TL;DR: Man with too much time on his hands goes deep down the rabbit hole on a concept this sub already didn’t seem that enthusiastic about. If you really want to skip ahead, CTRL+F “verdict” and it’ll get you there. Two days ago,
u/MrPhillyj2wns made a post
asking whether USL should launch a D1 league in order to compete in Concacaf. From the top voted replies, it appears this made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
But I’ve been at home for eight weeks and I am terribly, terribly bored.
So, I present to you this overview of what the USL pyramid might look like if Jake Edwards got a head of steam and attempted to establish a USSF-sanctioned first division.
This is by no means an endorsement of such a proposal or even a suggestion that USL SHOULD do such a thing. It is merely an examination of whether they COULD. Welcome to the
Thunderdome USL Premiership
First, there are some base-level assumptions we must make in this exercise, because it makes me feel more scientific and not like a guy who wrote this on Sunday while watching the Belarusian Premier League (Go BATE Borisov!).
- All D1 teams must comply with known USSF requirements for D1 leagues (more on that later).
- MLS, not liking this move, will immediately remove all directly-owned affiliate clubs from the USL structure (this does not include hybrid ownerships, like San Antonio FC – NYCFC). This removes all MLS2 teams but will not affect Colorado Springs, Reno, RGVFC and San Antonio.
- The USL will attempt to maintain both the USL Championship and USL League One, with an eventual mind toward creating the pro/rel paradise that is promised in Relegations 3:16.
- All of my research regarding facility size and ownership net worth is correct – this is probably the biggest leap of faith we have to make, since googling “NAME net worth” and “CITY richest people” doesn’t seem guaranteed to return accurate results.
- The most a club can increase its available seating capacity to meet D1 requirements in a current stadium is no more than 1,500 seats (10% of the required 15,000). If they need to add more, they’ll need a new facility.
- Let’s pretend that people are VERY willing to sell. It’s commonly acknowledged that the USL is a more financially feasible route to owning a soccer club than in MLS (c.f. MLS-Charlotte’s reported $325 million expansion fee) and the USSF has some very strict requirements for D1 sanctioning. It becomes pretty apparent when googling a lot of team’s owners that this requirement isn’t met, so let’s assume everyone that can’t sells to people who meet the requirements.
(Known) USSF D1 league requirements: - League must have 12 teams to apply and 14 teams by year three
- Majority owner must have a net worth of $40 million, and the ownership group must have a total net worth of $70 million. The value of an owned stadium is not considered when calculating this value.
- Must have teams located in the Eastern, Central and Pacific time zones
- 75% of league’s teams must be based in markets with at a metro population of at least 1 million people.
- All league stadiums must have a capacity of at least 15,000
The ideal club candidate for the USL Premiership will meet the population and capacity requirements in its current ground, which will have a grass playing surface. Of the USL Championship’s 27 independent/hybrid affiliate clubs, I did not find one club that meets all these criteria as they currently stand.
Regarding turf fields, the USSF does not have a formal policy regarding the ideal playing surface but it is generally acknowledged that grass is superior to turf. 6 of 26 MLS stadiums utilize turf, or roughly 23% of stadiums. We’ll hold a similar restriction for our top flight, so 2-3 of our top flight clubs can have turf fields. Seem fair?
Capacity is going to be the biggest issue, since the disparity between current requirements for the second-tier (5,000) and the first tier (15,000) is a pretty massive gap. Nice club you have there, triple your capacity and you’re onto something. As a result, I have taken the liberty of relocating certain (read: nearly all) clubs to new grounds, trying my utmost to keep those clubs in their current markets and –importantly--, ensure they play on grass surfaces.
So, let’s do a case-by-case evaluation and see if we can put together 12-14 teams that meet the potential requirements, because what else do you have to do?
For each club’s breakdown, anything that represents a chance from what is currently true will be underlined.
Candidate: Birmingham Legion FC Location (Metro population): Birmingham, Ala. (1,151,801)
Time zone: Central
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Legion Field (FieldTurf, 71,594)
Potential owner: Stephens Family (reported net worth $4 billion)
Notes: Birmingham has a pretty strong candidacy. Having ditched the 5,000-seater BBVA Field for Legion Field, which sits 2.4 miles away, they’ve tapped into the city’s soccer history. Legion Field hosted portions of both the men’s and women’s tournaments at the 1996 Olympics, including a 3-1 U.S. loss to Argentina that saw 83,183 pack the house. The Harbert family seemed like strong ownership contenders, but since the death of matriarch Marguerite Harbert in 2015, it’s unclear where the wealth in the family is concentrated, so the Stephens seem like a better candidate. The only real knock that I can think of is that we really want to avoid having clubs play on turf, so I’d say they’re on the bubble of our platonic ideal USL Prem.
Candidate: Charleston Battery Location (Metro population): Charleston, S.C. (713,000)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Johnson Hagood Stadium (Grass, ~14,700)
Potential owner: Anita Zucker (reported net worth $3 billion)
Notes: Charleston’s candidacy isn’t looking great. Already disadvantaged due to its undersized metro population, a move across the Cooper River to Johnson Hagood Stadium is cutting it close in terms of capacity. The stadium, home to The Citadel’s football team, used to seat 21,000, before 9,300 seats on the eastern grandstand were torn down in 2017 to deal with lead paint that had been used in their construction. Renovation plans include adding 3,000 seats back in, which could hit 15,000 if they bumped it to 3,300, but throw in a required sale by HCFC, LLC (led by content-creation platform founder Rob Salvatore) to chemical magnate Anita Zucker, and you’ll see there’s a lot of ifs and ands in this proposal.
Candidate: Charlotte Independence Location (Metro population): Charlotte, N.C. (2,569, 213)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Jerry Richardson Stadium (Turf, 15,314)
Potential owner: James Goodnight (reported net worth $9.1 billion)
Notes: Charlotte ticks a lot of the boxes. A move from the Sportsplex at Matthews to UNC-Charlotte’s Jerry Richardson stadium meets capacity requirements, but puts them on to the dreaded turf. Regrettably, nearby American Legion Memorial Stadium only seats 10,500, despite a grass playing surface. With a sizeable metro population (sixth-largest in the USL Championship) and a possible owner in software billionaire James Goodnight, you’ve got some options here. The biggest problem likely lies in direct competition for market share against a much better-funded MLS Charlotte side due to join the league in 2021.
Candidate: Hartford Athletic Location (Metro population): Hartford, Conn. (1,214,295)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Pratt & Whitney Stadium (Grass, 38,066)
Potential owner: Ray Dalio (reported net worth $18.4 billion)
Notes: Okay, I cheated a bit here, having to relocate Hartford to Pratt & Whitney Stadium, which is technically in East Hartford, Conn. I don’t know enough about the area to know if there’s some kind of massive beef between the two cities, but the club has history there, having played seven games in 2019 while Dillon Stadium underwent renovations. If the group of local businessmen that currently own the club manage to attract Dalio to the table, we’re on to something.
Candidate: Indy Eleven Location (Metro population): Indianapolis, Ind. (2,048,703)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Lucas Oil Stadium (Turf, 62,421)
Potential owner: Jim Irsay (reported net worth of $3 billion)
Notes: Indy Eleven are a club that are SO CLOSE to being an ideal candidate – if it weren’t for Lucas Oil Stadium’s turf playing surface. Still, there’s a lot to like in this bid. I’m not going to lie, I have no idea what current owner and founder Ersal Ozdemir is worth,
but it seems like there might be cause for concern. A sale to Irsay, who also owns the NFL Indianapolis (nee Baltimore) Colts, seems likely to keep the franchise there, rather than make a half-mile move to 14,230 capacity Victory Field where the AAA Indianapolis Indians play and expand from there.
Candidate: Louisville City FC Location (Metro population): Louisville, Ky. (1,297,310)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Lynn Family Stadium (Grass, 14,000, possibly expandable to 20,000)
Potential owner: Wayne Hughes (reported net worth $2.8 billion)
Notes: I’m stretching things a bit here. Lynn Family stadium is currently listed as having 11,700 capacity that’s expandable to 14,000, but they’ve said that the ground could hold as many as 20,000 with additional construction, which might be enough to grant them a temporary waiver from USSF. If the stadium is a no-go, then there’s always Cardinal Stadium, home to the University of Louisville’s football team, which seats 65,000 but is turf. Either way, it seems like a sale to someone like Public Storage founder Wayne Hughes will be necessary to ensure the club has enough capital.
