Grading the Expansion Candidates IV: St. Louis

Ah, St. Louis...Home of the famous Gateway Arch, and the largest Belgian-owned brewery in the United States! Let's get down to it, shall we?

Dining: 3 We're being generous here, because we've actually had some good meals in St. Louis...but we had to look right hard to find them...and we've had some seriously terrible food there, too.
Entertainment: 3 Meh.
Site Seeing: 3 You've got the InBev brewery, and the Cahokia Mounds are nearby (those are really, really cool, actually...even if you do have to go through East St. Louis to get to them), but there's really not a whole lot to see compared to plenty of other cities in North America.
"Entertainment": 2(?) Just guessing here...no first-hand knowledge, no second-hand knowledge, and the city doesn't exactly have a Houston-like reputation for this sort of thing. Feel free to let us know your thoughts in the comments - we're willing to change this score if we're wrong
Drinking: 4 Bonus point for being the home of the official beer sponsor of MLS...even if some members of the MLS Rumors² staff consider Budweiser to be a "beer-like product" and not an actual beer. We also vaguely call buying yards of beer at some random bar down at the Landing...yards are good.
Climate: 3 Meh.

Final Score: 18 out of 30. Meh.

Grading the Expansion Candidates III: Atlanta

Really?

Really?

I mean...Really!?!

Atlanta? The consensus choice for worst major pro sports city in the U.S.?

Really?

Okay, fine, let's do this:

Dining: 3 Nothing special, but some good restaurants all the same.
Entertainment: 3 Again, nothing special.
Site Seeing: 2 This would be a 1, but then we remembered Detroit.
"Entertainment": 4 Bonus point for being the home of the notorious Gold Club.
Drinking: 2 No Sunday sales...and it took Georgia until 2005 to repeal their ridiculous 6% ABV limit on beer (thereby sparing Atlanta a 1 in this category).
Climate: 2 Don't we have enough hot and humid cities in MLS already?

Final Score: 16 out of 30...so yeah, really!?!

Grading the Expansion Candidates II: Miami

¡Bienvenido a Miami! Time for part II of our series grading the candidate cities for the next round of MLS expansion...up next: Miami!






Dining: 4 (this would be a 5, but there *are* a handful of better cities in North America for eating) - MLS Rumors² loves itself some Cuban food...plus, even if you keep it Kosher (thereby ruling out just about anything Cuban, with all that porky goodness), there are plenty of options in South Florida.
Entertainment: 5 Seriously, you gonna argue with this?
Site Seeing: 3 I know, I know, beaches, woot!1! However, if you're not the beachy type, well, too bad, no soup for you.
"Entertainment": 5 We've heard stories. You people know who you are.
Drinking: 3 Yes, lots of clubs...but those are way over-priced, so no bonus point - plus, the club scene is reflected in the Entertainment score, above. Also, if you're not a fan of mojitos and such, you're not exactly in drinkin' heaven.
Climate: 3 Repeat after me: MLS is a summer league.

Final score: 23 out of 30. Suck on it, Ottawa. Suck. On. It. Will Canada have the last laugh? Stay tuned!

Grading the Expansion Candidates I: Ottawa

Is MLS Heading Back to the Great White North?

Welcome to our new feature! Over the course of the coming week, MLS Rumors² will be grading the seven candidate cities for the next round of MLS expansion! Rather than re-hash the same old factors (ownership group, "soccer tradition", etc.) that all the other websites have already examined (yeah, we were on vacation...), we're taking a look at some factors that matter to us. Each factor is evaluated on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being teh bestest and 1 being teh suck.

First up: Ottawa!

Dining: 3 There's some good food in Ottawa, but it's no Toronto.
Entertainment: 2 Meh.
Site Seeing: 2 Look kids! Peace Tower, Junior Parliament!
"Entertainment": 4 (Rumor has it that there are some quality establishments in the area. MLS Rumors² hasn't the slightest idea what our sources were talking about, but there you have it.
Drinking: 4 Bonus point for the drinking age of 19.
Climate: 4 Remember, MLS is a summer league...where would you rather road trip to in July: Dallas, Houston, DC, or...Ottawa? Think about it.

Final Score: 19 out of a possible 30. Not bad, Ottawa...but will it be good enough? Stay tuned, folks.