The TOA already made news today with the announcement that they've added Tampa Bay and Baltimore to their league roster, and while that's pretty big in the world of second division soccer, something...

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According to the Whitecaps website the TOA League is now 11 teams strong!

The addition of Tampa Bay and Baltimore brings the new league to nine teams, as they join the owners of the Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina RailHawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, St. Louis Soccer United and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

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Just when we were beginning to wonder if this TOA league would really get off the ground with just seven clubs they go and add two more. Yup, now they are up to nine as Inside Minnesota Soccer has learned they have snatched two prime USL teams away with Tampa Bay rejoining the group and now a new addition in Crystal Palace Baltimore.

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The Team Owners Association announced today that they have added Crystal Palace Baltimore and the Tampa Bay Rowdies to their new league. The two clubs brings the TOA's total up to nine, putting to...

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In the search for its first coach for the new USL-1 Tampa Bay Rowdies, the ownership in Tampa dipped into one of the storied families in European football when they hired Paul Dalglish, the son of former Liverpool and Scotland great Kenny Dalglish.
"This sport is my obsession," said Dalglish, who gets his first pro head coaching job. Click to continue reading...

There's all kinds of MLS and soccer lovin' going around this morning in our fine land. Devin Barclay, now a rock star on Ohio State's campus, played parts of five seasons in MLS from 2001-2005. He suited up for Tampa Bay, San Jose, D.C. United and the Columbus Crew before hanging up the cleats and--eventually--picking up some other cleats. Click to continue reading...

Yesterday we found out that the new League was a go and today a number of sites confirm that the TOA will play the 2010 season in a new league.
Teams such as Miami FC, Atlanta Silverbacks, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, Carolina Railhawks and the Vancouver Whitecaps will soon be joined by a St. Click to continue reading...

I've always said that one of the realistic options for the disaffected USL owners was to leave and then just setup their own league away from the USL umbrella. Today, that appears to be what has happened, with everyone bailing on Francisco Marcos and the USL. I have not been following this all that closely, but where does this leave Portland, who has one more year to go before they join MLS. Click to continue reading...

Six ownership groups that were previously part of the USL-First Division have joined forces with St. Louis Soccer United to form a new professional soccer league that will begin play in 2010.

The Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina Railhawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps have joined St.

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Six ownership groups that were previously part of the USL-First Division have joined forces with St. Louis Soccer United to form a new professional soccer league that will begin play in 2010.

The Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina Railhawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps have joined St.

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Because with live in a world of litigation and because people get all bent out of shape over the smallest things (that could easily be explained) and because litigation takes forever and lawyers are expensive (otherwise they wouldn't bother to take forever) and because you can get any kind of suspension lifted while you're waiting for an appeal it appears that Chelsea can do business as usual since the Court of Arbitration for Sport won't be able to set a date for a hearing until February.

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While you're enjoying your crazy-mild November weekend in KC, take some time to sign the petition to bring the FIFA World Cup to town, and invite all your friends. We're now past the 5400-signature mark, in 9th place among the 27 cities bidding to host World Cup matches. Help us pass Dallas, then move toward Tampa Bay and Cleveland. Click to continue reading...

As I mentioned on Monday with the release of our latest podcast, we are making some exciting changes at MLS Talk. One of these changes will be our new "Legends of MLS" series on both our podcast and website. Often times, MLS History is unknown or hardly written for the new fan. We seek to bridge a gap in understanding and recognition of certain players, coaches and clubs.

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Well, it looks like the NuRock v TOA saga is continuing, but only a little bit, while the USL-1 meetings are being held in Beaverton, OR this week. With the following teams certainly there - Rochester, Portland, Tampa Bay, Puerto Rico, FC New York, Cleveland and Austin. The TOA clubs, may or may not be Vancouver, [. Click to continue reading...

Well, it looks like the NuRock v TOA saga is continuing, but only a little bit, while the USL-1 meetings are being held in Beaverton, OR this week.

With the following teams certainly there - Rochester, Portland, Tampa Bay, Puerto Rico, FC New York, Cleveland and Austin.

The TOA clubs, may or may not be - Vancouver, Montreal, St Louis, Miami, Atlanta, Tampa, Carolina, Minnesota.

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The Bucs and Browns are a combined 1-14 this season, while across the pond Manchester United stands second and Aston Villa stands eight in the Premier League standings. I know what some people are thinking, what is the connections between the four teams. The connections is simple The Browns and Aston Villa are owned by Randy Lerner, while the Bucs and Manchester United are owned by Malcolm Glazer (pictured right). Click to continue reading...

There isn't much tonight for the evening links and thoughts. Got some USL-TOA talk and a brief thought about Kevin Payne's fine from the league earlier today.

But first there we gotta go back into the TOA-USL talk that we've been going around and around with for the last few weeks. Reports tonight suggest the TOA and their clubs could very well soon be forming their own league, even as soon as TOMORROW.

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Our new Thursday series looks at classic football programmes, that perfect accompaniment for a trip down memory lane. This week: we go back 56 years, to the first ever floodlight match at Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart lane, with the programme's cover promising Spurs were in for "very attractive visitors" and "very sporting opponents" with the visit of Racing Club de Paris.

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The second in our Thursday series looking at classic football programmes, that perfect accompaniment for a trip down memory lane. Today, England's West Bromwich Albion take on a mysterious "China Eleven" in a 1970s international friendly.

