The World's Game... Indiana's Team?

Something is happening here. There is a palpable buzz being generated across the Hoooser state in the month of may and its not associated with any racers or Pacers. Fresh off of the International Champions Cup announcement, it's safe to say that this state is ravenous for... soccer. That's right, soccer. When the international powerhouses of Inter Milan and Chelsea clash inside Lucas Oil Stadium on the first day of August the inhabitants of Indiana will finally be able to satiate their swollen bellies with a good, hearty filling of live action soccer.

While I'm excited to feast my eyes on the talents of two global giants with such prowess and monetary clout, it's not I Nerazzurri or the Blues who I am most excited to see. That next level of excitement won't be reached until 2014 when our Indy Eleven walks out onto the Carroll Stadium pitch for the first time. This got me thinking... what will our team look like? What style of football will they play? Will the world's game truly be played by Indiana's team?

It's no question that we Hoosiers like our teams to collectively represent who we are. We only have to look as far as our Indiana Pacers and their new mantra of "Blue Collar, Gold Swagger" to see that. With the limited resources of a small NBA market Larry Bird, David Morway and Donnie Walsh have done wonders constructing a respected roster of esteemed individuals who represent the lunch pail carrying, hard hat wearing, working class mentality of the state of Indiana, and the city of Indianapolis. It may not always look pretty, but they get the job done with tenacious defense, relentless effort and the willingness to out hustle their opponents, even if that opponent has a superior level of talent. Can we expect to see the same out of our soccer team?

What about our style of play? Will we opt for the highly technical style play La Liga monsters Real Madrid and Barcelona have come to perfect? Their "tika-taka" style of play has more of an affinity for short passing, quick movement and maintained possession over long passes and serving crosses. Maybe we'll see more of a straight forward attacking style that Bundesliga titans Bayern Munich and Borrusia Dortmund employ. Instead of working the ball through various channels they prefer a more direct attacking style of play with an emphasis on the final third exploiting gaps in the defense. Now, most of these decisions will be made based upon the personnel available for selection and the preferred methods of the coaching staff, but with no coaches or players currently in place, speculation can be fun! It's never too early to talk about the team. So, what would you like to see? What type of style would you prefer? Would you rather have a team that's short on talent but gets by on grit and guts? Can a unified team, determined to work hard and make the proper runs, mask enough deficiencies to overcome the patience and technical prowess of those teams who allow their precision passing and zonal spacing to create a bulk of their opportunities? I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

Hit up the comments section and let us know. We'd love to hear what you have to say.

Until next time fellow Brickers...

Cheers!

Gary "Vengeance" Sweeney

MLSFI Special w/Indy Eleven Pres/GM Peter Wilt (Audio)

We sat down with the Indy Eleven President and General Manager Peter Wilt for a MLSFI Special. Mr. Wilt told the story of how he got his start as an executive in the beautiful game, gave us an inside look at the history of the sport in America, updated us on everything going on with the Indy club at the moment and even gave us some information about a big announcement coming next week. You can listen to it multiple ways, but make sure you do. It's not often that you get to hear a conversation with a man who has that much experience in the sport that we love.

Listen online through the North American Soccer Network at

 http://nasn.tv/2013/mls-fantasy-insider-special-episode-14/ 

Download it on iTunes 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mls-fantasy-insider/id618763472?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Or listen through Stitcher Radio. Enjoy!

Potential Locations for a Future Indy Eleven Stadium

The Eleven will temporarily be playing (2-3 years?) at IUPUI’s Carroll Stadium, but they have already stated a desire for a soccer-only stadium in downtown Indy. That leads to the question…. where?

It’s best to get an idea of the potential footprint of a stadium first. With that in mind, let’s look at the new stadium for the NASL’s San Antonio Scorpions (the league leader in attendance, something that the Eleven should shoot for with their already impressive season ticket deposit numbers, currently over 3,350).
It’s so new that it doesn't  show up on Google Maps or Google Earth yet, so doing some sleuthing (maps, their official website, renderings, Ticketmaster stadium layout image) this is a basic idea of the stadium size on the land they have:

Toyota Field, San Antonio, TX

There’s probably a bit of error in the scale, but it’s surely close (compare to this rendering)
I've heard a few ideas for locations in/near downtown Indianapolis, and come up with one of my own as well. So let’s take a look:

Carroll Stadium Site
One possibility is using the land near/around Carroll Stadium, cut a deal with IUPUI to basically share use.

