CASINOS in & near CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA - 2021 up-to ...

TL;DR: Man with too much time on his hands goes deep down the rabbit hole on a concept this sub already didn’t seem that enthusiastic about. If you really want to skip ahead, CTRL+F “verdict” and it’ll get you there.
Two days ago, u/MrPhillyj2wns made a post asking whether USL should launch a D1 league in order to compete in Concacaf. From the top voted replies, it appears this made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
But I’ve been at home for eight weeks and I am terribly, terribly bored.
So, I present to you this overview of what the USL pyramid might look like if Jake Edwards got a head of steam and attempted to establish a USSF-sanctioned first division. This is by no means an endorsement of such a proposal or even a suggestion that USL SHOULD do such a thing. It is merely an examination of whether they COULD.
Welcome to the Thunderdome USL Premiership
First, there are some base-level assumptions we must make in this exercise, because it makes me feel more scientific and not like a guy who wrote this on Sunday while watching the Belarusian Premier League (Go BATE Borisov!).

1. All D1 teams must comply with known USSF requirements for D1 leagues (more on that later).
   
2. MLS, not liking this move, will immediately remove all directly-owned affiliate clubs from the USL structure (this does not include hybrid ownerships, like San Antonio FC – NYCFC). This removes all MLS2 teams but will not affect Colorado Springs, Reno, RGVFC and San Antonio.
   
3. The USL will attempt to maintain both the USL Championship and USL League One, with an eventual mind toward creating the pro/rel paradise that is promised in Relegations 3:16.
   
4. All of my research regarding facility size and ownership net worth is correct – this is probably the biggest leap of faith we have to make, since googling “NAME net worth” and “CITY richest people” doesn’t seem guaranteed to return accurate results.
   
5. The most a club can increase its available seating capacity to meet D1 requirements in a current stadium is no more than 1,500 seats (10% of the required 15,000). If they need to add more, they’ll need a new facility.
   
6. Let’s pretend that people are VERY willing to sell. It’s commonly acknowledged that the USL is a more financially feasible route to owning a soccer club than in MLS (c.f. MLS-Charlotte’s reported $325 million expansion fee) and the USSF has some very strict requirements for D1 sanctioning. It becomes pretty apparent when googling a lot of team’s owners that this requirement isn’t met, so let’s assume everyone that can’t sells to people who meet the requirements.
   

(Known) USSF D1 league requirements:
- League must have 12 teams to apply and 14 teams by year three
- Majority owner must have a net worth of $40 million, and the ownership group must have a total net worth of $70 million. The value of an owned stadium is not considered when calculating this value.
- Must have teams located in the Eastern, Central and Pacific time zones
- 75% of league’s teams must be based in markets with at a metro population of at least 1 million people.
- All league stadiums must have a capacity of at least 15,000
The ideal club candidate for the USL Premiership will meet the population and capacity requirements in its current ground, which will have a grass playing surface. Of the USL Championship’s 27 independent/hybrid affiliate clubs, I did not find one club that meets all these criteria as they currently stand.
Regarding turf fields, the USSF does not have a formal policy regarding the ideal playing surface but it is generally acknowledged that grass is superior to turf. 6 of 26 MLS stadiums utilize turf, or roughly 23% of stadiums. We’ll hold a similar restriction for our top flight, so 2-3 of our top flight clubs can have turf fields. Seem fair?
Capacity is going to be the biggest issue, since the disparity between current requirements for the second-tier (5,000) and the first tier (15,000) is a pretty massive gap. Nice club you have there, triple your capacity and you’re onto something. As a result, I have taken the liberty of relocating certain (read: nearly all) clubs to new grounds, trying my utmost to keep those clubs in their current markets and –importantly--, ensure they play on grass surfaces.
So, let’s do a case-by-case evaluation and see if we can put together 12-14 teams that meet the potential requirements, because what else do you have to do?
For each club’s breakdown, anything that represents a chance from what is currently true will be underlined.
Candidate: Birmingham Legion FC
Location (Metro population): Birmingham, Ala. (1,151,801)
Time zone: Central
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Legion Field (FieldTurf, 71,594)
Potential owner: Stephens Family (reported net worth $4 billion)
Notes: Birmingham has a pretty strong candidacy. Having ditched the 5,000-seater BBVA Field for Legion Field, which sits 2.4 miles away, they’ve tapped into the city’s soccer history. Legion Field hosted portions of both the men’s and women’s tournaments at the 1996 Olympics, including a 3-1 U.S. loss to Argentina that saw 83,183 pack the house. The Harbert family seemed like strong ownership contenders, but since the death of matriarch Marguerite Harbert in 2015, it’s unclear where the wealth in the family is concentrated, so the Stephens seem like a better candidate. The only real knock that I can think of is that we really want to avoid having clubs play on turf, so I’d say they’re on the bubble of our platonic ideal USL Prem.