Candidate: Memphis 901 FC Location (Metro population): Memphis, Tenn. (1,348,260)
Time zone: Central
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Liberty Bowl Stadium (Turf, 58,325)
Potential owner: Fred Smith (reported net worth $3 billion)
Notes: Unfortunately for Memphis, AutoZone Park’s 10,000 seats won’t cut it at the D1 level. With its urban location, it would likely prove tough to renovate, as well. Liberty Bowl Stadium more than meets the need, but will involve the use of the dreaded turf. As far as an owner goes, FedEx founder Fred Smith seems like a good local option.
Candidate: Miami FC, “The” Location (Metro population): Miami, Fla. (6,158,824)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Riccardo Silva Stadium (FieldTurf, 20,000)
Potential owner: Riccardo Silva (reported net worth $1 billion)
Notes: Well, well, well, Silva might get his wish for top-flight soccer, after all. He’s got the money, he’s got the metro, and his ground has the capacity. There is the nagging issue of the turf, though. Hard Rock Stadium might present a solution, including a capacity of 64,767 and a grass playing surface. It is worth noting, however, that this is the first profile where I didn’t have to find a new potential owner for a club.
Candidate: North Carolina FC Location (Metro population): Durham, N.C. (1,214,516 in The Triangle)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Carter-Finley Stadium (Grass/Turf, 57,583)
Potential owner: Steve Malik (precise net worth unknown) / Dennis Gillings (reported net worth of $1.7 billion)
Notes: We have our first “relocation” in North Carolina FC, who were forced to trade Cary’s 10,000-seat WakeMed Soccer Park for Carter-Finley Stadium in Durham, home of the NC State Wolfpack and 57,583 of their closest friends. The move is a whopping 3.1 miles, thanks to the close-knit hub that exists between Cary, Durham and Raleigh. Carter-Finley might be my favorite of the stadium moves in this exercise. The field is grass, but the sidelines are artificial turf. Weird, right? Either way, it was good enough for Juventus to play a friendly against Chivas de Guadalajara there in 2011. Maybe the move would be pushed for by new owner and medical magnate Dennis Gillings, whose British roots might inspire him to get involved in the Beautiful Game. Straight up, though, I couldn’t find a net worth for current owner Steve Malik, though he did sell his company MedFusion for $91 million in 2010, then bought it back for an undisclosed amount and sold it again for $43 million last November. I don’t know if Malik has the juice to meet D1 requirements, but I suspect he’s close.
Candidate: Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC Location (Metro population): Pittsburgh, Penn. (2,362,453)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Heinz Field (Grass, 64,450)
Potential owner: Henry Hillman (reported net worth $2.5 billion)
Notes: I don’t know a ton about the Riverhounds, but this move in particular feels like depriving a pretty blue-collar club from its roots. Highmark Stadium is a no-go from a seating perspective, but the Steelers’ home stadium at Heinz Field would more than meet the requirements and have a grass surface that was large enough to be sanctioned for a FIFA friendly between the U.S. WNT and Costa Rica in 2015. As for an owner, Tuffy Shallenberger (first ballot owner name HOF) doesn’t seem to fit the USSF bill, but legendary Pittsburgh industrialist Henry Hillman might. I’m sure you’re asking, why not the Rooney Family, if they’ll play at Heinz Field? I’ll tell you: I honestly can’t seem to pin down a value for the family. The Steelers are valued at a little over a billion and rumors persist that Dan Rooney is worth $500 million, but I’m not sure. I guess the Rooneys would work too, but it’s a definite departure from an owner in Shallenberger who was described by one journalist as a guy who “wears boots, jeans, a sweater and a trucker hat.”
Candidate: Saint Louis FC Location (Metro population): St. Louis, Mo. (2,807,338)
Time zone: Central
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Busch Stadium (Grass, 45,494)
Potential owner: William DeWitt Jr. (reported net worth $4 billion)
Notes: Saint Louis has some weirdness in making the jump to D1. Current CEO Jim Kavanaugh is an owner of the MLS side that will begin play in 2022. The club’s current ground at West Community Stadium isn’t big enough, but perhaps a timely sale to Cardinals owner William DeWitt Jr. could see the club playing games at Busch Stadium, which has a well established history of hosting other sports like hockey, college football and soccer (most recently a U.S. WNT friendly against New Zealand in 2019). The competition with another MLS franchise wouldn’t be ideal, like Charlotte, but with a big enough population and cross marketing from the Cardinals, maybe there’s a winner here.
Wacko idea: If Busch doesn’t pan out, send them to The Dome. Sure, it’s a 60k turf closed-in stadium, but we can go for that retro NASL feel and pay homage to our nation’s soccer history.
Candidate: Tampa Bay Rowdies Location (Metro population): Tampa, Fla. (3,068,511)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Raymond James Stadium (Grass, 65,518)
Potential owner: Edward DeBartolo Jr. (reported net worth $3 billion)
Notes: This one makes me sad. Despite having never been there, I see Al Lang Stadium as an iconic part of the Rowdies experience. Current owner Bill Edwards proposed an expansion to 18,000 seats in 2016, but the move seems to have stalled out. Frustrated with the city’s lack of action, Edwards sells to one-time San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo Jr., who uses his old NFL connections to secure a cushy lease at the home of the Buccaneers in Ray Jay, the site of a 3-1 thrashing of Antigua and Barbuda during the United States’ 2014 World Cup Qualifying campaign.
Breather. Hey, we finished the Eastern Conference teams. Why are you still reading this? Why am I still writing it? Time is a meaningless construct in 2020 my friends, we are adrift in the void, fueled only by brief flashes of what once was and what may yet still be. Candidate: Austin Bold FC Location (Metro population): Austin, Texas (2,168,316)
Time zone: Central
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Darrel K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium (FieldTurf, 95,594)
Potential owner: Michael Dell (reported net worth of $32.3 billion)
Notes: Anthony Precourt’s Austin FC has some unexpected competition and it comes in the form of tech magnate Michael Dell. Dell, were he to buy the club, would be one of the richest owners on our list and could flash his cash in the new first division. Would he have enough to convince Darrel K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium (I’m not kidding, that’s its actual name) to go back to a grass surface, like it did from ’96-’08? That’s between Dell and nearly 100,000 UT football fans, but everything can be had for the right price.
Candidate: Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC Location (Metro population): Colorado Springs, Colo. (738,939)
Time zone: Mountain
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Falcon Stadium (FieldTurf, 46,692)
Potential owner: Charles Ergen (reported net worth $10.8 billion)
Notes: Welcome to Colorado Springs. We have hurdles. For the first time in 12 candidates, we’re back below the desired 1 million metro population mark. Colorado Springs actually plans to build a $35 million, 8,000 seat venue downtown that will be perfect for soccer, but in our timeline that’s 7,000 seats short. Enter Falcon Stadium, home of the Air Force Academy Falcons football team. Seems perfect except for the turf, right? Well, the tricky thing is that Falcon Stadium is technically on an active military base and is (I believe) government property. Challenges to getting in and out of the ground aside, the military tends to have a pretty grim view of government property being used by for-profit enterprises. Maybe Charles Ergen, founder and chairman of Dish Network, would be able to grease the right wheels, but you can go ahead and throw this into the “doubtful” category. It’s a shame, too. 6,035 feet of elevation is one hell of a home-field advantage.
Candidate: El Paso Locomotive FC Location: El Paso, Texas
Time zone: Mountain
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Sun Bowl (FieldTurf, 51,500)
Potential owner: Paul Foster (reported net worth $1.7 billion)
Notes: God bless Texas. When compiling this list, I found so many of the theoretical stadium replacements were nearly serviceable by high school football fields. That’s insane, right? Anyway, Locomotive don’t have to settle for one of those, they’ve got the Sun Bowl, which had its capacity reduced in 2001 to a paltry 51,500 (from 52,000) specifically to accommodate soccer. Sure, it’s a turf surface, but what does new owner Paul Foster (who is only the 1,477th wealthiest man in the world, per Forbes) care, he’s got a team in a top league.
Side note: Did you know that the Sun Bowl college football game is officially, through sponsorship, the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl? Why is it not the Frosted Flakes Sun Bowl? Why is the cereal mascot the promotional name of the football game? What are you doing, Kellogg’s?
