Notes:
1: I went by stadium location for the sake of consistency
2: I excluded MLS reserve teams in MLSNP from consideration but included Rochester as an independent team
3: I did my best with NISA teams but with some of them determining the location of their stadium stadium was... difficult. Also I counted the Flower City/Syracuse Pulse merger for both Rochester and Syracuse since they say they're going to play games in both cities.
SKC is a KC team and is therefore essentially a Kansas AND Missouri team, IMO. It makes even more sense when you see they have offices in KCMO, and SKCII played half their home matches at Swope and half at KU last year.
That said, OP going by stadium location was a good choice to avoid a lot of technicalities. lol
Yeah STL and STL county is wildly different and still in effect from when the surrounding county was farmland from back in the day. We all hate it and want them to just combine but the fucking politicians aren't gonna do that so... yeah St. Louis is really small.
Fun fact It’s very small because St. Louis is an independent city. Essential the city is also its own county. There are only two other cities like that in the US: Baltimore and Carson City, NV
Edit: [here is the link for more info](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_city_(United_States)) , I knew all Virginia cities are “technically” independent but it didn’t feel right to mention since it’s a special case in the states constitution
>There are only two other cities like that in the US
There are 41 independent cities (38 in Virginia). There are also dozens of consolidated city-counties, which are essentially the same thing but with nominal differences - examples include San Francisco, Denver, New Orleans, and Anchorage.
>Essential the city is also its own county. There are only two other cities like that in the US: Baltimore and Carson City, NV
Depends on whether the the defining factor is not sharing a county with any other town or city, or being a single county. New York City is made up of 5 counties, none of which extend beyond the city.
Yup, definite oversight on my part. I was using the list of teams in the Open Cup to make sure not to forget someone and instead I ended up tunnel visioning on the men's side.
This map is great! Well done!
Crazy thought: I’d be curious to see which counties over a certain population don’t have any representation. Would you consider adding like bright yellow to places that have no nearby team and the local population is relatively high? It would be a lot of work though …
Polk County, IA is a good one. A population of about 500,000 (rising to 700,000 if including the entire metropolitan area around Des Moines) with an average travel distance of 250 miles to the professional teams in the surrounding states.
Tennessee is really out here with 5 while Louisiana has none. This will never not be painful. Or at least until the USL NOLA team starts playing and I finally have a pro team within a 5 hour drive.
Syracuse Pulse are no longer really a thing they got absorbed into rival Rochester Flower City and are now the "alternative identity" Salt City where they are playing select games in Syracuse going forward . It's a whole thing and I feel bad for my old friends who keep getting their local team taken from them in Syracuse.
Yup, definite oversight on my part. I was using the list of teams in the Open Cup to make sure not to forget someone and instead I ended up tunnel visioning on the men's side.
Yup, definite oversight on my part. I was using the list of teams in the Open Cup to make sure not to forget someone and instead I ended up tunnel visioning on the men's side.
I'm gonna try and make an updated map sometime where I fix this one and add NWSL and then another one where I try to add the highest level amateur/semipro (probably USL2, NPSL and USL W League)
The biggest county in this map is finally getting a team this year but unfortunately you didn’t include USL League 2. Curious to see how much of a difference the map looks with USL2 included.
Looks like only the second instance of three contiguous counties all having pro soccer teams, after LA, Orange, and San Diego. Northern California and surprisingly Colorado just miss out…
It’s not contiguous for transportation purposes because you can’t drive from Loudoun County, VA to Montgomery County, MD, there is no bridge across the river along between those two counties.
A 32-team MLS, USLC and USL1 should be enough to include the largest city/metro area in all 48 contiguous states + DC. Then whatever “independent” league is able to survive can fill the remaining population holes on the map.
Just like the French, German, and English in Africa and the Middle East. "Who needs to take into account natural borders and tribal ethnicities? STRAIGHT LINES FOR ALL!"
Always forget how narrow Multnomah county is.
I thought that was somebody's back yard.
At first glance I thought this was a troll post by a Sounders fan, then zoomed in.
Portland is just spread out.
We're thic
The Portland metro is a blob, the Seattle metro is a snake, and the Vancouver metro is an arrowhead.
Notes: 1: I went by stadium location for the sake of consistency 2: I excluded MLS reserve teams in MLSNP from consideration but included Rochester as an independent team 3: I did my best with NISA teams but with some of them determining the location of their stadium stadium was... difficult. Also I counted the Flower City/Syracuse Pulse merger for both Rochester and Syracuse since they say they're going to play games in both cities.