Candidate: Charleston Battery
Location (Metro population): Charleston, S.C. (713,000)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Johnson Hagood Stadium (Grass, ~14,700)
Potential owner: Anita Zucker (reported net worth $3 billion)
Notes: Charleston’s candidacy isn’t looking great. Already disadvantaged due to its undersized metro population, a move across the Cooper River to Johnson Hagood Stadium is cutting it close in terms of capacity. The stadium, home to The Citadel’s football team, used to seat 21,000, before 9,300 seats on the eastern grandstand were torn down in 2017 to deal with lead paint that had been used in their construction. Renovation plans include adding 3,000 seats back in, which could hit 15,000 if they bumped it to 3,300, but throw in a required sale by HCFC, LLC (led by content-creation platform founder Rob Salvatore) to chemical magnate Anita Zucker, and you’ll see there’s a lot of ifs and ands in this proposal.
Candidate: Charlotte Independence
Location (Metro population): Charlotte, N.C. (2,569, 213)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Jerry Richardson Stadium (Turf, 15,314)
Potential owner: James Goodnight (reported net worth $9.1 billion)
Notes: Charlotte ticks a lot of the boxes. A move from the Sportsplex at Matthews to UNC-Charlotte’s Jerry Richardson stadium meets capacity requirements, but puts them on to the dreaded turf. Regrettably, nearby American Legion Memorial Stadium only seats 10,500, despite a grass playing surface. With a sizeable metro population (sixth-largest in the USL Championship) and a possible owner in software billionaire James Goodnight, you’ve got some options here. The biggest problem likely lies in direct competition for market share against a much better-funded MLS Charlotte side due to join the league in 2021.
Candidate: Hartford Athletic
Location (Metro population): Hartford, Conn. (1,214,295)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Pratt & Whitney Stadium (Grass, 38,066)
Potential owner: Ray Dalio (reported net worth $18.4 billion)
Notes: Okay, I cheated a bit here, having to relocate Hartford to Pratt & Whitney Stadium, which is technically in East Hartford, Conn. I don’t know enough about the area to know if there’s some kind of massive beef between the two cities, but the club has history there, having played seven games in 2019 while Dillon Stadium underwent renovations. If the group of local businessmen that currently own the club manage to attract Dalio to the table, we’re on to something.
Candidate: Indy Eleven
Location (Metro population): Indianapolis, Ind. (2,048,703)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Lucas Oil Stadium (Turf, 62,421)
Potential owner: Jim Irsay (reported net worth of $3 billion)
Notes: Indy Eleven are a club that are SO CLOSE to being an ideal candidate – if it weren’t for Lucas Oil Stadium’s turf playing surface. Still, there’s a lot to like in this bid. I’m not going to lie, I have no idea what current owner and founder Ersal Ozdemir is worth, but it seems like there might be cause for concern. A sale to Irsay, who also owns the NFL Indianapolis (nee Baltimore) Colts, seems likely to keep the franchise there, rather than make a half-mile move to 14,230 capacity Victory Field where the AAA Indianapolis Indians play and expand from there.
Candidate: Louisville City FC
Location (Metro population): Louisville, Ky. (1,297,310)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Lynn Family Stadium (Grass, 14,000, possibly expandable to 20,000)
Potential owner: Wayne Hughes (reported net worth $2.8 billion)
Notes: I’m stretching things a bit here. Lynn Family stadium is currently listed as having 11,700 capacity that’s expandable to 14,000, but they’ve said that the ground could hold as many as 20,000 with additional construction, which might be enough to grant them a temporary waiver from USSF. If the stadium is a no-go, then there’s always Cardinal Stadium, home to the University of Louisville’s football team, which seats 65,000 but is turf. Either way, it seems like a sale to someone like Public Storage founder Wayne Hughes will be necessary to ensure the club has enough capital.
Candidate: Memphis 901 FC
Location (Metro population): Memphis, Tenn. (1,348,260)
Time zone: Central
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Liberty Bowl Stadium (Turf, 58,325)
Potential owner: Fred Smith (reported net worth $3 billion)
Notes: Unfortunately for Memphis, AutoZone Park’s 10,000 seats won’t cut it at the D1 level. With its urban location, it would likely prove tough to renovate, as well. Liberty Bowl Stadium more than meets the need, but will involve the use of the dreaded turf. As far as an owner goes, FedEx founder Fred Smith seems like a good local option.
Candidate: Miami FC, “The”
Location (Metro population): Miami, Fla. (6,158,824)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Riccardo Silva Stadium (FieldTurf, 20,000)
Potential owner: Riccardo Silva (reported net worth $1 billion)
Notes: Well, well, well, Silva might get his wish for top-flight soccer, after all. He’s got the money, he’s got the metro, and his ground has the capacity. There is the nagging issue of the turf, though. Hard Rock Stadium might present a solution, including a capacity of 64,767 and a grass playing surface. It is worth noting, however, that this is the first profile where I didn’t have to find a new potential owner for a club.