Candidate: Las Vegas Lights FC Location: Las Vegas, Nev. (2,227,053)
Time zone: Pacific
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Allegiant Stadium (Grass, 61,000)
Potential owner: Sheldon Adelson (reported net worth $37.7 billion)
Notes: Sin City. You had to know that the club that once signed Freddy Adu because “why not” was going to go all out in our flashy hypothetical proposal. Thanks to my narrative control of this whole thing, they have. Adelson is the second-richest owner in the league and has decided to do everything first class. That includes using the new Raiders stadium in nearby unincorporated Paradise, Nevada, and spending boatloads on high profile transfers. Zlatan is coming back to the U.S., confirmed.
Candidate: New Mexico United Location: Albuquerque, N.M.
Time zone: Mountain
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Isotopes Park – officially Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park (Grass, 13,500 – 15,000 with expansion)
Potential owner: Maloof Family (reported net worth $1 billion)
Notes: New Mexico from its inception went deep on the community vibe, and I’ve tried to replicate that in this bid. The home field of Rio Grande Cr---I’m not typing out the whole thing—Isotopes Park falls just within the expansion rules we set to make it to 15,000 (weird, right?) and they’ve found a great local ownership group in the Lebanese-American Maloof (formerly Maalouf) family from Las Vegas. The only thing to worry about would be the metro population, but overall, this could be one of the gems of USL Prem.
Candidate: Oklahoma City Energy FC Location: Oklahoma City, Okla. (1,396,445)
Time zone: Central
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (Grass, 13,066)
Potential owner: Harold Hamm (reported net worth $14.2 billion)
Notes: There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow and it says it’s time to change stadiums and owners to make it to D1. A sale to oil magnate Harold Hamm would give the club the finances it needs, but Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (home of the OKC Dodgers) actually falls outside of the boundary of what would meet capacity if 1,500 seats were added. Could the club pull off a move to Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma – home of the Oklahoma Sooners? Maybe, but at 20 miles, this would be a reach.
Candidate: Orange County SC Location: Irvine, Calif. (3,176, 000 in Orange County)
Time zone: Pacific
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Angels Stadium of Anaheim (Grass, 43,250)
Potential owner: Arte Moreno (reported net worth $3.3 billion)
Notes: You’ll never convince me that Rangers didn’t choose to partner with Orange County based primarily on its name. Either way, a sale to MLB Angels owner Arte Moreno produces a fruitful partnership, with the owner choosing to play his newest club out of the existing Angels stadium in OC. Another baseball conversion, sure, but with a metro population of over 3 million and the closest thing this hypothetical league has to an LA market, who’s complaining?
Candidate: Phoenix Rising FC Location: Phoenix, Ariz. (4,857,962)
Time zone: Arizona
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): State Farm Stadium (Grass, 63,400)
Potential owner: Ernest Garcia II (reported net worth $5.7 billion)
Notes: We’re keeping it local with new owner and used car guru Ernest Garcia II. His dad owned a liquor store and he dropped out of college, which is making me feel amazing about my life choices right now. Casino Arizona Field is great, but State Farm Stadium is a grass surface that hosted the 2019 Gold Cup semifinal, so it’s a clear winner. Throw in Phoenix’s massive metro population and this one looks like a lock.
Candidate: Reno 1868 FC Location: Reno, Nev. (425,417)
Time zone: Pacific
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Mackay Stadium (FieldTurf, 30,000)
Potential owner: Nancy Walton Laurie (reported net worth $7.1 billion)
Notes: The Biggest Little City on Earth has some serious barriers to overcome, thanks to its low metro population. A sale to Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie and 1.6 mile-move to Mackay Stadium to split space with the University of Nevada, Reno makes this bid competitive, but the turf surface is another knock against it.
Candidate: Rio Grande Valley FC Location: Edinburg, Texas (900,304)
Time zone: Central
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): McAllen Memorial Stadium (FieldTurf, 13,500 – 15,000 with expansion)
Potential owner: Alice Louise Walton (reported net worth $45 billion)
Notes: Yes, I have a second straight Walmart heiress on the list. She was the first thing that popped up when I googled “McAllen Texas richest people.” The family rivalry has spurred Walton to buy a club as well, moving them 10 miles to McAllen Memorial Stadium which, as I alluded to earlier, is a straight up high school football stadium with a full color scoreboard. Toss in an additional 1,500 seats and you’ve met the minimum, despite the turf playing surface.
Candidate: San Antonio FC Location: San Antonio, Texas (2,550,960)
Time zone: Central
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Alamodome (FieldTurf, 64,000)
Potential owner: Red McCombs (reported net worth $1.6 billion)
Notes: I wanted to keep SAFC in the Spurs family, since the franchise is valued at $1.8 billion. That said, I didn’t let the Rooneys own the Riverhounds based on the Steelers’ value and it felt wrong to change the rules, so bring on Clear Channel co-founder Red McCombs. Toyota Field isn’t viable in the first division, but for the Alamodome, which was built in 1993 in hopes of attracting an NFL franchise (and never did), San Antonio can finally claim having *a* national football league team in its town (contingent on your definition of football). Now if only we could do something about that turf…
Candidate: San Diego Loyal SC Location: San Diego, Calif. (3,317,749)
Time zone: Pacific
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): SDCCU Stadium (formerly Qualcomm) (Grass, 70,561)
Potential owner: Phil Mickelson (reported net worth $91 million)
Notes: Yes, golf’s Phil Mickelson. The existing ownership group didn’t seem to have the wherewithal to meet requirements, and Phil seemed to slot right in. As an athlete himself, he might be interesting in the new challenges of a top flight soccer team. Toss in a move to the former home of the chargers and you might have a basis for tremendous community support.
Candidate: FC Tulsa Location: Tulsa, Okla. (991,561)
Time zone: Central
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Skelly Field at H.A. Chapman Stadium (FieldTurf, 30,000)
Potential owner: George Kaiser ($10 billion)
Notes: I’m a fan of FC Tulsa’s rebrand, but if they want to make the first division, more changes are necessary. A sale to Tulsa native and one of the 100 richest men in the world George Kaiser means that funding is guaranteed. A move to Chapman Stadium would provide the necessary seats, despite the turf field. While the undersize population might be an issue at first glance, it’s hard to imagine U.S. Soccer not granting a waiver over a less than a 10k miss from the mark.
And that’s it! You made it. Those are all of the independent/hybrid affiliates in the USL Championship, which means that it’s time for our…
VERDICT: As an expert who has studied this issue for almost an entire day now, I am prepared to pronounce which USL Championships could be most ‘ready” for a jump to the USL Prem. A reminder that of the 27 clubs surveyed, 0 of them met our ideal criteria (proper ownership $, metro population, 15,000+ stadium with grass field).
Two of them, however, met almost all of those criteria: Indy Eleven and Miami FC. Those two clubs may use up two of our three available turf fields right from the outset, but the other factors they hit (particularly Silva’s ownership of Miami) makes them difficult, if not impossible to ignore for the top flight.
But who fill in the rest of the slots? Meet the entire 14-team USL Premier League:
Hartford Athletic Indy Eleven Louisville City FC Miami FC North Carolina FC Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC Tampa Bay Rowdies Saint Louis FC San Antonio FC New Mexico United Phoenix Rising FC Las Vegas Lights FC Orange County SC San Diego Loyal SC Now, I shall provide my expert rationale for each club’s inclusion/exclusion, which can be roughly broken down into four categories.
Firm “yes” Hartford Athletic: It’s a good market size with a solid stadium. With a decent investor and good community support, you’ve got potential here.
Indy Eleven: The turf at Lucas Oil Stadium is no reason to turn down a 62,421 venue and a metro population of over 2 million.
Louisville City FC: Why doesn’t the 2017 & 2018 USL Cup champion deserve a crack at the top flight? They have the market size, and with a bit of expansion have the stadium at their own SSS. LCFC, you’re in.
Miami FC, “The”: Our other blue-chip recruit on the basis of ownership value, market size and stadium capacity. Yes, that field is turf, but how could you snub Silva’s chance to claim victory as the first division 1 club soccer team to play in Miami?
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC: Pittsburgh sacrificed a lot to be here (according to my arbitrary calculations). Their market size and the potential boon of soccer at Heinz Field is an important inclusion to the league.
Saint Louis FC: Willie hears your “Busch League” jokes, Willie don’t care. A huge market size, combined with the absence of an NFL franchise creates opportunity. Competition with the MLS side, sure, but St. Louis has serious soccer history and we’re willing to bet it can support two clubs.
