[Schfourteenteen]

Orlando City is making the announcement to move up from USL PRO to the big leagues. This coming off the new stadium deal and sponsorship deal.

The big winner here is United Soccer Leagues, who will make 3.5 million dollars off the club's promotion via a clause in their franchise agreement. USL was purchased by NuRock in 2008 for 3.1 mil.

[ALUmnus]

Wow, I keep hearing about another NY team, or Miami, wasn't expecting Orlando. Hope it's a strong enough market to thrive.

[thepostman]

That city has been strong supporters of that Orlando city club. I am not sure why it didn't get more national attention. I suspect Orlando will be one the leagues stronger markets support wise.

[Sly Fox]

The stadium deals are the linchpin to determine if MLS membership is viable. Congrats to the folks in Central Florida. I realize the Premiership snobs in here laugh at the MLS product. But I find Dynamo games to be more entertaining than most MLB or NBA games I have attended lately.

[adam42381]

Well, I can see why if you're going to Astros games, Sly.

[thepostman]

I went to 1 Orlando City match while I was still living in Tampa and it was a ton of fun and those fans were great. My opinion is of course biased, which I can admit, but I really believe an MLS club will do very well there. Orlando is a very diverse city and the people have embraced the Orlando City club already and with the move to MLS I don't see why that support won't grow. Plus the Magic won't be competing anytime soon for a championship so its the perfect time for something like this to gain momentum.

[Sly Fox]

Well, I can see why if you're going to Astros games, Sly.

Which is why I also referenced the NBA. The Rockets have put a nice product on the floor but it always feels like they are trying too hard to generate energy. At Dynamo games the crowd initiates the energy. And for the record, I am by no means a soccer guy. I just like the experience. It helps having these sweet new stadiums that are reasonably sized.

[LUalumfromnc]

I hope that the Carolina RailHawks are the next ones going to MLS and soon. They are the best team available now.

[soccer7]

There are a lot more teams available that would be equal to or better picks than the Rail Hawks. Dont get me wrong they are a good side, managed fairly well and are in a good location. A few clubs that come to mind are the Rochester Rhinos, Charleston Battery and the Charlotte Eagles. The product on the field for these clubs has been really good and consistant over the years.

[flamesfilmguy]

Atlanta is in the works.

[Schfourteenteen]

I hope that the Carolina RailHawks are the next ones going to MLS and soon. They are the best team available now.

Didn't they sell their assets on Craigslist in 2011? New owner? I'm not familiar with the financial makeup of NASL teams with the exception of the new Oklahoma group.

New York was announced as team #20 before Orlando earlier this year.

MLS has tapped out the minor league owners who can afford a franchise. Rochester is perfectly content where they are and don't have the financial backing to make the jump. Their league affiliation will likely change if the USL PRO commish leaves, but I don't see Rochester ever getting an MLS franchise. Charlotte has no money. Charleston is probably the most capable from USL, but I can tell you Orlando City's player budget was twice the amount of a lot of other teams in USL PRO. Orlando City is to USL PRO what Liberty is to the Big South.

There's a lot of movement with new minor league franchises - Indy, OKCx2, Phoenix, Ottawa, Jacksonville, Virginia FC, etc. USL PRO doesn't have any more clubs who can make the move, but it will be interesting to see what type of development plan clubs bring with them. The recent path to MLS has gone through USL PRO(Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Montreal, Orlando) but the more financially supported organizations are joining NASL over the next 3 to 4 years.

Phoenix is in trouble, the VSI Tampa USL PRO team is out, LA Blues is on shaky financial ground and Antigua is out of USL PRO as well.

Arthur's Atlanta and BeckBron's Miami are probably the next two up over the next 5-6 years. How the Atlanta group is formed (new expansion or Silverbacks purchase) will be interesting to see.

The crazy thing is that from a competitive standpoint, the MLS brings a better product than a lot of the European leagues. Could an MLS team be competitive across the pond? Probably not, but I'l watch a Seattle Portland game over Barca vs all of La Liga minus RM any day.

[NotAJerry]

NYCFC, Miami, and Orlando are done deals with Atlanta almost certainly next. That leaves one opening for this round of MLS expansion with places like San Antonio, Indianapolis, and Sacramento making strong pushes. Austin and Raleigh-Durham are getting serious consideration because of their continued growth into major markets, and there have been rumblings about Detroit and Minnesota but both have cooled off significantly. The real dark horse is Pittsburgh who has a great new stadium and supposedly is working on ways to expand it despite the odd footprint it has.

If I had to guess at team 24, I would say it ends up being Indianapolis if their first couple of NASL seasons go well and their ownership is able to add someone with MLS expansion fee level money. They've got several former MLS executives, including Peter Wilt who was the brains behind the Chicago Fire MLS expansion team that won the MLS Cup and US Open Cup in their inaugural season.

[soccer7]

Forgot about the Silver Backs! Another quality run organization. Their youth program has really come into its own as well.

[flamesfilmguy]

It won't be the silverbacks. Arthur Blank has been very public with his desire to bring the MLS to ATL. The Silverbacks have been poorly run at best until the past few years. The NASL deal saved them some face and they have been successful but I just don't think they have the ability or ownership to move to the MLS. I'm thinking they continue as some sort of farm team for the new team that would probably play in the new Falcons Stadium. Surprisingly enough there is a lot of soccer fans in ATL and I think an MLS team would do well.

[NotAJerry]

Yeah, not the Silverbacks. The recent renderings of the new Atlanta football stadium include a couple of shots showing a soccer configuration and seating capacity.

[LUalumfromnc]

There are a lot more teams available that would be equal to or better picks than the Rail Hawks. Dont get me wrong they are a good side, managed fairly well and are in a good location. A few clubs that come to mind are the Rochester Rhinos, Charleston Battery and the Charlotte Eagles. The product on the field for these clubs has been really good and consistant over the years.

I am ok with Charlotte Eagles as well. My order would be Carolina RailHawks first and Charlotte Eagles second. Both in the MLS would be amazing and a huge rivalry.

[Sly Fox]

It seems the most successful franchises are the ones who don't put their stadiums in the suburbs but in urban locations. That might influence the decision on where the next franchise falls.

It is interesting that both San Antonio and Austin would be candidates being so close to each other. I used to cover the Pumas & Lone Stars back in the day.

[Schfourteenteen]

The kids playing the game are all in the suburbs.

This is entirely false. I'm guessing you are attempting to suggest that the percentages of suburban kids playing soccer are higher than the metro areas, but I can tell you first hand this is inaccurate.

Instead - suburban fans are more willing to make the drive into the city than fans from the city making the trip out.

[Sly Fox]

Richmond is obviously a very different market than where I live. But down here in Texas the soccer participation levels are similar between inner city and suburban areas for younger kids. As the kids move into middle school, only those who see soccer as a serious sport through high school and/or club stick with it as participants. That does lean more toward suburban areas.

But from a fan perspective, it is the other way around. It is the urban kids primarily of Hispanic heritage who are the ones who tend to latch on to the local franchise as a fan. The suburban folks are renting the luxury suites while the lower income fans are filling the stadium here in Houston.

When the Dynamo were working with the city & county on building their current stadium, there were big financial incentives from some of the bedroom communities to bring the stadium out their way. But the Dynamo wisely passed on the quick cash recognizing what has already been discussed in this thread. To draw well you need to be near the folks who will actually show up at games.