Candidate: North Carolina FC
Location (Metro population): Durham, N.C. (1,214,516 in The Triangle)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Carter-Finley Stadium (Grass/Turf, 57,583)
Potential owner: Steve Malik (precise net worth unknown) / Dennis Gillings (reported net worth of $1.7 billion)
Notes: We have our first “relocation” in North Carolina FC, who were forced to trade Cary’s 10,000-seat WakeMed Soccer Park for Carter-Finley Stadium in Durham, home of the NC State Wolfpack and 57,583 of their closest friends. The move is a whopping 3.1 miles, thanks to the close-knit hub that exists between Cary, Durham and Raleigh. Carter-Finley might be my favorite of the stadium moves in this exercise. The field is grass, but the sidelines are artificial turf. Weird, right? Either way, it was good enough for Juventus to play a friendly against Chivas de Guadalajara there in 2011. Maybe the move would be pushed for by new owner and medical magnate Dennis Gillings, whose British roots might inspire him to get involved in the Beautiful Game. Straight up, though, I couldn’t find a net worth for current owner Steve Malik, though he did sell his company MedFusion for $91 million in 2010, then bought it back for an undisclosed amount and sold it again for $43 million last November. I don’t know if Malik has the juice to meet D1 requirements, but I suspect he’s close.
Candidate: Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
Location (Metro population): Pittsburgh, Penn. (2,362,453)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Heinz Field (Grass, 64,450)
Potential owner: Henry Hillman (reported net worth $2.5 billion)
Notes: I don’t know a ton about the Riverhounds, but this move in particular feels like depriving a pretty blue-collar club from its roots. Highmark Stadium is a no-go from a seating perspective, but the Steelers’ home stadium at Heinz Field would more than meet the requirements and have a grass surface that was large enough to be sanctioned for a FIFA friendly between the U.S. WNT and Costa Rica in 2015. As for an owner, Tuffy Shallenberger (first ballot owner name HOF) doesn’t seem to fit the USSF bill, but legendary Pittsburgh industrialist Henry Hillman might. I’m sure you’re asking, why not the Rooney Family, if they’ll play at Heinz Field? I’ll tell you: I honestly can’t seem to pin down a value for the family. The Steelers are valued at a little over a billion and rumors persist that Dan Rooney is worth $500 million, but I’m not sure. I guess the Rooneys would work too, but it’s a definite departure from an owner in Shallenberger who was described by one journalist as a guy who “wears boots, jeans, a sweater and a trucker hat.”
Candidate: Saint Louis FC
Location (Metro population): St. Louis, Mo. (2,807,338)
Time zone: Central
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Busch Stadium (Grass, 45,494)
Potential owner: William DeWitt Jr. (reported net worth $4 billion)
Notes: Saint Louis has some weirdness in making the jump to D1. Current CEO Jim Kavanaugh is an owner of the MLS side that will begin play in 2022. The club’s current ground at West Community Stadium isn’t big enough, but perhaps a timely sale to Cardinals owner William DeWitt Jr. could see the club playing games at Busch Stadium, which has a well established history of hosting other sports like hockey, college football and soccer (most recently a U.S. WNT friendly against New Zealand in 2019). The competition with another MLS franchise wouldn’t be ideal, like Charlotte, but with a big enough population and cross marketing from the Cardinals, maybe there’s a winner here. Wacko idea: If Busch doesn’t pan out, send them to The Dome. Sure, it’s a 60k turf closed-in stadium, but we can go for that retro NASL feel and pay homage to our nation’s soccer history.
Candidate: Tampa Bay Rowdies
Location (Metro population): Tampa, Fla. (3,068,511)
Time zone: Eastern
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Raymond James Stadium (Grass, 65,518)
Potential owner: Edward DeBartolo Jr. (reported net worth $3 billion)
Notes: This one makes me sad. Despite having never been there, I see Al Lang Stadium as an iconic part of the Rowdies experience. Current owner Bill Edwards proposed an expansion to 18,000 seats in 2016, but the move seems to have stalled out. Frustrated with the city’s lack of action, Edwards sells to one-time San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo Jr., who uses his old NFL connections to secure a cushy lease at the home of the Buccaneers in Ray Jay, the site of a 3-1 thrashing of Antigua and Barbuda during the United States’ 2014 World Cup Qualifying campaign.
Breather. Hey, we finished the Eastern Conference teams. Why are you still reading this? Why am I still writing it? Time is a meaningless construct in 2020 my friends, we are adrift in the void, fueled only by brief flashes of what once was and what may yet still be.
Candidate: Austin Bold FC
Location (Metro population): Austin, Texas (2,168,316)
Time zone: Central
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Darrel K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium (FieldTurf, 95,594)
Potential owner: Michael Dell (reported net worth of $32.3 billion)
Notes: Anthony Precourt’s Austin FC has some unexpected competition and it comes in the form of tech magnate Michael Dell. Dell, were he to buy the club, would be one of the richest owners on our list and could flash his cash in the new first division. Would he have enough to convince Darrel K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium (I’m not kidding, that’s its actual name) to go back to a grass surface, like it did from ’96-’08? That’s between Dell and nearly 100,000 UT football fans, but everything can be had for the right price.
