On the eve of the second leg of the conference semifinals, the league has stirred some intrigue around one of its teams not in the playoffs.  According to Steven Goff of The Washington Post, soccer fans in the Baltimore, MD area have begun to receive surveys gauging their interest in locating an MLS franchise in the city.  Obviously this is a major issue for fans of DC United, whose franchise has been searching for a home and for the past few years has been rumored to be moving to Baltimore or outside of DC.

According to Goff and Craig Stouffer of The Examiner, the survey asks how likely would fans follow and attend the games of a team in a soccer-specific stadium in the Westport area of the city; the questions ask about a new franchise or a relocated franchise.  The survey then asks which of the following teams residents would lobby hardest to have move to Baltimore: DC United, Columbus Crew, Philadelphia Union, New York Red Bulls, or other.  The final two questions ask specifically about DC United’s relocation to Baltimore.

Some DC fans have already begun to prepare themselves for what seems to be an inevitable move, but I can see a few different reasons why MLS is doing this survey at this time.  Here are my thoughts (and for my previous thoughts on DC United in Baltimore, check out my previous article):

DC United is preparing to move to Baltimore

In an incredibly informative interview last month with Goff, DC United President Kevin Payne was blunt about his team’s courtship with Baltimore:

We’re not hiding anything. We are trying to work through some issues with the District and we are having conversations about how to get something in the District, but we’re having those same conversations with Baltimore. I’m not sure I want to categorize it, but the state of Maryland, Maryland Stadium Authority and city of Baltimore know how to do this. They’ve done it successfully.

DC United last year did an economic benefit study with Baltimore last year so they have some research to back-up potential moves.  And the team has discussed outside of the city stadium sites, including failed negotiations with Upper Marlboro, MD, to build a soccer stadium there (similar to how the Redskins play in Landover, MD, not DC).  Before the end of the season, DCU presented Events DC, which owns RFK Stadium, with almost an ultimatum to either renovate the stadium for soccer use or the team is gone.  How much the city is willing to put into a fifty year old stadium is unknown.  So the most likely reason for this survey is that it is the first step in a multi-year process to move DC United to Baltimore.

DC United is aggressively trying to have DC call its bluff

Despite the negativity surrounding DC United’s stadium situation, it is not all a dark cloud.  The Poplar Point stadium is up in the air, but has never been declared absolutely dead.  In fact, with changing DC demographics and the continued development of the Southwest Waterfront, this may turn out to be an economic option intriguing to the DC Council.  With the grassroots movement Keep DC United picking up combined with the thought of losing what is essentially a business to Baltimore (and the DC government hates losing large businesses to competing regional cities), these tactics by the league and the team are just pressure points to keep the issue on the DC Council’s radar.

MLS is feeling out Baltimore for relocation of another franchise

In all likelihood the inclusion of Philadelphia, Columbus, and New York was a poor attempt to not make the survey all about moving DC United to Baltimore.  But what if MLS is considering Baltimore not just as a landing place for DC United but any other troubled MLS franchise?  If DC works out a stadium deal somewhere in the nation’s capital, could Baltimore be a destination for a team like Columbus, whose attendance has fallen and MLS has publicly worried about its financial well being?   If this was the case, Baltimore would have to compete with cities like Las Vegas and New York, who are also clamoring to get into MLS (or in NY’s case, have a second franchise).  Baltimore is a good location with a good sports tradition, only two major league franchises, and some soccer tradition.  So while maybe the survey was about testing Baltimore as a landing place for any team, I find it unlikely that they would be surveyed now to establish themselves as relocation site #1.

MLS is considering Baltimore to host an expansion franchise

Many of the arguments for the previous idea apply, but I find this even less likely.  The twentieth team will probably be the New York Cosmos, but MLS has publicly courted Minnesota, San Antonio, Las Vegas, and even Miami about housing an expansion MLS franchise.  For Baltimore to suddenly be the new home of a 20th, 21st, or 22nd team, they would have some work to do.  But maybe, just maybe, the survey is designed to see just how much of a possibility this is.

Would you want to see Guiseppe Rossi this summer?

Earlier this offseason, I posted a poll and question about what EPL teams you would like to see do a tour of the United States.  Since then we have seen Barcelona confirm a three-stop tour of the U.S., where they will be playing both Manchester United (DC) and AC Milan (Miami).  But with as large a country as ours, there is plenty of space and a diverse enough fan base in the United States for other European clubs to pay a visit this year .

Today’s question will expand the original to the other three major European leagues: La Liga, Bundesliga, and Serie A.  A later post or two will include further European leagues and clubs, so if your favorite European team has not yet been posted, you will have your chance to pick it later.  All three of the other major leagues have diverse styles of play and passionate fans in the U.S. who sometimes have to compete for attention with the more popular (and culturally accessible) English Premier League.  But a major driver of the popularity of these leagues is immigration – fans root for teams in the country of their descendants or from where they originate.  Hence the huge Barcelona and AC Milan followings across the United States.

