Pro soccer coming to Detroit?

**EGrant** · July-08-17, 10:53 AM

I'm kind of tired of the United, FC, Real stuff that all the new MLS teams are doing. It was cool at first, but what about something unique, like Motor City Soccer?

**MikeyinBrooklyn** · July-08-17, 10:09 PM

EGrant, I do like the incorporation of "Motor City" into the name, in place of Detroit or Michigan. I think "Motown Sounders" would be a great name, too, except that Seattle MLS team is the Sounders.

**ABetterDetroit** · July-08-17, 10:51 PM

It would seem to me to benefit both DCFC and a MLS team if there could be a mutual coexistence agreement. They would have a different product, different price points and be marketed to different kinds of soccer fans. I highly doubt that smoke bombs will be part of a MLS experience for example. Avoiding scheduling conflicts would allow fans to experience both. A few cross over endorsement deals and an exhibition game would be cool.

From going out of my way to talk to as many in the under twenty crowd as I could and bringing the subject of soccer up, I found they are really into it. American kids knew more about the premier league soccer and what is going on with it and have plans to attend organized soccer events and even travel to them. It is a sport full of youth so I expect it to grow rapidly.

If NHL, NBA and MLS were stocks, MLS is the one I would load in on. It has excellent long term potential for growth.

**MikeyinBrooklyn** · July-09-17, 09:28 PM

ABD, I think you are correct in stating that both teams could co-exist. The fan base can overlap more than compete. And we are bot talking about baseball with 162 game seasons. I think MLS has 17 regular-season home games. DCFC probably has fewer. And I think they could co-market both teams, too. I am not saying that will happen, but I think it is certainly plausible. I think it would be cool if DCFC were a farm team for the MLS franchise.

On the MLS front: MLS has said it expects to award the 2 2020 season franchises this summer. We're in July. I expect if Evans and the county get on board with the stadium plan, Detroit will be awarded a team shortly thereafter [[for reasons stated earlier in this thread, I think Detroit is the market in contention they most want to place a franchise in, and it has the strongest bid). Evans expects to make an official recommendation this month. So we should know by August. If the county [[stupidly) decides against it, then I think it's back to the drawing board in an attempt to get one of the 2 2022 slots to be awarded next year. Come on, Wayne County, take the good offer!

**313WX** · July-10-17, 12:16 AM

As of right now, the only cities that have its stadium situation in order is Sacramento.

Luckily for the other cities, Sacramento has just about everything else going against it [[small market, nearby competing franchise, flaky owners, etc.). It should also be mentioned, although the other cities [[besides Detroit) have locations that are spoken for, they're all struggling to find a way to pay for the construction. Currently, Nashville's the only other city that's furthest along with this.

Assuming Wayne County doesn't fuck things up, Detroit is easily near [[if not at) the top of the list for a franchise. It's the only city with the trifecta of multi-billionaire owners who have experience managing professional sports team, having a plan in place to pay for a stadium in a prime location and being a top 10 market [[when including Canada).

Given all of the factors [[including the feedback from Don Garber), if I had to choose the expansion cities for 2020 and 2022, they would be:

-Detroit

-Phoenix

*Nashville [[wildcard)

*Miami [[wildcard)

*Charlotte [[wildcard)

**EGrant** · July-11-17, 09:42 AM

Federal trademark filed for Detroit City Soccer Club, via Crain's Detroit.

While this will surely rile up the opponents of the bid, I still don't see this as anything more than making sure they secure the domains and names they are considering. I wonder if Crain's can dig up some other possible names.

Still a crappy name.

**dtowncitylover** · July-11-17, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by EGrant

Still a crappy name.

Why can't Detroit leaders see they choose shitty, stupid names.

-Little Caesar's Arena
-QLine
-This potential soccer club
-Jack Greektown Casino [[though that hasn't changed...yet)
-Chrysler House

**warsaw7** · July-11-17, 12:09 PM

Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

Why can't Detroit leaders see they choose shitty, stupid names.

-Little Caesar's Arena
-QLine
-This potential soccer club
-Jack Greektown Casino [[thought that hasn't changed...yet)
-Chrysler House

Best post ever.....

**Gistok** · July-11-17, 07:41 PM

Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

Why can't Detroit leaders see they choose shitty, stupid names.

-Little Caesar's Arena
-QLine
-This potential soccer club
-Jack Greektown Casino [[though that hasn't changed...yet)
-Chrysler House

Using the term "house" in reference to a skyscraper is nothing new. One of New York's most famous skyscrapers is 21 story [[1952 built) LEVER HOUSE on Park Ave.

**313WX** · July-11-17, 11:05 PM

Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

Why can't Detroit leaders see they choose shitty, stupid names.

