Jacksonville's new pro soccer team has big plans, much work to do Read more at

[danno]

Not that anybody cares now that it is football season LOL

From: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-09-06/story/jacksonvilles-new-pro-soccer-team-has-big-plans-much-work-do#ixzz2eRAa9EWe

They're still waiting for the office furniture to arrive at the 32nd-floor offices of Jacksonville's newest pro sports franchise. Right now there's nothing — no chairs, no desks, no coffee machine.
And there's a blank space on the wall where there will soon be a big-screen TV showing soccer matches all day. After all, in the America of 2013, you can catch soccer just about any time you want, notes the team's owner, Mark Frisch.
His team will begin play in April 2015 in the North American Soccer League. That's a growing pro league one step below the top-level Major League Soccer, which is itself showing serious signs of life.
As he builds his soccer club from the empty office walls up, he's counting on the sport's momentum to make the Jacksonville Fill-in-the-Blanks a success in his hometown.
The Jacksonville team currently has no name, no colors, no uniform. No stadium plan or coaching hire has been announced.
That's a lot of work in less than 20 months, especially when your office furniture is still six weeks from delivery.
Starting something from nothing isn't easy. But Frisch, 32, seems unfazed.
"It's always nice to have huge decisions in front of you," he said.
Consider the name. He has. It's the first thing people ask him about, and he's had many suggestions.
It's a crucial step, he said. Do you go for the more European style — FC Jacksonville, Jacksonville City or the like? Or the more traditional American version of the city name plus nickname.
He's leaning toward the latter and with a team name that's connected to its hometown. He's close to deciding but said he hasn't told anyone but family members what he's considering.
Things have to be done in order. The team name, for instance, might affect what the team colors will be — which is another frequent question he gets.
Those decisions will be announced together. He may also soon release plans for an eventual stadium at a for-now undisclosed location.
Frisch, a recent convert to soccer, is executive vice president of Beaver Street Fisheries, a family business.
There is a nice view out of his soccer club's empty downtown office, all the way to the high-rises at the beach. Perhaps the future stadium is somewhere in sight?
"There are a lot of good sites out there" was all he would say.
Frisch plans a soccer-specific stadium within a few years, one that can be expanded from perhaps 8,000 seats to 20,000, if warranted. Before that, the team will have a temporary home, though that location has not been announced either.
NASL awarded teams to Jacksonville and Oklahoma City on July 25. The league is not affiliated with MLS, which is also expanding into new cities.
"The fun is just beginning," Frisch said. "Once we get a coach and start talking soccer and tactics ..."
That's where Dario Sala, 38, a one-time professional goalie, comes in. Sala played in his native Argentina and then five seasons at FC Dallas in the MLS.
He'll handle the soccer side of things as general manager. He promises an attacking style modeled after the play of Spanish big shots Barcelona. "We don't want zero-zero games," he said.
Like Barcelona and many other pro clubs, Sala wants a youth club or academy to prepare players for the team, particularly local players.
Frisch said they want to appeal to the family-style youth-soccer crowd. But they also want to get Jacksonville's version of the boisterous hard-core soccer fans with their flags, scarves and chants.
He's seen positive signs.
Veteran Jacksonville sports personality Cole Pepper visited the team's headquarters last week. He now has a blog under his own name and said his posts on the yet-to-be-named soccer team had more page views than anything else he's written about — even the Jaguars.
Meanwhile, about 44,000 people attended a U.S. national team match in Jacksonville against Scotland last year. That shattered the previous attendance record for a U.S. team exhibition game.
Frisch expects the World Cup next year to create even more interest in the sport.
"The clock is certainly ticking," he said. "It seems like April '15 is far away, but before you know it, it's here."

Read more at Jacksonville.com:

[JaxByDefault]

Yeah, *real* football season...as in Premier League.

Great article; thanks for posting. Hope they got a good response with advance seat deposits for season tickets.

I admire the (lofty) goals they have for the team. Hopefully, NASL can eventually push MLS into submitting to fan will for a multi-tier system with promotion and relegation someday.

[danno]

I hear that seat deposits are at over 300.

[Ajax]

Yeah, *real* football season...as in Premier League.

Great article; thanks for posting. Hope they got a good response with advance seat deposits for season tickets.

I admire the (lofty) goals they have for the team. Hopefully, NASL can eventually push MLS into submitting to fan will for a multi-tier system with promotion and relegation someday.

