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• In an annual tradition that has spanned many podcasts, Ian presents the gang with his preseason MLS tiers while John and R.P. critique them. In this first part, they go through the bottom two tiers. Related: Front Porch Discourse: MLS tiers Part II Follow Front Porch Discourse on Twitter: @FPDiscourse….
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• Co-hosts John Lenard and Ian Foster run down the exciting proofs of concept happening between American and Canadian soccer. But first, they quickly hit on a couple of frustrating developments from USL Chicago and D.C. United. Support Soc Takes on Patreon for access to exclusive content and supporter benefits. Click…
• John Lenard, R.P. Kirtland and Ian Foster discuss what the success of the #SavedTheCrew movement means for MLS, U.S. Soccer, sports in America, sports everywhere else, life, the universe and everything in the latest edition of Front Porch Discourse. Support Soc Takes on Patreon for access to exclusive content…
• FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Feb. 8, 2019) — Front Porch Discourse has formed a new partnership with Soc Takes, and has joined the Beautiful Game Network (BGN) as well. Run by co-hosts Ian Foster, John Lenard and R.P. Kirtland, Front Porch Discourse — formerly known as Front Porch Soccer —…
• Cincinnati Soccer Talk’s Nick Seuberling joins co-hosts Kevin Johnston and John Lenard to analyze FC Cincinnati’s roster construction ahead of the club’s first season in MLS. Seuberling also discusses his background in soccer and digital media. Support Soc Takes on Patreon for access to exclusive content and supporter benefits. Click…
• WESTFIELD, Ind. — Co-hosts Kevin Johnston and Nipun Chopra size up the latest colossal news spewing out of Indy Eleven headquarters before venturing on to national and global soccer in Episode 3 of Soc Takes TV presented by Sogility. WATCH HERE Support Soc Takes on Patreon for access to…

• The Audi 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs return this evening with the Seattle Sounders hosting the Portland Timbers to kick off the second legs of the conference semifinals. The three other second legs go down Sunday. Here’s a visual of all the second-leg scenarios: Seattle Sounders vs. Portland Timbers (POR…
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• Justin Ashcraft of Mon Goals and our own Kevin Johnston link up to preview Saturday’s match between Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC and the Indy Eleven. The two also briefly review the clubs’ 2-2 draw on Aug. 29 and size up the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Click the image above to…
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• INDIANAPOLIS — The Indy Eleven made it nine matches unbeaten in a row with a 3-nil victory over New York Red Bulls II on Wednesday evening at Lucas Oil Stadium. Two early tallies by Eugene Starikov and a third right before halftime by Reiner Ferreira carried Indy to three…
• INDIANAPOLIS — Now that September has arrived, the Indy Eleven are gearing up for the USL playoffs, which await in October. Luckily for them, they’re playing some of their most consistent, if unspectacular, soccer of the season. Indy played the Richmond Kickers to a 1-1 draw Saturday night at…
•   The USL season has passed the 75 percent point and we’re into the final weeks of the season. That means the playoff race is heating up! And yet, because of the sheer madness that is the USL, no team has been eliminated from the playoffs yet, and only…
• INDIANAPOLIS — The Indy Eleven and Richmond Kickers battled to a 1-1 draw Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium. The result pushed Indy’s unbeaten streak to eight. Raul Gonzalez opened the scoring for the visitors in just the fifth minute, slotting home a low cross from Austin Yearwood. Dylan…
• INDIANAPOLIS — Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC center back Hugh Roberts shares his thoughts on his side’s 2-2 draw with the Indy Eleven on Aug. 29, 2018. Both clubs are currently in the playoff picture sitting among the top eight in the USL Eastern Conference. Support Soc Takes on Patreon for…

• INDIANAPOLIS — There are no surprises here.  The Indy Eleven have retained a core group of players from last season.  A season which included record goal scoring and a championship run.  Indy Eleven’s head coach Tim Hankinson is a seasoned leader and he is pragmatic with his approach.  There…

