The Railhawks couldn't find ownership last year and nearly scuttled the NASL's bid for division two sanctioning because Traffic Sports had to take over on short notice.

Lord_Bob said: The Railhawks couldn't find ownership last year and nearly scuttled the NASL's bid for division two sanctioning because Traffic Sports had to take over on short notice.

NY2 doesn't have a team, ownership group, stadium site, stadium plan, investors and completes with an existing franchise is the leagues leading expansion candidate. So the Railhawks are in with a chance

;)

DannyBoy said: will they want their players back? :D

As long as they don't want their coach back I'm good.

Give em Tommy Soehn......And Oldfan :P

piltdownman said:

Lord_Bob said: The Railhawks couldn't find ownership last year and nearly scuttled the NASL's bid for division two sanctioning because Traffic Sports had to take over on short notice.

NY2 doesn't have a team, ownership group, stadium site, stadium plan, investors and completes with an existing franchise is the leagues leading expansion candidate. So the Railhawks are in with a chance

;)

Doesn't MLS need NY1 before it can have NY2? :)

I would love to see the Carolina Railhawks join Major League Soccer, providing they have the qualifications, ownership, stadium, etc. Like Vancouver, it's tough getting people out to a NASL game, but MLS is far easier, as it's the pinnacle of football in Canada and the United States.

Besides, we need a second MLS feeder club to complement the deal with have with the Philadelphia Union.

Expanding the league to Carolina would be cool, providing they have the support and ownership to make them successful. The stadium shouldn't be an issue according to the article above.

danrik said:

rodderzzz said: Give em Tommy Soehn......And Oldfan :P

Tommy Soehn is OldFan!!

Okay that is a low blow. Really that is way below the belt. I am not related to OF and have not been paid for this ;)

barca99 said: With all the expansion speculation (and I still think it's crazy there's no team in Miami) what do you think will happen to the schedule? Go to a system like MLB where you play only teams in your league and the 2 champions play for the championships? Or like NFL where you cross over with certain divisions depending on the year?

I liked the Seattle tifo about 1 home, 1 away, but how practical is that as the league continues to expand?

I'd like to see us continue with a balanced schedule up until we hit 22, 24 Club at absolute most. But as we've already gone to an unbalanced schedule, I imagine we'll continue with the 1-3 games per year against each club, eventually going to two separate conferences, only meeting in the playoffs. If the League continues to grow beyond that, i'll end up splitting into four Conferences, but that's years, probably decades away.

Blue_and_White_Army said: Carolina would make a perfect MLS2 club.

HOW ABOUT THE CAROLINA RAILHAWKS? Hehe, what a strange slogan.

Christopher said:

Blue_and_White_Army said: Carolina would make a perfect MLS2 club.

HOW ABOUT THE CAROLINA RAILHAWKS? Hehe, what a strange slogan.

That would be a perfect club for Craig MacEwen to be the commentator for

Looks like MLS is making a big push for a stadium for NY2 at Pier 40.

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20120404/REAL_ESTATE/120409960

OldFan said:

Royalcity said:

rodderzzz said: Give em Tommy Soehn......And Oldfan :P

You guys have short memories - Oldfan has predicted we will win the MLS Cup by 2013 you don't want to miss out on that do you?

I certainly stand by that prediction.

Tommy has been looking for work for a few months now and nothing is coming up. He may be around the hallways of our club dusting the tables for quite some time. I have to give the Caps credit for giving the man a paycheck until he finds a new club (.....sucker) to go.

As for the Railhawks in MLS........ Can this region really support an MLS team? What is the market like down there as far as corporate dollars and potential TV contracts? Are there enough there to make it work beyond selling tickets?

Not beyond the realm of possibility. There's a fair bit of economic prosperity in that "research triangle" region, I wouldn't be too worried about the corporate dollars.

I like Red Bull Stadium. If New Yorkers don't want that, I'd take a stadium like that for Van any day. love the design.

Picked up by the NY Times

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/04/pier-40-60-x-120-yards-river-vu/

Interesting that Greenpoint Brooklyn is also mentioned as a potential site. Greenpoint is on the G line and possibly the R line (it divides Greenpoint and Williamsburg).

wish garber would help us with finding a location for our soccer specific stadium.

vancouversoccerman said:

limmeister said: wish garber would help us with finding a location for our soccer specific stadium.

Location was found, and the land bought. Garber can't help in this regard.

Can he lend us the money to bribe the local politicians, er, I mean, donate to their re-election campaigns?

Christopher said:

vancouversoccerman said:

limmeister said: wish garber would help us with finding a location for our soccer specific stadium.

Location was found, and the land bought. Garber can't help in this regard.

Can he lend us the money to bribe the local politicians, er, I mean, donate to their re-election campaigns?

I guess finding a land where we can actually build our soccer specific stadium.

limmeister said: but how long will this process take to get it down to that ratio?

Your guess is as good as mine. Possibly years - but then again, the Whitecaps are in a lease at BC Place for years.

Blue_and_White_Army said: Port Metro Vancouver know that the Whitecaps need their land, so PMV are being c***s and are demanding a ridiculously unfair 3-to-1 land swap.

Luckily, thanks to the BC Place reno, the Whitecaps are in no hurry. I reckon the Whitecaps will eventually negotiate down to a 1.5-to-1 (or thereabouts) land swap.

if memory serves 3 to 1 was the Whitecaps idea. The Port wanted 10:1.

Evil_Bert said:

Blue_and_White_Army said: Port Metro Vancouver know that the Whitecaps need their land, so PMV are being c***s and are demanding a ridiculously unfair 3-to-1 land swap.

Luckily, thanks to the BC Place reno, the Whitecaps are in no hurry. I reckon the Whitecaps will eventually negotiate down to a 1.5-to-1 (or thereabouts) land swap.

if memory serves 3 to 1 was the Whitecaps idea. The Port wanted 10:1.

10:1 ?!!!!! What a fucking outrage !

I heard rumours that St. Louis is in the running for a team. Interesting stuff if it's true.

vancouversoccerman said:

BianconeroSouthsider said: I heard rumours that St. Louis is in the running for a team. Interesting stuff if it's true.

Their last bid for a team was from a group led by Jeff Cooper...unfortunately for them (and fortunately for us), their bid was all talk, no cash. The "no cash" part really came to light when Cooper's D2 team AC St.Louis nearly folded mid-season in their one and only year. It'll take really deep pockets to come forward before MLS looks at St.Louis again.

The sad thing is that St. Louis probably would be a really good place for a team if the money were there. The roots of soccer are as deep there as anyplace in North America - a big chunk of the 1950 US team that beat England came from St. Louis, and St. Louis University had a great program through the 60s, 70s and 80s.

BianconeroSouthsider said: That's what I've heard as well. Although I'd prefer if the Maryland area kept its team before St. Louis got a new one.

Fixed that for you.

Chris said:

BianconeroSouthsider said: Baltimore and DC is pretty much the same metropolitan area, I believe. Not far at all, anyways.

Same area, but worlds apart. Baltimore is very much it's own city.