Candidate: Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
Location (Metro population): Colorado Springs, Colo. (738,939)
Time zone: Mountain
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Falcon Stadium (FieldTurf, 46,692)
Potential owner: Charles Ergen (reported net worth $10.8 billion)
Notes: Welcome to Colorado Springs. We have hurdles. For the first time in 12 candidates, we’re back below the desired 1 million metro population mark. Colorado Springs actually plans to build a $35 million, 8,000 seat venue downtown that will be perfect for soccer, but in our timeline that’s 7,000 seats short. Enter Falcon Stadium, home of the Air Force Academy Falcons football team. Seems perfect except for the turf, right? Well, the tricky thing is that Falcon Stadium is technically on an active military base and is (I believe) government property. Challenges to getting in and out of the ground aside, the military tends to have a pretty grim view of government property being used by for-profit enterprises. Maybe Charles Ergen, founder and chairman of Dish Network, would be able to grease the right wheels, but you can go ahead and throw this into the “doubtful” category. It’s a shame, too. 6,035 feet of elevation is one hell of a home-field advantage.
Candidate: El Paso Locomotive FC
Location: El Paso, Texas
Time zone: Mountain
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Sun Bowl (FieldTurf, 51,500)
Potential owner: Paul Foster (reported net worth $1.7 billion)
Notes: God bless Texas. When compiling this list, I found so many of the theoretical stadium replacements were nearly serviceable by high school football fields. That’s insane, right? Anyway, Locomotive don’t have to settle for one of those, they’ve got the Sun Bowl, which had its capacity reduced in 2001 to a paltry 51,500 (from 52,000) specifically to accommodate soccer. Sure, it’s a turf surface, but what does new owner Paul Foster (who is only the 1,477th wealthiest man in the world, per Forbes) care, he’s got a team in a top league. Side note: Did you know that the Sun Bowl college football game is officially, through sponsorship, the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl? Why is it not the Frosted Flakes Sun Bowl? Why is the cereal mascot the promotional name of the football game? What are you doing, Kellogg’s?
Candidate: Las Vegas Lights FC
Location: Las Vegas, Nev. (2,227,053)
Time zone: Pacific
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Allegiant Stadium (Grass, 61,000)
Potential owner: Sheldon Adelson (reported net worth $37.7 billion)
Notes: Sin City. You had to know that the club that once signed Freddy Adu because “why not” was going to go all out in our flashy hypothetical proposal. Thanks to my narrative control of this whole thing, they have. Adelson is the second-richest owner in the league and has decided to do everything first class. That includes using the new Raiders stadium in nearby unincorporated Paradise, Nevada, and spending boatloads on high profile transfers. Zlatan is coming back to the U.S., confirmed.
Candidate: New Mexico United
Location: Albuquerque, N.M.
Time zone: Mountain
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Isotopes Park – officially Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park (Grass, 13,500 – 15,000 with expansion)
Potential owner: Maloof Family (reported net worth $1 billion)
Notes: New Mexico from its inception went deep on the community vibe, and I’ve tried to replicate that in this bid. The home field of Rio Grande Cr---I’m not typing out the whole thing—Isotopes Park falls just within the expansion rules we set to make it to 15,000 (weird, right?) and they’ve found a great local ownership group in the Lebanese-American Maloof (formerly Maalouf) family from Las Vegas. The only thing to worry about would be the metro population, but overall, this could be one of the gems of USL Prem.
Candidate: Oklahoma City Energy FC
Location: Oklahoma City, Okla. (1,396,445)
Time zone: Central
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (Grass, 13,066)
Potential owner: Harold Hamm (reported net worth $14.2 billion)
Notes: There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow and it says it’s time to change stadiums and owners to make it to D1. A sale to oil magnate Harold Hamm would give the club the finances it needs, but Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (home of the OKC Dodgers) actually falls outside of the boundary of what would meet capacity if 1,500 seats were added. Could the club pull off a move to Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma – home of the Oklahoma Sooners? Maybe, but at 20 miles, this would be a reach.
Candidate: Orange County SC
Location: Irvine, Calif. (3,176, 000 in Orange County)
Time zone: Pacific
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Angels Stadium of Anaheim (Grass, 43,250)
Potential owner: Arte Moreno (reported net worth $3.3 billion)
Notes: You’ll never convince me that Rangers didn’t choose to partner with Orange County based primarily on its name. Either way, a sale to MLB Angels owner Arte Moreno produces a fruitful partnership, with the owner choosing to play his newest club out of the existing Angels stadium in OC. Another baseball conversion, sure, but with a metro population of over 3 million and the closest thing this hypothetical league has to an LA market, who’s complaining?
Candidate: Phoenix Rising FC
Location: Phoenix, Ariz. (4,857,962)
Time zone: Arizona
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): State Farm Stadium (Grass, 63,400)
Potential owner: Ernest Garcia II (reported net worth $5.7 billion)
Notes: We’re keeping it local with new owner and used car guru Ernest Garcia II. His dad owned a liquor store and he dropped out of college, which is making me feel amazing about my life choices right now. Casino Arizona Field is great, but State Farm Stadium is a grass surface that hosted the 2019 Gold Cup semifinal, so it’s a clear winner. Throw in Phoenix’s massive metro population and this one looks like a lock.