Tampa Bay Rowdies: With a huge population and a massive stadium waiting nearby, Tampa Bay seems like too good of an opportunity to pass up for the USL Prem.
Las Vegas Lights FC: Ostentatious, massive and well-financed, Las Vegas Lights FC is everything that the USL Premier League would need to assert that it didn’t intend to play second fiddle to MLS. Players will need to be kept on a short leash, but this is a hard market to pass up on.
Phoenix Rising FC: Huge population, big grass field available nearby and a solid history of success in recent years. No brainer.
San Diego Loyal SC: New club? Yes, massive population in a market that recently lost an absolutely huge sports presence? Also yes. This could be the USL Prem’s Seattle.
Cautious “yes” New Mexico United: You have to take a chance on New Mexico United. The club set the league on fire with its social media presence and its weight in the community when it entered the league last season. The market may be slightly under USSF’s desired 1 million, but fervent support (and the ability to continue to use Isotopes Park) shouldn’t be discounted.
North Carolina FC: Carter-Finley’s mixed grass/turf surface is a barrier, to be sure, but the 57,000+ seats it offers (and being enough to offset other fully-turf offerings) is enough to put it in the black.
Orange County SC: It’s a top-tier club playing in a MLB stadium. I know it seems
unlikely that USSF would approve something like that, but believe me when I say
“it could happen.” Orange County is a massive market and California likely needs two clubs in the top flight.
San Antonio FC: Our third and only voluntary inclusion to the turf fields in the first division, we’re counting on San Antonio’s size and massive potential stadium to see it through.
Cautious “no” Birmingham Legion FC: The town has solid soccer history and a huge potential venue, but the turf playing surface puts it on the outside looking in.
Memphis 901 FC: Like Birmingham, not much to dislike here outside of the turf playing surface at the larger playing venue.
Austin Bold FC: See the other two above.
FC Tulsa: Everything’s just a little bit off with this one. Market’s slightly too small, stadium has turf. Just not enough to put it over the top.
Firm “no” Charleston Battery: Small metro and a small potential new stadium? It’s tough to say yes to the risk.
Charlotte Independence: A small new stadium and the possibility of having to compete with an organization that just paid over $300 million to join MLS means it’s best for this club to remain in the USL Championship.
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC: When a club’s best chance to meet a capacity requirement is to host games at a venue controlled by the military, that doesn’t speak well to a club’s chances.
El Paso Locomotive FC: An undersized market and a turf field that meets capacity requirements is the death knell for this one.
Oklahoma City Energy FC: Having to expand a baseball field to meet requirements is a bad start. Having to potentially play 20 miles away from your main market is even worse.
Reno 1868 FC: Population nearly a half-million short of the federation’s requirements AND a turf field at the hypothetical new stadium makes impossible to say yes to this bid.
Rio Grande Valley FC: All the seat expansions in the world can’t hide the fact that McAllen Memorial Stadium is a high school stadium through and through.
Here’s who’s left in the 11-team Championship:
Birmingham Legion FC Charleston Battery Charlotte Independence Memphis 901 FC Austin Bold FC Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC El Paso Locomotive FC Oklahoma City Energy FC Reno 1868 FC Rio Grande Valley FC FC Tulsa With MLS folding the six affiliates it has in USL League One, the league is a little bit thin (especially considering USSF’s requirements for 8 teams for lower level leagues), but seems definitely able to expand up to the necessary numbers with Edwards’ allusions to five new additions this year:
Chattanooga Red Wolves SC Forward Madison FC Greenville Triumph SC Union Omaha Richmond Kickers South Georgia Tormenta FC Tucson Format of Assorted Leagues – This (like everything in this post) is pure conjecture on my part, but here are my thoughts on how these leagues might function in a first year while waiting for additional expansion.
USL Premier – We’ll steal from the 12-team Scottish Premiership. Each club plays the other 11 clubs 3 times, with either one or two home matches against each side. When each club has played 33 matches, the top six and bottom six separate, with every club playing an additional five matches (against each other team in its group). The top club wins the league. The bottom club is automatically relegated. The second-bottom club will enter a two-legged playoff against someone (see below) from the championship playoffs.
USL Championship -- 11 clubs is a challenge to schedule for. How about every club plays everyone else three times (either one or two home matches against each side)? Top four clubs make the playoffs, which are decided by two-legged playoffs. The winner automatically goes up. I need feedback on the second part – is it better to have the runner-up from the playoffs face the second-bottom club from the Premiership, or should the winner of the third-place match-up get the chance to face them to keep drama going in both playoff series? As for relegation, we can clearly only send down the last place club while the third division is so small.
USL League One – While the league is so small, it doesn’t seem reasonable to have the clubs play as many matches as the higher divisions. Each club could play the other six clubs four times – twice at home and twice away – for a very equitable 24-match regular season, which would help restrict costs and still provide a chance to determine a clear winner. Whoever finishes top of the table goes up.
And there you have it, a hypothetical look at how the USL could build a D1 league right now. All it would take is a new stadium for almost the entire league and new owners for all but one of the 27 clubs, who wouldn’t feel that their property would be massively devalued if they got relegated.
Well that’s our show. I’m curious to see what you think of all of this, especially anything that you think I may have overlooked (I’m sure there’s plenty). Anyway, I hope you’re all staying safe and well.
submitted by It has been said that the Mountain West conference is
“At the Peak,” and to me, nothing illustrates that more, than the fact that there are 12 teams competing in the only NCAA Division 1 conference that sponsors e-sports. Of course, since the matches are played head-to-head, Boise State has an advantage because they tint the monitors blue, and play with all blue avatars; an advantage that is confirmed in their winning of League of Legends and Overwatch, but with the Spring season being cut, next year the Mountain West has announced that they will be playing Mario Kart 8, for the Nintendo Switch. Due to the large amounts of people in the Mountain West cities suddenly having $1200 burning a hole in their pocket, every store that sells Nintendo Switch has sold out of their allotment; yes, even, Amazon. So, thus the conundrum becomes: How can these players, prospects, and ordinary people practice in order to “git gud” as the gamers would say? Well, that’s where I come in. For, you see, since I am allowed out on the streets again, finally, due to both my prison sentence being cut short, and my work being determined to be “essential,” I had the time to scope out some places. Alas, while my cough and fever are not improving as much as I had hoped since I last got back from Italy, I did manage to find some time to visit all of the Mountain West cities in order to find the easiest place to get a Switch and Mario Kart 8 location. For simplicity’s sake, I am going by the football stadium since it’s a well-defined point in most locations – San José State fans, the football stadium is that big ovoid building at the corner of E Alma Ave, and S 7th St… It’s the place where the people aren’t on Saturday’s is September. Should you get hungry during your travels, I have also managed to find a
some breakfast locations in the same vicinity Air Force
Okay, so I lied a little; I tried to get into the university, but, unfortunately the men with guns wouldn’t actually let me get beyond the gate on S Gate Rd, and I was still a little jet-lagged having just gotten in from Frankfurt after having woken up for my 0610 flight for the Linate to Frankfurt leg (stupid weather prevented the flight from Denver to ABQ, but my loss is your gain). So, while this may not be the closest, it certainly will fit the bill. Tyler-Jay Rowland who lives at 3075 Navigation Drive, in Colorado Springs was more than willing to help out, especially since his son, Jeremiah, was grounded for a month for staying out after curfew two weekends in a row. As the falcon flies, this location is 5.2 miles away; in a car, it’s not too much further than that.
Boise State
Now, I don’t, technically, hate the way that Boise is laid out with the river running right through the center of town, but even though Maci Drew lives in the Clearwater Apartments, unit 323, which is in a straight line, only a quarter of a mile from the stadium, you will have to go the Exxtramile, to get to her apartment. Also, she would like me to point out, that times for a waitress like herself are a little rough, so please, if you’re hungry, skip Taco Bell, and eat at the Bar Gernika in downtown Boise, right next to the Central Plaza and Century Link Arena. “We have wifi” she said.
