Expansion Rumors Megathread

If you look at the list of U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas - i.e. the list of largest cities taking into account suburbs and not stopping at city limits - this is what you find.

The largest cities without an MLS francise are:
7 - Miami, 6.2 million
11 - Phoenix, 4.7 million
14 - Detroit, 4.3 million
17 - San Diego, 3.3 million
18 - Tampa, 3.1 million
20 - Baltimore, 2.8 million
21 - St. Louis, 2.8 million
22 - Charlotte, 2.5 million
24 - San Antonio, 2.5 million

Cities smaller than those with MLS Franchises:
25 - Portland, 2.5 million
29 - Cincinnatti, 2.2 million
30 - Kansas City, 2.1 million
32 - Columbus, 2.1 million (Austin, 2.1 million)
35 - San Jose, 2.0 million
48 - Salt Lake City, 1.2 million
 
San Jose essentially represents and draws from entire Bay Area, which is I believe 5 million people.
Is that true though? Is someone from San Francisco or Marin going to go to San Jose for something? I live in New York City. I'm not going to go to a concert in Newburgh or Trenton and that's the same distance as SF to San Jose. I might make that trip a time or two a decade if it was Todd Rundgren playing there maybe, but I'm not going there 17 times a year.
 
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Is that true though? Is someone from San Francisco or Marin going to go to San Jose for something? I live in New York City. I'm not going to go to a concert in Newburgh or Trenton and that's the same distance as SF to San Jose. I might make that trip a time or two a decade if it was Todd Rundgren playing there maybe, but I'm not going there 17 times a year.
I think he means from a tv-market perspective.
 
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FC Cincy changed their crest for the move to MLS, old one at the top

"The new FC Cincinnati crest was developed as a representative of the city. Inspired by Cincinnati – itself a city on the rise – the crest highlights the region’s German heritage in a modern manner.

The winged lion has been carried over and has taken a more prominent place on the shield. It is bolder, stronger and ready for battle. It represents the club’s winning spirit, while its crown pays homage to the Queen City.

The seven points on the lion’s mane represent the seven hills of Cincinnati, while the wings’ three feathers highlight the club’s three-year journey to MLS. Curved into a “C”, the lion’s tail is another nod to Cincinnati.

Featuring the club’s two new primary colors, the crest also introduces the accent dark blue and it helps provide emphasis against the white background to further emphasize the word “Cincinnati.”

The team’s new wordmark is a familiar update on the team’s original mark. Still an orange and blue combination on FC Cincinnati, the crown remains firmly affixed atop the “C” in Cincinnati – again, a nod to the Queen City. Written straight out with no breaks or punctuation between letters, the FC moves straight into Cincinnati to show the club’s direct connection to the city.

The club’s new secondary mark is the stylized FCC from the full wordmark, while stand-alone tertiary elements will eventually include the full lion from the crest, the lion’s head and mane, and the crown. Those elements will be introduced more prominently in future years as the brand gains traction in the marketplace."
 
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FC Cincy changed their crest for the move to MLS, old one at the top

"The new FC Cincinnati crest was developed as a representative of the city. Inspired by Cincinnati – itself a city on the rise – the crest highlights the region’s German heritage in a modern manner.

The winged lion has been carried over and has taken a more prominent place on the shield. It is bolder, stronger and ready for battle. It represents the club’s winning spirit, while its crown pays homage to the Queen City.

The seven points on the lion’s mane represent the seven hills of Cincinnati, while the wings’ three feathers highlight the club’s three-year journey to MLS. Curved into a “C”, the lion’s tail is another nod to Cincinnati.

Featuring the club’s two new primary colors, the crest also introduces the accent dark blue and it helps provide emphasis against the white background to further emphasize the word “Cincinnati.”

The team’s new wordmark is a familiar update on the team’s original mark. Still an orange and blue combination on FC Cincinnati, the crown remains firmly affixed atop the “C” in Cincinnati – again, a nod to the Queen City. Written straight out with no breaks or punctuation between letters, the FC moves straight into Cincinnati to show the club’s direct connection to the city.

The club’s new secondary mark is the stylized FCC from the full wordmark, while stand-alone tertiary elements will eventually include the full lion from the crest, the lion’s head and mane, and the crown. Those elements will be introduced more prominently in future years as the brand gains traction in the marketplace."

so they kept the name intact? i thought bunch of teams going "up" from other leagues had to change it a little bit.

the crest is still ok
 
They changed the "f" from futbol to fussball
NOTE: The much-speculated name Fussball Club Cincinnati – or Fußball Club Cincinnati using the German character – is the formal, legal name of the club and its business units. It is not to be used in any sporting references to the team, or in any public discussion.​

Or in other words, this is our real name and don't even think of using it.

Full article:
https://www.fccincinnati.com/post/2018/11/12/fcc-unveils-its-major-league-soccer-logo-marks-colors
 
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What I took away from that is Beckham only owns 10% and he held MLS hostage for years with an incredibly deflated expansion fee. The people really fleecing MLS are the other 90% of the club’s investors that don’t have to foot a $150M expansion fee.

They didn't even get into the juicy single-entity, investor-operate structure of MLS. MLS owns Miami. Miami Beckham United Group just owns shares in MLS LLC.
 
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What I took away from that is Beckham only owns 10% and he held MLS hostage for years with an incredibly deflated expansion fee. The people really fleecing MLS are the other 90% of the club’s investors that don’t have to foot a $150M expansion fee.
Presumably, Beckham retained the value of his discount by getting his 10% stake with little or no money down.
 
Presumably, Beckham retained the value of his discount by getting his 10% stake with little or no money down.
Seems contrary to the spirit of being an investor. That discount expansion fee should have come with the stipulation of Beckham being the majority stakeholder.
 
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