Candidate: Reno 1868 FC
Location: Reno, Nev. (425,417)
Time zone: Pacific
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Mackay Stadium (FieldTurf, 30,000)
Potential owner: Nancy Walton Laurie (reported net worth $7.1 billion)
Notes: The Biggest Little City on Earth has some serious barriers to overcome, thanks to its low metro population. A sale to Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie and 1.6 mile-move to Mackay Stadium to split space with the University of Nevada, Reno makes this bid competitive, but the turf surface is another knock against it.
Candidate: Rio Grande Valley FC
Location: Edinburg, Texas (900,304)
Time zone: Central
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): McAllen Memorial Stadium (FieldTurf, 13,500 – 15,000 with expansion)
Potential owner: Alice Louise Walton (reported net worth $45 billion)
Notes: Yes, I have a second straight Walmart heiress on the list. She was the first thing that popped up when I googled “McAllen Texas richest people.” The family rivalry has spurred Walton to buy a club as well, moving them 10 miles to McAllen Memorial Stadium which, as I alluded to earlier, is a straight up high school football stadium with a full color scoreboard. Toss in an additional 1,500 seats and you’ve met the minimum, despite the turf playing surface.
Candidate: San Antonio FC
Location: San Antonio, Texas (2,550,960)
Time zone: Central
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Alamodome (FieldTurf, 64,000)
Potential owner: Red McCombs (reported net worth $1.6 billion)
Notes: I wanted to keep SAFC in the Spurs family, since the franchise is valued at $1.8 billion. That said, I didn’t let the Rooneys own the Riverhounds based on the Steelers’ value and it felt wrong to change the rules, so bring on Clear Channel co-founder Red McCombs. Toyota Field isn’t viable in the first division, but for the Alamodome, which was built in 1993 in hopes of attracting an NFL franchise (and never did), San Antonio can finally claim having *a* national football league team in its town (contingent on your definition of football). Now if only we could do something about that turf…
Candidate: San Diego Loyal SC
Location: San Diego, Calif. (3,317,749)
Time zone: Pacific
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): SDCCU Stadium (formerly Qualcomm) (Grass, 70,561)
Potential owner: Phil Mickelson (reported net worth $91 million)
Notes: Yes, golf’s Phil Mickelson. The existing ownership group didn’t seem to have the wherewithal to meet requirements, and Phil seemed to slot right in. As an athlete himself, he might be interesting in the new challenges of a top flight soccer team. Toss in a move to the former home of the chargers and you might have a basis for tremendous community support.
Candidate: FC Tulsa
Location: Tulsa, Okla. (991,561)
Time zone: Central
Stadium (playing surface, capacity): Skelly Field at H.A. Chapman Stadium (FieldTurf, 30,000)
Potential owner: George Kaiser ($10 billion)
Notes: I’m a fan of FC Tulsa’s rebrand, but if they want to make the first division, more changes are necessary. A sale to Tulsa native and one of the 100 richest men in the world George Kaiser means that funding is guaranteed. A move to Chapman Stadium would provide the necessary seats, despite the turf field. While the undersize population might be an issue at first glance, it’s hard to imagine U.S. Soccer not granting a waiver over a less than a 10k miss from the mark.
And that’s it! You made it. Those are all of the independent/hybrid affiliates in the USL Championship, which means that it’s time for our…
VERDICT: As an expert who has studied this issue for almost an entire day now, I am prepared to pronounce which USL Championships could be most ‘ready” for a jump to the USL Prem. A reminder that of the 27 clubs surveyed, 0 of them met our ideal criteria (proper ownership $, metro population, 15,000+ stadium with grass field).
Two of them, however, met almost all of those criteria: Indy Eleven and Miami FC. Those two clubs may use up two of our three available turf fields right from the outset, but the other factors they hit (particularly Silva’s ownership of Miami) makes them difficult, if not impossible to ignore for the top flight.
But who fill in the rest of the slots? Meet the entire 14-team USL Premier League:
Hartford Athletic
Indy Eleven
Louisville City FC
Miami FC
North Carolina FC
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
Tampa Bay Rowdies
Saint Louis FC
San Antonio FC
New Mexico United
Phoenix Rising FC
Las Vegas Lights FC
Orange County SC
San Diego Loyal SC
Now, I shall provide my expert rationale for each club’s inclusion/exclusion, which can be roughly broken down into four categories.
Firm “yes”
Hartford Athletic: It’s a good market size with a solid stadium. With a decent investor and good community support, you’ve got potential here.
Indy Eleven: The turf at Lucas Oil Stadium is no reason to turn down a 62,421 venue and a metro population of over 2 million.
Louisville City FC: Why doesn’t the 2017 & 2018 USL Cup champion deserve a crack at the top flight? They have the market size, and with a bit of expansion have the stadium at their own SSS. LCFC, you’re in.