Colorado State
This is, by far, the most remarkable location; I had completely forgotten that they moved to an on-campus stadium, so I initially went to the Hughes Stadium location, and found a big pile of dirt. And not much else – well, if you exclude the trees that formed a nice line, that brought me back to my college days. Having corrected my too old Garmin in-car GPS, I found Tim Thatcher on 604 Balsam Ln; he’s a little deaf, so you might need to knock like you are ram-ing down the door. He bought the Switch after his wife of 35 years died to help him grieve and spend his retirement, “but it’s just making me too sad lately, and I’ve never been very good at vid’ya [sic] games. I still don’t know how I’m supposed to save the princess when she’s trying to beat me… That reminds me of my princess, who I lost last year. She was so kind, we met in high school, I had an onion on my belt as was the style in those days. They didn't have any white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones.” I’ll be honest, at this point I started zoning out because, again, fever. He honestly looked really sad as I was talking to him, so you might want to try to cheer him up, since he’s just a lonely guy bein’ a dude. In a straight line distance, you’re only going .3 miles, and it’s not too much further by car.
New Mexico
This is by far the closest location to the stadium. The UNM Lobo Club is a non-essential business in the state of New Mexico, and UNM and the Athletics Department realized that funding would need to be cut dramatically throughout the state, and with the sweetheart deal they got from the legislature this year, they decided to close all athletic facilities, including the Maloof building, home of both Eddie Nuñez’s office, and the Lobo Club. I suggest using the side door closest to the field level entrance of the stadium. That’ll take you to the weight room; an alarm will go off, the code is “1892” the year the football team first played (interesting tidbit: the marching band was founded in 1889, the same year as the university); from there enter the main hallway, and go to the first door on the left after you pass the restrooms. The last time I was there, they had a vending machine that dispensed free Mountain Dew; I was howl-ing with laughter after I found that. Also, if you see Señor Manta, say “Hola!” he’s been down on his luck since his family were killed in the accident, and now he wanders the street like a lone Lobo.
Utah State
It was like a bomb went off. No one was around; maybe they were busy playing Farmer, or having a bonfire out in the dirt behind the stadium, wit their brown-eyed girls, but Jeff Field’s dorm room, Aggie Village Community building 17, first floor, third window from the right (he leaves it unlocked, so don’t worry about access) has a Switch just sitting there on the bed, as though he borrowed it from someone, but never managed to return it before he left. Go on, take it, just say that it was yours and he left it, no one will check.
Wyoming
Cowboys and Cowgirls are just different, I guess; I could not find a Nintendo Switch in town for the life of me. I found many Switchblades, Light switches, and many wooden rods, so I took my horse down to Cheyenne, and found a recently laid-off Subway Sandwich Artist called Dom, who knew just where to look. He directed me to 803 West 21st St, Suite B. He told me, “yeah, the guy who runs this storefront, has a little son, about 6 years old. He keeps a Switch in his desk’s keyboard tray for when he picks his son up from school.” Because of the ordeal in Laramie, I asked him to clarify, and he did, “yeah… Nintendo switch.” He said as he looked around shiftily. If that doesn’t work you can always try Suite C, I heard they stock Switches… oh wait, not that kind.” I was going to ask him for more information, but he entered what looked like an abandoned brick building just passed the railroad tracks, “You didn’t see me,” he said. And I also didn’t hear the gunshots that went off as I walked back to my car.
Table View
| School | Distance Driving (mi) | Straight Line Distance (mi) | Drive/Drone Difference | Variance (from all schools)A |
| Air Force | 8.44 | 5.22 | 3.22 | 0.047 |
| Boise State | 1.00 | 0.282 | 0.718 | 1.069 |
| Colorado State | 0.420 | 0.312 | 0.108 | 1.792 |
| New Mexico | 0.206 | 0.191 | 0.015 | 1.920 |
| Utah State | 0.444 | 0.305 | 0.139 | 1.751 |
| Wyoming | 47.90 | 40.69 | 7.21 | 4.894 |
A: Variance is calculated based upon DDD’s distance from the standard deviation of DDD… Why DDD? Because, DDD is King.
Note: SDSU currently does not field an Esports team; I am including them because it seems likely that they will in the near future Hawai’i
Hawai’i is interesting because the Honolulu airport has a much better open air location than the El Paso airport; there’s a water path, it’s weird man, it reminds me a lot of the Tiki Room at Disn… oh, yeah, Hawai’i, Polynesia, that makes sense. Anyway, the stadium is home to the largest swap meet’s I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, I did not find any Switches, but I did find a guy swapping Macadamia Nut cookies for a few dollars, so naturally, I bought some. It started to rain, so even though many people are Rainbow Warriors or Wahine, as the women prefer to be called, I am not. I stopped in at the ‘Aeia Public Library for a spell, and my phone was dead, so I needed a place to charge for a bit. The nice librarian, Akela (“it means graceful,” I was told. After I asked, “like the wolf-spirit in Hindi myths?”), pointed out, that, “We loan out all sorts of stuff here; pots, pans, sewing machines. Believe it or not, we even rent out video game systems. Our most popular is probably the Nintendo Switch, but we also have a couple of Xbox’s and PS4’s.” I guess I looked very shocked because Akela continued, “with the military surrounding us, we, the library system, get a lot of goods from contractors who don’t want to have a lot of their goods shipped back to the mainland.” Seeing how much it cost to ship out, I completely understood, and bid ¬¬Akela aloha, and failed the Hawai’I test by passing out at the nearest Embassy Suites, in Kapolei, if I remember correctly (I probably don’t, I was tired).
Fresno State
A nice cow brought me to Clovis. Much like what happened in Las Vegas, it was not the cool one, but instead the one in California. She (I saw udders), brought me specifically to 264 Clovis Ave, and said, “what you seek, from my master, is in there.” I’m not sure if it was my fever, jet-lag, a combination of them, or something else entirely, but then the cow vanished as though she was just a thing on the internet. A stray puppy passed by me in downtown, so that was probably the highlight of the trip.
Nevada (Reno)
Look, I’ll be honest, Reno to me always makes me feel like I’m going to be leaving the city without one or both of my kidneys. I don’t know why I expect Renoirs to chew my body like a Pack of Wolves, but there you are. Diedre Thomas of 128 Keystone Ave, fell on hard times. She poured herself a glass of vodka, neat, and said, “you can have anything you want,” she paused briefly to wink at me, “for the right price.” I specifically enquired about the Switch, “Anything,” she replied. She pulled out what appeared to be a small glass bowl that looked like an incense holder, and a baggie of chalk dust, and… Oh my god, she was going to smoke cocaine. Anyway, as she pulled out the pulled out the baggie, I hastily took my leave. I then went to the airport and went to my next stop….
Nevada – Las Vegas
Can you believe parents still bring their children, like elementary school aged children to Las Vegas. And it’s not the cool Las Vegas, in New Mexico, it’s the one in Nevada; well, I guess, technically they bring their kids to Paradise, and not Las Vegas, but c’mon man, there isn’t that much difference. Anyway, head to the Excalibur hotels because Carla, the housekeeper said that on average 3 Switches get left by guests every day. I then felt really depressed while walking around the hotel, so I left to check out the Mirage, where I normally stay on these Mountain West trips. I also learned that if there’s one thing that freaks me out more than the throngs of people walking the Strip, it’s when there’s nobody around. Once the new stadium gets completed it will be vastly easier to get to the casino than at the current location.
San Diego State
I stayed with Dominic, at his house of Friars Road. I was starting to feel sick to my stomach with the lack of green chile, so it was so enjoyable to spend time with a fellow New Mexican (and my roommate junior year). He took me on a little tour: Balboa Park’s stadium (home of the former Harbor Bowl, and the first tie in UNM Football history), the USS Midway, and Ocean Beach. I had forgotten about the assignment until I looked down at my feet and found a working Switch. When it was still there after an hour, I borrowed a small boat, realised,
I need a bigger boat and headed out to the Ocean. Having claimed rights, I then put it back, so you might also find it.
San José State
Look, there are a lot of people who depart from the San Jose Airport. The kids who travel on these flights are slightly scatter-brained because of the adrenaline of taking a plane ride (and passing through the checkpoint), and leave some of their electronics, and I found a shoe! A shoe! Who only puts one shoe on and then walks-off? It was an adult shoe, so it’s not like a child/toddleparent left it, no, someone made a conscious decision to leave their shoe… Maybe it was a protest? Anyway, just tell the guy that you left your Switch at the checkpoint, if he asks you what color it was say, it had yellow grips that slide off, but the screen was bounded by black.
