MLS Expansion: Milwaukee's dream looks to be dead

In a major blow to Milwaukee's hope of landing a MLS expansion squad, Peter Wilt has left his post as chief executive officer of Milwaukee Professional Soccer LLC.

Wilt, who was the former general manager for the Chicago Fire, had hoped to work with local financiers and politicians to bring top level soccer to Wisconsin, however, there just was not enough of a push to make it happen.

"Despite having a broad base of support, 8,000 season-ticket equivalents and what I feel is the best pro team/amateur youth sports association partnership in history, we haven't been able to secure the necessary governmental support or the development rights for appropriate land in the desired time frame," said Wilt in a statement.

"There is no doubt in my mind that Wisconsin would be a successful Major League Soccer market and that Milwaukee and its citizens would benefit from a team and stadium as part of a major mixed-use development."

Wilt had been working on the project since 2005, but his efforts to land a stadium location proved to be extremely elusive. Perhaps he is best known for his idea to use the Milwaukee Mile racetrack as a soccer pitch.

With Seattle landing a team this week and Philadelphia or St. Louis on the cusp of getting a club (not to mention the Portland, Las Vegas, Phoenix and New York City options), the idea of the league expanding to a city where the team would play at a race track must have finally seemed to far fetched for Wilt.

Thankfully he will still be involved in soccer, as he will work with the Chicago team in the new professional women's league.

MLS Expansion - The Vegas odds

The Las Vegas Sun offers up their odds for the 13 cities often mentioned in MLS expansion talks. They are looking at things in a 'how does Vegas' fit in kind of way, but they don't seem to let the homer symptom overly influence their thought process. Anyway, here are their odds:

Atlanta: 100-1
Cleveland: 60-1
Las Vegas: 10-1
Miami: 35-1
Milwaukee: 75-1
New York: 8-1
Philadelphia: 6-1
Phoenix: 20-1
Portland, Ore.: 40-1
San Diego: 100-1
Seattle: 3-2
St. Louis: 4-1
Vancouver: 70-1

They have a lot more information on the reasons behind these odds, so if you have a moment, you really should read the article.

As far as my thoughts on the odds, they look pretty much like they should, however I think St. Louis has better odds then Seattle. That said, it really doesn't matter much because both those cities would be my top 2 as well.

The New York odds seem a little high, but that might have to do with the article speculating not just on the 15th and 16th MLS clubs but also on the 17th and 18th. Fred Wilpon, an owner of baseball's New York Mets, is interested, but since the plan that seems to be out there calls for a soccer stadium to be built on the current site of Shea Stadium, they will need to wait till 2009 before they could even begin building such a project (that is when the new baseball stadium will open). That said, MLS wants a derby in New York and if there is a chance to have a stadium in the city, they will hold out for it.

It does seem like the Vegas odds are also a bit kind, but maybe they have some inside information (or maybe they are just hearing more about it and thinking it might come true). I would put their odds more at 20-1 with Miami and Portland a little bit behind them. The Miami bid really depends on Boca Juniors. If the club fully gets behind a bid, chances are good for them. As far as Portland, Seattle has very much climbed over them in the current race, but there is a good group of fans in the area and a Northwest derby would be a solid outing. Also, they already have a stadium that, with some improvements, could host games for the first few years.

The Phoenix option is very interesting and I'm guessing the reason heat was not listed in the piece is due to the talk of a stadium with a retractable-roof. There are two good groups going after this bid and both have good pedigrees. It might not have the glitz of a Vegas or the history of St. Louis, but they do draw some good crowds for big games. The problem is, most of those games involve Mexico and as has been proven in many other locations, international match draws don't always mean good local match draws. Still, I agree that they are the city most likely to surprise.

As far as the rest, I think Milwaukee has a slightly better chance then suggested while Cleveland has a little worse. Atlanta should be doing better but no local money seems interested, so their bid looks to be stalled. Philadelphia is probably the city MLS most wants to get into so if the stadium deal moves forward, it should happen. Vancouver seems like a natural fit, however with all the development issues that have been kicked up ahead of the 2010 Olympics, getting a stadium might be a little difficult. San Diego to me seems to be the longest shot due to stadium situations.

What do you think?

MLS Expansion - Milwaukee's last chance effort

When talk of possible MLS expansion cities comes up, seldom does it start with Milwaukee, however, there has been a group trying hard to make the dream happen. Sadly, it looks like their final chance to see this reality is upon them as they are looking to use the Milwaukee Mile race track as a home for a new club.

The idea is simple really, a playing service will be rolled over the infield of the track (the grass part in the middle) much like the soccer field is rolled into place in Phoenix. Since the seats are already there, the cost of creating such a stadium is much less then building from nothing.

This article mentions a "...platform that could be rolled over the Milwaukee Mile track", so I'm not sure if the pitch will be only over the infield or if it will be raised up and cover portions of the track. If it covers portions of the track, it would be much closer to the seats then I showed in my image above. By the by, the image is a close approximation of the size of a soccer pitch to the size Mile track.

Although this is one of the most unique ways of solving the whole stadium issue, I just don't see MLS jumping at the possibility. Perhaps I am wrong, but this just doesn't seem to fit in with the current theme that MLS management is trying to play out (ie - take us seriously).

Maybe the league would give them a team with this as a temporary home, however with the Milwaukee group already hurting from three failed attempts to bring a full stadium to the city, it seems like the Mile would be more of a long term option.

Update: If you want to read a different view regarding this, take a look here.