Quote Originally Posted by louis View Post
The big three requirements for getting a new MLS franchise is to have:

1. An ownership group worth at least 1 billion dollars
2. A large and proven market
3. A downtown Soccer Specific Stadium

The bid put in by Gilbert and Gores basically had all three when they put in their fake bid to get Wayne County to sell them the Fail-Jail site. The second they got the land, they brought the Fords into the mix and said the new club could play at Ford Field. The head of the MLS, Dan Garber, was reportedly very disappointed by the move as he has seen Detroit as a prime location for a new club.

Slight correction:

The big three requirements for getting a new MLS franchise is to have:

1. An ownership group worth at least 1 billion dollars
2. A large and proven market
3. A downtown Soccer Specific Stadium*

*If you are not deemed a sexy market.


Basically, once Don Garber and MLS told Detroit that similar sized markets in Seattle and Atlanta could play by different rules than Detroit could, I was glad to see Gilbert and crew walk away. We don’t need to spend any money building a soccer stadium for a league that treats the Detroit market as a second class citizen. Forget them.