Table View
| School | Distance Driving (mi) | Straight Line Distance (mi) | Drive/Drone Difference | Standard Deviation (all schools)A |
| Fresno State | 4.46 | 3.28 | 1.18 | 0.644 |
| Hawai’i | 1.420 | 0.696 | 0.784 | 1.001 |
| Nevada (Reno) | 2.410 | 1.69 | 0.720 | 1.067 |
| Nevada – Las Vegas (SBS)b | 18.426 | 8.93 | 11.258 | |
| Nevada – Las Vegas (NVS)c | 2.125 | 0.590 | 1.535 | 0.391 |
| San Diego State | 9.861 | 8.08 | 1.78 | 0.252 |
| San José State | 6.575 | 4.60 | 1.975 | 0.164 |
A: Variance is calculated based upon DDD’s distance from the standard deviation of DDD… Why DDD? Because, DDD is King.
b: Sam Boyd Stadium
c: New Vegas Stadium (Allegiant Field)
Conclusion
Even if the stores are sold out of Switches, there are always places you can go to get them, some are definitely within walking distance of your house, maybe even right next door. If you do choose to do that, there are a few things to keep in mind: 1. Milk 2. Eggs, specifically from Natural Grocers, if they still have member pricing.
I live in Colorado Springs. The closest poker room is the midnight Rose in Cripple Creek which is just over an hour away. That's the only place I've played poker other than Baltimore's Horseshoe Casino. I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on Blackhawk versus Cripple Creek. Blackhawk is almost twice as far, but has more casinos that offer poker. Is it worth making the drive?
submitted by Hi everyone, I posted a few weeks back about starting to write a series about my adventures on the road - to inspire! I just finished the first section of my first story. This part takes place from 1 sunset to the next - adventures of 1 day on the road. This is part of a longer segment about a road trip to Coachella.... I hope you enjoy: ps. any feedback greatly appreciated
It’s 4:45pm on a cold April evening in Boston, I’m counting the minutes and seconds 'till I can dart out of my office and head to the airport. I have my carry on bag and backpack with me at my desk, and my mind is far from work. My father, who happened to be in the city for meetings, is waiting outside to take me to the airport. The clock strikes 5 and I am gone before the big hand ticks again. I smoke a quick spliff on the sidewalk around the corner and then hop in my father’s car - I’m officially on vacation. He drops me off, we say our goodbyes, and I arrive at the airport with enough time to have 2 beers before my flight. As I sit in my window seat waiting for takeoff, I slowly watch the sunset over the Boston skyline, only imagining what the next couple of sun sets will look like from the west. I couldn’t imagine everything I would see before the next time the sun set. The plane took off at 8pm. I’m usually the type of person to stare out the window for the entire plane ride, so much so that I usually leave the plane with a sore neck - but for this flight I knew I should sleep so I could be energized for what lay ahead. I managed to sleep for about 2 hours on the plane. I woke up to the captain calling for the final descent into Denver. We touched down in Denver in the midst of a late spring snow storm, 10:30pm local time. Syd was already at the Terminal West pickup zone waiting for me with his bags packed. We make a couple of quick stops to prep for the road (munchies and what-not) and off we went - headed West. The clock strikes Midnight as we get on the highway - it’s now officially 4/20 in Colorado, I’m overwhelmed with joy, excitement, and weed smoke. Syd took the initiative and picked up an ounce for our trip - each gram was in its own bag which was odd at the time but came in handy later on in the trip. Just a few hours ago, I was in my cubicle - now I’m in Denver on 4/20, every adolescents dream. This was just the very beginning.
Exiting Denver heading West, I started to notice the drastic change in landscape. Denver sits at the very edge of the plains that spread across middle America from Pennsylvania to literally Denver. East of Denver is plains, farmland, and corn for 1,500 miles. Each farm and cornfield a spitting image of the previous one. West of Denver is the most beautiful, drastic, diverse scenery all the way to the Pacific Ocean. You have what seems like unlimited options to choose from once passing through the rockies - head southwest for desert, head norwest for ancient forests and god’s country, head directly west for a mix of both and everything in between. This trip we were going southwest. We zoomed into the rockies with snow getting heavier by the minute. I started to get nervous but remembered how I was here back in February with the same road conditions and the same fright. I then remembered how well Syd could handle these roads, so I chilled out. We passed by Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, and Keystone ski resorts, and I started to reflect about my 2 weeks of snowboarding here only 2 months prior in February. I thought about how I would love to snowboard here again one day. Little did I know, I would be working for Keystone the following Winter (more on that later).
With Keystone in our rear view, we quickly approached Breckenridge, then Copper, then Vail, and then Beaver Creek. Coming from the East Coast it was hard to believe that all of these world class resorts were all within 45 minutes of each other. You can drive 10 minutes in any direction in Summit County, Colorado and arrive at a world class resort. Once we passed Beaver Creek the snow started to subside and you could see dirt and grass start to be evermore present. A relief from the harsh storm. I was now more relaxed and slept for an hour or 2. I woke up to see an array of lights in the near distance, a massive city- like region as far as the eyes could see. We were approaching Grand Junction, CO, a city declared in the late 1800s as a “grand” junction of the mighty Colorado River and it’s largest tributary, the Gunnison River. Grand Junction is Colorado’s wine country and the closest civilization to Grand Mesa, the world's largest flat-topped mountain which covers hundreds of miles. I was in awe as it seemed to go on forever. We passed through Grand Junction and immediately crossed over into Utah around 4AM, and I took the wheel.
One thing that strikes me about these Western states is you can actually see and feel yourself crossing into another state without there being any formal notice or signs. The way the land drastically changes is amazing. As soon as we entered Utah everything around us started getting more colorful. The brown dirt changed to red clay, the tan grass of Western Colorado quickly changed to green cactuses (or cacti?). The snowy mountains changed to rainbow-colored hills and otherworldly rock formations. I felt like I had just left planet earth and landed on Mars. “This is the coolest place ever” I said to Syd. I continued on in admiration for about an hour, then I could see the very first sign of the sun rising in my rearview mirror. What I thought was beautiful before instantly appeared way more spectacular. I was in awe, trying to soak everything there was to see. I’m lucky that I didn’t drift off the road during these gazes, but luckily the Utah highway was straight and flat, with no other cars at this hour. Each and every minute grew more beautiful as the sun rose higher and higher in my mirrors. It seemed as if the sun was chasing us from the east as we bolted west at a steady 80mph. Once the sun was about halfway up the horizon behind us everything started to brighten up from the darkness of the night. I pulled over at a rest stop to climb a hill and watch the sunrise over the utah desert. I found a boulder at the top of the hill perched over a valley, and watched the sun slowly illuminate hundreds of miles of desert. I will never forget it. Now that it was bright as day, I hopped back into the driver’s seat and continued on. Syd woke up from a snooze; I tried to describe what I had just witnessed but no words could do justice. From there on, I pulled over at every scenic viewpoint that we came across, which seemed like every 10 minutes. They each got better and better the further into Utah we ventured. Sand Bench, Ivie Creek, Devil’s Canyon, Ghost Rock, Spotted Wolf, San Rafael Reef, Black Dragon Canyon, and Crescent Junction to name a few. We probably lost an hour off of our ETA for these stops, but to me they were priceless, and I didn’t care the least. By this time it was around 8am and the temperature had now reached a comfortable 70 degrees. From here the windows would be down for the rest of the trip.
After about 8 hours of cruising I-70 from the snowy Rocky Mountains through the Utah desert, we passed through Fishlake National Forest in Salina, UT and pulled onto interstate 15 to start heading South. The desert had now transformed into an oasis with green grasses growing, wildflowers budding, trees waving in the gentle wind, and chirping birds greeting the morning. It was like entering a whole different environment yet there was still snow capped mountains in the near distance. I could smell the beautiful scent of the valley and everything it had to offer. I thought to myself how bad the streets of Boston stunk where my office was located, and how amazing this often overlooked section of the country had been so far. Syd was well rested at this point so we pulled over, took our shoes off to walk around the soft warm grass, had a quick beer while soaking in the morning, and hopped back on the road - Syd driving now. We only drove for about 10 minutes until we saw Our next stop was Zion National Park.
