While I don't follow soccer much, and MLS at all, I might start paying attention.
David Tepper is bringing a new franchise to Charlotte.
https://www.wralsportsfan.com/mls-an...otte/18838493/
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While I don't follow soccer much, and MLS at all, I might start paying attention.
David Tepper is bringing a new franchise to Charlotte.
https://www.wralsportsfan.com/mls-an...otte/18838493/
I'll be in attendance ASAP, reppin' ATL United.
Along with Nashville coming into the league this year, I'm happy to see another nearby, road trip-friendly regional rival on deck.
Say what you will about the overall quality of the league...it's not a globally elite one, but it's much better than it once was and much better than lots of people seem to currently believe. I also believe that the league's overall trajectory is trending decidedly upward.
MLS in Atlanta has been an unmitigated blast, and I'll be excited for Charlotte to come around and take a couple of beatings per year.
I am a mild supporter of soccer and know a little about, but not much, about the MLS. I am happy for Charlotte but it seems like they are really diluting their product - soccer is a very popular game among kids but I hope they can maintain enough fan support as the league rapidly grows. The experiment of having the team play in a large football stadium has been wildly successful in Atlanta, but I'm not sure if it will hold up elsewhere. I have been to Red Bulls and NYCFC games and though it is cool to see a game in Yankee Stadium, the atmosphere at NYCFC generally is not great because 25,000 people filling less than half of Yankee Stadium does not create nearly as much excitement as 25,000 people virtually filling the soccer-only stadium where the Red Bulls play. Yankee Stadium also has the issue of bad sight lines that they will not have at a football stadium, but that is not related to the size issue.
That being said, Tepper has plenty of money to spend on this, and I wish him the best of luck. I believe he had almost no ties to Charlotte before buying the Panthers, so it is great seeing him really get involved locally.
The MLS has improved over the years. It will be good when it is no longer the La Brea tar pits for aging internationals looking for their final payday.
Good! was worried Raleigh was going to get one. Do not like the guy trying to buy a franchise in Raleigh. Used to work for him. Not a fan. Big time Tarheel.
Love soccer, wish Raleigh had been awarded a team instead.
My interest will be inversely proportional to how many tax dollars Tepper wrangles from the state.
From what I've read, Raleigh has a long way to go to be able to host a team, but the idea and planning is there.
I didn't know that MLS had 30 teams. That is mind boggling. The NFL has 32, makes a gajillion dollars, and is in our news everyday, regardless of it being football season.
I don't even know the name of one MLS team.
Am I the only one who saw the thread title and thought CameronBornAndBred was moving to Charlotte and looking for a job as a librarian/archivist/something in a related field? Yes. OK, moving along then.
Big United Atlanta fan here. Or, at least as much as you can be.
MLS is better recently, but is SOOOO far behind watching EPL that it is often painful. And unlike real futbol leagues the MLS has uneven schedules, unreliable broadcasting and too few real stars that are spread across three time zones.
You really have to work to follow your team, let alone care about the rest of the league. I can watch whatever my favorite EPL teams with ease and regularity, and it’s just 20 teams in a single time zone.
Leicester City v. Chelsea on major TV during a weekend? Sure! Portland v. Toronto on the West Coast via Telemundo on a Tuesday? Really?!?
I realize people in my age group are not supposed to care about professional soccer and I do not believe MLS has joined the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL.
It's still the Big Four not the Big Five.
But it's getting close. The number of millennials who religiously follow not only the MLS but also the top European leagues is considerable. The NHL could not make a go of it in Atlanta and the MLS has knocked it out of the park there.
I would love to have an MLS team in Raleigh. MLS says its expansion efforts are over for the immediate future. But I think MLS will move to expand eventually and there's always a chance a franchise would opt to move to Raleigh if the ambitious plan to build a soccer complex in south Raleigh comes to fruition.
I'm a big ATLUTD fan and watch the EPL most weekend mornings. So glad to see Charlotte get a team.
MLS really needs to work on getting its product right before expanding again. Scheduling is haphazard, television coverage is spotty, and 26 (soon to be 30) teams with unbalanced schedules are really too many to make it easy to follow. If ATLUTD is playing in Salt Lake City on a Sunday night at 10 p.m. on Univision or a charging streaming service, well -- good luck with that.
Soccer is great TV when done well. The quality of play in the league is improving. But MLS has a lot of issues to work out to become a fixture. It really would work better as three or four regional conferences, home-away, with a play-off system and some "inter-league" games sprinkled in to round out the season.
True. But I think the problem goes deeper than quality of play.
England is about the size of Alabama. There are 20 teams in the top league, all within a few hours of each other by train. Games are scheduled into weeks such that most teams play in a window on Saturday or Sunday afternoon and then a mid-week evening game. All games occur in the same time zone and are on the national television stations. Everyone has home-and-away series so you know who is on the other teams. Poor-performing teams are relegated.
MLS has 26 (soon to be 30) teams splashed across an entire continent and three time zones. Games are not scheduled in regular fashion, and television bounces between several English and Spanish-speaking channels at random times. The schedule is unbalanced. Poor-performing teams linger.
And that's all before we factor in the lack of historical rivalries, and large crowds come thick or thin.
^^ Atlanta is looking to be the springboard of young South American talent to bigger leagues. Miguel Almiron to Newcastle last year was big for ATLUTD (although he has struggled there for several reasons). There are hot rumors that Gremio is interested in Pity Martinez, and Tijuiani may want Leandro Gonzalez Pirez ("LGP"). Josef Martinez could likely make a good squad overseas as well.
ATLUTD also signed 23-year-old Emerson Hyndman as a permanent transfer; he had been on loan from Bournemouth.