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So, Ozdemir isn’t selling the Indy Eleven but the team is at least admitting the MLS thing will never happen for them.
That’s progress, I guess.
It remains to be seen whether this new top level league from USL will be the AFL or the WFL of pro futbol.
Why would he sell the team? MLS won’t happen for him when the city won’t support it and pulls the rug out from under them.
The City didn’t support it because 11 wasn’t going to be allowed in the MLS and the stadium and development costs were increasing, which 11 wanted the City to cover.
What Mike said.
Ozdemir had two chances and failed. MLS has made clear he will never be an owner in the league. The price has gone up substantially in the interim. Hogsett should have moved him aside years ago.
There is much to like about this, maybe? Tiered soccer is a solid way to build depth and quality at the top. It’s similar to what baseball has been doing for a hundred years. Costs should be much more reasonable while providing a solid, high end product. I hope Keystone can develop on Kentucky Avenue in spite of all the ongoing obstacles. As it is, almost prohibitive $$$ in order to gain entry into MLS is more about status. Remember: MLS franchises are owned by MLS, not franchisors.
Yep, $500Million just to say we belong but we don’t own. What a deal, almost even better than the costs of an F1 team. The new USL top tier sounds better than the arrogance of MLS.
I admit it, I’m not a soccer fan. but is either of these teams supportable in Indy over the long run? Or will the stadiums (whatever is built downtown, and the Grant Park facility) become albatrosses around the neck of taxpayers or investors? I know we’ve gotten away with “build it and they will come” with The Hoosier Dome, but there we had an owner of a top level professional team. This does feel like NFL/AFL. NBA/ABA. I’d rather we were on the NBA/NFL side, not the other, of history on this one. I feel a tax increase coming…
“USL will become the first professional sports league in the United States to implement a promotion-and-relegation system in which teams can advance to a higher division or fall to a lower division based on their performance during the season.” This is the most exciting news to come to soccer in the USA ever! Now you will get a deep community fan interest and loyalty. MLS is an arrogant system based on a buy-in that has nothing to do with team performance.
I wish Ersal Ozdemir would build a 20,000 fan stadium at Grand Park, far away from Indianapolis’ plan for their MLS team. USL will become the Premier League of the USA. He could even sell stock in the Indy Eleven Team to enhance the fan base.
I’ve long wondered how the soccer teams in Europe continue to get fan support / merch sales / etc. when they could be the equivalent of major league one year then single A the next, depending on how they performed the previous season. If you knew there were no chance of being in the championship at the start of the season, then why bother? I admit I probably don’t know how this works as I’m not a soccer fan, but I’ve always been curious.
This is good news. What the USL is doing is like the successful European model. I hope we can proceed. I believe the soccer fan base is much more in favor of this than the top-down daliance with the MLS.