Philadelphia Union

[lfnadminKeymaster]

I know a bit about this area as a general soccer fan.

MLS has a couple leagues that it uses as “official” partners of MLS, the PDL (loosely the equivalent of single-A ball, the DL meaning “development league”) and the USL (loosely the equivalent of AAA-ball). Like baseball, the clubs are affiliated with the parent clubs, or considered independents.

USL clubs can be pretty big deals in their own right. Not all that long ago I caught a game between the Rochester Raging Rhinos and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, two of the more successful USL franchises.

The other cool think is that all these clubs qualify for the U.S. Open Cup, an FA cup-like competition in the US where “minor league” teams face off mano-a-mano vs. whomever they’re matched up against, including MLS teams. For example, in the Cup BethSteel 1913 (my personal hope for the name of the franchise) could face off AT HOME against the LA Galaxy, against someone like Frederick Lampard. That is awesome no matter how you look at it.

Also worthy of mention here are 2 things: 1) there is (was?) a PDL team already in Bethlehem, and 2) Lehigh players, I believe, are allowed to compete on PDL teams. Having the USL team here as well should have immense benefits for both Lehigh’s men’s and women’s soccer in terms of all of their development, and we could possibly see Lehigh players start their careers in Lehigh uniforms, see them head to this USL team, then possibly get called up to the Union. It is a much more direct line from Lehigh to the Philadelphia Union, and I think it could bring IMMENSE benefits to Lehigh’s soccer program as a whole.

Not to mention I’m holding out hope that a video screen and updated scoreboard at Goodman are a part of the announced franchise.

[toddcuddParticipant]

There is a Lehigh Valley PDL team, and rising soph Doyle Tuvesson played with them this summer. In fact, he had a hat-trick in the 2nd half of an early game.

Lehigh Valley United Sonic

[guidsParticipant]

so – they will be playing in Goodman? Reading the Morning call article it stated they play spring and into September schedule of 30 games so half at home. What’s that going to do to the field?

[RichHParticipant]

Not that much. Not the same as having 300 lb guys grunting all over . Guessing field maintenance part of the deal.

[TMHParticipant]

Hopes for a video board may be a bit premature.

“However, the lease will be year-to-year, as the Union will explore options for a soccer-specific stadium.”

Here is the complete article from Comcast

http://www.csnphilly.com/soccer-philadelphia-union/union-make-lehigh-valley-home-2016-usl-expansion-affiliate

[StablerBumParticipant]

[quote=21089]Hopes for a video board may be a bit premature.

“However, the lease will be year-to-year, as the Union will explore options for a soccer-specific stadium.”
[/quote]

I hope not. With the Union affiliate , that basically triples the number of times the stadium will be used in a year. A video board would enable significantly more revenue generation through sponsored ads to a captive audience. Even if just for 3 years (which I think would be conservative for the Union to find a site, purchase, and build a new stadium), I would think that the numbers for a board and other improvements would look pretty good.

I also would anticipate that the soccer team would want to sell booze, not sure how that would work.

Anyway, no matter how it works out – the Union are paying Lehigh to play there, so there should be some additional funding for the department however they choose to spend it.

[RichHParticipant]

The income goes to the university not the Athletic Dept.

[lfnadminKeymaster]

Wrote about this today.

http://lehighfootballnation.blogspot.com/2015/08/philadelphia-unions-usl-franchise-is.html

Bottom line is that this is a huge opportunity to make it as difficult as possible for the Union to ever want to get out of the lease. An upgraded Goodman stadium experience is the best way to do that.

[TMHParticipant]

Per several reliable sources, the soccer announcement will have no impact on future renovations of Goodman. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any…just soccer is making no demands for it.

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