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• Welcome once again to Project 50/50, the series in which I initially attempted to find the single best untapped soccer market in each state, which has instead become finding the top two, three or even four markets in some states. You might have noticed that this series hasn’t been…
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• We recently fired off another round of #MerchDay with some help from our friends over at Urban Pitch. #MerchDay is an opportunity for organizations to tweet out links to their online stores so fans can purchase merchandise to support their favorite club, supporters’ group or soccer-related charity. Below are…
• INDIANAPOLIS — The ISC Sports Network unveiled its Top 10 Plays of the Year list from the 2018-19 Indiana high school sports season, and some late-game footy heroics at Michael A. Carroll Stadium captured the top spot. Chesterton High School hoisted the IHSAA Class 3A boys state title over…
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• INDIANAPOLIS — The two-man panel of Kevin Johnston and Nipun Chopra breaks down the USWNT’s run at the World Cup and ditto for the USMNT at the Concacaf Gold Cup. The fellas then round out Episode 8 of Soc Takes TV presented by Union Jack Pub Broad Ripple on…
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• Every so often, we attempt to get #MerchDay trending on Twitter, which is a call to arms to support football clubs and soccer-related entities at all levels by purchasing their merchandise. In no particular order, below is a list of all the recommendations tweeted out during the latest edition…
• U.S. men’s national team manager Gregg Berhalter unveiled his 23-man roster for the upcoming 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup this morning. The tournament begins June 15, with the USMNT’s first match set for June 18 against Guyana in Group D play. The final will be held July 7 at Soldier…
• WESTFIELD, Ind. — Usual suspects Kevin Johnston and Nipun Chopra return to the airwaves with ample U.S. women’s national team, Indy Eleven and FC Cincinnati chatter in Episode 6 of Soc Takes TV presented by Sogility on the ISC Sports Network. WATCH HERE Support Soc Takes on Patreon for…
• INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Futsal and Indy Parks and Recreation have teamed up to offer drop-in futsal every Tuesday evening at Garfield Park from 6-8 p.m. beginning April 30. The weekly futsal games will be held indoors at the park’s Burrello Family Center. It’s $3 at the door to play….
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• John, R.P. and Ian discuss how the Chicago Fire moving back to Soldier Field and rebranding will affect soccer in that market. Then, they talk about the recent failure of the Alliance of American Football (AAF) and why certain startup leagues fail while others, such as where MLS and…
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If you take a look at Cashman Field, the ballpark where Las Vegas Lights FC is set to play in the 2018 USL season, you may notice that it’s rather square. If you have never done such a thing, here’s a visual aid, consisting of a satellite image of Cashman Field from Google Maps. To illustrate just how square this ballpark is, I’ve drawn a 375-foot square with rounded corners, which is colored lime green in this image:

Behold the squareitude!

I hope I’m getting this point across. This is an incredibly quadrilateral ballpark. Significantly more square-shaped than the other ballparks occupied by USL teams. It’s an oddity amongst ballparks.

And soon, it won’t be used for baseball anymore. The Triple-A Las Vegas 51s of the Pacific Coast League are set to move to a new ballpark in nearby Summerlin.

This means that the only full-time tenant of this stadium will be the soccer team.

So, what do I think they need to do at the end of 2018? Reconfigure the ballpark into a neat, unique soccer stadium!

For some inspiration, look no further than Al Lang Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

That stadium was built for baseball back in 1947, and renovated in the same configuration in 1976. The ballpark continued to be used for spring training baseball through 2008, and for other local baseball teams until 2014.

At that time, it looked like this:

Image credit: Dorian Aerial & Architectural Photographics, Inc.

Not a bad looking ballpark! But hardly ideal for soccer. So, in 2015, the Tampa Bay Rowdies reconfigured it to work better as a soccer stadium, and ended up with something unique and wonderful!

Much better.

Isn’t that neat as hell? I think it’s neat as hell. And in this case, I’m correct. It’s neat as hell.

