More On The Phoenix Monsoon
As promised, an interview with Phoenix Monsoon point man Stu Starkey, wherein he touches on their plans to play in 2011 in a “Western Soccer Conference” along with at least three and hopefully five to seven other teams in California and Arizona, a potential home venue and the long-term goals for the team.
Quick thoughts:
- The Phoenix Greyhound Park location seems to be a really good one. Just off downtown, right next to the airport, there’s a light rail stop there, loads of parking, no NIMBY issues. I’d have to be convinced that you wouldn’t be too far from the action (not to mention hermetically sealed) to make it worthwhile to go at all.
- I hope they’re able to pull together more than four teams for this Western Soccer Conference in 2011. Nobody will take it seriously – even as a prelude to bigger and better things – with only four or five teams.
- It’ll be interesting to see who ultimately gets the upper hand – this group or the other, which plans to take the field in 2012.
Tags: NASL, Phoenix Monsoon, soccer, USL
July 29th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Hope they need a PxP guy soon…
July 29th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
Gotta have a team first.
Gotta have an outlet at some point.
But, yeah. Not that I hold my breath on these things.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:27 pm
[...] Tomasch of the Kenn Blog brings us up to date with one of two parties that are negotiating for a D-2 soccer team in the [...]
July 30th, 2010 at 4:43 am
I love this guy’s optimism. We remain in the worse economic slump since the Great Depression. This guy wants to start a league. I love it! I am not sure where he is going to get fans, corporate promotion dollars, etc. Plus, Phoenix does not seem to have the money to refurbish a stadium for a non-major professional soccer team.
Yet, this guy seems undaunted. He should not be running a soccer team. He should be mayor or, hell, governor.
July 30th, 2010 at 5:39 am
Or… Senator?;)
July 30th, 2010 at 6:55 am
Jesus, does nobody have comprehension skills anymore?
THEY’RE NOT STARTING A LEAGUE.
July 30th, 2010 at 6:58 am
If you’re going to have a league in the southwest, wouldn’t it make more sense to play a winter schedule?
July 30th, 2010 at 7:10 am
Again…IT’S A TEMPORARY THING. You wouldn’t play a winter schedule if your plan was to – WITHIN A YEAR – join a league that plays a SUMMER SCHEDULE?
It’s like I’m talking to the room and the room can’t hear.
July 30th, 2010 at 10:04 am
The people who pay attention don’t see any need to comment.
All these guys are are doing is looking to take advantage of the sub-MLS confusion. Start a team, get it playing with some other guys who want teams, and just see what happens with it. It’s like a pre-Cambrian explosion of minor league soccer. I fuckin’ love it.
July 30th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
[...] the emerging plans for the club, and there is more information on Kenn Tomasch’s blog, http://www.kenn.com/the_blog/?p=3452 . According to Starkey. the Phoenix Monsoon club is looking towards regional competition among [...]
August 1st, 2010 at 11:04 am
I should have said: if, IF you’re going to play soccer in the southwest, it would make more sense to play in the winter. My point is that “minor league” soccer has pretty much been a regional(east) affair and D2 seems headed that way with its top teams moving to MLS. I’m not sure a conference with some interplay would be easier to set up than a seperate entity. You could still play under the USL umbrella if you choose to. A winter league would have many benefits like no 100F weather, a much larger talent pool(MLS benchwarmers on loan and D2 players making extra bucks).
A lot of people have tried to put teams in the west in less than ideal conditions and wound up running out of cash and/or entusiasm. Maybe being a little more ambitious and patient would work better.
August 1st, 2010 at 11:29 am
Southwest, in this case, would really only apply to Phoenix and Las Vegas (and Las Vegas is apparently one of the other cities they’re talking to).
Again, the problem is then switching seasons. If you could get a critical mass of teams in this neck of the woods and you planned on playing through the winter in all of them for the rest of time, great. But I can assure you – MLS ain’t switching seasons and if they did, USL (or whatever there is in D2) ain’t switching with them. They’ll gladly take the summer.
And, yes, I’d lay real money that just having a loose confederation of teams is a whole hell of a lot easier than actually trying to create and administer an ongoing league. By about a million percent.
And “ambition?” If anything, people have had TOO much ambition – they thought they could do A, B, C and D when they should have just concentrated on A and not even considered B, C and D until they’d proven they could do A.
Patience, yes, that’s something that’s in short supply, usually. But if it was your money, I’d defy you not to act the same way. What people like this really need is LESS ambition, MORE money and more realistic goals.
August 3rd, 2010 at 12:40 am
I have a question that’s all partially on this topic.
It seems to me like you’re the kind of guy who wants to see a fully functional promotion/relegation system with owner-operated clubs implemented in the US at some point. I want to know what you think is going to happen in the D2/D3 mess for the next season. Both the USL and the NASL claim to have the leg up to get USSF approval for their respective bids, and they both cite a handful of cities biting for the chance to join.
Austin, Minnesota, Puerto Rico, Rochester, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Baltimore, Miami, Montreal, St Louis who are all playing the USSF D-2.
New York, Orlando, Atlanta, Antigua, Edmonton have all been tipped for inclusion in either the NASL or USL 1.
Charleston, Charlotte, Richmond, Maryland Monarchs, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg who are currently in the USL 2.
Dayton announced it’s “promotion” to USL 2.
There’s these four Southwest teams San Diego, San Jose, Sacramento, and Phoenix.
And maybe the PDL team in Michigan and maybe a second team from Puerto Rico, River Plate Ponce.
That’s as many as 28 teams, but probably just 26.
What do you think the second and third tiers of the American soccer pyramid are going to look come spring 2011? Do you see any compromise between the USL management and the breakaway owners? Do you see two geographically confined conferences for D3, or even in D2? And when do you think there will be a system of true promotion/relegation among the bottom tiers (not MLS)?
August 3rd, 2010 at 8:09 am
Wow. Are you sure you’re talking to me?
In order:
1 – I’m not at all opposed to the concept, but I realize it’s not likely to happen in this country because of the distance between the various levels in organizational terms.
2 – Too early to call, but we might know a bit more once USSF puts out its standards for D2.
3 – Not too dissimilar to how they look now, I don’t think. Some teams will die, others will pop up. It happens.
4 – There might have to be a compromise.
5 – That’s very possible.
6 – When there’s money in it.