In Albuquerque, Noah Seligman in a front-page piece reports New Mexico has been awarded a USL expansion team "to start play" in '19 at Isotopes Park. USL New Mexico "will be based in Albuquerque but its owners say it represents the entire state." Public input "will establish the formal team name." New Mexico is "one of five new teams for next season." New Mexico USL President & Owner Peter Trevisani is a "former Santa Fe finance director" who moved to New Mexico in '99. Neither the USL nor the local ownership "would divulge the franchise fee." USL teams are "required to have a lead investor who owns at least" 35% of the team and has a net worth of at least $20M (ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL, 6/7).
IN PURSUIT OF VALOUR: In Winnipeg, Ben Waldman reports the city's new Canadian Premier League team "will be known as Valour FC" and begin play next spring at Investors Group Field. Winnipeg Football Club, which runs the CFL Blue Bombers, is the "organization that will run the club's operations." WFC President & CEO Wade Miller would not "disclose how much money" the organization had invested in Valour FC. But he said that WFC "used its operating reserve to fund the team" (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, 6/7). Miller said that attendance of 5,500-6,500 per game "will work." Also in Winnipeg, Paul Friesen notes the CPL will "have a salary cap and play mostly Canadians, with a limited number of import players" (WINNIPEG SUN, 6/7).
ALL THINGS DIGITAL: DIGIDAY's Seb Joseph reported Bundesliga club Bayern Munich is "building out an internal agency." The German club's Digital & Media Lab "has 60 staffers across content production and delivery, cause related and digital marketing as well as IT services." Most of the team "works from the club's training facility in Munich." Not all of the club's digital expertise "will be housed in the new division." Bayern's digital team in N.Y. will "continue to operate out of the U.S. as a separate [unit] rather than be moved into the lab." The club wants to use consumer data to "better target international fans across the Americas and Asia" (DIGIDAY.com, 6/4).