-Little Caesar's Arena
-QLine
-This potential soccer club
-Jack Greektown Casino [[though that hasn't changed...yet)
-Chrysler House

Other than "Jack," I think you're overreacting.

Every city has similar names for their transit systems [[L-Train), high rises [[Aqua) and arenas [[Staples Arena).

**dtowncitylover** · July-12-17, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by 313WX

Other than "Jack," I think you're overreacting.

Every city has similar names for their transit systems [[L-Train), high rises [[Aqua) and arenas [[Staples Arena).

Oh I forgot about the Qube. I hate that too.

Are you talking about Chicago's El or the L line in NYC? It's called that because it's ELevated. Aqua Building is supposed to resemble waves of water and Staples is at least a company that doesn't produce cheap pizza and is a company most people have neutral feelings on.

**MikeyinBrooklyn** · July-13-17, 08:48 AM

I'm glad about the Little Caesar atop the arena. I like the pizza, I love the teams, and I think the arena will be awesome. And a note about LC pizza: it is by far the most affordable of the national chain pizzas. You can feed a family dinner much more economically with their "cheap" pizza than you can with other chain pizza or fast food. So denigrating LC is akin, if you ask me, to denigrating Walmart: you are inherently putting down the products that lower-income people can afford to buy. But whatever. I guess hating Big Pizza makes one more noble, right?

**dtowncitylover** · July-13-17, 09:07 AM

Originally Posted by MikeyinBrooklyn

I'm glad about the Little Caesar atop the arena. I like the pizza, I love the teams, and I think the arena will be awesome. And a note about LC pizza: it is by far the most affordable of the national chain pizzas. You can feed a family dinner much more economically with their "cheap" pizza than you can with other chain pizza or fast food. So denigrating LC is akin, if you ask me, to denigrating Walmart: you are inherently putting down the products that lower-income people can afford to buy. But whatever. I guess hating Big Pizza makes one more noble, right?

I'm not "hating" on Big Pizza. I love Hungry Howie's, Jet's, and sometimes even Dominoes. But LC is bottom of the barrel. I eat it to from time to time [[so call me a hypocrite maybe? DGAF) but sorry everyone knows it's bottom of the barrel and we named a stadium that's going to house one of the greatest sports teams in the world in an arena that's named for a cheap pizza.

Seriously, they couldn't name it Olympia Stadium that would've given homage to Mr. Illitch's company/the former stadium?

**Towne Cluber** · July-13-17, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

...Staples is at least a company that doesn't produce cheap pizza and is a company most people have neutral feelings on.

Using your same line of 'reasoning', you could have easily said that Staples is a "big box retailer that is putting small stores out of business". Instead you went for the pot shot.

**dtowncitylover** · July-13-17, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by Towne Cluber

Using your same line of 'reasoning', you could have easily said that Staples is a "big box retailer that is putting small stores out of business". Instead you went for the pot shot.

I stand by what I said. Staples doesn't have much, if any, connotations, whether negative or positive, that LC or Wal-Mart have. It's just there. And if anything businesses like Wal-Mart and Amazon are putting stores like Staples out of business.

**Towne Cluber** · July-13-17, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

I stand by what I said. Staples doesn't have much, if any, connotations, whether negative or positive, that LC or Wal-Mart have. It's just there. And if anything businesses like Wal-Mart and Amazon are putting stores like Staples out of business.

That simply isn't accurate.

**noise** · July-13-17, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by MikeyinBrooklyn

I'm glad about the Little Caesar atop the arena. I like the pizza, I love the teams, and I think the arena will be awesome. And a note about LC pizza: it is by far the most affordable of the national chain pizzas. You can feed a family dinner much more economically with their "cheap" pizza than you can with other chain pizza or fast food. So denigrating LC is akin, if you ask me, to denigrating Walmart: you are inherently putting down the products that lower-income people can afford to buy. But whatever. I guess hating Big Pizza makes one more noble, right?

Is this a serious post? You're talking about the expense of junk food for a lower SES family. As though there aren't even cheaper [[and healthier) options.

Additionally, you can talk about poor quality food at LC and objectionable business practices at Walmart without making a judgment about poor people.

I'm not convinced the existence of LC and Walmart have improved the lives of poor people, which seems to be your argument.

**MikeyinBrooklyn** · July-13-17, 01:55 PM

Is this a serious post? You're talking about the expense of junk food for a lower SES family. As though there aren't even cheaper [[and healthier) options.

Completely serious. Feeding your family is much more affordable at Little Caesars than any of the other chains. Health issues related to pizza & fast food consumption are an entirely different [[and off topic) subject.

Additionally, you can talk about poor quality food at LC and objectionable business practices at Walmart without making a judgment about poor people.