I think there's a way to do promotion/relegation in the US, but I don't think it would be between MLS/NASL/USL.  A lot of things would have to change before MLS got on board with pro/rel - Man City isn't going to pay $100M for their NYC franchise if they think there's any chance that they could be playing at Rochester in a couple of years. 

But I think NASL could do it.  I'm not sure of the figures, but it looks to me that the level of play between NASL and USL is pretty similar, and my guess is that the operating costs and franchise fees are probably close too.  (Teams like Orlando City and NY Cosmos probably blow the curve, so I'm generally talking about your 'average' NASL/USL team). 

If NASL were to go on a methodical expansion program over the next few years (thinking long-term here, 10-20 years), they could get up to 36-40 markets.  If everyone has paid the same fee I think there would be fewer roadblocks to being moved down to the 2nd division.  You could have an 18-20 team NASL-1 and then another 16-20 team NASL-2.  You might even be able to start it with something like 26 franchises - a 16 team 1st division and a 10 team 2nd division.  New expansion franchises would start out in the 2nd division.  Maybe you could allow expansion teams to start out in the 1st division if they pay a higher franchise fee and meet certain criteria such as stadium, capital investment, financial backing, etc.  Obviously I haven't thought all of this through but I think there are possibilities. 

NASL wants to eventually challenge MLS to become North America's first division.  That's a long way off, but since NASL isn't single-entity and there's no salary cap, then teams like the Cosmos can sign TV deals and spend as much money as they want.  Of course, that's what got the old NASL into trouble, and MLS's cautious approach is one of the reasons they're still around (and thriving) today. 

NASL just moved to a spring/fall schedule, which FIFA is in favor of.  Pro/rel would be one more thing that FIFA would approve of and it would either force MLS to change or it might buy NASL more favor with FIFA. 

I'm not sure if we'll ever see pro/rel here in the US, but if it's going to happen, I think NASL is the best opportunity.  Look at US sports in the past that had a challenger for the 'top league'.  The AFL merged into the NFL, the NBA picked the best ABA teams and brought them into the fold.  I think if you have two leagues competing in the US to become the top league, it elevates everyone. 

There is a legitimate concern of diluting the talent pool, and that's another thing that would need to be thought through.  However, the academies and clubs in the US should be able to produce the talent that's needed, and to be honest with you, there are probably thousands of players in South and Central America, not to mention Africa who could benefit from a structured environment to learn in.   We're a huge country, if small countries like Uruguay and the Netherlands can compete on the world stage, then I think we can produce enough talent to round out some more teams and provide opportunities for new players. 

[Tacachale]

Good news, I'm quite looking forward to this new team. If they do it right it should be well supported in this community. Hope they pick a good name.

Oh, and promotion and relegation is a pipe dream for the forseeable future. Soccer fans should be striving for sustainable teams and leagues if they want the sport to grow here.

[Ajax]

Oh, and promotion and relegation is a pipe dream for the forseeable future. Soccer fans should be striving for sustainable teams and leagues if they want the sport to grow here.

I agree - I was just responding to JaxByDefault's comment.  I think pro/rel is a longshot in the US, and I don't think MLS will have any part of it.  IF it's ever going to happen here it will be NASL or some other league that will try it. 

Besides, it's fun to think about and there hasn't been much local soccer news to discuss lately...I think I got a little spoiled with the weekly/daily announcements coming from SSG a couple of months ago.  Can't wait for April 2015 to get here. 

By the way, if any of you are interested in catching the USA - Mexico game tonight at 8, there will be a few of us getting together at Burrito Gallery. 

[danno]

This will be the first USv s MEX home qualifier I have missed since the original dos a cero in 2001.  I have promised myself not to look at facebook today as all of the pics from my peeps are making me jealous.

I just wish that USL and NASL would merge to form one solid league.  It makes it hard to eplain to the casual soccer fan whats going on.

I also hope that all of the stadium talk is more than just talk.  I would put m moneyon UNF being used for the first couple of seasons.

[Ajax]

This will be the first USv s MEX home qualifier I have missed since the original dos a cero in 2001.  I have promised myself not to look at facebook today as all of the pics from my peeps are making me jealous.

I just wish that USL and NASL would merge to form one solid league.  It makes it hard to eplain to the casual soccer fan whats going on.

I also hope that all of the stadium talk is more than just talk.  I would put m moneyon UNF being used for the first couple of seasons.