West Bromwich Albion vs.

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We are way behind on posting this, but since the last question answered has become more relevant after the events of the past couple days, it still make sense to post this.
The TBR Mailbag is a bi-weekly feature brought to you by the TBR front office to allow you, the fans, to write in and ask questions about the team, organization, and the return of professional soccer to Tampa Bay. Click to continue reading...

A lot has been made this year over the home struggles of the Chicago Fire and the Los Angeles Galaxy. The Fire are doing much better away (1.64 PPG) than at home (1.29 PPG). The Galaxy were in that same boat, but they've won their last two home games and are now sporting equal marks (1.57 PPG) home and away. Click to continue reading...

Head over to ESPN Soccernet and read a nice piece about one-time Rowdies midfielder, Hugo Perez. The article is by Jeff Carlisle and details the career of one of the better US national team players of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Before Claudio Reyna and Landon Donovan, there was Hugo.
He played just two seasons with Tampa Bay and unfortunately his career coincided with the dark years after the collapse of the NASL. Click to continue reading...

There's a month or so left in the 2009 Major League Soccer season, and six clubs (Chivas USA, Houston, Colorado, Columbus, Chicago and New England) still have a chance to win half of the games on their schedule.

Don't laugh. That's more rare than you might think. In the 30-game, no-shootouts era (since 2003), only 11 teams out of 71 have won 15 or more games.

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We all know about the USL drama after the sale to NuRock by Nike, It seems 8 teams will be playing in 2010 under the new structure.
Jeff Rusnak of the Sun Sentinel writes:

The five USL-1 clubs and three other organizations, including 2010 expansion club Tampa Bay, are aligned with the Team Ownership Association (TOA), which wants the clubs to run the league, rather than a management entity such as NuRock.

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By TRAVIS CLARK

Recent business developments within U.S. Soccer lower-tier divisions is creating a ripple affect throughout United Soccer Leagues. Last week, NuRock Soccer Holdings, an Atlanta-based company, bought USL from Nike, which came as no surprise after reports surfaced that the league was up for sale.

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Over at USLnews.com they have posted a press release from an outfit called the Team Owners Associaton (TOA). This cabal was formed in January 2008 to push for reform within the USL to get the heavy handed league ownership (was Marcos, then Umbro/Nike, and now NuRock) to relinquish control and ownership of the USL to the member clubs. Click to continue reading...

Yes my friends, it looks like I have officially become a trendsetter, that is if you call two people a trend. Looks like I have a new rival in cyberspace.
Nicholas Murray launched the Tampa Bay Soccer Blog earlier this month and he is currently doing an outstanding job covering college soccer with some nice newspaper style articles. Click to continue reading...

The USA Bid Committee announced the 27 United States cities that passed the third stage of the city and stadium proposal review process and remain under consideration as potential host venues for the World Cup in 2018 or 2022.

Those making the cut:

Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, LA, Miami, Nashville, New York City, Oakland, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Fransisco, Seattle, St.

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Two Tampa Bay Hellenic players were among the first batch of invitees to the USL-WPS combine to be held in Tampa in September. The USL announced the first thirty players selected on Tuesday; the total number of invites to be sent out is projected to be 90 total women. The combine will be the second annual event, the first seeing WPS draft 35 USL prospects for the inaugural WPS season. Click to continue reading...

Tampa Bay Hellenic had both coach George Fotopoulos and first-year midfielder Sarah Chapman nominated as finalists for W-League postseason awards. Fotopoulos was recognized for his team's performance (8-2-3) with a nomination for Coach of the Year, while the hard working and skillful Chapman was a finalist for U-19 Player of the Year. Click to continue reading...

To see what the Red Bulls must do to avoid ignominious MLS history, we check the historical standings or just go to Climbing the Ladder, where scaryice has already done the math.
Only two teams (Chivas USA 2005, Tampa Bay 2001) have won just four games in a season, though the Red Bulls' forebear, the MetroStars, won only four in regulation when the shootout still decided tie games back in 1999. Click to continue reading...

Tampa Bay Hellenic may yet still take some individual W-League honors for its good season.
Hellenic coach, George Fotopoulos is one of four nominees for Coach of the Year. Fotopoulos is being recognized for guiding the second year team to an overall 8-2-3 record including their first round playoff exit. Click to continue reading...

Slide over to TBO.com to read Bart O'Connell's article on Tampa Bay Hellenic's midfielder Stacy Bishop [pictured righ in action for Boston Breakers]. Stacy started the WPS season with the Boston Breakers before being let go in July and returning to Hellenic, who she starred for in 2008.
In just five regular season matches with Tampa Bay this season, Bishop scored three goals and one assist. Click to continue reading...

Hard to believe that the Tampa Bay Hellenic lost just one regular season match all season and had one of the stingiest defenses in the league, but netted just one selection to the postseason W-League Eastern All-Conference team. The honors were voted on by the coaches and managers of the league clubs. Click to continue reading...

Our staff has enjoyed meeting many of you at our season ticket depositor event, Rowdies Day at USF Soccer Stadium, our youth camps and clinics at the YMCA, United Way and Boys & Girls Club, and the other community events we have participated in.
Our organization has been working tirelessly behind the scenes laying the groundwork and infrastructure of the team, preparing ourselves to be a model franchise for years to come and deliver the absolute best possible fan experience. Click to continue reading...