But they’re not finished yet! Tampa Bay put in a bid to join MLS, which includes expanding this stadium even further, to a whopping 18,000 seats, with this weird asymmetrical design that I absolutely love:

This is one of the best stadium designs I’ve ever seen. It’s a modern take on the traditional stadiums built by filling in as much of the available space as possible, and it’s exactly what the next iteration of a stadium build in the 1940s should be. It still has that baseball feeling to it in the center of both stands, and that’s just wonderful.

And so, I propose that the Las Vegas Lights should do the following to Cashman Field after the 51s move out next year: Knock out the right field walls, add some stands, and turn it into a U-shaped grandstand that wraps around the soccer field. It should end up looking something like this:

This allows the team to fit a fully FIFA-compliant 110×80 yard field inside of the stadium, and increases the capacity roughly 64% from 9,334 to somewhere around 14,500. If the team is able to fill the stands during their inaugural season, and become the latest USL success story, I really think they should consider this. Baseball stadiums are almost uniquely American, and repurposing them for soccer leads to some really interesting and distinct stadiums.

I mean, Providence Park in Portland was configured with baseball in mind for literally decades. Check it out:

“OK, John, but shouldn’t you be working on Project 50/50?”

Yes! And I am! I have chapters two and three nearing completion! The first of those will be up at some point in the next 48 hours or so. But since that project takes so much time just researching everything, I figured I’d throw something neat together today.

So, yeah! You heard it here first! The Las Vegas Lights should make that ballpark their permanent home once the 51s move out. Why not?

Follow John on Twitter: @JohnMLTX.

Support Soc Takes on Patreon for access to patron-only Soc Takes Pod episodes, exclusive written content and tier rewards. Click here to become a patron today.

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Photo credit: Aaron Gunyon/Soc Takes

INDIANAPOLIS — There were signs that this decision was coming and other indications that a decision had already been made. Either way, the Indy Eleven will attempt to carry on without the services of Tim Hankinson. His contract was set to expire at the end of this month and no effort had been made to re-sign the white-haired coach with more than 35 years of experience. The Indy Eleven have now had two head coaches and one interim coach in four seasons of NASL play.

Hankinson led the team for the last two campaigns and was a part of some of the greatest moments in team history. Signed in December 2015, Hankinson was partly responsible, along with Peter Wilt, for assembling and leading the most complete squad in the club’s short existence. He took a club from the basement to the league championship game in 11 months, but the sports world has always been about “what have you done for me lately.” Forget about the home unbeaten record last year. Forget about the spring championship last year. Forget about the come-from-behind win against the Cosmos last year. None of that matters now. Indy is in the basement again and finished dead last in the fall season of 2017.

We sure are going to miss that hair and polo. Thanks coach for leading us to a Soccer Bowl apperance last year. @HanksPolo https://t.co/DryYVeByAW

— Coach Hank Fan Club (@CoachHankFanCl) November 28, 2017

Hankinson combines accountability with a no-nonsense approach. He is not afraid of honesty and will always share his victories or his disappointments. Perhaps he is a victim of his own success during the 2016 season. Maybe he is too honest or his standards are too high. Perhaps it was only a matter of time. Hankinson doesn’t have a tremendous reputation for longevity in any one location. Two rounds is about all he gets wherever he goes.

Hankinson is hyper-aware of this fact and had begun making half-serious jokes about his potentially short tenure during last year’s end-of-season awards. “Just wait,” Hankinson joked. “I will hit a bad string of games and they will turn on me.” He said it with a smile but he knew there was truth to it. Was this self-fulfilling talk or or just coincidence from from the 2016 North American Soccer League coach of the year? It seems a long way to fall in such a short amount of time.

Last year’s team ultimately fell a few inches short in a championship game that was bigger than Belson. The score shows a draw and the eventual champions were kept off the board for 120 minutes of play. This year’s team was not up to snuff and Hankinson was never shy about explaining that. Hankinson knows the game. He knows the business. He looks back fondly on his time in Indianapolis. Soc Takes had a chance to give him the exit interview he deserves and he had good things to say about the last two years coaching in Indy.

