www.orlandoprosoccer.com

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Sports fans can add soccer to the list of professional teams making their way to Orlando.

The owners of the Orlando Titans professional lacrosse team announced Thursday that they will bring a United Soccer League team to the city. The new soccer team will compete in premier domestic and international tournaments and exhibitions.

No word yet on where they will play.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-orlando-soccer-0305-20100304-5,0,5624425.story

What is next for the new Orlando team?


We will be working on team name and colors immediately. I would like to involve the community by having a “name the team” contest. A playing venue is also one of the highest priorities. There is not a perfect stadium for a USL Division One team in Orlando at the moment. We want to sit down with City of Orlando officials and discuss the best venue that will be great for the team and help drive the most economic benefit to the City and County. Any venue we select will have to involve some creativity and retro-fitting to create a vibrant soccer atmosphere.

http://usl1.uslsoccer.com/home/409011.html

It seems backwards to me. Why pay for a Franchise before you know if there is even a field available?

Excellent question. I think USL has been a bit desperate to add teams. The choices they've been making have not filled too many people with excessive confidence.

Pisst...Hey buddy, come on over here, check these out... (looking both directions to see if anyone is coming, he opens his trench coat and shows the stooge some new watches and a brand new shinny... ) Do you want to buy a semi-pro soccer team in a sport that is about to explode again... Cheap? Yes, it's real what do think I am buddy, a salesmen selling ice in the arctic... I'm here to help you get even richer just like all the rest of the USL D2 team owners are now...

Why dose this sound so much like an impulse buy. He went to the hardware store to pick up a new yard rake and came home with a brand new USL D2 pro team.

Dose everybody at the USL league development office work on commission, or what?

This whole thing haS become a "numbers" race.

I have almost no confidence in the USL or the NASL.

With the USSF indicating that they only did this "ad hoc" league for one season, things just look plain bad for next year when it comes to the second division.

But hey, I'm not a very clever fellow, so what do I know?

More than the people picking the expansion teams. The best three D2 markets are moving on up. Tampa Bay can work and NSC can work mostly because they own the venue and have fielded a decent side on a strict budget. Austin I can see. Charleston is an obvious yes. Someone can contradict me if I left out any super great markets. It will be a hard go with one D2 league, two is suicide.

Again, how things look for next year:

Current NASL teams:

St. Louis - Can't be around in 2011. Can't see it.
Carolina - Will be around, I guess. But not doing that well.
Baltimore - One foot in the grave.
Tampa Bay - Seem to be okay, but need a stadium solution.
Miami - The whole "Strikers" thing will save them, right? :rolleyes:
Montreal - Around for 2011 only.
Minnesota - Doesn't look good, does it? Maybe a year's experience will help the NSC people. But they're just not drawing.
Rochester - Still on the way back from near-death. Not going away.
Vancouver - On the way to MLS next year.

NASL Expansion Teams
Atlanta - Really? Seriously? Anyone believe this?
Edmonton - I simply can't believe that if they're spending a million-ish on what are basically PASL players and they're going to play at Foote Field, that they can possibly survive long-term.

Current USL teams
Austin - Seems to be okay, I guess. Don't know how long high school football stadiums can be the solution.
Portland - Off to MLS in 2011.
Puerto Rico - (Sigh). I've never understood this, but whatever.

USL Expansion Teams
New York - No one has ever believed this team would ever actually play a game.
Orlando - The management doesn't exactly inspire confidence, now, does it?
Barracuda FC - There are only like a dozen countries in the world that are smaller than Antigua & Barbuda, right? And they make like $10,000 a year per person? This can't go well.

Current USL-2 teams
Charleston - Could potentially go back up
Charlotte - Has been up, didn't go that well, should stay
Harrisburg - Should stay
Pittsburgh - Should stay
Maryland - Not optimistic
Richmond - Doing fine

USL-2 Additions
Dayton - moving up from PDL, be cautious
Wilmington - rumoured to be coming back.

You never know until things shake out (and even then), but you'd be looking at there potentially being these teams at each level:

2011 2nd Division (currently USS2)
Carolina (NASL)
Tampa Bay (NASL)
Miami (NASL)
Montreal (NASL)
Rochester (NASL)
Edmonton (NASL)

Austin (USL)
Puerto Rico (USL)
Orlando (USL)
Barracuda FC (USL)
Charleston (USL)

That's 11, 12 if Minnesota comes back. But that's in only one league. Somebody's going to have to play nice, because unless someone else is adding teams, neither side has 8 viable organizations I can see.

2011 3rd Division
Charlotte
Dayton
Harrisburg
Pittsburgh
Richmond
Wilmington

I'm not counting on Maryland coming back and I would anticipate Charleston going up.

Of course, there's the long-rumored Western setup at the 3rd division level. I'll believe it when I see it.

They are not drawing, but they had about a month to get this thing up and running and they do appear to be deficit spending. I am giving them the benefit of the doubt and would be surprised if the team was not back next year.

Though I agree that eventually they will, based on a statement made by Mikey in another thread, I personally don't anticipate it happening in 2011:



Of course the pessimist in me wants to say if they wait until things stablize then it might never happen