Pros:

• Would be close to the temporary grounds.
• Easy access to parking and downtown
• Leverage the White River for a nice view, as well as easy view to the downtown skyline

Cons:

• It’s a bit of a hike to any bars for pre- or post-game drinking and gathering
• It would wipe out a couple of baseball fields that is probably used for intramural. Those could theoretically be replaced with ones on the current Carroll Stadium footprint.
• The White River Trail would need to be adjusted around it, and who knows what infrastructure issues would arise from building right next to the river like that.
• Cost? Who knows what kind of deal would need to be struck with IUPUI
• Size would be a bit restricted, potentially hampering expansion plans if success is sustained, an MLS bid is desired, etc.
• Transit access - there’s a bus line that is near there but New York is a one way east street, making access via transit and car difficult.

East Market Street*
The former site of the Indiana Pacers’ Market Square Arena has sat empty for over a decade. Various plans have fallen through to use it.

*Of course just a day or two after my original posting, news comes across that they are closer to picking a developer for a potion of this lot, although I'm not sure whether it's the block to the north of my proposed location or within the area I think would work for a stadium. Either way, it makes the East Market Street location even less likely but I'm keeping my write up here for posterity.

Pros

• A truly urban stadium, just steps from the true center of the city
• Lots of nightlife, bars, restaurants steps away
• No one would miss it, fantastic publicity and would show the city is taking soccer incredibly seriously.
• Transit access - Close to LOTS of current transit lines as well as proposed IndyConnect transit lines (if that ever passes and gets done) and people are used to driving downtown for immediate downtown activities.

Cons

• The Toyota Field footprint crosses over into the streets a bit, so the stadium would be restricted in how big it could be, potentially restricting future growth potential. Even worse expansion restriction than the Carroll Stadium site.
• Cost. While the city would probably be thrilled to finally get some development on that land, I doubt it would come cheap - either on the front end or on the back end in construction and taxes

The Old GM Stamping Plant
Just west across the White River, and south of Washington Street from White River State Park and the Indianapolis Zoo lies a HUGE HUGE HUGE unused piece of land that used to be a GM plant. This thing is so huge that at the same scale we only see a portion of it. North of the image below is the Zoo & White River State Park. East is the White River, across that lying a bunch of gritty industrial property (used and unused.. we’ll get to that later), and east of THAT is Lucas Oil Stadium.

Pros

• LOTS of land for expansion of the stadium if that comes to pass.
• That much land could lead to the creation of a whole soccer complex to support amateur soccer infrastructure for all levels of the sport
• If the stadium is oriented right, could be a really cool view across the river to downtown - the view would include the river, Lucas Oil Stadium, Victory Field, JW Marriott building and the whole downtown skyline.
• Crazy good pre-game tailgating potential.

Cons

• Cost… demolition could get pricey and who knows if there are environmental issues under that land and all those factory buildings.
• Barely could be considered ‘downtown’. It’s not really easily accessible from downtown. While it’s technically close as the crow flies, it’s not practically close. So forget heading to a bar before or after the game, drawing people that are already downtown for conventions or visiting to head over to the stadium, any of that.
• Transit Access - it’s right off Washington, but that street there is more of a really wide avenue or parkway, so it’s not pedestrian friendly. 

West & McCarty Streets
This is the one I thought of driving by the other day. Just across the river from the GM plant is a swath of industrial sites, some of which have been torn down and lie empty. One of these areas is at West & McCarty streets, within shouting distance of Lucas Oil Stadium. One block east is the Lucas Oil Stadium complex. A quarter mile west lies the White River.

Pros

• This would turn the SW Quad of downtown into a Stadium District - all within a square mile would lie Victory Field, Lucas Oil Stadium and Indy Eleven Stadium.
• A decent amount of land is available for expansion and a full soccer complex.
• Not as good as East Market, but decent access to bars (there are a few there on West Street) and Colts fans already are used to hitting the bars around downtown and walking to Lucas Oil - this would just be a slightly longer walk.
• No existing infrastructure to tear down
• Could pitch it to the city as a way to help continue the revitalization of the SW Of Downtown area, which hasn’t boomed as expected after the Lucas Oil opening

Cons

• It’s better than the GM Plant location, but still barely ‘downtown’ by the official definition. 
• An odd lot shape could be tough to work with
• What do you think?  Have any other downtown(ish) locations you’d like to see used?

