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Atlanta, St. Louis May Not See MLS Clubs By 2011
Atlanta and St. Louis have hit financial snags in their bids for expansion clubs, with Atlanta confirming its withdraw.
Jan 17, 2009 2:39:02 AM
Of the seven cities to submit formal bids for Major League Expansion teams in 2011, it looks doubtful that Atlanta or St. Louis have a shot.
Atlanta is definitely out. Arthur Blank could not find a partner in time to secure the funds to build a stadium, especially since the buy-in fee of $40 million is non-negotiable. The Atlanta Falcons owner will now have to wait until MLS is accepting applications for expansion teams sometime after 2011.
"In mid-October, AMB Group submitted its bid application to own and operate a Major League Soccer team in metro Atlanta," said Kim Shreckengost, executive vice president at the AMB Group LLC and Blank’s chief of staff, according to bizjournals.com. "We recently informed MLS officials that we will not be ready to field a team in the 2011 season, which is the season currently under review for two expansion teams, primarily because we didn't feel we would be able to complete a public/private partnership arrangement in the timeframe necessary to build a soccer stadium by 2011."
Money also looks to be the problem for the St. Louis bid. The investment group interested is headed by Jeff Cooper. He met with MLS commissioner Don Garber prior to the 2009 MLS SuperDraft.
"We really want to be in St. Louis," Garber said according to STLToday.com, "but in order to be here, we have to be sure that every aspect of Jeff Cooper's bid is solid and one of the weaknesses it has today is that Jeff has not been able to secure the investor who has very deep pockets.
"And that's not just to satisfy the league's needs, that's to assure that the team will be successful in St. Louis, that it can make the right investments in the community, that it can make the right investments in player development, fan development, marketing, promotion, both on- and off-field staff. Lastly, should there be economic challenges for the league, we need to know that the group can have a couple of rocky years. Right now, we're not secure that his group can satisfy the objectives so the team will be successful. Now, other bids have other weaknesses."
Cooper, however, is remaining optimistic. He thinks he can bring in the financial backing to circumnavigate any financial pressures.
"What we're doing is continuing to work, as we always have been," said Cooper. "We've got a gigantic project which requires a big ownership group. Like we've been doing for the past nine months, we're trying to strengthen our group. I don't perceive it as being that big a hurdle. I think we are close."
Miami remains in pole position for one of the two available 2011 slots thanks to its backing from high-profile European giants FC Barcelona. However, if cities continue to drop out (Montreal balked at the buy-in fee earlier), it won't have too much competition left.
--Zac Lee Rigg, Goal.com
Atlanta is definitely out. Arthur Blank could not find a partner in time to secure the funds to build a stadium, especially since the buy-in fee of $40 million is non-negotiable. The Atlanta Falcons owner will now have to wait until MLS is accepting applications for expansion teams sometime after 2011.
"In mid-October, AMB Group submitted its bid application to own and operate a Major League Soccer team in metro Atlanta," said Kim Shreckengost, executive vice president at the AMB Group LLC and Blank’s chief of staff, according to bizjournals.com. "We recently informed MLS officials that we will not be ready to field a team in the 2011 season, which is the season currently under review for two expansion teams, primarily because we didn't feel we would be able to complete a public/private partnership arrangement in the timeframe necessary to build a soccer stadium by 2011."
Money also looks to be the problem for the St. Louis bid. The investment group interested is headed by Jeff Cooper. He met with MLS commissioner Don Garber prior to the 2009 MLS SuperDraft.
"We really want to be in St. Louis," Garber said according to STLToday.com, "but in order to be here, we have to be sure that every aspect of Jeff Cooper's bid is solid and one of the weaknesses it has today is that Jeff has not been able to secure the investor who has very deep pockets.
"And that's not just to satisfy the league's needs, that's to assure that the team will be successful in St. Louis, that it can make the right investments in the community, that it can make the right investments in player development, fan development, marketing, promotion, both on- and off-field staff. Lastly, should there be economic challenges for the league, we need to know that the group can have a couple of rocky years. Right now, we're not secure that his group can satisfy the objectives so the team will be successful. Now, other bids have other weaknesses."
Cooper, however, is remaining optimistic. He thinks he can bring in the financial backing to circumnavigate any financial pressures.
"What we're doing is continuing to work, as we always have been," said Cooper. "We've got a gigantic project which requires a big ownership group. Like we've been doing for the past nine months, we're trying to strengthen our group. I don't perceive it as being that big a hurdle. I think we are close."
Miami remains in pole position for one of the two available 2011 slots thanks to its backing from high-profile European giants FC Barcelona. However, if cities continue to drop out (Montreal balked at the buy-in fee earlier), it won't have too much competition left.
--Zac Lee Rigg, Goal.com
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