La Jornada: San Antonio MLS expansion candidate… again?
Michael Macias on 19 August 2009 in Expansion, General, Major League Soccer, Spurs Sports & Entertainment
Thanks to Jason Davis of Match Fit USA for finding this information.
The former president of Mexican club Necaxa, Antonio de Alba, tells the paper that he is in “advanced” discussion with MLS to acquire an expansion franchise for the Texas city.
He also indicates that he has discussed the plan with the mayor’s office and the owner of the San Antonio Spurs as well.
http://www.matchfitusa.com/2009/08/san-antonio-mls-rumors-surface.html
He references a Mexican news publication, La Jornada, as the source of these intriguing rumors.
Vamos bastante avanzados en las pláticas con gente de la MLS, porque sería un equipo de expansión, toda vez que en San Antonio no hay clubes.
También ya tuvimos contacto con el dueño de Spurs de San Antonio de la NBA y con el alcalde Julián Castro, quienes están interesados en apoyar el proyecto y en llevar la franquicia a ese condado, aprovechando que hay muchos latinos y es un gran mercado”, dijo De Alba, también ex presidente del patronato de Fomento al Futbol de Aguascalientes.
The original publication can be read here.
Thoughts? It has me excited.
31 Comments to La Jornada: San Antonio MLS expansion candidate… again?
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I noticed on that article that it says that Antonio de Alba lives in San Antonio. If somebody could find out a way to get in contact with him, we could interview him.
exciting stuff! Like Dopo said, maybe we can get some kind of interview for some more vital information? Also I was asking Mikey, as this gets more official? how do we as the Crocketteers establish ourselves as the ‘premier’ san antonio fan base?
Sergio, something that would help us become “The Premier San Antonio soccer fan base” would be to make sure that we establish trustworthy relationships with people that might bring a team to San Antonio (Interview them and only post the information that they approve on our page) and the other thing is to have as many people and activities as possible.
now this is what i am talking about.
i am giving all credit to this latest news to the power of the crest. a great crest has exponentially increased SA MLS interest!!
“Power of the Crest” – may it do us well for our cause.
Undoubtedly, the crest is amazing and will definitely do a lot to show how serious we are and how professional we can be; we mean business.
Crocketteers! We drink beer!
That be sweet to get an interview with that guy. Looks like he really wants to get a team started here.
Oh yea, and I defintely love the crest. Good job.
who is this guy (de alba)? i know it says he is a former president of necaxa, but does that mean he has a lot of money???
Time to flood the facebook and e-mail boxes with information and ideas of your Mayor. Show interest. What ever happend to that road trip to Houston to show your colors??? Seattle in Houston this Sunday guys, show you mean buisiness. You have potential owners and a stadium, now they need to see a fan base.
Appreciate your enthusiam Antnee. I would love to go to Houston with a big group. Easier said than done I feel. We just started 4 months ago and with people barely getting to know each other, I’m afraid it will be a tough task to take a big group on a road trip given work, families, etc…
We have different levels of participation of the people who have networked with the Crocketteers on facebook and joined directly on our website.
I’m sure if we ever get a team for sure, our numbers will rise and participation would follow. With those numbers rising, we can raise money for our group to make signage to take to future MLS games in Houston. Right now, our only assets are our personal time put into meeting locally for soccer watching events, this website, getting our message out locally, and upcoming soon our 18-19 man amateur soccer team, which we hope will attract more interest to our cause.
We are embarking on building a supporters group for a non existant team. Only Philadelphia supporters Sons of Ben have been successful in doing this. This is really unchartered territory. With this non existant team…. excitement level and participation is not really high. News like this story helps.
Slowly but surely I hope we are at the point where we can take a nice group to an away trip.
As far as reaching out to potential owners, city leadership, we have plans to get our message out locally. The local newspaper is aware of us. We will be sending out correspondence to former Mayor Ed Garza and Mayor Julian Castro.
Tomorrow, I will represent the Crocketteers and meet some local soccer figures as we discuss the Texas Pro Soccer Festival, which the Dynamo usually partake in.
Thanks for your support.
Andres,
I’m not sure about de Alba’s monetary situation. Hopefully he has the means to take matters in to his own hands with or without the Spurs’ blessing.
Andres, I’ve never heard of Antonio de Alba, but I’ll tell you what I know.
The mexican league has a hell lot of money. There’s a lot of players that could have gone to play in a good league in Europe, but instead decided to go to Mexico because they get paid more.
Antonio de Alba was president of Necaxa, based on wikipedia, Necaxa is owned by “Grupo Televisa” the largest media company in the Spanish speaking World. They also own Club America and Estadio Azteca.
In few words, I bet Antonio de Alba has the owners of Club America on speed dial.
Danilo,
You should write an open letter on this blog to Antonio de Alba letting him know he has the Crocketteers support in his venture. I suggest a spanish letter and we can also have a translated version.
Not wanting to rain on any parades, but after having seen Tuzos run around for a year or so saying they were going to do a USL1 team in Phoenix, then Orlando, I’d take this with a grain of salt. If he was in ‘advanced discussions’, I’d think that San Antonio would’ve been among the cities Garber listed off in all those All Star Game interviews he did. Since he hasn’t mentioned them, I’d say that discussions aren’t really that advanced.
We keep hearing about Mexican league teams setting up branches on this side of the border, but Chivas is still the only one to really do it. I think it’s more likely they’ll stay on their side. They seem to be finding a pretty good number of quality players (see: US Men’s National Team) from over here without the additional cost of actually running a team in a US city.