Miami FC, “The”: Our other blue-chip recruit on the basis of ownership value, market size and stadium capacity. Yes, that field is turf, but how could you snub Silva’s chance to claim victory as the first division 1 club soccer team to play in Miami?
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC: Pittsburgh sacrificed a lot to be here (according to my arbitrary calculations). Their market size and the potential boon of soccer at Heinz Field is an important inclusion to the league.
Saint Louis FC: Willie hears your “Busch League” jokes, Willie don’t care. A huge market size, combined with the absence of an NFL franchise creates opportunity. Competition with the MLS side, sure, but St. Louis has serious soccer history and we’re willing to bet it can support two clubs.
Tampa Bay Rowdies: With a huge population and a massive stadium waiting nearby, Tampa Bay seems like too good of an opportunity to pass up for the USL Prem.
Las Vegas Lights FC: Ostentatious, massive and well-financed, Las Vegas Lights FC is everything that the USL Premier League would need to assert that it didn’t intend to play second fiddle to MLS. Players will need to be kept on a short leash, but this is a hard market to pass up on.
Phoenix Rising FC: Huge population, big grass field available nearby and a solid history of success in recent years. No brainer.
San Diego Loyal SC: New club? Yes, massive population in a market that recently lost an absolutely huge sports presence? Also yes. This could be the USL Prem’s Seattle.
Cautious “yes”
New Mexico United: You have to take a chance on New Mexico United. The club set the league on fire with its social media presence and its weight in the community when it entered the league last season. The market may be slightly under USSF’s desired 1 million, but fervent support (and the ability to continue to use Isotopes Park) shouldn’t be discounted.
North Carolina FC: Carter-Finley’s mixed grass/turf surface is a barrier, to be sure, but the 57,000+ seats it offers (and being enough to offset other fully-turf offerings) is enough to put it in the black.
Orange County SC: It’s a top-tier club playing in a MLB stadium. I know it seems unlikely that USSF would approve something like that, but believe me when I say “it could happen.” Orange County is a massive market and California likely needs two clubs in the top flight.
San Antonio FC: Our third and only voluntary inclusion to the turf fields in the first division, we’re counting on San Antonio’s size and massive potential stadium to see it through.
Cautious “no”
Birmingham Legion FC: The town has solid soccer history and a huge potential venue, but the turf playing surface puts it on the outside looking in.
Memphis 901 FC: Like Birmingham, not much to dislike here outside of the turf playing surface at the larger playing venue.
Austin Bold FC: See the other two above.
FC Tulsa: Everything’s just a little bit off with this one. Market’s slightly too small, stadium has turf. Just not enough to put it over the top.
Firm “no”
Charleston Battery: Small metro and a small potential new stadium? It’s tough to say yes to the risk.
Charlotte Independence: A small new stadium and the possibility of having to compete with an organization that just paid over $300 million to join MLS means it’s best for this club to remain in the USL Championship.
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC: When a club’s best chance to meet a capacity requirement is to host games at a venue controlled by the military, that doesn’t speak well to a club’s chances.
El Paso Locomotive FC: An undersized market and a turf field that meets capacity requirements is the death knell for this one.
Oklahoma City Energy FC: Having to expand a baseball field to meet requirements is a bad start. Having to potentially play 20 miles away from your main market is even worse.
Reno 1868 FC: Population nearly a half-million short of the federation’s requirements AND a turf field at the hypothetical new stadium makes impossible to say yes to this bid.
Rio Grande Valley FC: All the seat expansions in the world can’t hide the fact that McAllen Memorial Stadium is a high school stadium through and through.
Here’s who’s left in the 11-team Championship:
Birmingham Legion FC
Charleston Battery
Charlotte Independence
Memphis 901 FC
Austin Bold FC
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
El Paso Locomotive FC
Oklahoma City Energy FC
Reno 1868 FC
Rio Grande Valley FC
FC Tulsa
With MLS folding the six affiliates it has in USL League One, the league is a little bit thin (especially considering USSF’s requirements for 8 teams for lower level leagues), but seems definitely able to expand up to the necessary numbers with Edwards’ allusions to five new additions this year:
Chattanooga Red Wolves SC
Forward Madison FC
Greenville Triumph SC
Union Omaha
Richmond Kickers
South Georgia Tormenta
FC Tucson
Format of Assorted Leagues – This (like everything in this post) is pure conjecture on my part, but here are my thoughts on how these leagues might function in a first year while waiting for additional expansion.
USL Premier – We’ll steal from the 12-team Scottish Premiership. Each club plays the other 11 clubs 3 times, with either one or two home matches against each side. When each club has played 33 matches, the top six and bottom six separate, with every club playing an additional five matches (against each other team in its group). The top club wins the league. The bottom club is automatically relegated. The second-bottom club will enter a two-legged playoff against someone (see below) from the championship playoffs.
USL Championship -- 11 clubs is a challenge to schedule for. How about every club plays everyone else three times (either one or two home matches against each side)? Top four clubs make the playoffs, which are decided by two-legged playoffs. The winner automatically goes up. I need feedback on the second part – is it better to have the runner-up from the playoffs face the second-bottom club from the Premiership, or should the winner of the third-place match-up get the chance to face them to keep drama going in both playoff series? As for relegation, we can clearly only send down the last place club while the third division is so small.
