The same day Louisville City FC announced President Amanda Duffy is moving on to a high-ranking post at the National Womens Soccer League, Chairman John Neace began a more visible role with the club by appearing on the Louisville Coopers’ podcast, Barrel Proof.
During a 53-minute discussion Tuesday night, Neace hit on a number of issues, including the latest on stadium plans, the club’s ownership structure and where LouCity stands on pursuing a spot in Major League Soccer.
Neace said the 25 to 30 owners — his position is at the head of the board — “all realize it’s a journey we’re on, and it’s going to take a few years. The ownership group has stepped back up when we need them to step up.”
As for progress toward a stadium, “We’ve been looking very, very diligently at what’s the best site,” Neace added. “What are other teams doing? That, to me, tells us as much as anything. What makes the most sense long term — not necessarily short term.
“We do have a couple of sites that we’ve narrowed down to. We are pursuing options on those sites. We’re more than 50 percent of the way there on those, so I believe we’ll narrow that fairly quickly now, and that’ll be announced early in (2017).”
Louisville was not among the 10 markets announced last week as expansion candidates for MLS. But, Neace pointed out, the cities included only those that had formally announced bids.
“In my mind anyway, we have to be the best USL franchise,” Neace said. “If we are, I don’t believe MLS can ignore us when the day comes.”
Listen to Neace’s full interview with the Coopers below or at this link: http://bit.ly/2iaeYF1.
