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| Friday, September 14, 2001 24:15 EST |
Goal for new franchise: 2002
By Jeff Bradley
[ESPN The Magazine]
Listen for this phrase on Tuesday when Empire Soccer (the corporate name for John Kluge and Stuart Subotnick's soccer properties) holds its press event at the ESPN Zone in Manhattan to announce, among other things, its plans for New York's MLS expansion team: "To begin play AS SOON AS 2002."
In case you didn't pick up on that the first time, the key phrase is "as soon as 2002." And if you are following me, you know what I'm getting at. "As soon as 2002" means "most likely to begin play in 2003." Yes, I get the feeling the New York Fill-In-The-Names are not going to be making their MLS debut next year, but two years from now.
This may not be bad news (except for those who've been anxiously preparing to spend their Saturday night's next spring in Uniondale). No, if an extra year will help this new MLS team get its act together, do a little branding, sell a few more season tickets, maybe even get a stadium built, then it's going to be worthwhile.
Remember also, 2002 is a World Cup year, so the summer is going to be full of soccer already. Getting New York area soccer fans to leave their living rooms during that month is not going to be easy. So, why not wait?
To kick off in 2002 means you've got, starting now, about 14 months to do everything, from coming up with a name, to filling staff positions, to ... well, everything.
So, listen for the "as soon as 2002" and prepare for delays.
By the way
If you haven't seen the drawings of the MetroStars proposed stadium yet, you can check it out on www.MetroStars.com, then click on the "community" page...
According to a source, the reason Mike Petke was called home from Bayern Munich after two days was because MLS sent a fax to the club saying Petke was in violation of his MLS contract, which runs through Dec. 31. You can't expect that's going to sit well with Petke, who earned about $30,000 last year, and may have been looking at the opportunity of a lifetime...
The Chicago Fire are close to signing a very interesting partnership with a pair of well-established youth soccer organizations, the Chicago Magic and F.C. Sockers.
On the player development end, the Magic, Sockers and Fire would cooperatively operate teams in the USL Premier Development League (U-23) and eventually the USL Super Y-League in the U-18 and U-16 age divisions. The teams would be known as the Chicago Fire Select and would wear Chicago Fire uniforms for their games. The teams would be owned by the FireWorks For Kids Foundation to comply with NCAA regulations.
Coaching of these teams would be overseen by Fire head coach Bob Bradley and his staff of assistants and the coaches of the Sockers and Magic (David Richardson and Mike Matkovic). The coaches will be looking at the top 14 and 15 year old talent in the Chicago area on a regular basis and putting those players through training sessions.
On the marketing side, every member of the Magic and Sockers will receive a discounted season ticket package (20 vouchers). The Fire are hoping this program will increase their attendance by some 50,000 over the course of the season.
They also hope to create a feeling among the area's youth players that they are part of the present and future of the Chicago Fire. If it works, it could be the start of a "club system" similar to what's used in most of the world. The league and 11 other teams will be watching closely.
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