Footnote: I specifically didn't consider a suburban site because I think that’s just a plan bad idea. Not only are you saying that the only people welcome are those that can drive in their car, it goes against the very model of success of sports in Indianapolis - downtown locations bringing together fans, tourists and locals.

About This New Face On BBB
I'm relatively new to the sport, just started getting into it and becoming a fan mostly via a lot of Everton (EPL) matches and watching some MLS when I can as well. I'm also coordinating the Indiana Evertonians group here in Indiana (twitter: @IN_Evertonians. Facebook Group) When I heard Indy would be getting a team, I was thrilled to have a local team to support. My wife and I were first day Indy Eleven season ticket buyers and I also immediately signed up for the Brickyard Battalion. I dig nerdy things like infrastructure, uniform design and the like.Also a season ticket holder for the Colts, a fan of the Pacers, Indy Indians, and Detroit Red Wings.


Until next time, Brick 'Em Up!
Jason (@xtrarant)

Take a Chance on the Beautiful Game

Listen if you like: https://soundcloud.com/four-tet/0181-1

Soccer.  For many years in the United States, the sport associated with the word remained foreign.  It was a European dance, to be sat out, at least by any self-respecting American.  Like many, my first soccer encounter was when the World’s Sport took the World’s Stage for the greatest international competition short of the Olympic Games.  A group of friends and I bought a ball and used an old hockey goal, which we set up in the muddy middle of the high school track.  There we vied for traction and cup supremacy, even though we couldn’t even field a side of eleven. 

Truly, the World Cup was the only time I would encounter the beautiful game virtually or personally until my college years, where the seed that initial encounter with the sport had planted began to show fruit.  I enjoyed watching games at St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, IN, both men’s and women’s.  I suspect for many people, especially in Hoosier Country where the hoop and sneakers and the thump of the ball off the hardwood of the basketball court reigns supreme, that soccer encounters are usually of the first kind.  A child in your life is in a youth program, a friend’s high-schooler is playing and she wants you to go with her to the match.  And of course, if you’re curious about soccer at all, you pay some attention to the World Cup when it comes around.

Still, the sport is mysterious for many Americans.  The rules are different than football, the scores are low and the set plays are difficult to identify.  Admittedly, when first watching two sides of eleven men kick a ball around the pitch, it can look like an amorphous blob of chaos, an endless life-sized game of foosball where no one scores and the good plays look similar to the bad ones.  This is especially true of youth matches and U-15 play.  And perhaps that is where people, especially those in the Midwest and who are typically only mildly interested at first, get lost.  The absence of a professional arena, readily accessible, that can display exactly why soccer has been called the beautiful game has caused the sport, at its highest levels, to remain mysterious, European, and distinctly un-American. 

BUT, I am happy to say that trend is waning!  With the rising interest in the MLS, the fortitude, stick-to-it-iveness and passion of the NASL and a more curious and cosmopolitan youth component, soccer in the USA is here to stay!  Indianapolis, which has been the naos of open-wheel Motorsports, is the permanent home of the NCAA, and boasts countless tournaments across myriad sports, is bringing another child into the world!  The Indy Eleven stand to gain traction more quickly that many other clubs.  From the easy of accessibility from points across Indiana, to the active and excitable sports culture that exists in the city, this new club should come on the scene not only proud, but with something to prove.

For you soccer fans anticipating this arrival, you are right to be excited and you will be the catalyst for the growth of the Indy Eleven.  But for the curious, the mistrusting, and the wary, take a chance on soccer; it is a unique thing, a soccer match.  A place where the passion of the supporters and drive the pace of the match, can directly affect the morale of the players, and where if you look away for an instant, you can miss out on incredible skill and be left to feed off of those witnesses around you who are yelling so loud, who are jumping so high, who are shouting so much that you cannot help but shrug and join them.

Full Circle: My Soccer Story

If I am going to write about this wonderful new opportunity to watch professional soccer in Indiana I might as well tell you how I found the world of soccer in the first place. Anyone who knows me could tell you that it's not a likely story, though it is quite fitting that the tale starts and ends in one place: The Circle City of Indianapolis.

The capital city of Indiana has always been important to my family, as it has for many families in this great state and around the world. My grandfather started the tradition in 1958 by making his first journey to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May. The love of open-wheel racing spread to every member of the Jobe family and a trip to the Speedway has almost become a right-of-passage for us. In all actuality, there was no way my life would not revolve around Indianapolis.

