Crystal Palace Baltimore vs. DC United

On Monday, Crystal Palace Baltimore of the North American Soccer League, will face DC United, of Major League Soccer in a pre-season fixture at the RFK training-fields.

While that match-up is interesting, it is perhaps more interesting looking at the larger picture, and wondering which of these two franchises represent the future of professional soccer in Baltimore.

Recently Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber openly swiped at the District of Columbia for failing to bring plans for a Soccer Specific Stadium to fruition. As you will recall, last fall former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon asked the Maryland Stadium Authority to consider building a Soccer Specific Stadium in Baltimore to lure the United.

http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2009/10/dc-united-to-baltimore.html

Also last-fall, it was also announced by Crystal Palace Baltimore, that they were close to finalizing a deal to build a 7,000 seat stadium by 2012 in the Carroll Camden Industrial Area near M&T Bank Stadium.

As I pointed out in December, the following Soccer Specific Stadiums have been built, or are being built across the country:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull_Arena_(MLS)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_Crew_Stadium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Depot_Center
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_Hut_Park
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Park_(Bridgeview)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick%27s_Sporting_Goods_Park
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Stadium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Houston_Dynamo_stadium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trails_Stadium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Tinto_Stadium

Each of these stadiums meets the Major League Soccer standard of 17,000 to 20,000 seats. If Crystal Palace Baltimore moves forward with building a 7,000 seat stadium, there would be cost associated with that venture (estimated at $25M). When it was created, there would be an attractive stadium that would never be suitable for the highest level of US Professional Soccer. In July the European Powers Chelsea and AC Milan played to a sold-out M&T Bank Stadium. The indoor Baltimore Blast draw 7,500 a game for a mediocre product that plays indoors. Clearly, an audience for Soccer in Baltimore exists. With DC United looking for a home, it would appear an opportunity exists for Baltimore to have a team at the highest-level of US Professional Soccer.

Am I alone in believing it would be a mistake to spend the money building a stadium, that will never be capable of housing a team at the highest-level?

Essentially as I understand things today, the Maryland Stadium Authority is reviewing both proposals. I have no real illusions of Baltimore building a $250M Soccer Stadium similar to what has been recently built for the New York Red Bulls. If the MSA and Baltimore do move forward with building a new Stadium, I think a compromise between needs to be made. The logical compromise in my mind is a Stadium that would have the requisite sky-boxes necessary to eventually house an MLS team, with a seating bowl capable of being expanded to the 17-20k seats.

Ultimately I see the DC United finding a deal that works for them in the DC Metro area. Even if that proves true, and you can not lure the United to Baltimore; there would still be the opportunity to position Crystal Palace Baltimore as one of the premier professional teams in the country.

Crystal Palace is joined in the North American Soccer League with the following teams:

Carolina RailHawks
Miami FC
Montreal Impact
Rochester Rhinos
NSC Minnesota Stars
AC St. Louis
FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
Vancouver Whitecaps (Will move to Major League Soccer in 2011)

In 2011 the above teams will be joined by the Atlanta Silverbacks, and the Edmonton FC.

In the US, Major League Soccer is labeled as the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) 1st Division. For the 2010 season, Crystal Palace Baltimore will compete in the USSF 2nd Division along with eight fellow NASL clubs and the three remaining USL First Division clubs. This interim league will feature two conferences (NASL and USL) of six teams each, with three NASL teams playing in the USL conference. The USL Conference includes the Austin Aztex, Minnesota Thunder, Portland Timbers, Puerto Rico Islanders, Rochester Rhinos and Tampa Bay Rowdies. The NASL Conference is made up of Crystal Palace Baltimore, Carolina RailHawks, Miami FC, Montreal Impact, AC St. Louis and Vancouver Whitecaps.

The long and short of all that is that Baltimore essentially has a AAA Soccer team. However, there is a much larger difference between AAA Baseball and Major League Baseball, than there is between AAA Soccer and Major League Soccer. Additionally, as evidenced by Vancouver joining MLS in 2011, the opportunity is there for promotion / expansion.

In 2011, I think you can expect that the NASL will be the solely approved USSF 2nd Division. I think you might also see a situation evolve similar to Soccer in Europe, where there is promotion and regulation between the leagues. Crystal Palace Baltimore has an existing relationship with Crystal Palace Football Club in the UK. Crystal Palace UK operates in the 24-team Coca Cola Football League Championship, which is the first-level below the English Premier League. The top two teams in the Football League Championship earn automatic promotion to the Premier League. Teams finishing 3-6 compete in a playoff, with the winner also gaining promotion to the Premier. The bottom three teams of the Football League Championship move to Coca Cola Football League Championship League 1 (there is also a League 2).

So you could wind-up with a situation where Baltimore already has a team, capable of promotion to the highest-level in the country.

It will be interesting to see how the future of professional soccer in this City evolves over next several years.

Crystal Place Baltimore 2010 Schedule:
http://www.palacebaltimore.com/schedule/2010/index_E.html