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.

San Antonio…. I don’t know if a lot of people are aware of this. The San Antonio Spurs are actually bringing a team to San Antonio in the next year or two. That’s been confirmed.

Listen to sound byte: Aztex Coach Adrian Heath on San Antonio in the USL

“That’s been confirmed.”

With the Austin Aztex now confirming that San Antonio will be in the leauge in the next year or two, we now have three credible sources stating that the San Antonio Spurs are indeed looking to bring professional soccer to the Alamo City.

• The first source was the USL itself (see “Confirmed: Spurs Sports & Entertainment in talks with USL”).
• The second source was Spurs Sports & Entertainments Chairmain, CEO, and owner Peter Holt (see “Soccer Stadium Deal stalling Spurs Sports & Entertainment”).
• This latest source of information, thanks to AM 1300 The Zone, brings to center stage a time frame of 1-2 years when San Antonio Soccer fans will have a team to cheer for.

The Austin Aztex Coaches Show on AM 1300 The Zone with coach Adrian Heath runs Wednesday evenings from 6:30 PM to 7:00 PM.

Listen to the entire podcast of last Wednesday’s show: Aztex Coaches Show (May 20, 2009)

Discuss this blog with the Crocketteers on our forum

Turning to SS&E’s interest in soccer, Holt said talks with the United Soccer Leagues are stalled because there’s no public money to build a multi-use stadium.

“We think soccer can work in San Antonio, it’s just a question of when. And right now is not when,” Holt said. “The county or the city doesn’t have the money. Maybe something could eventually be worked out with a school district. But right now, with this economic situation, there isn’t going to be any public money for anything anywhere.”

The USL is considered a step below Major League Soccer, which failed in its bid to expand into San Antonio in 2005, partly because then-mayor Ed Garza lacked political support to give MLS a deal that included rent-free use of the Alamodome.

Holt said Garza approached SS&E about playing an ownership role in an MLS franchise, but Holt said SS&E “couldn’t make the numbers work” at the dome.

“But we think the USL, at least with the numbers we’ve run, could work here in a smaller stadium,” Holt said.
Holt upbeat about Spurs’ bottom line

I know the first thing that sticks out is “talks with the United Soccer Leagues are stalled because there is no public money to build a multi-use stadium.” I still find it very hard to believe that the USL would stop talks with SS&E if a stadium deal is not put in place. Find me proof in the USL, that a new multi-use stadium is required to land a franchise.

Could it be that SS&E are painting a false picture to the general public that a multi-use stadium requirement exists? I have a feeling that a multi-use stadium for a future soccer franchise is a requirement of SS&E only. To tell you the truth, it is probably a smart move to have SS&E in complete control of their own facility during the soccer season rather than sharing with a local school district and dealing with gridball lines on the field.

It seems as if our tenant-less friend, the Alamodome, has been ruled out by SS&E. If the numbers didn’t add up for Major League Soccer, they certainly will not add up for the USL. What this tells me is that SS&E has done their homework and realizes that for pro soccer to succeed in our country, soccer specific stadia or multi-use stadia with the primary tenant being a soccer team is key.

This leads to another quote that stick out to me: “Maybe something could eventually be worked out with a school district.” Could this be a temporary solution to have pro soccer in San Antonio sooner rather than later? With former Mayor of San Antonio and proponent of the beautiful game Ed Garza running for the SAISD board, could Alamo Stadium with seating for 20k+, in a prime location just north of downtown serve as the home for SS&E’s team?

Alamo Stadium

Can it be purchased from SAISD and converted to a soccer specific stadium? Can SAISD, any other local school district or a local university join forces with SS&E to build a multi-use stadium or (even better) a soccer specific stadium.

In addition to Alamo Stadium, UTSA is adding a major addition to their campus by building an Athletic Complex, including a soccer stadium.

UTSA Athletic Complex

In the proposed Verano Village across from the future Texas A&M – San Antonio, an interesting sketch of a multi-use soccer stadium has been released.

Verano Village Soccer Stadium

Texas A&M San Antonio Entrance

Overall, I’m encouraged about this interview with Peter Holt. For the first time, Spurs Sports & Entertainment comes out and validates their interest in soccer and moreso, their interest in having a multi-use stadium to serve as home to San Antonio’s future professional soccer franchise.

In closing, I offer a well-known chant to encourage SS&E: “Come on you Spurs!” - listen

What do you think?