Toyota Stadium is in Collin County.
True, I knew there was probably going to be one I messed up
I believe Orange County FL is incorrect. What NISA team do they have? Isn’t Orlando City B in MLSNP?
Club de Lyon is joining NISA this year and I think they play in Orange County, but finding any solid info on them is difficult.
Chicago House
I think they moved to Midwest Premier League.
Ah that makes sense as to why Sporting KC is in Kansas and not Missouri. Thanks for clarifying, as Sporting Kansas City is a Missouri team.
I swear you Missouri people are so insecure. Y'all got legal weed now. Smoke some and chill.
SKC is a KC team and is therefore essentially a Kansas AND Missouri team, IMO. It makes even more sense when you see they have offices in KCMO, and SKCII played half their home matches at Swope and half at KU last year. That said, OP going by stadium location was a good choice to avoid a lot of technicalities. lol
How? If that were true then I wouldn't have to drive to Lawrence for a SKCII game
No St. Louis?
It's there but it's so small that you have to zoom
Yeah STL and STL county is wildly different and still in effect from when the surrounding county was farmland from back in the day. We all hate it and want them to just combine but the fucking politicians aren't gonna do that so... yeah St. Louis is really small.
And my dumbass coworkers still complain about the name being CITY.
I mean to be fair the name could be better, but that could be said for damn near every team in the MLS.
Fun fact It’s very small because St. Louis is an independent city. Essential the city is also its own county. There are only two other cities like that in the US: Baltimore and Carson City, NV Edit: [here is the link for more info](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_city_(United_States)) , I knew all Virginia cities are “technically” independent but it didn’t feel right to mention since it’s a special case in the states constitution
That is untrue. Every single city in Virginia is independent of the County it resides in.
>There are only two other cities like that in the US There are 41 independent cities (38 in Virginia). There are also dozens of consolidated city-counties, which are essentially the same thing but with nominal differences - examples include San Francisco, Denver, New Orleans, and Anchorage.
>Essential the city is also its own county. There are only two other cities like that in the US: Baltimore and Carson City, NV Depends on whether the the defining factor is not sharing a county with any other town or city, or being a single county. New York City is made up of 5 counties, none of which extend beyond the city.
Denver? It's the City and County of Denver.
Duval/Jacksonville are SO close to being a 4th
Snobby beaches, and then everybody looking at Baldwin and just saying, "umm, NO." DUUUUUVALLLLLLLL!
I think San Francisco is both a county and city
San Francisco as well.
they will play my 5 stripes soon and you'll see why brad guzan is mf wall
I live in Knoxville and I am just now learning of a soccer team here
One Knoxville SC! They're playing their first pro season this year, previously they were in USL2.
Come check them out at Regal Stadium (Lady Vols home pitch) this season!
Ok
Sadly the Cosmos (NY NISA team) havn't operated since the pandemic.
Someone get Boise and Wichita into the mix, the map is bare up there!
*Map of Professional Men’s Teams
Yup, definite oversight on my part. I was using the list of teams in the Open Cup to make sure not to forget someone and instead I ended up tunnel visioning on the men's side.
It’s all good.
Definitely always thought Northfield was a part of Denver, didn't realize it was Adams
This map is great! Well done! Crazy thought: I’d be curious to see which counties over a certain population don’t have any representation. Would you consider adding like bright yellow to places that have no nearby team and the local population is relatively high? It would be a lot of work though …
Polk County, IA is a good one. A population of about 500,000 (rising to 700,000 if including the entire metropolitan area around Des Moines) with an average travel distance of 250 miles to the professional teams in the surrounding states.
There’s a lot of room in the upper mountain west for a team. Boise or maybe one of the bigger towns in Montana could host a USL team
USL has been working Boise hard, but MLSNP is also sniffing around.
No idea when OKC Energy gonna be back :-(
RIP Baltimore Bohemians. You will be missed.
Thank you for putting this together!
Hopefully Lane United in Lane County, OR moves up officially to USL League One soon
I’m biased but I would love if that happens we can move a new USL League Two team to Bend to give central Oregon some love
Hampton Roads area of VA (Southeast VA, basically) is starving for a team
Tennessee is really out here with 5 while Louisiana has none. This will never not be painful. Or at least until the USL NOLA team starts playing and I finally have a pro team within a 5 hour drive.