Growing up a race fan in Indiana is probably a lot like growing up a soccer supporter in London. Indianapolis always has been and always will be the center of the racing world. You can drive an hour in any direction and find a historical track that is sacred to the racing community. I spent most of my young life at racetracks and it wasn't long until I decided that when I came of age I would become a race driver myself. This desire, and the goal of Indianapolis, would create the human being that I am today.

I won't bore you with the details of my racing career. Let's just say that even with the many successes we had, after seven years on the track I became good enough to write a blog about a professional soccer team. I was able to compete and win at many famous racetracks, even racing with true legends of the sport in Indianapolis, but I found my true calling when I put my racing helmet in the closet.

When racing ceased being my passion I decided to look for a new hobby. What I found was a new passion that would consume me every bit as much as racing had. Growing up in a small farming town, I never had the opportunity to play soccer and I didn't truly understand the sport. My introduction to the beautiful game came through an X-Box 360 and EA Sport's World Cup 2006 game. Through the game I became interested in watching the tournament and after witnessing Italy defeat France in the World Cup Final I knew I craved more soccer than what was available on my television.

It took a little over a year to realize that live professional soccer was actually an option for someone living on the Indiana/Ohio border, and in late 2007 a friend and I decided to purchase Columbus Crew season tickets. When we made our first trip to Crew Stadium we had no idea what to expect or even if we hadn't wasted our money altogether. Yet thanks to the season opening game of 2008 and a few inebriated Toronto fans, we knew we had made an excellent decision.

The first thing we realized as we sat in our seats was the value of soccer in America. Try to watch an NFL game 19 rows up for twenty dollars; that's right, you can't. The second realization came from the Nordecke, which at the time was the brand new Crew supporters section only two sections away from our seats. The atmosphere of a professional soccer match is unlike any other sport as it comes from the fans and not the action on the field. If you do not know what I mean I urge you to go to a match and experience it, there is no way my words can appropriately encompass the feeling that you get from a great MLS environment. The third realization came as a complete surprise, because we found ourselves invested in the result on the pitch before the match ever kicked-off.

Luckily for us, Toronto had great fan-support in 2008. The team had arranged transportation for their supporters and we found ourselves looking at 2,000 fully invested Canadian fans, plus a few others sitting directly behind us. We knew we were in for an exciting day when the Toronto supporters turned their backs on the American flag during the national anthem. The men behind us used the time to have a conversation which incensed a gentleman sitting next to us. A few words were exchanged between our two factions and wouldn't you know it, we were bleeding Crew Black and Gold already.

The Crew went on to win that match and many others on their way to the 2008 MLS championship. Just like with racing I never had a choice, I was hooked and couldn't get away. Since then I have created friendships with supporters, players and many others inside the sport. The down-to-Earth approach and interactivity of MLS clubs makes you feel like part of the team and you just can't quit on those who are relying on you. Now with the invention of our new show, the MLS Fantasy Insider, we have entered into the underground media aspect of the sport and it has opened many new doors for us. One of those doors leads back to Indianapolis, to complete my circle.

The announcement to bring professional soccer to Indianapolis is an exciting venture for all and one I am looking forward to tremendously. Indy is an amazing city that has always represented the State of Indiana in a way that makes all Hoosiers proud. I truly see professional soccer as a way for the people to give back to this city and I expect everyone will see the possibilities on the first match day. My soccer story will continue and there is no doubt The Indy Eleven will play a big part in it. Indianapolis is in for a real treat and I am glad I will be along for the ride.

Building a team; building a community.

I am kind of the unconventional soccer fan. I would go to games to have a beer with friends, or as an excuse to down some of Chatham's famous hot wings, but this new venture in Indy has really caught my attention. I remember first hearing about the soccer team coming to Indy back in January and, while I was excited, I never imagined the impact this announcement would have on our little Midwest mecca.  

I stood by and watched a whole community of soccer fans come together that I hadn’t even realized existed in Indy. It was such an amazing outpouring of encouragement for this new Indy business venture. I feel like the introduction of this team really made Indy shine on a national platform as such a strong and supportive community. I am hoping this support holds strong for many seasons to come.

I am ready to sit in the stands and scream my face off for some local soccer. I can’t wait until I have to figure out how to wash off all of the overdone face paint. Mostly, I am excited spend time with this fantastic community that has formed around the Indy Eleven. So, I want to hear your thoughts, your stories. How do you feel connected to the Indy Eleven? What makes you excited about this new local sports team?