FC Kansas City, the New Women's Team in Town

Today US Soccer held their press conference on the new women's league being established in the United States and after the announcement we learned the name of the Kansas City team, FC Kansas City, "The Blues."

Kansas City will be one of 8 teams in the league, the Chicago Red Stars, Boston Breakers, Western New York Flash, DC United women, Sky Blue FC, Portland, and Seattle.  The league will kick off this spring.  According to a release from the Seattle team, the schedule will apparently be 22 games, playing each team 3 times and 1 more against what would be considered a "rival" so for KC this will probably be Chicago.  The season is set to start around the March/April time frame and go into September/October.  Many of the rest of the rules of the league are still being ironed out, but the federations and owners wanted to get the word out.

The league is a join venture between the USSF, CSA, and FMF to help build all 3 of the countries' national teams.  As part of that, the federations will offer support in regards to some of the salaries.  The USSF will cover salaries for up to 24 US players, the Canadians up to 16, and Mexico will pay for at least 12.  From listening in on the press conference today, it sounds like the majority of the contracts will not be full time, instead players will likely need offseason or second jobs to help along with their league salaries. 

US Soccer will be the ones that will be footing the bill and running the, as yet unnamed, league.  Right now the plan is for teams to play in smaller venues, for example, Chicago will not play at Toyota Park and Boston will not play at Harvard.  As for the Blues, their hunt for a stadium is apparently down to 4 locations, one of which actually is Livestrong Sporting Park.  While the national team drew well there, I'm weary of how a professional women's team will draw there.  I have to wonder if locations like UMKC and Park are being considered as well in the process. 

The US Open Cup

Today US Soccer announced their formatting for the 2011 US Open Cup, and even with the NASL not getting any spots in the tournament, MLS still going to have the format as they've had the previous few seasons where only 8 teams from the country's top division qualify for the US Open Cup tournament. Those qualifying games that KC has been playing the past few years are not US Open Cup tournament games, they're qualifiers that are set up by MLS as a way to determine their league's qualifiers for the Open Cup.

KC is likely to have to play 2 games to get themselves into the Open Cup based on their finish last year. With six teams already in the tournament (Columbus Crew, FC Dallas, Los Angeles Galaxy, New York Red Bulls, Real Salt Lake, Seattle Sounders), that leaves 10 teams (Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, Colorado Rapids, D.C. United, Houston Dynamo, New England Revolution, Philadelphia Union, Portland Timbers, San Jose Earthquakes, Sporting Kansas City) fighting for those 2 spots. With their finishes in 2010, it would appear that Portland would play Philadelphia while DC would play Chivas in the first round. In the second round the two winners are likely to play San Jose and Colorado while Chicago will play Houston and KC seems destined to play New England. The winners of those four games would then meet with the two winners qualifying for the Open Cup.

I love this cup, I like the idea, the single elimination, the underdog success feel of seeing the smaller clubs make a run, but my love for the cup wains with how poorly run it is. From the above format that keeps all the teams from the top division out of the tournament proper, to the way they decide hosts for rounds, to the fairly puny cash prize in the larger scheme of things.

My first issue is with the format and the fact that all 16 MLS US based teams do not automatically qualify for the tournament. Instead only half of the teams get into the actual tournament. In a few years, depending on where team 20 goes, less than half the US based teams will qualify for the Open Cup. So how would I change that? This year and next year it would appear fairly simple. Add all 16 US teams into the second round with the 16 winners from the previous round, that's one round earlier than when they're set to enter the tournament this year. This current qualifying process was, in part, designed to help relieve fixture congestion for MLS teams. But in the above format, it actually reduces fixtures compared to the current qualifying format where teams will play 2-3 games to qualify for the tournament.

Second is the way they decide hosts. It's one of those situations where the person with the most toys wins. Or the team that offers the most money in the end will basically be the hosts. The biggest example of this is the past few years' where there has been published reports of the bidding by Seattle, DC and others to host the finals. It's a cash grab by the USSF to see who will give them the most money to host the game. It shouldn't be that way, I'd prefer that it be a blind draw for the hosting. And if a team doesn't want to host for one reason or another they should have the ability to not be selected as hosts, to opt out BEFORE the draw takes place. That last little bit is to avoid situations where a team is selected as host until they find out their opponent isn't an MLS team or other high profile game.

