MLS expansion club Minnesota United's bid to join the league was successful in part because of its "ground-up approach," which much like Orlando City SC, the Timbers and Sounders was based around building the club "slowly in a lower league, in this case the second-tier NASL," according to Jeff Carlisle of ESPN FC. The club last year "more than doubled its average attendance to 8,108, with the supporters group the Dark Clouds working to build a growing culture." Without question, expansion teams like NYC FC, Atlanta and LAFC "have successfully navigated the expansion obstacle course by using more of a top-down methodology." But it is "fascinating that when given the choice" in Minneapolis between Minnesota United or a team with Vikings Owner the Wilf family, MLS "chose the former method as opposed to the latter." When the team, then known as the Minnesota Stars, "ran into financial difficulties" in '12, it was current team Owner Bill McGuire who "stepped into rescue the club, endearing him to the local soccer community." That "provided street cred and precious stability for the club's expansion push." The Wilfs "had the opportunity to do the same, yet decided to pass on the deal, thinking that its new stadium would be enough." It is a decision that "in retrospect looks like a huge tactical error." The amount of money the Wilfs "were able to extract from state and local governments in order to get their stadium built, $498 million in total, also left a bad taste in the mouths of some segments of the local populace." McGuire "was coy about to how hard he would push to secure any public funding, or in what form that funding might be." He said, "I'm not suggesting we're looking to secure public dollars, but you don't build a building in the city without partnering with the city" (ESPNFC.com, 3/26).
SIAMESE TWINS? In St. Paul, Tom Powers writes MLS "could have worked with Vikings ownership and put the Minnesota team in the billion-dollar stadium that's already under construction and already is the beneficiary of public tax dollars." The facility which, "granted, isn't very intimate, could be rejiggered for soccer games with the upper decks closed off." Instead, the league "chose to align with a different ownership group, one with plans to play in a soccer-specific facility that currently does not exist." Powers: "Well, OK." Maybe the notion is that the demand for soccer "is so great in these parts that festooned, wild-eyed fanatics will overrun the Legislature and demand their fair slice of the public pie." Powers: "I think that, deep down, McGuire and Glen Taylor and the Pohlads and the rest of the ownership group knows better. Experience tells them that there is no quicker way to generate ill will than to start asking for subsidies. And they very likely have a plan in place to get a soccer facility up and running all on their own. But first they are going to dip a toe in the public watering hole, just to see if they can get anything at all from the state. ... I'm sure the new soccer owners are going to build a great facility. And I'm sure the state will put in a few sewer lines and traffic lights to help out. Seriously, even though they messed up by not announcing their funding plans right away, these owners are smart guys" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 3/27).
