Dan Bickley

azcentral sports

The Valley is a rough place for sports teams. The market is oversaturated. Fans are transient and fickle. The fight for discretionary income is like pulling cactus needles. Dreams of startup teams soon become tombstones.

Phoenix Rising FC will be the exception. They are going to thrive in America’s most unforgiving, underdeveloped big-league sports town.

They are going to make the desert feel a little more global.

“This is not a niche sport,” said owner Berke Bakay. “This is the biggest sport in the world. I know it’s going to work. We are in the right place at the right time.”

Phoenix Rising declared their intentions by signing Chelsea legend Didier Drogba, 39, who became the sport’s first player/owner. It was a masterstroke that ended up in a New York Times headline and all but guarantees Phoenix will win an MLS expansion bid later this year.

Their strategy has been flawless from the very beginning, a team that is checking all the right boxes. Their stadium location is perfect, enough to make Coyotes fans weep with envy. The ownership group has money, diversity and a dash of stardom. They are riding the swell of a sport that feeds Millennial cravings, where three million kids are actively playing the game, up from 100,000 in 1970.

RELATED: Didier Drogba, eyeing MLS expansion, joins Phoenix Rising FC

Soccer is a winning bet. Robert Sarver knows it and couldn’t buy a team fast enough. The Rising ownership group includes a baseball player (the Dodgers’ Brandon McCarthy), a rock star (Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz) and a world-famous DJ/musician/producer (Diplo).

I tried frantically to reach Diplo, who is hailed as an ubiquitous musical force who can move the culture. I wanted to know what he sees in soccer, and I wanted to really impress my 15-year-old daughter. Except nobody seemed quite sure what continent he was on at the moment.

“We have very strong ownership and a global star that had 12 other options, and this one passed his due diligence,” Bakay said. “MLS put (the Drogba signing) on its Facebook page. There was a headline that no other expansion candidate is in better position to get the MLS. I took a picture of that.

“We put up a (temporary) stadium in 52 days, sold it out twice, and our attendance is up 384 percent from the team we purchased. It shows the right vision. We’re playing in a place that was empty for 20 years. We got in and cut a deal in two months.”

Traditional sports fans have long scoffed at the impending soccer revolution in America. The game was ridiculed for its lack of scoring, a sport stigmatized as a safe haven for kids who weren’t good enough to play football, basketball or baseball. That perception is tired and wrong.

An analytical study conducted by ESPN ranked the world’s 20 most popular athletes. The list included eight soccer players, three basketball players and zero baseball players. It reflects how a new generation loves soccer for the global connection and because many grew up playing the game.

“It’s not an orphan sport anymore,” Bakay said.

McCarthy believes there's an organic appeal to soccer, a sport that a new generation can claim as their own.

“Part of soccer for me – and I think part of the appeal for other people – is that it's sort of counterculture,” McCarthy said. “It's something you can familiarize with. It's still sports and you understand sports, but it's not covered ad-nauseam here in the States. It's not debated on 'First Take.' It's not just the same blathering nonsense that you get with other sports.

“So, for me, that was nice. I could just get my soccer a la carte. I could go to any site I wanted, but I got it my own way without it being force-fed to me. That's how I kind of fell in love with it and it just became a passion. Joining this was a natural.”

MORE ON PHOENIX'S MLS CHANCES: Is an Arizona MLS franchise closer to reality?

Skeptics will wonder if the Rising can successfully transition from a temporary facility that seats 6,200 to a new stadium that will house over 20,000 fans. After all, the Diamondbacks posted a rousing Opening Day victory, only to draw less than 15,000 people for the third game of the season against the rival Giants.

Bakay said the Rising are considering two different stadium models: a traditional domed stadium and an open stadium that would use sail-like structures to provide shade. The latter would be tricky for a MLS season that runs from March to October, playing right into the teeth of our ghastly summers. It would also be the best way to convey a communal feeling that sets the sport apart.

“The MLS has three big requirements,” Bakay said. “They need the right market, the right ownership group and the right stadium solution. Phoenix is the largest market out of the 12 cities that are bidding for an MLS team. From a population standpoint, and more important the expected population, we have the largest Latino population. We have a large population of Millennials and the largest television market. And there’s no other MLS team within 300 miles, with a big gap between Dallas and Los Angeles. So it fits perfectly here.”

Many long-forgotten sports franchises arrived in the Valley believing in a mirage. Not this team. Their ownership is making all the right moves. The market is full of under-served soccer fans. Matches staged at University of Phoenix Stadium have played to spectacular crowds. And in a bizarre twist, their biggest challenge will be the opposite of our struggling NHL franchise.

The Coyotes’ ill-fated stadium location in Glendale is an impediment, if not a deal-breaker, for the team’s heavy fan base in the East Valley. Can the Rising get west-side soccer fans to come the other direction?

Based on early results and the shrewd maneuvering of management, the answer seems obvious, a team that will likely begin MLS play in 2020.

The soccer revolution isn’t coming to Arizona. It’s already here.

Nick Piecoro contributed to this report. Reach Bickley at dan.bickley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8253. Follow him on twitter.com/dan.bickley. Listen to “Bickley and Marotta” weekdays from 12-2 p.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.