So here are six clubs that I think would do well to take a tour of the United States this summer who have not already announced any matches.  Of course vote for which ones you’d like to see through the poll below and in the comments section:

Inter Milan:  The nerazzurri hit hard times under Rafa Benitez but slowly seem to be righting themselves.  Even if they are not treble contenders this year, the team is stocked with world class talent from front to back.  Wesley Snejder, Samuel Eto’o, Cambiasso, Julio Cesar, etc. are all big names in the soccer world, and are good draws.  Inter has visited the United States as recently as last year and draws very well.  Dream match – Inter Milan versus AC Milan in Baltimore.  Bring one of the best derbies in the world to the U.S. city with a rich Italian history.

Juventus: Juve is another large Italian club that has fallen on hard times.  But Juventus has traditionally been the face of Italian soccer, supplying the national team with many of its players.  Fans would come out to see Gigi Buffon, maybe when healthy the world’s best keeper, as well as Alessandro Del Piero, Alberto Aquilani, and breakout star Milos Krasic.  Dream match – Juventus versus Ajax in the New Meadowlands.  Replay the 1996 now-Champions League final outside a city with supporters of both clubs.

Real Madrid: Any chance you can see The Special One, you have to take that opportunity.  But besides Mr Mourinho, Real Madrid may have the best collection of soccer talent in the world.  Even a second or half squad would bring out world-class players but fans could hope to see Ronaldo, Higuain, Xabi Alonso, and Mesut Ozil.  Dream match – Real Madrid versus FC Dallas in the Jerry Dome.  Miami gets Barcelona this summer, so Dallas gets Real.

Villareal: The big reason to bring Villareal to the United States is Jozy Altidore.  If he is the future of the U.S. national team, bring him to the U.S. on a tour or for a friendly so Americans can see him with his club.  And Villareal is having a great season, third in the league behind the big two, and they have a ton of talent.  One of their top scorers is Giuseppe Rossi, someone American soccer fans may have heard of.  Dream match – New York Red Bulls and Villareal in New Meadowlands.  Playing the match here allows Rossi and Altidore a chance to play near their hometowns.

Bayern Munich: The Bundesliga pecking order has been upset this year, with traditional clubs like Stuttgart in danger of relegation.  However, even though they are sitting just fifth, Bayern is the premier name in Bundesliga outside Germany.  Big names from the most recent World Cup like Muller and Schweinsteiger populate the roster, and French fans can come out to see Franck Ribery.  Dream match – Bayern visiting Seattle at Qwest Field.  Seattle has been skipped in many of these tours and deserve a big-name competition.

TSG Hoffenheim: Many people may not have heard about this club or think it would be a good draw in the United States, but Hoffenheim, a mid-table club, has a great story in Vedad Ibisevic.  You can read the entire story in this New York Times article, but in brief Ibisevic’s family fled to the United States to avoid the ethnic warfare in Bosnia.  Vedad played for a year with the University of St. Louis before beginning his professional career in Europe.  Dream match – Obviously Hoffenheim should play in St. Louis and the probably opponent should be Sporting Kansas City, the closest professional club.

I guess some would look at this as a continuation of the war of press releases between the United Soccer Leagues and the Team Owners Association, but nonetheless it’s still news.

According to the press release the USL First Division will move forward next year without the member clubs of the TOA, though Tampa seems to be on-board with the USL despite flirting with TOA over the last few months. The one thing that sticks out to me is the inclusion of Edmonton. Some of you may remember when the Aviators played in the old A-League, the ownership had — whimsically — expected crowds in excess of 10,000 but ended up getting crowds of around 2,500. A lot of that had to do with the venue, the cavernous Commonwealth Stadium, which was only available to the club on three weekends because the CFL’s Eskimos — rightfully — had priority scheduling. Eventually the owners simply walked away from the thing and dropped it in the USL’s lap, the USL ended up running it on a shoestring budget — even by their standards — as the renamed “Edmonton FC” as the owner’s took the name with the — good luck having any success with it in the future — and played out the season at a much smaller stadium in Edmonton, where attendance actually managed to improve. Though some polka dance-offs in Medicine Hat probably outdrew the Aviators in truth.

This isn’t a slight at Edmonton, it’s actually a decent soccer city, but following a failure that spectacular it gives you the impression that the USL was pretty hard-pressed to replace Vancouver as a presence in Western Canada.

Earlier we reported on the expansion to Ottawa. It’s really hard to see anything wrong with expansion to Ottawa, it’s a good location for the USL and even though some fans in the Canadian capital had designs on Major League Soccer, that’s not going to happen. They could end up having a good rivalry with Rochester, and the USL is going to miss the passion that the Rochester-Montreal rivalry brought to the league.

One can only assume that Baltimore is represented by Crystal Palace USA, there has been a lot of talk about them getting a stadium in Baltimore finally after playing in the County and out at Navy for a few years. They’re  a strong team, and Baltimore is a good soccer city which would benefit the USL in many ways.

This is the first I’ve heard of a team in Detroit unless it’s the Michigan Bucks, a long-time citidel of the PDL. It’s an interesting move, and again could form a rivalry with Ottawa.

I do see this as good news for soccer in North America. The bickering between the USL and TOA has really left me a bit disillusioned with the lower league game here, but more opportunities for young players to get competitive matches is a good thing, particularly for Canada where professional opportunities are very much at a premium. That said, the USL isn’t much better than the K3 as-far-as expansion goes, so we’ll just have to wait and see. If the bickering continues, we’re certainly in for an eventful winter.