Some might not believe that life gets in the way of soccer. The past year it has. Missed an entire season except for one match. That's the past.
The NPSL is holding a combine for those players wanting to go pro. Detroit City FC has only one player on the Midwest team. Zach Schewee. Defender from Bowling Green. That DCFC isn't the top level of an academy system or aligned with a professional side (PDL), this is important. Three of our players have made it into the MLS. They didn't play for known national college powerhouses. Most of the roster plays for smaller D1/D2 universities. What they do carry are memories of Summer nights at Cass Tech. The eye of a seething cauldron of the Supporters passion for their club. Wear the colors once, you wear them for life.
http://www.detcityfc.com/news/le-rouge-review-mls-draft/
Kofi Opare was drafted by the LA Galaxy in 2013 Superdraft. He played a key role in defense in the playoffs for the Championship side. Opare was traded to DC United for the 2014 season.
Southeast Michigan's fertile hotbed of soccer talent was long a basis for the PDL Michigan Bucks. The problem was and is, they play in front of 600 reported average per game. Indoors. Shit field. Shit atmosphere. DCFC support in numbers.
http://boysinrouge.com/2014/08/04/number-crunchin-2014-attendance/
Then there's Reddit. For 2014 DCFC is #2 measured against NASL/USL PRO. 18th against MLS.
The digital native support for soccer is all online and in social media. Not the traditional media all the other professional sports are judged by.
What's the result of all this? Duggan, the Bucks owner, all of the sudden wants to bring the USL PRO to Detroit. Build a 5000 seat stadium in 90 days. His brother is the Mayor. the 2015 USL PRO league expansion will be without the PDL executive of the year and Championship Bucks team. All this energy after 19 years of nothing. Interesting. And sad.
Lansing United won the Great Lakes East title on the last day against DCFC. The Lansing area had approximately 200 DCFC season ticket holders living there. The Northern Guard nurtured the MSU Student supporter section when they met the core members at Cass. What does it say that after the first Lansing match, the NGS 517 was created. The area code for the greater Lansing area. AND. They play home matches in EAST Lansing. Not the city of Lansing. Best yet, the 250 strong traveling support chanted the much much much smaller home group out of their bar before the match. With NGS 517 flags leading the way. They join NGS Cascadia and possibly Germany in making DCFC a brand.
Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids tried to crowdsource a club. Epic fail. There's the typical off season chaos of clubs dropping or disappearing across the country. The New Pacific NW conference lost most of it's clubs. That part of the country has a deeper soccer culture with the PDL and old A League.
The ownership of Detroit City are weighing the option of building their own stadium. Having to turn away 400 people for the last match, good problem to have. 3600 were inside while 200 stood on anything outside the fences of that electric watershed night. Yes, an American 4th division club has this level of support. One thing wouldn't change, Detroit City FC WILL play in the City of Detroit. HINT. Rumors of livestreaming are swirling in the FO.
It all comes down to money. The lifeblood of any soccer club.The Pittsburgh Riverhounds Stadium cost $13M. $3M for the FIFA 2 German turf field. Then there was the land along the river across from downtown. Unlike the most of the club with their own field, they suck. Without the attendance they filed for reorganization protection. Land in Detroit? No worries.Close to City Center? More challenging. Like Columbus, hockey has sucked all the money out of the equation.
And all that being said, my only worry is a season ticket is available when I can afford it. DCTID.