I want to give support to my Beyond the 90 colleague, Brett Mullenix who supports USL Championship side Indy Eleven. This entire situation hasn't been easy for him and all those Soccer fans who have pledged their support to this club since their early days at the defunct second coming of the North American Soccer League, then moved to USL, Since the announcement of Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett informing the city's soccer community of an unknown ownership group trying to get an MLS side to interfere with their current side has been bonkers.
But nothing has been sad and pathetic than the comments coming from opinion reporters in the local media of Indianapolis. In particular, James Briggs of the Indy Star is the latest to take a shot at the club and where they play at the Mike E. Carroll Track and Field Stadium on the campus of IUPUI along the southwest side of the city. He just tweeted this on X.
"Indy Eleven matches are glorified high school sporting events and no number of emails from the team’s small base of enthusiastic supporters to elected officials would make it worth saving such a niche experience at the expense of attracting MLS."
What Mister Briggs fails to understand is that in the past MLS has plyed matches at a high school facility. The Chicago Fire left Soldier Field for a few years, returned to it, then built Seat Geek Stadium in Bridgeview, before going back to Soldier Field. FC Dallas also left the Cotton Bowl to play on a high school field, before Toyota Stadium was constructed in Frisco, Texas. It's so easy to say what MLS is now before knowing what has happened in the past. In this sport, you need to crawl before you walk, then start running for something better.
Do you know why Indy Eleven went to the Mike? Because of the intimate settings that college stadium has, they tried to play at Lucas Oil Stadium, but you knew it wouldn't last long with the amount of high rent they are paying the Colts of the NFL and how empty it looked on TV. Once the club returned to the Mike, it was the right move to make. Building a stadium for the good of the sport, no matter which league they come from, should be the most important battle for the game in the USA.
What Mr. Briggs is saying is that you should be where the Colts and the Pacers are in the NFL and NBA, you are a major league sports town. Well, there are times when a major league town needs a minor league setup. They can't always be a New York, a Los Angeles, a Seattle, or a Miami. But what's most important is building a brand that's made for that city. All the people who have dedicated themselves to making the sport important don't want another club to come in and take away their first love.
Why can't the Mayor's office inform their soccer community of who is the ownership group? Why are they staying silent? Why do they keep interfering with the stadium project, along with the unknown issue at the time of finding massive bodies buried underneath the former warehouse area? They shouldn't be told which league is better, they should understand why they have a club and why they are important to the sports dynamic in Indianapolis. Is the goal one day to get to MLS? Sure, but not like this. Look at what happened to the San Diego Loyal, The Austin Aztex, and now with the current situation with Indy Eleven.
We don't know if MLS will select them to join their league, but as I have said, they shouldn't offer any more expansion spots. We have ten teams too many. They should've stopped at twenty but didn't. And sadly US Soccer is not stepping up to the penalty spot and telling MLS to stop. They are allowing MLS to be the governing body when they should be. After allowing MLS to run a third-division league and giving them official sanctioning, you knew that was the start of the incoming storm. To see MLS dominate the landscape of the sport.
It's just another sad moment in the history of the sport. We are not together as one, we are fractured and territorial. Let MLB, NBA, and the NHL have their minor league system, but this is not what this sport should be about. We have to come together, but no matter what I say, others won't buy into it. From the fans to the businessmen who run the different professional leagues to the people hired by the governing body, this sport is supported correctly. To continue to move forward with the grassroots initiative and make it blossom like a beautiful flower.
Well said 👏👏
That guy is becoming too common in media today: be a troll to get attention.