Latest news with #expansionteam
Associated Press
7 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
Nick Cushing named coach of expansion Denver Summit in the National Women's Soccer League
DENVER (AP) — Former Manchester City women's coach Nick Cushing has been named head coach of the expansion Denver Summit in the National Women's Soccer League. The Summit, who join the league next season, announced the move on Wednesday. 'Our team will play an attacking form of the game that excites our stadium and makes things difficult for our opponents. We want to create a winning team as well as a great experience for all of Colorado,' Cushing said in a statement. Cushing took over as interim coach at Manchester City in March after Gareth Taylor was fired. He had previously served as head coach of the club from 2013 to 2020, winning the Women's Super League title in 2016 and the FA Cup in 2017. A native of Chester, England, Cushing was also former coach of the men's Major League Soccer club New York City FC from 2022-24. 'In order to be successful right away, you need people that have experienced environments like this, have built organizations, and have had success,' Summit general manager Curt Johnson said. 'Nick brings world-class experience, a passion for player development, and a tactical vision that will excite Summit supporters. He's won major trophies and is the right leader to guide us into our first season and beyond.' Last month, the Denver team announced its name, crest and branding as it ramps up for its first season. The Summit and the expansion Boston Legacy will bring the league to 16 teams. Denver was awarded a franchise last December. The team will play in a temporary home for two seasons before moving to a new 14,500-seat purpose-built stadium in 2028. The club has also broken ground on a training center in Centennial. ___ AP soccer:
New York Times
7 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Is He Baseball's Most Brilliant Owner, or a Failure?
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays joined the American League as an expansion team in 1998 and immediately became an object of ridicule. Playing in a dingy, depressing stadium in six-color uniforms that could have been pajamas, they finished in last place every season but one for a decade — and next-to-last in the other one. By 2008, though, a former options trader named Stuart Sternberg owned the franchise and had hired a cohort of baseball novices to run it. Sternberg tweaked the colors and shortened the nickname to the Rays. And to the surprise of just about everyone, when his Rays arrived at Yankee Stadium for a doubleheader that September, they led their division. Mike Mussina, a right-handed pitcher who was in the final weeks of a Hall of Fame career, started the first game for the Yankees. Nearly all right-handers are more effective against right-handed hitters, so teams usually prefer to send lefties up to bat against them. But Mussina, who would win 20 games that season, was an anomaly: Righties hit significantly better against him than lefties did. 'Everyone knew it about Mussina — they had the numbers — but nobody had the nerve to do anything different,' Sternberg told me. 'We said: 'Look, this is stupid. We shouldn't be putting lefties up against this guy. He's carving them up.'' The lineup that the Rays' manager, Joe Maddon, sent out to face Mussina included only one left-hander and two switch-hitters. Maddon asked the switch-hitters to bat right-handed. 'I haven't hit right-handed against a righty since I was a kid,' one of them, Ben Zobrist, remembers thinking. 'But my manager thinks it will work, so let's go with it.' When Zobrist, an infielder and outfielder who started in the minors with the Houston Astros, arrived at Tampa Bay, he found a low-budget team willing to consider almost anything that might create a competitive edge. It was as if the Rays had taken Billy Beane's 'moneyball' — a concept introduced to baseball fans through Michael Lewis's 2003 book of that name — and stretched it as far as it would go. 'They were looking for different ways to be better so they could compete against the Yankees and the Red Sox,' Zobrist says. 'That was the approach of the whole organization. 'So what if our names aren't as big as the Yankee names? Why can't we figure out something that hasn't been figured out yet?'' In the fifth inning of that game, Zobrist doubled. Then he scored on a single to put the Rays ahead, 5-0. They won that game, and eventually the division. A month later they advanced to their first World Series. A remarkable run followed. Since April 2008, only two teams, the Yankees and the Dodgers, have won more games. At one point, this poorly supported, low-revenue franchise managed to win 860 games over the course of a decade — that is, it averaged 86 wins a season while playing in the same division as the Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays. 'What they do down there, I think, is very special,' says Rocco Baldelli, the Minnesota Twins' manager, who played and coached for the Rays. 'Not just in baseball, but in the world of sports and even business.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Reuters