Still, it wouldn’t hurt to get in touch with him and see what he’s all about. Maybe he knows someone with an empty soccer stadium-sized lot.
Is the San Antonio News following this story? I hope to hear more soon., hurry up Mr. De Alba because the MLS window is closing, closing, closing.
[...] and the prospects of seeing the Vancouver franchise in BC Place drive this point home nicely. Recent news surfaced Wednesday that former Necaxa President, Antonio de Alba, is interested in bringing an MLS expansion team to [...]
VioletCrown… would this case be considered different?
de Alba is not affiliated with Necaxa anymore (i think?) and is a resident of San Antonio.
@Macias — good point. Which means who knows exactly what his connections are to anyone. He could still have ties to big Mexican TV money (most likely — big money connections don’t usually just go away), which means that probably doesn’t change things at all.
Being a resident of SA, though, that matters.
I like that he’s going after MLS… sorta. I’d really prefer for Austin to have a nearby twin brother rather than a big brother.
I was going to write that I don’t think San Antonio is a major league town, but then reminded myself of a certain team in black and silver.:) MLS really is the perfect parallel to the NBA when San Antonio got involved, so except for my own self-interest, I do think it’s a good fit.
But I have so many doubts about San Antonio, as a city, pulling it off. I honestly don’t know how the Spurs have managed it. It seems to me like everything else that the city tries it just messes up, and wastes a crapload of money in the process.
The bottom line is, can de Alba, in this economy (where even millionaires have lost millions) cobble together an ownership group worth billions? That’s all it really comes down to. I don’t know how many insanely wealthy people are down there, but I’m pretty sure we only have 1.5 here in Austin.
…huh. But there could always be some that I don’t know about. Just checked the Forbes list and found out that Charles Butt and family (H.E.B.) are on the list. As rich as (Man. United owner) Malcom Glazer.
Red McCombs.. Tom Benson. can be added to that list..
I still think Barcelona would be a better fit
Yeah, but Red and Tom seem to be more interested in ‘American’ sports.;)
To me, Red building the UT women’s softball stadium (when the US soccer team was also around and needing sponsorship/support) said all I needed to know about his interest in soccer.
Oops. I mean ‘UT’ not ‘US’ soccer team.
Why do I get the feeling that de Alba is saying MLS but he really means USL? Sounds just like when Pachuca (as VioletCrown said) was positive that they were bringing MLS to Orlando only come out months later that the Pachuca really meant USL the whole time and were “confused” by the difference.
Man I hope this is different. Good luck San Antonio!
San Antonio bombed its only chance it was meant to have back in 2005. It’s all different now and the commissioner secretly carries that grudge against the city for the public attacks against the league by all of SA’s media outlets, led by the Express-News. You can all bet your lower-backs that he will never forget that when it is time to make a decision on SA as an expansion franchise. I am sure that with him in charge, Austin and El Paso will both be in the MLS before SA. Thanks a lot for this…..San Antonio Express-News.
GERARDO IBARRA: I’m new to the city, could you please tell me what the media said about the MLS?
WIKIPEDIA.ORG, SAN ANTONIO, SPORTS HAS THIS PARAGRAPH:
In 2005 the city approached Major League Soccer with an interest in placing a soccer franchise in the vacant Alamodome. Both the city and the league seemed to be in harmony with the council voting 9-2 in favor of the new San Antonio team, citing that it would reduce the financial burden of the stadium on the city by providing it with a permanent tenant without extra financial costs as the necessary upgrading of facilities at the dome would have to take place regardless of a team moving in or not. The following week an 8-3 vote carried the second part of the plan, which would see a major new youth soccer complex being built in the city to compete for what was described as the lucrative Texas youth soccer event market. At the time it was stated that San Antonio had only a fraction of the youth soccer facilities available in other Texan cities of Dallas, Houston and Austin. All seemed to be in place and plans on course until a media campaign against the soccer proposals exposing that the team would only be leased with the Alamodome for three years. After three years the team would have to vacate to a soccer specific stadium. After Hurricane Katrina the city set their goal of earning an NFL franchise. The prospects for the franchise were further hindered when it became a political football during the election for Mayor, which was won by Phil Hardberger who instantly distanced the city from any deal with MLS. MLS meanwhile released a statement claiming that they had planned to withdraw before the election but did not wish to comment until afterwards in order to “respect the electoral process in San Antonio.” The deal died with both sides blaming each other for its demise.
I can bet all I have that this guy Antonio de Alba meant to say USL and not MLS.
But he is just TOO STUPID to tell the difference between one league and the other.
It is no wonder to me why his Necaxa team was relegated last year in the Mexican League under his (lack of) leadership.
The rumor that Alba is in “advanced discussions” with MLS is entirely false.
Since rumor seems dead and Ed Sakiewicz confirming it is false, we should not give up hope pro soccer in SA is dead too.
The Spurs have interest in pro soccer (USL). The uncertainity of the USL may cause the Spurs to look at MLS.
Maybe Alba is still interested and the rumor of advanced discussions was wrong.
If SS&E starts its soccer franchise at the USL-1 level…….then we can kiss MLS in SA good-bye for another 5-6 years minimum
Again?
Gentlemen,
These deals, particularly MLS, take a very long time to do and are extremely complex, especially in a secondary market like SA. Plus, what happened in 2004/2005 and the way that debauchery was mishandled, does not make MLS bullish on this market but I’m working on them. However, never say never. USL might be a good first step. If SS&E and their ownership group can execute the right way, while making sure to put in place effective leadership who know what they are doing and who understand the business of football, the inner workings of the grassroots community, and by placing the franchise in a smart geographic area, we could be in good shape.
Ed