We approached Zion National Park from the north, so we were able to get in without paying the national park dues. As we approached Zion, I was convinced that I had already seen the beauty of Utah, and that Zion National Park was going to look like the beautiful valley that we were in during our approach. I was wrong. We traversed the winding road that leads into the northwestern park of the park and then she revealed herself. The sheer beauty of this valley is almost indescribable, and only the finest poets could barely do justice. All of a sudden we were hundreds of feet above this majestic garden of eden. Both Syd and I had to pick our jaws up from the car floor, and still remained speechless after that. We pulled the car over and sat there in awe and tried to absorb all the beauty that was in front of us. It reminded me of the old childs movie “The Land Before Time”. I imagined pterodactyls soaring above the cliffs, gazing over all sorts of other dinosaurs that roamed the valley floor. There were emerald rivers below me and massive cliff walls surrounding me with trees and plants growing everywhere. Every color on the spectrum could be seen in this little speck nature. I pictured the natives who used to call this place home and how it must have felt to discover this desert oasis. I felt one with nature here. Syd and I must have spent an hour sitting here and admiring this beauty. We had to get going so I took one last gaze, and went back in the car. I told myself I would come back here to really explore the place. I sure did, but that adventure comes in a later story.
We left Zion and had Las Vegas in our sights. Zion is only about 2 hours away from Las Vegas, so we planned on that being our next stop/point of interest. Right around this time, about 10AM, we realized that we had left Denver about 10 hours ago and needed some food. We decided we would wait until Vegas, but then all of a sudden a mirage appeared in the desert. “That is a mirage, right Syd?”. “It must be”. I got overwhelmed with excitement as my mouth started watering, the mirage got closer. “That mirage looks pretty real” “But it can’t be...we’re in Utah”. Yup, it was real. I rubbed my eyes to be sure. We pulled up to the Washington, UT exit signs and there was a billboard that read “In-N-Out 1 mile”. I hadn’t been that happy in a while. We checked what time they opened: 10:30 AM, we checked our clock: 10:20 AM. It was a miracle. We smoked a joint and walked in as they were taking down the “closed” sign.
Now here is where I had another “holy shit it’s a small world” moment. Throughout my life I had always had these weird coincidences where I see someone I know while on vacation or somewhere hundreds/thousands of miles away. From seeing a college friend at a resort in Puerto Rico, to sitting next to my hometown buddy on a plane from the DR, to sitting across the table from a classmate in the Bahamas. As I was munching my burger, in the middle of Southerwestern Utah, two people from my highschool walked in. An older couple that was I think 3 years above me. Now we didn’t know each other well enough, so we didn’t speak but we all looked at each other with the “WTF?” eyes, and continued to pretend not to know each other, even though we both knew our stories started in a small coastal town in MA. “What a small world” I thought as I finished my burger (animal style, of course).
We hopped back in the car and in a flash we were in Las Vegas. I was very excited to finally see Las Vegas. I was reminiscing of all the crazy stories ive heard and movies ive seen, portraying this to be the place of no rules where everyone leaves with a crazy story that they can’t tell their mother (I do have a crazy vegas story, but thats from a different road trip). Well, not at 1:00pm I guess. We drove up and down the strip feeling like movie stars with our arms and feet hanging out the window, trying to show off my fake Y-3 shoes (SMH). Vegas is a whole nother world during the day, and there is not much to be excited about. We parked the car at Caesars Palace and roamed around the casino, only to find desperate slot-goers at this hour. It was kind of depressing. After an hour of roaming the strip and fantasizing in the Louis Vuitton and Gucci stores, we decided it was time to leave Vegas. The next time I was in Vegas turned out to be a lot more...fear and loathing-ish, we’ll get to that later.
After Vegas we were ready to get to California. We decided we would only stop for gas from this point on, and set our sites on San Diego. The goal was to race there fast enough to watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean before heading to Coachella the following day. My cousin lived in San Diego at the time and welcomed us to stay the night at his house before the festival. We drove and drove racing the sun which was starting to gain on us. We crossed into California and kept driving until we hit San Bernardino and came to a complete stop. There was traffic for as far as the eyes could see. “Are you kidding me? LA traffic all the way out here” while it might not have specifically been LA traffic, there was certainly bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way to LA. “wow, people aren’t joking about LA traffic” we laughed. Luckily after only a couple miles we pulled off the exit to head south to San Diego and were back cruising along.
In what seemed like a close race against time, we pulled into Pacific Beach, San Diego right as the sun was reaching the point where it really starts to turn the color of the sky to a pinkish-peach color. It was so beautiful. We paced onto the boardwalk and got a perfect spot to watch the sun set over the surfers trying to catch their last waves before darkness. We stayed and watched in awe until there was no sun left to watch. As we were exiting the boardwalk we were overwhelmed with delicious smells of local vendors preparing food for the night crowd. It felt as if we entered a food truck convention, and thousands of people now fluttered in to get a taste of the local cuisine. We walked around aimlessly smelling and tasting all they had to offer. I had a couple beef and pork tacos and a churro; Syd had a freshly caught fish taco. From there we soaked everything in, breathed a sigh of relief for we had made it and reflected on what an incredible day we just had. From there we went to my cousins loft and relaxed with him, only to begin a new adventure tomorrow.
submitted by Hi everyone, I posted a few weeks back about starting to write a series about my adventures on the road - to inspire! I just finished the first section of my first story. This part takes place from 1 sunset to the next - adventures of 1 day on the road. This is part of a longer segment about a road trip to Coachella.... I hope you enjoy:
ps. any feedback greatly appreciated
edit: I misspelled the title :/
It’s 4:45pm on a cold April evening in Boston, I’m counting the minutes and seconds 'till I can dart out of my office and head to the airport. I have my carry on bag and backpack with me at my desk, and my mind is far from work. My father, who happened to be in the city for meetings, is waiting outside to take me to the airport. The clock strikes 5 and I am gone before the big hand ticks again. I smoke a quick spliff on the sidewalk around the corner and then hop in my father’s car - I’m officially on vacation. He drops me off, we say our goodbyes, and I arrive at the airport with enough time to have 2 beers before my flight. As I sit in my window seat waiting for takeoff, I slowly watch the sunset over the Boston skyline, only imagining what the next couple of sun sets will look like from the west. I couldn’t imagine everything I would see before the next time the sun set. The plane took off at 8pm. I’m usually the type of person to stare out the window for the entire plane ride, so much so that I usually leave the plane with a sore neck - but for this flight I knew I should sleep so I could be energized for what lay ahead. I managed to sleep for about 2 hours on the plane. I woke up to the captain calling for the final descent into Denver. We touched down in Denver in the midst of a late spring snow storm, 10:30pm local time. Syd was already at the Terminal West pickup zone waiting for me with his bags packed. We make a couple of quick stops to prep for the road (munchies and what-not) and off we went - headed West. The clock strikes Midnight as we get on the highway - it’s now officially 4/20 in Colorado, I’m overwhelmed with joy, excitement, and weed smoke. Syd took the initiative and picked up an ounce for our trip - each gram was in its own bag which was odd at the time but came in handy later on in the trip. Just a few hours ago, I was in my cubicle - now I’m in Denver on 4/20, every adolescents dream. This was just the very beginning.
Exiting Denver heading West, I started to notice the drastic change in landscape. Denver sits at the very edge of the plains that spread across middle America from Pennsylvania to literally Denver. East of Denver is plains, farmland, and corn for 1,500 miles. Each farm and cornfield a spitting image of the previous one. West of Denver is the most beautiful, drastic, diverse scenery all the way to the Pacific Ocean. You have what seems like unlimited options to choose from once passing through the rockies - head southwest for desert, head northwest for ancient forests and god’s country, head directly west for a mix of both and everything in between. This trip we were going southwest. We zoomed into the rockies with snow getting heavier by the minute. I started to get nervous but remembered how I was here back in February with the same road conditions and the same fright. I then remembered how well Syd could handle these roads, so I chilled out. We passed by Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, and Keystone ski resorts, and I started to reflect about my 2 weeks of snowboarding here only 2 months prior in February. I thought about how I would love to snowboard here again one day. Little did I know, I would be working for Keystone the following Winter (more on that later).
With Keystone in our rear view, we quickly approached Breckenridge, then Copper, then Vail, and then Beaver Creek. Coming from the East Coast it was hard to believe that all of these world class resorts were all within 45 minutes of each other. You can drive 10 minutes in any direction in Summit County, Colorado and arrive at a world class resort. Once we passed Beaver Creek the snow started to subside and you could see dirt and grass start to be evermore present. A relief from the harsh storm. I was now more relaxed and slept for an hour or 2. I woke up to see an array of lights in the near distance, a massive city- like region as far as the eyes could see. We were approaching Grand Junction, CO, a city declared in the late 1800s as a “grand” junction of the mighty Colorado River and it’s largest tributary, the Gunnison River. Grand Junction is Colorado’s wine country and the closest civilization to Grand Mesa, the world's largest flat-topped mountain which covers hundreds of miles. I was in awe as it seemed to go on forever. We passed through Grand Junction and immediately crossed over into Utah around 4AM, and I took the wheel.
