Gilbert and Gores may be teaming up to bring MLS team to Detroit
Some Twitter banter between Cavs owner/Quicken Loans owner/Detroit overlord Dan Gilbert and Pistons owner Tom Gores suggests (not-so-subtly) that the two are teaming up to bring an MLS team to Detroit. Any name suggestions?
I don't know what the current status is at the jail site but there was some scuttlebutt in the past that Gilbert wanted to put a soccer stadium there.
As a side note, the Detroit urban planner responsible for that may be the worst in the history of urban planners. "Hey, everybody, I've got an idea. You know piece of land that connects a growing/popular area of downtown with another growing/popular area in Eastern Market? Let's put a giant, scary looking jail there!"
That would finally kindle my interest in MLS. The goofy aspects of MLS (unbalanced schedule, draft, season timing, playoffs, etc.) notwithstanding.
Yep. In Philadelphia, we have the god awful Union MLS team. The play is absurdly bad.
Rather just wake up early on weekends to watch Europe. MLS couldn't crack Europe's top 10 domestic leagues if it tried.
If you don't wanna support your local team because they're not up to European standards then I honestly feel bad for you. The Union stink at the moment but they brought in Earnie Stewart who is well respected and seems to be turning the team around. Sorry the quality of play may not be "beautiful" enough for your liking, but if you'd rather wake up at 7AM on a Sunday morning and watch teams in Newcastle, England and Turin, Italy in lieu of watching a team that you could have a personal, geographic connection with then that's your loss.
I have never understood Eurosnob mentality. If your NFL team stinks and are terrible to watch do you just stop being a fan? If that was the case Lions fans wouldn't exist.
American soccer development is just bad as it is now. Maybe that'll change with more investments down the road. Who knows.
As for now if you like watching the Sugarland Skeeters over the Detroit Tigers, be my guest.
The Detroit Lions still play in the top tier league for football in the world. The Philly Union play in the X tier league in the world for soccer.
Your comparison makes no sense.
Respectfully, not a single word of this post makes sense.
I know nothing about soccer, but put it this way: I wouldn't blame a guy living in Istanbul if he'd rather watch the nba than his crappy local Turkish basketball league. Isn't that roughly analogous?
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That's how I understood it. If you live in Grand Rapids, you're a snob for wanting to support the Detroit Tigers over your local GR minor league team.
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This is not analogous at all. Grand Rapids is certainly close to Detroit, and there are plenty of Detroit Tigers fans there. They also are not equivalent squads: the Tigers are major league, while the other is a minor league team.
The Istanbul example is better. Eurosnobs are obsessed with putting down MLS because the quality of play isn't up to their tastes (see: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Eurosnob).
That's pretty much it. State Street is just throwing a tantrum b/c MLS sucks and god forbid people want to watch top tier competition.
It's early, but the Union is in first place, so they can't be that bad.
Goddamn right
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Ditto. Can't get into MLS. A Detroit team would be all it takes for me.
Since they both went to staee, they may favor spartans, which would then insure that I would never go to see a game.
If Gilbert's involved, you might go with:
- Detroit Drafters FC
- First Pick United
- Detroit Lottery Riggers
(Yeah, I'm bitter. What of it?)
jackass united
Detroit shit Spartans
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And I'm sure that any new stadium would be in walking distance to the 'Qline'.
I think we need to toy with Dan Gilbert a bit then and either make the "Q" silent and put it randomly in the middle of the team name or use a consonant blend that doesn't exist in English and then place it at the beginning of the team name.
(side note - what the hell was wrong with "M-1 Rail", Dan?)
They went with The Q because just like in scrabble you hold on to it way too long hoping to find a good way to use it but never do.
Detroit FC Oligarchy has a certain ring to it.
That's a leak to a CBS Detroit article on the tweets. In case the board wanted to see the tweets themselves.
I for one, would be estatic to bring an MLS team to (back to? didn't we have one in the 90s?) Detroit. Soccer fandom is unlike any other in my opinion. You get drunk and support your guys not matter what. Singing songs and rocking houses. Plus the MLS has a lot of USMNT talent in it right now. Would be great to be able to see those guys play in Detroit more often. Even if not all at once!
Are you thinking of the Detroit Rockers?
Maybe? I was really young. Only have flashes of a memory of watching a Detroit soccer team on the TV in my grandmas basement one time...
Or perhaps the Neon?
Rockers played at Cobo and the Joe. We also had the Detroit Ignition who played at Compuware Arena.
Detroit has never had an MLS team.
