Enlightening Fixtures
They’ve announced the schedule for the shotgun marriage USSF 2nd Division soccer league that will bridge us from 2009’s Season of Internal Unpleasantness to 2011’s Season of Complete Chaos. The 12 teams in the hodgepodge league will each play 30 games from early April to early October (that’s 26 weeks, kids - half the year) before the two division winners and the next six best teams go into the playoffs1.
My team, the FC Tampa Bay Rowdies2, plays six of its first seven on the road and opens at home May 8 against Austin at Steinbrenner Field, right across from the former site of Tampa Stadium, where the original Rowdies ran here and ran there and kicked the ball around.
| Day | Date | Opponent |
|---|---|---|
| Friday | 4/16/2010 | at Crystal Palace Baltimore |
| Saturday | 4/24/2010 | at NSC Minnesota Stars |
| Saturday | 5/1/2010 | at Miami FC Blues |
| Saturday | 5/8/2010 | AUSTIN AZTEX |
| Friday | 5/14/2010 | at Carolina RailHawks |
| Wednesday | 5/19/2010 | at Austin Aztex |
| Saturday | 5/22/2010 | at AC St. Louis |
| Thursday | 5/27/2010 | NSC MINNESOTA STARS |
| Saturday | 5/29/2010 | PUERTO RICO ISLANDERS |
| Sunday | 6/6/2010 | at Vancouver Whitecaps |
| Saturday | 6/12/2010 | MONTREAL IMPACT |
| Saturday | 6/19/2010 | at Puerto Rico Islanders |
| Sunday | 6/27/2010 | at Portland Timbers |
| Sunday | 7/4/2010 | MIAMI FC BLUES |
| Saturday | 7/10/2010 | at NSC Minnesota Stars |
| Thursday | 7/15/2010 | PUERTO RICO ISLANDERS |
| Thursday | 7/22/2010 | ROCHESTER RHINOS |
| Sunday | 7/25/2010 | MIAMI FC BLUES |
| Saturday | 7/31/2010 | PORTLAND TIMBERS |
| Saturday | 8/7/2010 | at Austin Aztex |
| Wednesday | 8/11/2010 | at Puerto Rico Islanders |
| Saturday | 8/14/2010 | at Miami FC Blues |
| Saturday | 8/21/2010 | VANCOUVER WHITECAPS |
| Wednesday | 8/25/2010 | CAROLINA RAILHAWKS |
| Sunday | 8/29/2010 | AC ST. LOUIS |
| Saturday | 9/11/2010 | at Rochester Rhinos |
| Thursday | 9/16/2010 | AUSTIN AZTEX |
| Sunday | 9/19/2010 | at Montreal Impact |
| Friday | 9/24/2010 | NSC MINNESOTA STARS |
| Friday | 10/1/2010 | CRYSTAL PALACE BALTIMORE |
Having a third of their home games played midweek won’t help the ticket sales for the new team, but that’s the price you pay when you have to work your schedule around a minor-league baseball team. If they can ever get their proposed soccer stadium built, that won’t be an issue in the future3.
1 - Yeah, go figure…a league with two teams called FC, another called AC and one named after an English club is going to have playoffs.
2 - Stupid, lawsuit-inspired name.
3 - And if my mom had two wheels, she’d be a bicycle. Or a Segway.
February 8th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
If you’re going to send 8 of 12 teams to the playoffs, you need to be sure less than five teams fold in the middle of the season.
February 8th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
Well, that goes without saying, I guess.
Of the 12, Montreal, Vancouver, Portland, Rochester, Puerto Rico and Carolina would appear to be the top half in terms of organization. They’ve also been around the longest.
Austin is in their second year, and could go either way, but appear to be fairly solid.
Tampa Bay, Minnesota and St. Louis are expansion teams. Baltimore is moving up in class from the DIII level, where they were no great shakes.
And Miami’s an absolute nightmare, but Traffic has lots of money.
We haven’t had a DII team collapse midseason since (I believe) Edmonton, and that was years ago. I don’t know what, if any, safeguards are in place if a team DOES have its ownership go away (USL would carry teams to the end of the season for the integrity of the schedule, if nothing else).
I don’t think they’ll lose five teams. I fully expect at least one of these 12 teams to not play in 2011, for one reason or another. And they’re going to lose Vancouver and Portland anyway, with Montreal potentially not far behind. Getting Edmonton and Atlanta isn’t going to make up for that.
February 9th, 2010 at 9:58 am
You should come visit for a game. Monika might be in the stands.;)
February 9th, 2010 at 10:27 am
I like Austin quite a bit. At least during SXSW, that’s the only time I’ve been there.