Minneapolis City SC is a new high-level amateur team that's beginning play this summer. In some ways, the club — small-time and fan-directed — hopes to fill the gap that's been left by Minnesota United, which is moving on up to the big time and growing out of pro soccer's roots as the Minnesota Thunder.
St. Paul coaching legend Buzz Lagos started the Thunder in 1990 as an amateur all-star team for local players, eventually building the team into an all-conquering second-division professional team. Mismanagement by a new owner caused the Thunder to fold in 2009, and only the efforts of a few — including the team's motivated, involved fan base — kept professional soccer alive in Minnesota.
Minneapolis City is very much trying to tap into that same fan-directed, do-it-yourself spirit. Much like the original version of the Thunder, the team will be all-amateur. The team, which is set up as a nonprofit, is offering fans a chance to become "members," giving them a vote on everything from the team's jersey colors, to fan scarf designs, to the team budget.
The brain trust behind the new squad came from a partnership between two local amateur clubs — Internationals, a longtime powerhouse, and Stegman's Old Boys, a more recent Minnesota Amateur Soccer League entrant. Dan Hoedeman, one of the founders of Stegman's Old Boys, is serving as the team president for the new side and is excited about filling what he sees as a niche that United can no longer fill.
"United's done a great job of raising the profile and the interest level in soccer," he said. "But they can't really act like the old Thunder days. I loved those days; you knew the fans, you knew the coaches, you knew the players. It felt like you were really part of something."
The team is planning to recruit college players who want to retain their NCAA eligibility, as well as high-level amateur players from around the area. Rather than join a nationwide league, which would have been cost-prohibitive from a travel standpoint, the team will be part of the fledgling Premier League of America, which includes 10 other Great Lakes-area amateur clubs in similar situations.
City will play a nine-game schedule this year, including five home games at a yet-to-be-determined site in Minneapolis — and a home-and-home matchup with Milwaukee, a long-dormant Minnesota soccer rival.
More than 80 people turned out to the Local in Minneapolis for the team's logo-unveiling event, so the interest level is clearly there. There's no doubt a few of the team's new voting members will be, like Hoedeman, longtime Minnesota United season-ticket holders that are thrilled to see MLS arrive in Minnesota. The plan for City, though, is aimed at those with nostalgia for the old days, when Lagos could start a local all-star team and defeat all comers.