Photo credit: Trey Higdon/Indy Eleven

“As a coach. As a player. We play for the fans,” Hankinson said. “The bigger the crowd, the higher the level of performance and the excitement and thrill of being in the arena of of competition. When I took the position, it was really with the excitement that the fanfare that I had heard about was the best in the league. Through two years, the highs and the lows, the fans never let us down. They were great, supportive and the best in the league.”

It is impossible to describe the Tim Hankinson era without mentioning the 2016 Spring championship and the 4-1 outburst needed to propel the Eleven to an automatic playoff berth.

“With everything on the line and particularly in front of our home fans, to have to outscore your opponent by three when we were not a team built to go out and just outscore people. We completely adjusted our game plan to play a very high pressure game to force turnovers close to their goal. The fact that the players embraced the change and were able to capitalize. It was a miraculous day and a special day.”

Hankinson continued while describing the moments after the final whistle that signified Indy’s claim to the spring championship and the teams first piece of hardware.

“It was almost disbelief…to see the embracing of players and fans. It was almost tearful hugs. I remember Peter Wilt coming up and giving me a bear hug with tears in his eyes. It had finally happened for this club. Those are emotions that you take with you through your career. Great memories that you can look back on an enjoy the moment.”

There wasn’t as much success in year two. Indy’s rash of injuries seemed unending. There were many factors that played into the team’s poor record of wins and loses, but it was impossible to refute the impact that injuries had.

Photo credit: Aaron Gunyon/Soc Takes

“This year we were a bit unlucky,” said Hankinson. “At one time we had as many as seven starters injured. It always seemed like we had three or four guys out for a long period of time. Colin Falvey started the preseason with surgery. Ben Speas had surgery. Nemanja Vukovic had a bleeding kidney from falling on his back. Eamon Zayed had a broken rib that put him out for long periods of time. Craig Henderson never was able to maintain health. Don Smart had two bouts with injury. We had 5 concussions this year.”

Hankinson never mentioned Justin Braun or the star forward’s season ending ankle surgery in this interview. However, Braun was a legitimate NASL Golden Ball contender and the team’s MVP for 2017. It is hard to know what could have been, but his productivity was missed down the stretch. Braun’s absence forced lineup changes and formations that the team just wasn’t built for. Bruan accumulated seven goals and five assists in only 16 appearances.

Hankinson chose to highlight his thoughts on the city instead. One gets the sense that he wants to leave on a positive note.

“Indianapolis is a great city,” Hankinson said. “And a great sports town. I loved the support from the Mayor on down. The support from all of our fans and fan clubs. Seeing our Indy Eleven flag fly high on top of one of the city’s tallest buildings. Everything about it has been a great experience and I’ll miss Indianapolis.”

But it is onto the next one for the 62-year-old who has coached in a half-dozen leagues on three continents.

“For me, I have already had too much time in the offseason,” said Hankinson. “I am ready to get back to the challenge of a new club and I hope that opportunity will open soon.”

Internal conversations have taken place at the Indy Eleven front offices in order to begin the tough task of finding a suitable replacement. Team president Jeff Belskus will lead the search.

“While the NASL is in limbo, clearly that has an impact on us,” Belskus said. “We are focused on the things we can control. What we can control is the Indy Eleven. We fully expect to play next season. We are going to look for coaching candidates. Indy Eleven has a very positive brand and is viewed as a positive place to be. This is a great community to live in. My expectation is that we will have no shortage of candidates.”

Belskus was asked to clarify what league potential candidates might be coaching in. The question seemed to amuse him as though it was a no-brainer. As if there were no logical options available.

“Well, for now we are a part of the NASL and it will stay that way until either the NASL goes away…”

Have you been in conversations, at all, with other leagues?

Belskus replied, “No I have not.”

Follow Aaron on Twitter: @AGunyon.

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