One thing that strikes me about these Western states is you can actually see and feel yourself crossing into another state without there being any formal notice or signs. The way the land drastically changes is amazing. As soon as we entered Utah everything around us started getting more colorful. The brown dirt changed to red clay, the tan grass of Western Colorado quickly changed to green cactuses (or cacti?). The snowy mountains changed to rainbow-colored hills and otherworldly rock formations. I felt like I had just left planet earth and landed on Mars. “This is the coolest place ever” I said to Syd. I continued on in admiration for about an hour, then I could see the very first sign of the sun rising in my rearview mirror. What I thought was beautiful before instantly appeared way more spectacular. I was in awe, trying to soak everything there was to see. I’m lucky that I didn’t drift off the road during these gazes, but luckily the Utah highway was straight and flat, with no other cars at this hour. Each and every minute grew more beautiful as the sun rose higher and higher in my mirrors. It seemed as if the sun was chasing us from the east as we bolted west at a steady 80mph. Once the sun was about halfway up the horizon behind us everything started to brighten up from the darkness of the night. I pulled over at a rest stop to climb a hill and watch the sunrise over the utah desert. I found a boulder at the top of the hill perched over a valley, and watched the sun slowly illuminate hundreds of miles of desert. I will never forget it. Now that it was bright as day, I hopped back into the driver’s seat and continued on. Syd woke up from a snooze; I tried to describe what I had just witnessed but no words could do justice. From there on, I pulled over at every scenic viewpoint that we came across, which seemed like every 10 minutes. They each got better and better the further into Utah we ventured. Sand Bench, Ivie Creek, Devil’s Canyon, Ghost Rock, Spotted Wolf, San Rafael Reef, Black Dragon Canyon, and Crescent Junction to name a few. We probably lost an hour off of our ETA for these stops, but to me they were priceless, and I didn’t care the least. By this time it was around 8am and the temperature had now reached a comfortable 70 degrees. From here the windows would be down for the rest of the trip.
After about 8 hours of cruising I-70 from the snowy Rocky Mountains through the Utah desert, we passed through Fishlake National Forest in Salina, UT and pulled onto interstate 15 to start heading South. The desert had now transformed into an oasis with green grasses growing, wildflowers budding, trees waving in the gentle wind, and chirping birds greeting the morning. It was like entering a whole different environment yet there was still snow capped mountains in the near distance. I could smell the beautiful scent of the valley and everything it had to offer. I thought to myself how bad the streets of Boston stunk where my office was located, and how amazing this often overlooked section of the country had been so far. Syd was well rested at this point so we pulled over, took our shoes off to walk around the soft warm grass, had a quick beer while soaking in the morning, and hopped back on the road - Syd driving now. We only drove for about 10 minutes until we saw Our next stop was Zion National Park.
We approached Zion National Park from the north, so we were able to get in without paying the national park dues. As we approached Zion, I was convinced that I had already seen the beauty of Utah, and that Zion National Park was going to look like the beautiful valley that we were in during our approach. I was wrong. We traversed the winding road that leads into the northwestern park of the park and then she revealed herself. The sheer beauty of this valley is almost indescribable, and only the finest poets could barely do justice. All of a sudden we were hundreds of feet above this majestic garden of eden. Both Syd and I had to pick our jaws up from the car floor, and still remained speechless after that. We pulled the car over and sat there in awe and tried to absorb all the beauty that was in front of us. It reminded me of the old childs movie “The Land Before Time”. I imagined pterodactyls soaring above the cliffs, gazing over all sorts of other dinosaurs that roamed the valley floor. There were emerald rivers below me and massive cliff walls surrounding me with trees and plants growing everywhere. Every color on the spectrum could be seen in this little speck nature. I pictured the natives who used to call this place home and how it must have felt to discover this desert oasis. I felt one with nature here. Syd and I must have spent an hour sitting here and admiring this beauty. We had to get going so I took one last gaze, and went back in the car. I told myself I would come back here to really explore the place. I sure did, but that adventure comes in a later story.
We left Zion and had Las Vegas in our sights. Zion is only about 2 hours away from Las Vegas, so we planned on that being our next stop/point of interest. Right around this time, about 10AM, we realized that we had left Denver about 10 hours ago and needed some food. We decided we would wait until Vegas, but then all of a sudden a mirage appeared in the desert. “That *is* a mirage, right Syd?”. “It must be”. I got overwhelmed with excitement as my mouth started watering, the mirage got closer. “That mirage looks pretty real” “But it can’t be...we’re in Utah”. Yup, it was real. I rubbed my eyes to be sure. We pulled up to the Washington, UT exit signs and there was a billboard that read “In-N-Out 1 mile”. I hadn’t been that happy in a while. We checked what time they opened: 10:30 AM, we checked our clock: 10:20 AM. It was a miracle. We smoked a joint and walked in as they were taking down the “closed” sign.
Now here is where I had another “holy shit it’s a small world” moment. Throughout my life I had always had these weird coincidences where I see someone I know while on vacation or somewhere hundreds/thousands of miles away. From seeing a college friend at a resort in Puerto Rico, to sitting next to my hometown buddy on a plane from the DR, to sitting across the table from a classmate in the Bahamas. As I was munching my burger, in the middle of Southerwestern Utah, two people from my highschool walked in. An older couple that was I think 3 years above me. Now we didn’t know each other well enough, so we didn’t speak but we all looked at each other with the “WTF?” eyes, and continued to pretend not to know each other, even though we both knew our stories started in a small coastal town in MA. “What a small world” I thought as I finished my burger (animal style, of course).
We hopped back in the car and in a flash we were in Las Vegas. I was very excited to finally see Las Vegas. I was reminiscing of all the crazy stories ive heard and movies ive seen, portraying this to be the place of no rules where everyone leaves with a crazy story that they can’t tell their mother (I do have a crazy vegas story, but thats from a different road trip). Well, not at 1:00pm I guess. We drove up and down the strip feeling like movie stars with our arms and feet hanging out the window, trying to show off my fake Y-3 shoes (SMH). Vegas is a whole nother world during the day, and there is not much to be excited about. We parked the car at Caesars Palace and roamed around the casino, only to find desperate slot-goers at this hour. It was kind of depressing. After an hour of roaming the strip and fantasizing in the Louis Vuitton and Gucci stores, we decided it was time to leave Vegas. The next time I was in Vegas turned out to be a lot more...fear and loathing-ish, we’ll get to that later.
After Vegas we were ready to get to California. We decided we would only stop for gas from this point on, and set our sites on San Diego. The goal was to race there fast enough to watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean before heading to Coachella the following day. My cousin lived in San Diego at the time and welcomed us to stay the night at his house before the festival. We drove and drove racing the sun which was starting to gain on us. We crossed into California and kept driving until we hit San Bernardino and came to a complete stop. There was traffic for as far as the eyes could see. “Are you kidding me? LA traffic all the way out here” while it might not have specifically been LA traffic, there was certainly bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way to LA. “wow, people aren’t joking about LA traffic” we laughed. Luckily after only a couple miles we pulled off the exit to head south to San Diego and were back cruising along.
In what seemed like a close race against time, we pulled into Pacific Beach, San Diego right as the sun was reaching the point where it really starts to turn the color of the sky to a pinkish-peach color. It was so beautiful. We paced onto the boardwalk and got a perfect spot to watch the sun set over the surfers trying to catch their last waves before darkness. We stayed and watched in awe until there was no sun left to watch. As we were exiting the boardwalk we were overwhelmed with delicious smells of local vendors preparing food for the night crowd. It felt as if we entered a food truck convention, and thousands of people now fluttered in to get a taste of the local cuisine. We walked around aimlessly smelling and tasting all they had to offer. I had a couple beef and pork tacos and a churro; Syd had a freshly caught fish taco. From there we soaked everything in, breathed a sigh of relief for we had made it and reflected on what an incredible day we just had. From there we went to my cousins loft and relaxed with him, only to begin a new adventure tomorrow.
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