A good sign for NW MLS rivalry?
November 22, 2008 by Marcus Michelson
A possible positive sign for a future Seattle-Portland (and maybe Vancouver) Major League Soccer rivalry was announced Friday by MLS commish Don Garber.
Montreal is backing out of its expansion bid. Vancouver and Portland are among the other bidders. Garber’s comments about the Northwest bids sound promising.
Here’s the story from the AP:
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Montreal withdrew its bid for a MLS expansion team, commissioner Don Garber said Friday in his state-of-the-league address.
“They’re out for the next round of expansion,” Garber said. “I don’t think it’s gone forever but it’s gone for now.”
Other cities bidding for expansion teams are Atlanta, Miami, St. Louis, Vancouver, Ottawa and Portland, Ore. Representatives from Miami, Portland, Vancouver and Ottawa met with member of the MLS board this week, Garber said.
Seattle will join the league next year, followed by Philadelphia in 2010.
Garber said that Montreal’s delegation — led by Joey Saputo and George Gillett, who owns Liverpool FC in England’s Premier League and the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens — had informed him within the past week of possible trouble.
“Montreal has had to evaluate what kinds of private capital they needed to refinance their stadium to fund the expansion fee, and what kind of public support would be available,” Garber said. “I’m not sure they were able to come to terms in this economic environment.”
Among the presentations made during the week, “Ottawa blew us away,” Garber said. “They do give a very focused plan as to where they’d build the stadium. Their presentation was not just about how they were going to build the stadium but how they were going to build the sport.”
Garber called Vancouver’s presentation “one of the best I’ve ever seen, and I was involved in sports expansion in (the NFL),” he said.
But the commissioner added that expanding into Canada might jeopardize the growth of the sport in the United States.
“We don’t have a lot of commercial businesses in Canada today,” Garber said of league sponsorships. “The more teams we add there, the more it takes away out from growing our footprint and our television ratings in the United States.”
The commissioner also said he was intrigued by the bids from Portland and Miami, which is being led by FC Barcelona. The Miami Fusion played in MLS from 1998 to 2001 before disbanding.
“If we go back to Miami, we’d better be sure we get it right,” Garber said. “Barcelona could make investments in lots of different countries. But they believe in this country and in developing the sport here.”
Garber said the possibility of having a potential rivalry between Portland, Seattle and Vancouver was intriguing.
“We believe in this conference-rivalry concept,” he said.
In other news, Garber said that the reserve division would be eliminated and each team would be able to carry 18, 19 or 20 senior players on its roster. Teams could have many as four developmental players. No new quota on international players was announced.
Elsewhere, each team will play a 30-game schedule in 2009. Each team will play every other team in a home-and-away format, with two extra games against close conference rivals. For the playoffs, the top two teams from each conference will qualify automatically, followed by four teams with the best records regardless of conference.
More on F1 driver Webber’s injuries
Also Friday, there’s a brief about F1 driver Mark Webber sustaining serious injuries in a car-versus-bike accident in his native Australia.
Here’s the complete story (Updated at 4 p.m.), if you care to read it:
HOBART, Australia (AP) — Formula One driver Mark Webber had surgery on his broken leg after being hit by a car during his charity multi-sports race Saturday.
“The surgery is complete, a pin inserted and the recovery begins,” Geoff Donohue, event director for the Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
“He’ll be in hospital for at least three days, for sure under a week,” Donohue said. “I was speaking to him before the operation, and he was already thinking about his rehabilitation.”
Webber, who drives for F1’s Red Bull team, was riding a bicycle along a road near historic Port Arthur in the southeast of the island state of Tasmania when he collided with a four-wheel drive vehicle, Tasmania Police Sgt. Jon Ford said.
“As a result of the collision, the rider, Mark Webber, suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries,” Ford said. “He was attended at the scene by paramedics attached to the event before being airlifted to the Royal Hobart Hospital.”
Donohue said Webber had a pin inserted into the leg, and that the Australian driver had no other serious injuries.
“The broken leg is the injury, and beyond that, he’s in really good shape,” Donohue said. “He has a little bit of a graze on his left forearm, but he has had full scans and everything else is clear.”
Webber was later transferred to Hobart Private Hospital.
Donohue said the broken leg would set back Webber and Red Bull’s preparation for the 2009 F1 season beginning in March. The fracture could leave him on the sidelines for at least six weeks.
Red Bull has already begun testing for 2009. Testing in Barcelona involved Sebastian Vettel, who joined Red Bull from Toro Rosso, and five-time World Rally Championship winner Sebastien Loeb while Webber was in Australia. The team’s next scheduled testing session is in Jerez in southern Spain from Dec. 9.
“That date obviously will be an issue,” Donohue said. “But I suspect that as soon as Mark is able to fly, they will be keen to get him back to Europe. They will have people working out his rehab program now with a view to getting him up and going as soon as possible.”
Donohue said Webber was like many elite athletes who immediately set goals for their recovery immediately after an injury.
“He has a positive attitude and a lot of determination,” Donohue said.
The accident happened while Webber was competing at his charity event, a 175-mile challenge using mountain bikes, kayaks and trekking, when the accident happened.
Ford said the bike portion used open public roads and it was not known whether the stage, including the accident scene, was cordoned off for the racers.
The challenge, first staged in 2003, is scheduled to end Sunday in Hobart.
There’s even more at planet-f1.com
Notes
• Versus will show the CFL’s Grey Cup live Sunday at 2:30 p.m. This year’s championship game features the Calgary Stampeders against the Montreal Alouettes. The BC Lions lost in the West final last Saturday. Click here for more information.
• NASCAR‘s Furniture Row Racing announced that it’s buying out the contract of driver Joe Nemechek. Click here for more.
Linkage
F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone could have the most expensive divorce ever, says the Wall Street Journal.
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