MLS Expansion - St. Louis not giving up on MLS dream
Jeff Cooper, the lead figure in St. Louis's bid to land a MLS side, has conceded defeat to Philadelphia for the 16th spot in the league and is now focused on winning the 17th."'2010 is what we're targeting,' Cooper said."
Since it looks like 2010 will be the year Philadelphia will enter the league, it appears Cooper sees little difference between spots 16 and 17.
His goal now is the same it has been for the last six months, find more investors. He says there has been lots of interest, but not enough have signed on.
For their part, it appears the city of Collinsville is stick with this project meaning that if Cooper brings a team home, the bulldozers will start digging right away on the 400-acre site.
Even without a team, Cooper will be involved with MLS via their marketing arm SUM as he is the owner of on of the new teams in the Women's Soccer League.
I've said it before, had Cooper come along with this bid three years ago, St. Louis would have a team by now. It is only due to the growth of the sport in the US that they do not. Kind of ironic that the city that can very easily argue itself as the cradle of soccer in America is hurt by the growth of the game, but that is the way it is.
My guess on this is Cooper will find some investors in the next few months and the league will go with them as number 17. However, the longer it takes, the more time places like Miami, Montreal, Las Vegas, Portland, etc. have to put together their bids, so Cooper better act fast.
If you are a fan in the St. Louis area, maybe you should follow the Sons of Ben model and get a supporters group together now. You could road trip to Chicago and KC games and make your presence know. I'm sure the folks at St. Louis Soccer United would love it.
Labels: Collinsvile, Jeff Cooper, MLS, MLS expansion, Philadelphia, St. Louis, St. Louis Soccer United
posted by Mike H at 12:43 PM
2 Comments:
Maybe you should look harder. You'll find the supporters club at www.gatewaycitysupportersclub.org
Thanks for the info.
I have actually looked around but was never able to find you (Gateway City Supporters Club is not in the first 100 results on a google search of 'St. Louis MLS supporters club' nor are you linked off of St. Louis United's page nor have I seen you mentioned in any article I've read on the St. Louis effort). I tell you this not to insult, just to let you know that I've searched but could not find.
You might want to look into additional ways of getting your site promoted. A good start would be listing it on http://soccerblogs.net/.
It looks like you've got a good core group involved and I hope it continues to expand.
Thanks again for the link.
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