Show me the money!

Obviously, SS&E have followed the rich history in San Antonio of thinking small and looks set to short change us again. But would could a possible solution be?

Enter FC Barcelona . . . . here is one of Spain’s most successful football clubs, locked into two more years of appearances in the US, and wanting to brand a club in the MLS. SS&E should partner with them in bringing an MLS team to San Antonio, or the city’s leaders should recognize a huge opportunity staring them in the face and create a partnership.

The city should partner with the Catalan giants. Ok there, I said it; that just happened!

What about the French connection?

Tony Parker is from France, Thierry Henry is from France; Tony Parker and Thierry Henry are friends; Thierry Henry plays for FC Barcelona, Tony Parker plays for the San Antonio Spurs; wink, wink! Se Magnifique!

Until recently, I even had visions of Henry tearing down the left side of the pitch in the Alamodome, cutting inward at the eighteen yard box and finishing a beautiful goal in the top right corner, but he just looks too smitten with New York, so that’s probably not going to happen.

But FC Barcelona to San Antonio could happen.

After all, the club has stated on several occasions they will continue to work on increasing their presence in the USA. I think that would be obvious considering the turn out for their preseason friendlies.

What about Beckham?

Beckham? What about him? Well apparently he wants to buy an MLS franchise, or at least has it in his contract with MLS to purchase a team after his contract expires. This idea is probably crazy, but I don’t mind getting a little crazy, after all, I am a mad footballer.

The other option is to secure a team through relocation, as in, a franchise leaving a city to move to San Antonio. I know this may be cheap, Houston Dynamo, but if a city can’t support their team, perhaps they shouldn’t be there. An opinion that is sound in theory, but it appears that we can’t even support a team, and we don’t even have one.

I guess our last and most desperate choice is to surround the Alamo and fight until our death. Or we can just continue to support the grassroots effort of the Crocketteers. It’s your choice, but I suspect that you value your life a little more than football, at least some of you do, you know who you are.

I think at this point the best idea is to partner with a larger organization and establish a franchise as a joint venture. Even with a USL-1 team in San Antonio, we could still partner with a bigger club or investment group to help fund our eventual promotion into the MLS. I also feel that this would be the quicker way to fund a soccer specific stadium, which I would like to discuss in Part III. In the meantime, let me know what you think.

Tags: FC Barcelona, mls, San Antonio Spurs, Thierry Henry, Tony Parker