USL League One – While the league is so small, it doesn’t seem reasonable to have the clubs play as many matches as the higher divisions. Each club could play the other six clubs four times – twice at home and twice away – for a very equitable 24-match regular season, which would help restrict costs and still provide a chance to determine a clear winner. Whoever finishes top of the table goes up.
And there you have it, a hypothetical look at how the USL could build a D1 league right now. All it would take is a new stadium for almost the entire league and new owners for all but one of the 27 clubs, who wouldn’t feel that their property would be massively devalued if they got relegated.
Well that’s our show. I’m curious to see what you think of all of this, especially anything that you think I may have overlooked (I’m sure there’s plenty). Anyway, I hope you’re all staying safe and well.

I like seeing all of these stories about 2000's underground poker. I wrote about my time in the 2000's running an underground poker ring in Charleston South Carolina.
Here is what was going on in South Carolina during that time. This was a real cat and mouse game with the police that turned into a poker game all on its own.
https://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/4065-poker-players-fight-the-law-in-south-carolina
Chapter 1
https://imgur.com/gzs3uYJ
Every other morning as I iron my shirt for work I am reminded of the secret life that I had lived for nearly two years. See, an eight foot by four foot felt poker table with a four inch raised padded rail, automatic card shuffler, and chip drop-slot makes for a great ironing board. In a pinch it also serves many other, equally as important purposes. I name them off in my head as I flatten the collar of my favorite blue shirt; a large desk for history homework, a hard table for an impromptu interrogation, a soft platform for sweaty sex, and of course a poker table for making money. I put on my shirt, still hot from the iron and I roll up my sleeves as I walk down the stairs from the third story of my townhouse. The October air in Charleston is cool and feels good against the heat on the back of my neck. I slide into my shiny red BMW, nearly two years old now, but paid for. The smell of raw leather still lingers in the interior, and seems stronger on mornings like these. I instinctively push the button on the center console to lock the doors before I grab the gear shift and put the car into reverse. I don’t know why BMW doesn’t make them lock automatically. I pull out onto the highway and spin the tires, listening to the 330 horsepower wake up the car. I’m not in a hurry or anything, in fact I haven’t been in a hurry for quite some time. It’s just that it is sometimes important to make it look like you are in a rush, and sometimes it is just because it feels damn good to go fast.
“Folks don’t get wealthy by being in a hurry.” I remember lecturing to Kevin in one of the first months of our two year, million dollar endeavor. He was always in a hurry. I still stand by my saying, though I should have replaced “wealthy” with “anything they want.” Folks don’t get anything they want by being in a hurry. Oprah Winfrey did not get rich by rushing into having a talk show with a book club, and presidents don’t get into the White House by throwing their name on the ticket the minute the idea pops into their head. No. Oprah started by landing a co-anchor position on the local nightly news. And Ronald Reagan started as a B-list actor before becoming president of the Screen Actors Guild, Governor of California, and finally President of the United States. People don’t get married by flying to Vegas minutes after meeting each other, or after a one night stand. Well, maybe they do, but this is why it doesn’t work. They slow down and date for years, are engaged for another and then they get married, in a church, surrounded by their families and are then taken off in a horse drawn carriage to their honeymoon. That’s how you fucking do it.
It is an uneventful two hour drive on highway 17 going north. Myrtle Beach isn’t really busy this time of year, but the traffic is still just as bad. It’s a good thing that I am not in a hurry. I pull into my VIP spot with almost an hour to spare, the parking lot is empty except for a few cars spattered in the first two rows. An old minivan with curtains on the windows, a Ford Escort with a spare tire rusting on the rear axle, and an old Chevy truck with a child’s car seat in the passenger side, just to name a few. The owners of which are probably already claiming their lucky seats. Fucking suckers. They all probably rushed to get here too and onto the boat. I stay in my car for another 15 minutes and wait, listening to the ‘pumped’ playlist on my iPod, my car’s premium speakers matching perfectly to the acoustics of the interior space. I think just for a second about pulling out of my space and driving further up the coast to Atlantic City. I would probably be too exhausted from the drive by the time I got there and would sleep in the hotel until late at night. That is when the real whales come out. Here on the 11 am Myrtle Beach casino boat the closest thing to a whale is the 350 pound mother of five glued to a stool in front of the “Wheel of Fortune” slot machine. I don’t leave, instead I open my glove box and stuff six 100 dollar bills into my pants pocket, any more or any less would be unnecessary, at least on a Wednesday. I walk slowly up to the path and say hi to Dave as I pass up onto the ramp. I don’t need to show any ID to board.