I would like to see USL and NASL get back together too, but it seems like they're going in different directions now.  USL is now a feeder league for MLS and I think they're content to play that role.  NASL seems to be a lot more aggressive.  If there was a way to get those two back together, you would have pretty solid geographic coverage across the US with only a couple of markets duplicated.  Too bad Fox Soccer Channel is gone and GolTV is probably not far behind.  One of those channels would be great to get NASL some national TV coverage. 

I'm also surprised that there's nobody that wants to put a team in St. Louis in any of the leagues.  Wasn't that the original Soccer City USA? 

[Tacachale]

^Perhaps someone can speak more to this, but the USL seems pretty, well, inconsistently run. Probably explains why most of the teams jumped ship for the NASL. I've also heard the two leagues are currently duking it out over Oklahoma City, which sounds like it may just result in two failed minor league soccer teams instead of one strong one. Reminds me of hockey back in the 1990s, a very haphazard way to grow the sport.

As far as St. Louis, I'm sure something will come along as soon as some wealthy guy (or group of wealthy guys) decides to invest in it. We seem to have gotten our team mostly based on the strength of the ownership.

[Ajax]

^Perhaps someone can speak more to this, but the USL seems pretty, well, inconsistently run. Probably explains why most of the teams jumped ship for the NASL. I've also heard the two leagues are currently duking it out over Oklahoma City, which sounds like it may just result in two failed minor league soccer teams instead of one strong one. Reminds me of hockey back in the 1990s, a very haphazard way to grow the sport.

As far as St. Louis, I'm sure something will come along as soon as some wealthy guy (or group of wealthy guys) decides to invest in it. We seem to have gotten our team mostly based on the strength of the ownership.

Yeah, it was a pretty ugly divorce, and I guess every team made the decision that they thought was best for them.  Nike was propping up USL and I think all the teams wore Umbro gear (a Nike subsidiary), but when Nike sold the league in 2009, several teams didn't like the new direction and left to resurrect the NASL.  Among the teams that left were Atlanta Silverbacks, Tampa Bay Rowdies, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps.  Of course, Montreal and Vancouver moved up to MLS shortly thereafter and have both been very successful.   

Someone with USSF needs to step in tell everyone to play nice.  That OKC situation doesn't make anyone look good.  I've heard that there has been a settlement in the OKC dispute, but I haven't heard them publicize the terms.  It would be nice to see them move the USL team to Tulsa or elsewhere.  Tampa Bay has a team in each league, but the NASL Rowdies are outdrawing the USL team by a significant margin. 

Agreed re: St. Louis.  It's all about ownership.  In fact St. Louis was another franchise that left USL for NASL, but they had bad ownership. 

For a while there it seemed like the leagues were giving franchises to anyone that wanted one, regardless of their ability to sustain a team for longer than one season.  I think there's a team in Arizona that is in pretty bad shape, and the Puerto Rico Islanders were on life support for a couple of years until the NASL Commissioner finally got tired and told them if they want to come back they'll have to go through the expansion process. 

[JaxByDefault]

NASL's leadership and owners are not hiding the fact that they want to offer an alternative to the MLS that's more in line with FIFIA and supporter wishes.  I admire that. Some of those elements may be years off (but hopefully eventually possible), but the organization and team owners aren't closed to addressing some systemic problems with MLS ball that actively hurt the development of pro soccer (and  the development of a competitive national side). I obviously grew up following BPL. I've never taken as much interest in MLS --in its many permutations-- not because I'm (much of) a dreaded Eurosnob  by nature, but because the MLS always seemed so alien to me in terms of structure, league tables/playoffs, match experience, and supporter stakeholds (that latter point being where relegation/promotion are so important). I haven't seen a consistent product out of USL, nor does that system properly function as an academy/feeder system for MLS. Talent still requires far too much luck and far too many years to get discovered and developed here in the US.

I'm just looking forward to having a hometown side again. Being part of an active supporter community on match day will be a fine alternative (addition?) to lonely Saturdays watching matches from my couch and tweeting friends in stands across an ocean.   

[MEGATRON]

Thought this was pretty cool

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20131216/BLOGS04/131219854/chicago-fire-owner-building-soccer-dome-on-citys-north-side

[blizz01]

They could build something similar near Everbank & the Jags could also use it as their "practice bubble"...

[Coolyfett]

What is the name of the team that is coming in now?

[copperfiend]

What is the name of the team that is coming in now?

Nothing official yet.