Comments on: Could Washington Be the American London?

By: Max

Max — Sun, 24 May 2009 19:40:00 +0000

Southern California has much better USL and PDL clubs. Think about the players who have featured for Bakersfield Brigade, Hollywood United, Orange County Blue Star and Ventura County. MLS rosters are littered with PDL players from Southern California. Heck even Juergen Klinsmann and Eric Wynalda ended their respective playing careers in the PDL ranks in SoCal.

But the lack of public transit and movement of fans makes it very different than London or even most big US urban areas. So perhaps that’s why you use the DC example.

Look up any PDL club from Southern California on wilipedia and you’d be shocked by some of names of the former players. Obviously the latest sensation is Anton Peterlin signed by Everton after two PDL seasons with Ventura County.

As far as New York, the support is spotty for most clubs. Media penetration is low and general interest in soccer minimal. DC and LA are the two hot beds no doubt, but unlike Kartik, I believe LA is the place and DC runs second.

By: Vnice

Vnice — Sun, 24 May 2009 19:19:50 +0000

Well, truthfully, I don’t think ANY city will ever be the US version of London. The US is spread out and diverse, and soccer will probably never be as big (but let’s keep dreaming it does).

But, the bigger point is…no US city *should* be like London. I think our American-ness is a strength. Let’s not compare ourselves to England anymore. Let’s just try and promote the game, period, and just be ourselves.

By: ideas man

ideas man — Sun, 24 May 2009 16:56:07 +0000

i resent the comment that support in London isn’t as fanatical, you need to come here seriously. Without London support Man u and liverpool would be nowhere it is true that until the success of those two in the mid/late 60s (and to a lesser extent munich) the biggest clubs in terms of fanbase were the London big 3.

Northern clubs don’t sell out when they are in the prem (Wigan, Blackburn, Bolton, boro), whenever a London club is the demand is unbelievably high, hence why it may not seem that there is passion at Arsenal or Chelsea. Arsenal could easily sell out 100,000 the fact is most of our working class and yougn fans get priced out so our home games are a middle class entertainment fest.

And i think you should look at premier league squads more or less every team has 1–2 Londoners, it is the real football heartland of England and the most passionate place. Millwall a 3rd tier club took 50,000 fans to wembley today and lost to scunthorpe who took 10,000…

By: Cavan

Cavan — Sun, 24 May 2009 16:32:01 +0000

Vnice,
as has been said many times before, all the land surrounding RFK is owned by the National Park Service. Therefore, it would require an Act of Congress to build a new stadium there. Local land issues are not exactly Congress’s highest priority. It would take years to get any Act and there would a high chance that it wouldn’t involve a soccer stadium.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Sun, 24 May 2009 16:19:06 +0000

I’d give Southern California much much more credit and the LA Galaxy on top of that even further. I won’t even begin to say that Los Angeles is at all like London, the two cities may as well be polar opposites, however, I would say it is a strong contestant for best soccer community given the fact that many hispanic immigrants make their home in LA… and not just Mexican immigrants either. LA hosts large Argentinian, Brazilian, Costa Rican, and other South American populations as well.

And then there’s California as a whole, which as we all know currently has 3 professional soccer teams and a fourth in a few years if the San Diego Flash have their way. No other state can say that.

By: Ric

Ric — Sun, 24 May 2009 13:27:11 +0000

also, give credit to the NY/NJ area for Seton Hall University for having a successful program under Manny Schellscheidt, and some recent (Seton Hall Prep) and long-term (St. Benedict’s Prep) high school successes. St. Benedict’s, for example, has turned out guys like Berhalter, Tab Ramos, Reyna, Villegas, and more recently Gabe Ferrari.

And let’s not give grief to the NY/NJ area for public transit in New Jersey. NJTransit is actually pretty widespread, and with the MTA and the Port Authority gets the job done.

By: NYC_COSMOS

NYC_COSMOS — Sun, 24 May 2009 12:49:45 +0000

Yes and give NYC a little more credit, because all these teams exist basically within a 10 mile radius of each other. You mentioned Hampton Roads and Richmond Kickers, brother, thats a 2 hour drive south of DC????? Are you kidding me? That’s not London, thats driving to France.

PS. PCFC, you forgot to mention SJU.

By: PCFC

PCFC — Sun, 24 May 2009 04:32:18 +0000

You forget that NYC has a Brooklyn PDL side called the Brooklyn Knights. With RBNY, BK Knights, LI Rough Rider, Westchester Flames, NJ Rangers, and the Newark side (not including the chance for a second MLS squad), I’d give NYC a lil’ more credit.

By: GJ

GJ — Sat, 23 May 2009 23:54:25 +0000

Can they destroy RFK and build a SSS there?

By: adam

adam — Sat, 23 May 2009 20:23:02 +0000

great piece.

i don’t know why more big cities don’t have a scattering of PDL or NPSL clubs in the neighborhoods which can clearly support some sort of amateur or semi professional soccer. dc is far far ahead of the game when it comes to this.