Finally is the $100,000 prize for winning. The USSF paid national team head coach Bob Bradley $600,000 between March of 09 through April of 10, the women's coach Pia Sundhage $219,635. I understand that there are differences in the funds that are allocated, the US national team brings in more money than the US Open Cup, that's understandable. But they've found ways to pay over a million dollars to not just coaches, but also the executives. The USSF couldn't work out a deal or find a way to get one of their big sponsors to step up and be the title sponsor of the tournament? Trying to get a sponsor to step up and be the Open Cup sponsor (possibly tying it in with some other type of sponsorship currently more visible than the Open Cup itself) would be a step towards showing that the USSF actually cares about the tournament.

Along with the sponsorship and raise in prize money would hopefully bring more coverage and better advertising of the tournament by the USSF. I think the biggest way to show their lack of coverage now is to compare the USSF's US Open Cup page, buried a bit on the USSF's website to the "unofficial" US Open Cup page, thecup.us. There's no comparison, what thecup.us lacks in design, it makes up for in content. When I want information on the Open Cup I don't go to the USSF's website, I go to thecup.us because I know they'll have the information. I don't know that about the USSF's page.

I want the US Open Cup to be considered a prestigious cup, I want it to grow and be a big event. I know it'll never be on the level of what the FA Cup is now (even if it is a bit watered down compared to what it was) probably. But it'd be nice to see it get more respect and seen as a serious competition, not just by the teams and fans, but by the USSF itself.

Wizards Juniors Qualify for Playoffs

In their first season in the USSF Developmental Academy, the Wizards U-16 Juniors team has qualified for the developmental academy playoffs. The Juniors finished with an 8-2-8 record to qualify as a wild card, also qualifying from their division was Real Colorado and the Chicago Fire. The Juniors will play in the group play of the playoffs June 25th through 29th in North Carolina. If they qualify as one of the top 8 teams in the age group, they will move on to LA where the quarters, semis, and finals will be held July 9th through the 17th.

Arrowhead Still in Running for World Cup

The USSF once again cut down the list of potential sites to host the World Cup should the US win the 2018 or the 2022 bid to host. Kansas City and Arrowhead Stadium have made the cut for the next round along with 26 other cities. The committee will name 18 sites for the final bid that the US will put forward. Also still on the list, is the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. The bid has to be in to FIFA by May of 2010. Hopefully by that time KC is still on the list and we can hopefully look forward to World Cup soccer in Kansas City.

I'm told that the bid put forth for by the committee in KC is most definitely a serious one and are willing to make the changes needed to Arrowhead to make sure that it meets FIFA requirements. So there's hope for those that are skeptical because of the size of the field at Arrowhead. Also, due to the large parking lot at the Truman Sports Complex, it gives plenty of space for Fanfest stuff. If you haven't already signed the petition, do so. I remember going to a game in Dallas in 1994 and it was amazing, I would love to have that atmosphere here in KC when the World Cup returns.

Arrowhead Still in World Cup Running

The list of stadium candidates for the USA's 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid has been narrowed down from 58 to 45. Among those stadiums that are still in the running, is Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium and St. Louis' Edward Jones Dome. The USSF will now work with the cities and will hope to have their list set by May of 2010.

Local Stadiums Express Interest in Hosting World Cup

Earlier this month I posted about how Arrowhead Stadium and other regional stadiums were on the original 70 stadium list for the US' World Cup bid in 2018 and 2022. All 3 stadiums that were on the list from the state of Missouri have expressed an interest in hosting the World Cup. Arrowhead, Faurot Field and the Edward Jones Dome all expressed interest in hosting games. Only 12 stadiums took their name off the list. One, Memorial Stadium in Lincoln was the only regional stadium not to express interest. Most of these stadiums don't meet FIFA minimum requirements, but it's good to at least see the interest in hosting the World Cup.

Local and Regional Sites Contacted by USSF about World Cup bid

Arrowhead Stadium and other stadium sites around the Kansas City region have been named on the short list of 70 sites that were contacted by the US Soccer Federation about the USA's upcoming bids for the 2018 and the 2022 World Cup. Included with Arrowhead was Faurot Field in Columbia, MO, the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, IA, and Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. The letter that each of the sites received outlines the USA's bid along with the criteria for venue selection. Arrowhead was on the short list back in 1994 to try and host some of the games, but that did not happen. Sadly I don't see any of the 5 sites I named above being selected to host a World Cup game should the US get the bid. All the stadiums would need changes made to increase the field size so that a FIFA sized field could fit in the stadium. If I remember correctly, back in 1994, they were going to bring in a platform at Arrowhead that would actually have covered a few rows of seats to make the field wide enough for the World Cup. I don't see them doing that this time. Officials for the cities and venues have until April 17th to respond to the USSF with their interest.