Raise the Hammer

Jason, yes it is great news isn't it. I would be at as many games as I could with my family.

On a side note: I would love to see the English soccer system in North America. By that i mean the MLS becoming the Premier League and the USL becoming the League Championship. Where the bottom two of MLS drop down and the top two of USL get promoted to MSL. This keeps both leagues relevant and their fans cheering to stay up or move up etc. Just a thought.

Jason, yes it is great news isn't it. I would be at as many games as I could with my family.

On a side note: I would love to see the English soccer system in North America. By that i mean the MLS becoming the Premier League and the USL becoming the League Championship. Where the bottom two of MLS drop down and the top two of USL get promoted to MSL. This keeps both leagues relevant and their fans cheering to stay up or move up etc. Just a thought.

I would love to see a professional soccer team in Hamilton; but a new stadium would not be conducive. Remember we have had pro soccer teams before, and they have played at the tiny stadium beside Ivor Wynne...and at best they draw 4 or 500 people. What will they do in a 30,000 seat stadium other than look lost?
But, good luck Bob Young...am thrilled with Pan Am support by the way.

Soccer Fan

The past teams we've had were no where near the calibre of teams in the MLS or USL. I would've rather watch Dundas United play than Hamiltons old team. Toronto's team sells out regularly and I think with a decent team Hamilton could do the same.

This is great news--soccer culture is growing in North America. Would be great for Hamilton to get on board. Montreal Impact (a USL1 team, same one Young is applying for) has over 50,000 tickets sold for tonight's Champions League match. Hamilton's team would be a natural rival to Toronto FC. Would be a lot of fun.

TFC sells out every game with 20,000 fans at BMO Field. They also have 15,000 on the seasons ticket waiting list. I know many people from Hamilton who have tickets and attend regularly. With our multicultural population, I'm certain a USL team would do great here...and yes, the games against TFC as well as Montreal and Vancouver would be awesome.

Bob,

Forget all this soccer nonsense. PLease focus your energies on brining a winning footbal team to Hamilton. The fans deserve it!

To the previous poster, you need to understand the CFL market is declining and "American Football" will only be successful in "America" because it is part of their culture. "American Football" is not Canadian culture, sure it's a great sport, but you have to look at soccer from a business perspective.

Either way, I am a sports fan no matter what the sport is. I'm sure soccer and football can both be successful in Hamilton. The more pro teams in Canada, the better our national team will get, the more opportunity there will be for youth. It's all gravy baby, keep it coming.

Hamilton should really get behind this project and make it happen, it can bring some limelight to this wonderful city.

Actually Sonned, the CFL is doing better than it has in 20+ years. I really hope Ottawa and another team out East get into the league. The quality of football is so much better now with the Canadian University programs pushing out quality players finally.

Sonned, the Ticats are the oldest professional sports franchise in North America. Its absolutely a part of our culture. Cats-Argos is the oldest rivalry on the continent as well.

Jason, I think by "American Football", he meant soccer.

Hmmm, I've always understood football to be soccer and 'american football' to be NFL/CFL.... help us out Sonned. Lol.

I realize this is way too premature, but I'm wondering - is it easy these days to remove football lines from a field in order to line the field for soccer?? Nothing worse than going to a sporting event when the field is all marked for a completely different sport.
I'd assume that it can't be that hard, but figured since we had some soccer fans on here they might know. If this does come to fruition, hopefully we choose a real soccer name and get a great jersey instead of some name like the Hamilton Zebras or Hamilton Seagulls and turn it into a gimmick instead of a real sports team. Hamilton United has a nice ring to it.

i would realy like to see a pro soccer team in hamilton

I would be lovin it if hamilton gets an MLS team, the NASL is obviously the first step, now its up to the community to support it and embrace it, or it will never turn into an MLS oppritunity.