I recently read somewhere or heard on the radio that it would never happen for whatever reason. Glad it's finally being discussed.
The Detroit City FC is gaining some traction and has develped a decent following the past several years. They play their games at Cass Tech and go by "Le Rouge". There is a decent chance that an MLS team can make it here. Gilbert and Gores would most likely do it right and not try to "cheap" their way into MLS.
to one of the Detroit FC games two seasons ago and had a great time. The fans are really into it and it was a great atmosphere. I'm not a huge soccer fan (mostly World Cup and the qualifying tournaments) and still had a great time. If I am not mistaken they moved away from Cass Tech this year to Hamtramck.
DCFC moved to Hamtramck in part because a) the lease at Cass Tech ran out and b) they needed more capacity given how successful the team has been. What's even more impressive is the amount of money they raised to renovate Keyworth Stadium. Link
Another great site might be at Beck and 5 mile right by Compuare Arena. Tear down the old jails that are there for parking and a stadium at either of of those locations (there are 2 seperate buildings) and you have a great soccer base with Northville/Livonia/Plymouth/Novi/Ann Arbor/Brighton all within 20 min and M14 drops you off right there too.
Could that work?
The jails are gone. I think Northville wants that to be used for single family homes, which I think is incredibly dumb. Multi-use would be much better as the area is really growing and there's a dearth of eating options.
The 4th tier NPSL club has done very well in the city. Sold out season tickets, passionate fanbase. Factor in local diversity, centralized downtown location (if they use the jail site) and the fact soccer specific stadiums are usually only 15-20k, I think MLS could definitely succeed here. Also the buying/branding/advertising of Gilbert and his presence downtown.
Basically, Gilbert just needs to buy DCFC, provide a stadium and funding, and hire the owners/operators to run the MLS side.
DCFC already has the support of the local soccer community. If Gilbert/Gores just come in and slap a team down it won't have the same support. They would be wise to find some kind of way to get the DCFC name/organization/supporters clubs that will only happen if they are in fact DCFC.
I like it. IIRC, MLS stadiums have to be soccer-specific unless the owner has control of the other team (i.e. Arthur Blank owns the Falcons and will bring an MLS team to play in the same stadium). If that is the case, it would be another $50-100mm in construction and once the new Wings arena is finished, Detroit will have some of the newest pro facilities in the country.
The jail made sense there due to the proximity of FMHJ. That said, yea, not smart for planning.
While the site isn't huge, I think you could fit an MLS stadium there. Makes sense having it next to Greektown with Gilbert's ownership.
I would vote to bring back the Detroit Drive as a name.
needs another mediocre professional sports team.
...Run by Spartoons. Great
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Yes, we do.
Fell free to jump on the Blackhawks, Cavs or Royals bandwagon. At least we support our teams in Detroit.
At least we're not Cleveland
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Not a soccer fan at all. But this would be cool.
They could just name the team Detroit. Detroit City. I don't know, I never really understood the point behind team names, especially in professional sports where there is normally only one team in a city/area. Like Los Angeles Galaxy. Stupid name. New York Red Bulls. Why is the team named after the sponser/owner of the club? That would be like calling Man U the Manchester Glazers, or Manchester General Motors (their current shirt sponser). I know they have their own nickname (Red Devils) but that isn't what they're called on the calendar or anything. You don't see Red Devils vs Foxes on the schedule for this weekend, you see Manchester United vs Leicester. I just went on a stupid tangent/rant and for that I apologize. I still think they should just be Detroit. Or Detroit FC. Or Detroit SC. Something simple. If it ever happens. Side note; the NPSL team has the right idea (Detroit City FC).
Motor City FC.
I like it. Better than "The Detroit Motor City Racers" or something stupid like that.
Why do soccer teams need "FC" after their name?
FC=Football Club. I know some teams like Bayern Munich also have other sports in their larger sports club organizations so I think they used it back in the day to denote the football team.
Edit: After some light research it seems that, interestingly, FC Bayern Munich is the full name of the entire sports club, so for instance their professional basketball team might actually go by the same name? I don't know. Real Madrid C.F. (club de futbol) is also the blanket name for the Real Madrid organization as well, so it might be that football is their most popular and most financially viable of the sports so they go with that.
To denote "Football Club"
A lot of the teams started out as local club football teams and grew from there, and that is part of their official name.
So I get that. But why does every soccer team seem to arbitrarily throw "Football Club" after their name when there are no other teams/organizations by that name? For instance: Seattle Sounders FC. There are no other teams named "Seattle Sounders." So why add "FC?"