I am not judging poor people one bit, other than correctly observing that they can and do favor goods and services at lower price points. Additionally, the genuinely "poor" are not of whom I am really speaking. Instead, young families without a lot of money to spare can more easily and frequently spring for LC pizza than for any of the other chains.

I'm not convinced the existence of LC and Walmart have improved the lives of poor people, which seems to be your argument.

The preceding statement can only be true if you are unaware that millions of unskilled workers are gainfully employed by Walmart and that Walmart offers lower prices and greater product selection than competing chains on most products. The latter is especially true in very rural or very urban areas that get a new Walmart. As for Little Caesar's, they employ thousands of people, have helped make more than 1000 other people small business owners, and they provide a very affordable food product consumed by millions of people each week.

And for what it's worth: I think Little Caesars is very good pizza. It's no Buddy's, but nothing is.

**dtowncitylover** · July-13-17, 02:59 PM

Originally Posted by Towne Cluber

That simply isn't accurate.

No, of course not. Staples I'm sure is doing healthy because of their B2B sales. But one might think it would be Amazon and WalMart to put Staples or Office Max out of business.

**Detroitdave** · July-13-17, 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

I'm not "hating" on Big Pizza. I love Hungry Howie's, Jet's, and sometimes even Dominoes. But LC is bottom of the barrel. I eat it to from time to time [[so call me a hypocrite maybe? DGAF) but sorry everyone knows it's bottom of the barrel and we named a stadium that's going to house one of the greatest sports teams in the world in an arena that's named for a cheap pizza.

Seriously, they couldn't name it Olympia Stadium that would've given homage to Mr. Illitch's company/the former stadium?

I know I'm gonna get push back on this , but I agree %100.
In my opinion , LCP is the worst. I'd rather pass on pizza if that's the only choice I have.
Once one's palette has tasted what true pizza taste like it's tough to go back to that.

**MrMichigan** · July-13-17, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitdave

I know I'm gonna get push back on this , but I agree %100.
In my opinion , LCP is the worst. I'd rather pass on pizza if that's the only choice I have.
Once one's palette has tasted what true pizza taste like it's tough to go back to that.

Nothing better than a good Detroit-style pizza. That being said, I do enjoy a Hot n' Sweaty once in a while.

**Detroitdave** · July-14-17, 09:49 AM

I have to say , for my taste , I love wood fire pizza. My next choice would be the stone ovens.. I'm sorry I just can't bring myself to eat a pizza that comes off of an conveyor belt. It just doesn't taste the same.
The dough doesn't cook right.

**emu steve** · July-14-17, 11:06 AM

BTW, I believe Miami is #1 for expansion and I'd rank Detroit #2, if Gilbert-Gores completes the deal for the stadium site at the 'fail jail' site.

I see no reason why Miami can't be ready to go for 2020.

As far as Detroit, I believe 14 months minimum is needed but more likely 16 - 18 to build a stadium once the site is ready to be built upon.

https://www.theguardian.com/football...am-miami-dream

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/loca...154621519.html

The Miami plan sounds realistic. D.C. United is building their stadium [[in progress) for about 175M [[also) exclusive of land and infrastructure which D.C. is paying.

Soccer stadiums are a far cry from baseball or football stadiums or arena which can get pretty expensive.

**MikeyinBrooklyn** · July-14-17, 09:59 PM

emu steve, I believe Miami already has been awarded a franchise, with beginning play contingent on their getting the stadium project underway [[MLS will apparently allow temporary digs so long as a stadium plan is in the works. New England & Seattle have permanent waivers to play in NFL facilities). Detroit is not competing with Miami for a bid [[although if the Miami team were to completely fall through, a fifth slot would open up).

**313WX** · July-14-17, 10:23 PM

Originally Posted by MikeyinBrooklyn

emu steve, I believe Miami already has been awarded a franchise, with beginning play contingent on their getting the stadium project underway [[MLS will apparently allow temporary digs so long as a stadium plan is in the works. New England & Seattle have permanent waivers to play in NFL facilities). Detroit is not competing with Miami for a bid [[although if the Miami team were to completely fall through, a fifth slot would open up).

The only team in Florida with a MLS franchise right now is Orlando.

On one hand, Miami is a major market [[bigger than Phoenix and roughly as big as Detroit) and has the backing of an owner with experience in professional soccer. The soccer fanbase is also very strong in Florida. In addition, they're just about good to go for construction of their stadium [[in terms of buying the land and securing financing).

On the other hand, Miami potential owner isn't nearly as flushed with cash like Nashville or Detroit's owners. The MLS has stated this factor could be a deal breaker. Also, there is the risk of a team in Miami stealing market share from Orlando. Not to mention, Miami's owner has absolutely no experience managing professional sports teams.

That's why, as I stated before, Miami is a wildcard choice. It could go either way.