people just don't understand how popular baseball still is. It's not nearly as popular of a national sport as football and basketball, but regionally it's still very popular (meaning a Cubs fan isn't as likely to watch Dodgers-Mets as they were 20 years ago but they're still watching and attending Cubs games) Little League is still huge in America and I'm fairly certain that baseball is still by far the most popular youth sport (though soccer is the fastest growing youth sport, or at least was pre-pandemic)
Pro Iowa Soccer - Krause Development
- Thread starter cyfan92
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people just don't understand how popular baseball still is. It's not nearly as popular of a national sport as football and basketball, but regionally it's still very popular (meaning a Cubs fan isn't as likely to watch Dodgers-Mets as they were 20 years ago but they're still watching and attending Cubs games) Little League is still huge in America and I'm fairly certain that baseball is still by far the most popular youth sport (though soccer is the fastest growing youth sport, or at least was pre-pandemic)
Is the Menace moving into this stadium or is Des Moines expecting to get a MLS team? Because while minor league baseball can be a thing, the MLS is already minor league soccer. Anything lower and it's the equivalent of the arena league and while that will still draw fans I wouldn't get my hopes up on it being a meaningful number.
This will have many other fields besides just the main stadium and bring in tournaments.
The site is currently an eyesore at the entrance to downtown from MLK. This will make it an attraction.
The site is currently an eyesore at the entrance to downtown from MLK. This will make it an attraction.
Sure, with regards to stadiums specifically, yes. If this were just the stadium i'd agree, but the package of development planned around this is what sells this more than just the stadium. The stadium is like 10% of the total project.
MLS isn't minor league. MLS is the highest level of soccer in the US. This Des Moines team would the equivalent of a AAA soccer team (if you use baseball as a comparison). I believe it is called USL Championship league. The Des Moines Menace was in the Premier Development League which I believe is now called USL League Two. So, to summarize MSL > USL Championship > USL League I > USL League II > then some other smaller leagues.
Probably get 2,000 in there every game. Free Bang! Energy drink at Kim and Go with a ticket stub probably 5,000.
I’m also amazed at how The Crew attracts the fat neck beard millennials that never played soccer. Like those are the die hard Crew fans.
If the MLS ever went to relegation, which I guess is nearly impossible with the current model (stupid) it would be awesome to have a minor league team here with the hopes of making it.
No one ever talks about the flip side of promotion/relegation.
This is my hope even if it won’t actually happen. For soccer to grow like they want it to they need to let the market decide where it is popular. Smaller cities are probably going to more sustainable. People in Chicago have a million different things to choose from over soccer. People in Des Moines or somewhere else the team would be the main attraction. Forcing the top level teams into the same places isn’t going to be successful.
heh I was being hyperbolic, when it comes to professional soccer, the MLS is minor league in terms of world appeal. The real pro leagues are in Europe and you know that because that also happens to be where the best American players play.
I think it might draw more than what I originally thought but I think the fact that we are here confused about what the hell league this team will even be in and at what level is telling regarding how well Iowans understand soccer which will have a direct correlation to attendance.
and yes, I understand that it a terrible run on sentence
and yes, I understand that it a terrible run on sentence
If nothing else its still sellable as something fun to do with friends\family on a nice summer day. Not all that dissimilar from icubs or any of the other sports options here in des moines.
I don't particularly know much\care much about soccer, but i could say the same for baseball, yet I usually end up at a couple icubs games every year.
If this combines with the other soccer facilities being built in the metro we will be able to attract a lot of teams for a lot of tournaments. The hotel stays and restaurants in the entire metro will absolutely love if this happens. I say this as a guy that's traveled to Omaha, KC, Minneapolis, Chicago, St Louis and Bettendorf for tourneys/games. The facilities those places have and number of teams at each event is ridiculous.
There is a tourney in KC the 1st and 2nd weekend in November (girls one weekend and boys next weekend) that has a combined like 600-700 teams that show up. They come from Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Arkansas, South Dakota and Illinois for sure.
There is a tourney in KC the 1st and 2nd weekend in November (girls one weekend and boys next weekend) that has a combined like 600-700 teams that show up. They come from Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Arkansas, South Dakota and Illinois for sure.
no, they lie about the development planned around stadiums as well. We talked about this extensively in a class called sports and politics at Iowa State with a number of case studies. Almost all stadiums/planned developments fail to meet that expected ROI.
just look at the power and light, sprint center. They’ve failed to even really get close to what they projected in returns.
You can make arguments about baseball versus soccer at the youth levels all you want, but the popularity as a spectator sport is still miles apart. For all the chatter here about what Sporting KC has built up, they are still miles away from the Royals. The franchise has been here 26 years, had a ton of success, and has a great facility. But it seats 18k because that is where the demand is to watch soccer.
When Sporting won the MLS cup in 2013 or the Open cup in 2015 it was a 5 minute spot on the news. When the Royals won the World Series in 2015 they literally canceled schools and companies gave people the day off here to attend the parade. There were estimates of 800k fans in attendance. People abandoned cars on the side of the freeway and walked to the parade route because of the massive traffic jams.
The mass market appeal of the two is on totally different levels.
When Sporting won the MLS cup in 2013 or the Open cup in 2015 it was a 5 minute spot on the news. When the Royals won the World Series in 2015 they literally canceled schools and companies gave people the day off here to attend the parade. There were estimates of 800k fans in attendance. People abandoned cars on the side of the freeway and walked to the parade route because of the massive traffic jams.
The mass market appeal of the two is on totally different levels.
MLB has been around in some form for over 100 years…so we’re not exactly comparing apples to apples here. Baseball is dying at the spectator level, soccer is growing in spectator viability. Every MLS team is going to have a new state of the art stadium as soon as the Revs get out of Foxboro and Galaxy build a new stadium. Prior to the new Rangers stadium I don’t think a non-expansion/moved team had built a new stadium since the Brewers.