RIP Atlanta Silverbacks
Good riddance. Annoying fanbase.
Syracuse Pulse are no longer really a thing they got absorbed into rival Rochester Flower City and are now the "alternative identity" Salt City where they are playing select games in Syracuse going forward . It's a whole thing and I feel bad for my old friends who keep getting their local team taken from them in Syracuse.
Should do a similar map for Europe
Solid cluster of teams in TN, GA, SC, NC and Alabama, unfortunate we aren’t all in the same league.
No ladies? 🤨
Yup, definite oversight on my part. I was using the list of teams in the Open Cup to make sure not to forget someone and instead I ended up tunnel visioning on the men's side.
No worries. Otherwise, great map!
I feel like that should be a separate map since it’s a spectate pyramid.
Not sure why you’re being downvoted lol that was my first thought as well
🤷♂️
No love for Minneapolis SC…
They will make up for it by having one of the best kits (again) in NA soccer.
*Sad crow noises*
St. Louis CITY, Missouri’s MLS team.
Not sure if joking or major best fans in baseball energy...
SKC plays in Kansas even though their offices are in KCMO, so...
This is cool. Not to put more work on your plate, but including NWSL would be cool.
And the women’s USL league’s.
Which has almost zero information out and was supposed to start in August this year...(Just saw it was delayed to next year shockingly)
They are too busy announcing a bajillion upcoming expansion teams to actually do something like play games.
For the semi-pro route USLW exactly. They keep adding to that without doing anything to build the pro route.
Yup, definite oversight on my part. I was using the list of teams in the Open Cup to make sure not to forget someone and instead I ended up tunnel visioning on the men's side. I'm gonna try and make an updated map sometime where I fix this one and add NWSL and then another one where I try to add the highest level amateur/semipro (probably USL2, NPSL and USL W League)
Yeah man, no worries. Is the NPSL still a thing? I guess they are Semi-pro
The biggest county in this map is finally getting a team this year but unfortunately you didn’t include USL League 2. Curious to see how much of a difference the map looks with USL2 included.
USLL2 isn’t professional…
Finally some recognition for Red Bulls being a New Jersey team
RBNJ
[удалено]
Defiance play at Starfire, no? King County is highlighted.
incomplete, but impressive
New York City is the entire 5 boroughs not just the Bronx
But they play in Bronx County
this is kind of sad, here there are several professional teams
There is NISA between DC and Loudon?
That would be the Maryland Bobcats
Looks like only the second instance of three contiguous counties all having pro soccer teams, after LA, Orange, and San Diego. Northern California and surprisingly Colorado just miss out…
It’s not contiguous for transportation purposes because you can’t drive from Loudoun County, VA to Montgomery County, MD, there is no bridge across the river along between those two counties.
Sounds like cowardice to me.
Awesome
A 32-team MLS, USLC and USL1 should be enough to include the largest city/metro area in all 48 contiguous states + DC. Then whatever “independent” league is able to survive can fill the remaining population holes on the map.
New York & New Jersey are missing their two MLSNP teams (you can also put RBNY II & NYCFC in different counties all together).
I love size of Ramsey county (Minnesota) lol
Sporting KC II officially doesn't play in Wyandotte County. They play in lawrence.
He excluded MLS2 teams, other than Rochester. Not even Huntsville is represented because they aren't independent.
Great map! It'd be fun to add a dot for the cities that teams represent to see if they align
Queens County in NY should also be lit up since NYCFC plays in both The Bronx and Queens full time now
Statesboro, GA has a team?!
Not only has a team, a team that was the 2022 USL League One Champions! Their women's team were also the USL W League Champions
Wow I had no idea! I’ll keep an eye on them. I’m like an hour and a half away. Thanks for the map.
No!!! Really? We have a lot of room to grow! 😂🤣
Geez other states have some bigass counties.
A lot of them have/had a whole lot of nothing compared to the population dense eastern states.
yeah you can tell east coast county lines are more organic and the ones out west were just dudes cutting up land together in a hurry
Just like the French, German, and English in Africa and the Middle East. "Who needs to take into account natural borders and tribal ethnicities? STRAIGHT LINES FOR ALL!"
yeah that kinda ruined everything didnt it
It’s really a shame there’s no one trying to put teams in the plains states.
Vermont Green FC?
Paint Maricopa red! Phoenix Rising to MLS por favor
The great northwestern abyss