Austin Aztex release their USL schedule while the rest of the league waits
In a somewhat bizarre incident, a TV station in Austin, Texas released the Aztex USL-1 schedule for 2009. There had been rumors the schedules were going to be released several weeks ago. Then Jeff DiVeronica, from the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester NY, claimed the schedules would be released last week. In DiVeronica’s, latest blog entry, he said the schedule would be announced on Wednesday. No one else but the Austin Aztex released their schedules, including the league. I’m expecting that someone may be in some trouble on this one. I’ve also read there are league fines for releasing the schedule before the official release date. It should be noted that the Aztex themselves did not release the schedule, just Austin TV station, KVUE.
Whatever the situation, this seems like another case of the USL appearing very amateurish at a moment when they need to be appearing very professional. More eyes are on the USL then ever before with their successes of this past year and with MLS reducing roster sizes and eliminating reserve squads. This just reinforces my opinion that I’ve stated before; USL-1, needs a commissioner just like MLS has in Don Garber. They need a go-to person who would support the owners of USL-1, but also come down on them when a team steps out of bounds like in this case.
The Aztexs schedule show the MN Thunder will open the Aztex first season in the USL-1, on April 18th in Austin. The next match is July 18th at the NSC and then back in Texas on August 16th. The July 18th date is the Schwan’s USA CUP Weekend, the tournament that proceeds the full week long tournament.
Be assured, the full USL-1 Schedule will be released today.
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In other USL news, former Thunder player Ansu Toure was picked up by the Vancouver Whitecaps. Toure had mixed success with the Thunder and was in a lengthy trial with the Red Bulls of MLS two pre-seasons ago. Since then Toure has bounced around to several teams and again had mixed success.
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The Charleston Battery released the details of this years 2009 Challenge Cup. They will play DC United, Toronto FC and Real Salt Lake in pre-season action. All these USL teams that are located in the south and playing MLS teams in early preseason action just reminds me once again, what a disadvantage it can be to field a pro soccer team in a northern section of the U.S.
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The Vancouver Whitecaps started their winter training today in preparation for the USL season which is still 3 months away. This winter training mainly consists of conditioning.
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Last year, for the first time in club history, the Minnesota Thunder traveled to the south for preparation for their USL season. As stated last week, there is still no word from the Thunder front office as to pre-season plans.
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What I heard was that the league told the teams that they were going to announce the release of the schedule yesterday around mid-day. In an effort to continue to build excitment in a city like Austin that has a lot of sporting options, the Aztex notified two press outlets (ABC affiliate KVUE, and local paper “The Austin Chronicle”) about an impending press release. The league then recanted their decision due to a logistical issue (not of the Aztex doing), with about an hour left before the earlier scheduled announcement. Unfortunately, you can’t call a “mulligan” with the press. I agree, the league has taken too long to get the schedule out (which is organized in one of the most backwards ways possible), and when they announce to the clubs it’s going to be released, they pull it back with an hour before the planned announcement. The league has to find a better way to manage the logistics of scheduling and announcing fixtures if they want to draw fans in, and compete with not only MLS, but other tier 1 sports (gridiron football, basketball, baseball, etc).
What the other sport options in Austin?
Besides UofTexas I can’t think of anything else as competition…unless you consider Lance Armstrong’s doping denials.
Other options? Round Rock Express. Austin Toros D-League affiliate of the San Antonio Spurs. The Arena Football League team folded, but a new indoor team is starting up this summer, and football of any type trumps damn near anything that’s not UT. And there’ll be a Stars ice hockey farm team in Cedar Park (NW suburb of Austin) starting up as well.
And just saying ‘besides U of Texas’ sweeps a lot under the rug. The UT men’s sports teams (baseball, basketball and football) are all top 20, so they take up damn near all the sports oxygen in town.
Oh, and thank you, USL for making Austin look really stupid now. “Be assured, the full USL-1 Schedule will be released today.” OK, now it’s the 23rd.
On the one hand, I haven’t really been that concerned. MLS, which starts before the USL, still hasn’t released theirs yet.
Then again, USL-1 has a lot fewer teams than MLS.
*sigh* I just love being back in the USL.
First off, down here, University of Texas sports is not just an event to occupy time, but it’s a religion. So as with most places in the country, “football” is not played with a oblong pig skin. So UT sports are huge in and of themselves.
Besides that, we also have the Round Rock Express, which is a farm team for the Houston Astros owned and operated by the family of Nolan Ryan, and we have a farm hockey team for the Dallas Stars moving in this year (we had a professional hockey team in the Austin Ice Bats, but they folded last year). We also have semi-pro baseketball, the Austin Toros, that are a farm team to the San Antonio express. So although we don’t have anything on the MLB, NFL, or NBA level, we do have sports besides BBQ.
Which of these sports besides the farm baseball team are playing in mid-summer?
Just curious.
P.S. Did you like my insult of Lance Armstrong? I thought it was funny…then again I am not a fan of Mellow Johnny and his new bike shop in downtown.
You’re right in that this summer the Express will be playing, so it’s the only competition that I’m aware that is active in play (I don’t know about the Arena Football team, as when they get started back up, they may play in the summer). That’s one of the reasons we’re excited as there isn’t as much competition between the Aztex and other sports in central Texas. The only exceptions are in August and September, when gridiron football gets started up. However, that’s only a couple of weeks of the regular season.
As far as the Lance Armstrong comment, I’m not a big cycling fan, so I have no investment in anyone’s opinion on him. Although, to date, I haven’t heard any proven evidence beyond the French press’s bletherings on this.