? Thats just some whiny, crappy fans right there. Rio Tinto is 17 miles from ‘downtown’ Salt Lake, and I drive 38 miles to get to Rio Tinto every home game. If people are really whining about Pizza Hut Park because it isn’t right in downtown Dallas, they suck as fans.
Atlanta has had the Silverbacks for quite some time, but as history has shown there isn’t much correlation between 2nd-division and MLS attendence/success. It’s all about a rich ownership group stepping up and getting a stadium in place. And as someone from the south, I would LOVE a team in Charlotte, Atlanta, or Raleigh-Durham, but the evidence from other sports’ attendance suggests that southerners are pretty terrible sports fans, unless the sport is college football. I’d love an owner to step up and prove me wrong though.
Ok your kind of looking like an arrogant dink now. Noone questioned whether your point was valid or not, just that there was no reason to take a heart warming story and point out one meaningless flaw. Have a little class next time man
I sort of doubt that it was to lessen the reaction of DCU fans. We’re not all dim; we know they’re talking about our team.
I think it’s more likely a question to gauge support in general for a team to be moved to Baltimore and rebranded. After all, perhaps prospective Baltimore fans would be less excited about getting a team that has missed the playoffs for four straight years than they would for a club in general. Or perhaps natives of Baltimore would be unable to detach United from it’s DC heritage and wouldn’t be willing to adopt the team.
If you’re right and it was an attempt to conceal what they are doing or to mollify us, it was a pretty lackluster effort.
The original comment has been deleted so I don’t know for sure you’re referencing the Jay Demerit documentary, but if you are, rest assured they got the money they needed, and are releasing in several theaters around the country (as well as a DVD you can order.) I can’t put a link or it’ll be deleted, but just Google “Rise and Shine the Jay Demerit Story.”
If you were not referring to that particular documentary then I apologize, but like I said the original comment was deleted.
Most of those teams would never move. It’s just a survey.
In addition to Philly, Dallas makes money in a newer stadium–they aren’t going to leave just because it looks bad on TV, and NY has an extremely expensive brand-new stadium and is obviously not going anywhere.
+1. They are basically asking if possible baltimore fans have negative feelings towards DC united. I wouldn’t look into the selections than that.
At least you can spell “turd” right. Well done sir, you have proven to everybody you have no concept of grammar or how to spell. But hey, you got your point across, so bully for that.
No, it’s not. Displaying writing is only a caution if the content is unsporting or offensive.
I’m not making this up:
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afde…t_en_47379.pdf
Slides 50-54.
To be fair, the Blast average over 5,000/gm (at least according to Wikipedia), not bad for indoor soccer. I really enjoyed those games as a kid, wish I could go back and see one soon, but I’ve moved away. Hope I have that statistic right, but correct me if I haven’t.
The only possibility is moving DC United, but the league included a cagey question about which team would you like to see moved–maybe to lessen the reaction from DCU fans or maybe to put the owners of FCD and Columbus on notice.
I believe that documentary has been in the works for awhile. It has not been released because the filmmakers can’t get enough $$$ to buy the rights for game footage (from the broadcasters, EPL, and FIFA). They were trying an online campaign to raise the money, but missed a deadline. I heard a rumor it might be released anyway with grainy game footage from youtube, but have no idea how far that went. Anyone else have any input?
*scratch
Well, apparently the RailHawks only average ~3000 in attendance and their stadium only seats 10,000.
The only problem with Atlanta is that everyone lives in the distant suburbs.
I agree with Atlanta if a team is built from scrath, but don’t the RailHawks have a pretty big fanbase and a soccer-specific stadium? Cary and Raleigh are only ~10 miles apart.
The management of FC Dallas is a bunch of cheapskates and built Pizza Hut Park 27 miles from downtown Dallas. As such, their attendance is pretty awful for any games not held on Saturdays.
the whole DC situation is so sad.. they have a stadium that they can’t upgrade/land to build on because the federal gov’t can’t find the time to approve a plan…so they are going to move one of the most legit MLS clubs to Baltimore! so many things wrong with that…
tell Baltimore and Atlanta and who ever else to start a NASL team first (or get there’s running) before asking for a top flight team. and the whole RFK stadium ownership thing..i got nothing hopefully this never happens again.
Displaying writing is also supposed to be a caution.
move the crew to atlanta, chivas to san diego and 20th team in miami would be prime
Got the survey and chose Dallas. Pretty interesting either way.
one thing they could change in Dallas if they are going to play soccer during the summer, they need to schedule ONLY night games. Wasn’t it over 100 degrees for 60 something days in a row down there? No way I would pay to see anything in that afternoon sun.
We’ll gladly take the Crew in Atlanta.
Rent it to “more” highschool football games. I believe they already share the facility with one or two football teams.
All the more reason I’d support a move.
Why cant the RFK owners build a 30K seater right next to RFK, and then knock down RFK. Is there room for this on the site? Maybe if DCU could partner with them they would be interested.
going to be tough to walk away from a stadium that is only 5 years old. Maybe they can rent it for HS football games to re-coup the $ and still move.
Pretty sure that question was a hypothetical.
Pretty sure both Columbus and DC are on the relocation list. When the ownership of the Crew themselves have been in the press throwing up their hands and saying “We can’t seem to make this work,” you have to assume they’re looking elsewhere. My thought would be that the NY franchise could either be a relocated team, or that you award to 20th team to NY, and then relocate the Crew to the next viable market.
I really hope to see the team stay in DC, but DC real estate is a problem.
If Alexandria, VA won’t take DC United, move the club to Baltimore / Westport
+1 Atlanta is a no brainer
FC Dallas haven’t been able to draw much attendance lately.
There fanbase is pretty awful for a major metro area with a good team
The inclusion of Philly and NY in that poll asking who would fans like to see relocate is weird. Why would either team relocate to Baltimore? Then again, with all the bizarre decisions Red Bull makes, it wouldn’t necessarily be shocking.
And who cares…the guys son died two days earlier. Who cares if your right or not. Everyone shoudl aplaud you for being right and making sure we all know your right. You sir are a turd….a big fat turd.
The survey strikes me as simple a sleight of hand distraction for the league to gauge interest for DC United.
I’d hate to see their fan base lose the club and hope ownership/local government steps up…
Additionally, I wouldn’t mind seeing FCD move. If their ownership group isn’t willing to relocate to a downtown area, that club will continue to draw extremely poorly in Frisco.
The 20th MLS team should be Atlanta. There must be a team in the Southeast. If not them, then St. Louis or Charlotte.
Philly won’t relocate, having just built a soccer specific stadium that boasts capacity or near-capacity attendance for every game. They were likely included on the list because of geographical proximity. The really odd inclusion on that list for me is FC Dallas. Can someone speak to the situation there?
they are not it was just a way to have it not obviously point at DC.
Wait, why would Philly relocate? They have a pretty good fanbase.
Having just been at RFK for the Sporting KC game. I can see why so many people want out of RFK. At some point soccer-specific stadiums, or at least stadiums designed with soccer in mind, are going to be a necessity for teams to be successful.
Dingbats, Sharp didn’t raise his shirt over his head, so he couldn’t be cautioned. Learn the rule.