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I planned to write something about Detroit City FC’s short and long-term future before next season, and I still probably will, but with all the talk about the downtown stadium proposal, I thought now would be a good time to put a few thoughts down.
As I mentioned in my piece, Two Obsessions, I fell in love with the game of soccer in 2006 and waited six years before I had a club to call my own. “City Til I Die” is not just a phrase to me, it is a declaration of passion and loyalty. Detroit City is my club, and will be until it ceases to exist or I do, whichever comes first. This may seem melodramatic, and it even slightly feels that way to me since, in the grand scheme of things, sports are an exceedingly minor and insignificant part of life.
On the other hand, they are also our greatest form of collective experience, and some of the fondest memories of my short life have been made in the past two years at the narrow, bumpy field off of Grand River. I’ve had more fun among a crowd of 1000 than I ever have in Ann Arbor with 110 times as many people. With major teams, you could theoretically go to every home game without seeing the same person twice, but at City games, there are always dozens of faces I recognize, even though I’ve never met most of them.
City’s greatest strength and the main reason for its success is that it is tied to the community. Founded by five men who met through a local league, based in the heart of the city, made up mostly of local talent – this story is not very different from that of Liverpool, Celtic, Manchester United. The difference is those clubs’ stories unfolded over a hundred years ago, and ours has just begun.
It’s very exciting to be in on the ground level of something like this, and I intend to follow it wherever it goes, be it USL-Pro, NASL, MLS, or even just NPSL (although if the current rate of growth continues, I don’t see this as a viable long-term option).
Putting aside all the talk of job creation, revenue generation, and proper use of resources, if, by some chance, a non-DCFC MLS expansion franchise is awarded to Detroit, I will not support it. This isn’t out of bitterness – I would wish the team and its supporters all the best and be happy for them if they were successful.
The simple fact is I already have a club.
Allez Le Rouge
Forevermore Rouge et Or
City Til I Die
Love this. It’s all true.
Beautifully put. We are actually a part of the building process with this club. As much as I love Detroit sports (and I really love Detroit sports), DCFC is “ours” in a way that the Tigers, Lions, and Wings never could be. An arbitrarily planted MLS expansion team would just feel forced and weird. No thanks to that.
Precisely. Organic>Artificial
What about an MLS team here is forced or weird? The entire idea is to have a DCFC as our club now, and in the future. If we don’t want to see dcfc on MLS than what’s the point of supporting them. And seeing them win? I want to see DCFC splashed across national screens and I want people in Detroit to embrace them like nothing we’ve ever seen. Imagine 24000 at a match…imagine the revival this town could see with the grassroots marketing and partnerships with small business. That would never go away.
Everything I’ve seen suggests that the group that submitted the proposal on the jail site wants to create a team from scratch, not purchase and “upgrade” DCFC. That’s what I and a lot of other people are against – having some corporate plastic team plopped down out of thin air and expecting us to just abandon what we currently have.
What’s the point of supporting DCFC if they’re not in MLS? Because they’re our club. If they wind up in MLS in the future, that would be great, but MLS isn’t the be-all, end-all. Not every city that deserves an MLS team is going to wind up with one – there are just too many. If DCFC ends up as an NASL team and a nice 10k seat stadium can be built, that would be great too.
Despite what Sepp Blatter says, soccer IS taking hold in this country and a big part of that is the explosion in support of lower-league teams. Basically, I and a lot of other people have found our club and we’re going to support it wherever it goes. Whether I’m in a crowd of 1500 or 25000, I will cheer for them the same.
I agree Andrew. All the bigger clubs regularly upgrade or abandoned stadiums when they outgrew them. An expandable stadium from the ground up is the best way to grow. The buy in for a NASL ownership group would be $30 Million for the club plus stadium. The Riverhounds stadium cost $7 million. Mainly because of location. San Antonio’s was $20 million.
The MLS franchise fee is rumored to be $70 million plus a 20 -25K stadium ready or plans to have one built soon. The NGS/MCS antics wouldn’t be allowed or welcome to League Management. Portland and KC are unique not the rule. Of course winning clubs with standing room only is rare outside of those two clubs and Seattle. USL-PRO is locked up by those Cough Owners Cough of the Bucks, Do nothing or care about anything resembling soccer asshats, 40 mile radius exclusion of our teams.
My vote is NASL. Buy the club and the culture stays the same. The Dark Clouds of MNUFC. The Brickyard Brigade of Indy XI.The many groups for SA Scorpions. The Rowdies supporters. Flight 19 for the woeful Strikers. Atlanta Ultras. The Cosmos Borough Boys. Can you tell I follow the NASL. Quality soccer. Their players get attention from the MLS. One played for the USMNT. Nuff said. CTID.
Agreed