If this was the case, why did the Irvine City Council agenda state, when describing the proposed Los Dos operating model as follows: eighteen games for LA Galaxy II, ZERO games for professional sports teams, 102 games for community use?
I am no legal scholar, but I know what ‘ZERO games for professional teams’ means and it shouts EXCLUSIVE arrangement, contrary to the statement by LA Galaxy.
Irvine City Council manager Oliver Chi, in an attempt to clarify the city’s position, said, “we have kept OCSC and their representatives in the loop on the decision-making process.”
If this statement from Mr. Chi was factual, why would more than one OCSC Front Office representative roll their eyes and another state simply, ‘that’s bulls***?
Now let’s back up a little bit to examine what we, as fans, have been made of aware.
A year, or so, ago Irvine sent out a request for a proposal about operating Championship Stadium. Orange County Soccer Club submitted a proposal promptly.
Then they waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Finally, after an extended wait, OCSC was informed the proposal was being shelved for the time being.
The team sent an invite asking season ticket holders and the County Line Coalition to arrive early on July 30 to share what had been happening with the city of Irvine. It was the initial call to action on this matter.
Friday, August 5th, County Line Coalition Founding member, Blaine Jenks announced the following via our discord server:
“You will be receiving an email from the club, but they wanted to share it with us first. There is a city council meeting on Tuesday 8/9 starting at 4 pm where they are discussing the proposal. Part of that meeting is discussing an option where they award LA Galaxy primary tenant status for their II team next season. (They did not submit a proposal but obviously have some influence behind closed doors) The council didn’t notify us that this was on the agenda, a fan of the club saw it and let the club know. If you can find a way, please come out in OC attire and let our presence be known.”
News of this spread faster than a wildfire in Santiago Canyon. Support for OCSC poured in from across the United States. New Mexico United Team Owner Peter Trevisani tweeted his support:
Former Orange County Soccer Club fan favorite Aodhan Quinn said, “If you look at what Orange County is doing it’s great for lower league soccer in America and it’s great for soccer, in general, in America,” he added, regarding Championship Stadium, “I had a great 3 years here. I loved it and I loved the fans.”
Supporters groups from around the country voiced their support of OCSC, including fans of LA Galaxy and LA Galaxy 2. Let’s be honest though, LA Galaxy 2 (even when fans were allowed in the stadium to watch their games) couldn’t draw more than a smattering of attendees. If they can’t get fans to come to Carson from LA, how do they think they are going to fans to come all the way down to Orange County?
Phoenix Rising Support Group (Bandidos) member Alexander Shaddock, on LA Galaxy (owned by multi-billion-dollar corporation AEG), seemingly trying to evict OCSC from their home, “from our perspective, it’s bullying.”
Shannon Rakovsky, wife of Goal Keeper Patrick Rakovsky said, “This (Championship Stadium) is Orange County (Soccer Clubs) home. We’ve been welcomed here by so many. If it gets taken away, it just becomes harder to grow the community.”
I believe I can speak for all fans of Orange County Soccer Club when I say, we want to stay at Championship Stadium. But, if we can’t watch games there, we’ll go wherever the team goes. A high school pitch. A cow pasture converted into a soccer field. We don’t care. We will be there! We will sing! We will shout! We will light off smoke bombs when we score (assuming it isn’t a fire hazard in the cow pasture.)
We love you and where you go, we’ll follow
#ForCounty