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Portland working to rekindle Fire brand for WNBA franchise
June 20 - The Portland Fire is set to burn bright in the WNBA again as the identity of the expansion team ready to debut in 2026 begins to take shape. According to Front Office Sports, multiple trademark applications have been filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office with the Portland Fire name. The Fire originally made their debut in the Rose City in 2000, but folded after the 2022 season despite strong support. Portland's WNBA entry went 37-59 in its three seasons with its best campaign resulting in a 16-16 record just before folding. "It was such a great franchise that was supported so well by the community," former Fire head coach Linda Hargrove told Front Office Sports. Hargrove was the only head coach the Fire had in their three seasons. The Golden State Valkyries are making their WNBA debut this season, while the Fire are set to return to the league, technically as an expansion team, alongside the new Toronto Tempo next season. That will give the league 15 teams, one shy of commissioner Cathy Engelbert's stated goal of 16 teams by 2028. --Field Level Media
Washington Post
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
PWHL Seattle taps Steve O'Rourke as the expansion team's first coach
Steve O'Rourke was named coach of the PWHL Seattle expansion team on Friday. The move brings in a newcomer to women's hockey, but someone who is very familiar to the Pacific Northwest having played at Washington State. 'This is something I've thought about since the league was first announced,' O'Rourke said in a statement. 'To now be given the opportunity to work with the best players in the world and be part of a professional league that is thriving both on and off the ice is truly amazing. Being from the West and having played hockey in Washington State, I've seen first-hand how much the game has grown in this region. The passion and support for hockey here is real, and I'm proud to now be part of it in a new way.'
National Post
23-05-2025
- Business
- National Post
Vancouver PWHL team names Princeton coach Cara Gardner Morey as GM
Cara Gardner Morey has been named the first general manager of Vancouver's Professional Women's Hockey League expansion team, adding to a resume that also includes eight years as the head coach at Princeton University and starring as a player with both the ice and field hockey teams at Princeton's Ivy League rival Brown University. Article content The Vancouver squad starts play in the PWHL next fall and will be based out of the Pacific Coliseum. Gardner Morey, 46, who is from Hensall, Ont., will be in charge of finding a head coach and other support staff. There is also an expansion draft June 9 for Vancouver and Seattle, the league's other new team. Article content Each of the existing six clubs can protect only three players initially, so Vancouver and Seattle should have stronger lineups than fans traditionally see from expansion teams. Article content The protected lists for the draft are due June 3. Vancouver and Seattle then each have a five-day window during which they can sign up to five players, which includes both free agents and players left off any protected list. The idea is that the signing period gives players more power to decide on their destination if they think they might be chosen in the expansion draft. Article content Existing teams can protect a fourth player once they have lost two players through either the signing window or the expansion draft. The league hasn't announced whether Seattle or Vancouver will pick first in the draft, but the teams will alternate selections until they both have 12-player rosters. Article content The league is currently wrapping up its second season, with the Minnesota Frost and Ottawa Charge meeting up in the best-of-five championship for the Walter Cup. Article content The league currently owns and operates all the teams. Mark Walter, who is the primary owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, also owns the PWHL. Teams played 30-game regular seasons that began on Nov. 30. Article content Article content Gardner Morey's hiring follows Meghan Turner, who had been been the assistant general manager with the Boston Fleet, being named GM of Seattle. Article content Princeton is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, N.J., and players during Gardner Morey's time there included forward Sarah Fillier and defender Claire Thompson, both members of the Canadian team that won gold at the Beijing 2022 Olympics and were the No. 1 and No. 3 selections in the 2024 PWHL entry draft by the New York Sirens and Minnesota, respectively.
