National Sports Center will announce the name of Minnesota’s new professional soccer team on live webcast Friday, February 5
Team logo will also be unveiled
NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release, February 4, 2010
For more information:
Barclay Kruse, Chief Communications Officer
National Sports Center
763.785.5634 (office)
763.458.6615 (cell)
bkruse@mnsports.org
BLAINE, Minn. (February 4, 2010) – The National Sports Center (NSC) will announce the name of Minnesota’s new professional soccer team on Friday, February 5. The announcement will be made during a live webcast at 1:00 pm Central Time. Viewers may watch the webcast free of charge by logging onto www.nscgamecast.tv.
In addition to the name announcement, team officials will unveil the team’s logo.
The National Sports Center ran an online fan voting contest that garnered 3,110 votes over a two week period in late January. The contest wrapped up on January 26. Since then, team officials have been busy discussing the most popular names, clearing trademark issues and discussing long-term marketing and branding potential.
Two ticket prize packages were offered for those who participated in the naming contest. The winners, who will receive a 2010 season ticket package, will be announced on Friday’s webcast.
The webcast will be MC’d by Scott Clasen, host of the NSC’s weekly video show, “NSCtv.” During the show, Clasen will interview Kris Bjerkness, team general manager. Bjerkness will also outline a tentative timeline for the opening of ticket sales, opening of the team’s website hiring of a coach, the first player signings and plans for the team’s youth soccer camp program.
“There has been some very spirited discussion about the new name,” said Bjerkness. “This tells us is how passionate the fans are. They’re ready to get behind this team, no matter what the name.
The new professional soccer team will begin play this April as a member of a professional soccer league made up of teams from the United Soccer Leagues (USL) and the North American Soccer League (NASL)
The league will consist of two six-team conferences – the USL Conference and the NASL Conference. The USL Conference will include teams from Austin, Minnesota, Portland (Ore.), Puerto Rico, Rochester (N.Y.) and Tampa Bay. The NASL Conference will consist of teams from Baltimore, Carolina, Miami, Montreal, St. Louis and Vancouver.
This new team will replace the Minnesota Thunder at the division II level.
The National Sports Center is the largest athletic complex of its kind in the world, boasting 52 soccer fields and over 3.8 million annual visitors. It is the most-visited sports facility in Minnesota. The new team will play some its home games during the NSC’s major youth tournaments to take advantage of the huge attendance base of youth players already attending NSC tournaments, such as Schwan’s USA CUP in July, the largest youth soccer tournament in the Western Hemisphere, with nearly 1,000 teams.
About the North American Soccer League:
The North American Soccer League (NASL) was established in November 2009 and is comprised of the following active teams: Carolina RailHawks, Crystal Palace Baltimore, Miami FC, Minnesota , Montreal Impact, Rochester Rhinos, AC St. Louis, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Vancouver Whitecaps FC. For the 2010 season, the NASL's nine teams, together with three teams (Austin Aztex, Portland Timbers and Puerto Rico Islanders) from the United Soccer Leagues, will play in a second division league established and administered by the United States Soccer Federation. The league will feature two conferences (NASL and USL) of six teams each, with three NASL teams (Minnesota, Rochester and Tampa Bay) playing in the USL conference. In 2011, the NASL will be joined by teams in Atlanta and certain other cities to be named at a later date. The NASL and its member teams are committed to building on their long tradition of providing a high level of soccer to fans across the United States and Canada in 2010 and beyond.
http://www.nasl.com/