“Good Morning, Ryan.” Dave says as he straightens his back and pulls the daily newspaper from his stand, handing it to me. They all know me by name; I know most of theirs too, but not them. Which is alright, that makes us even. I pass through the halls and by the sad looking, unlit slot machines. Some people have already claimed their seat with a jacket and their lucky bucket. I go up to the tallest portion of the ship, the poker room, and head out onto the deck. No one else is out here, probably due to the two flights of stairs and the fact that there is a free buffet on the floor below. I sit down in one of the cushioned white chairs and pull the first cigar of the day out of my shirt pocket. I light it with my silver Zippo that is etched with a royal flush and blow out the puff of smoke as I put my feet up on the metal rail. It’s going to be another half hour before we undock and another half hour after that while we float out into international waters. I know from experience that this cigar will last exactly one hour, paired with two Grey Goose and Red Bulls it is truly the breakfast of champions. At this time most people in the eastern half of the United States are sipping on their second cup of coffee while sitting on their uncomfortable office chairs in their grey or brown cubicles. I think about this just as land disappears from sight over my polished black Italian shoes. That could be me, making 40k a year in an unhappy office; only looking forward to the weekends for freedom. My college degree is somewhere in a box already. I graduated in May, majoring in business management with a 4.0 GPA. My parents were thrilled; their little boy had accomplished something great. They didn’t know. Their little boy hadn’t been a little boy in a long time, and he had already accomplished something so great that he couldn’t even tell them. Fuck a degree, fuck a 4.0. The only reason I had even stayed in school for my last year was because I had nothing better to do, not because I wanted a fucking job. My parents think that I have submitted my application to nearly every business in Charleston. “Sorry mom, this economy just isn’t a good one for a freshly graduated 23 year old. They want someone with more experience.” I’m not sure how true this is, because I haven’t even made my resume, let alone actually gave it to a company. I was too scared of getting hired. So I don’t travel back to Ohio to visit them that often. I couldn’t lie to my mother right to her face. I could lie to nine strangers around a piece of felt, and they would believe me, but to my mom, no. I sometimes think that if she knew the basics of poker, she could beat me.
My coworkers are all already around the table when the signal is called for the first hand to be dealt. I take the last good drag off of my cigar and tossed it over the two decks below into the water and grab my Vodka Red Bull and headed inside. The scene has changed dramatically from an hour ago. I slowly walk to the open chair on the right end of the table in seat three and pull 400 dollars out as I sit down. I surveyed the table while walking up. Most people have 200 dollars; one guy has about 350 dollars with his wallet next to his stack on the table. Sometimes it’s good to be the last to sit. I know exactly how much to put down to top everyone yet not be too robust and scare everyone off when I am in a hand. Mr. Wallet is not afraid to lose every bit of that 350, and I have to have that covered. The locals know me – and my play. They know exactly what I am doing – they think they know exactly what I am doing, I’m not worried about them. The good thing about casinos is the vacationers; rotating money. None of them know me or how I play, but I know all of them and exactly how they play. Well, at least the 90 percent of them that play the same damn way. This is especially true of the ones with dark sunglasses, or earphones, or their lucky card covers. They watch too much T.V. The dealer knows me by name and after taking my frequent player card he slides over my stacks of chips. Mostly white-one dollar and red-five dollar chips, but a few are green-twenty five dollar chips. “There you go, Ryan. Good luck” He says, tapping the top of the largest stack. Luck? I don’t know what it is about tapping and poker. I look around the table and catch a glimpse of a sunglassed teenager tapping the rail with a green chip, a fat man with an iPod tapping his knee along with the beat of his music and then the dealer tapping my white chips. And of course the tapping that every player does when they say “check”. I swear if I could block everything else out but the tapping it would sound like some sort of long lonely song. I grabbed my chips and pulled them close to the rail. The sound of chips clanking together is a sound that every poker player knows. It is especially prevalent during the first ten minutes of any game. Most people have been waiting, impatiently, to get those chips, and now they want to feel them in their hands. They want to show off their talent of chip-shuffling, and chip-bouncing, or other hand tricks. I have seen them all. Chip tricks are cheap tricks, who do these fuckers think they are? I can’t resist. I take a stack of three red chips and three white chips and put them side by side. I shuffle them once with perfect form, and then I cut the stack of six into two stacks of three again and shuffle once more. I again put them in two stacks of three and shuffle one last time. When I split them again they are in two perfect stacks of three reds and three whites. I amuse myself by doing this a few more times. No one is watching. They are all busy doing the exact same thing; killing the two minutes while the dealer shuffles the brand new deck of cards. Before I know it I have two cards in front of me and I take a quick peak. 4d9c. Rags, I have a 32 percent chance of catching a pair, and that wouldn’t even help. I probably have less than a 5 percent chance of winning this hand.. “Fold.” I say, tossing my cards into the middle of the table as I slump back into my chair. I’m in no rush.

In the last [History 101]...

2039

Metahuman relations had always been a hot button issue across the globe. These came to an explosive head in Seattle on February 7^th of '39 in a tragic event that became known as The Night of Rage.
To really understand the events surrounding the Night of Rage we have to take a step back and set the scene.
Seattle's Governor at the time was Victor "Vick the Quick" Allenson. Allenson, a former combat biker for the Tacoma Timberwolves, had replaced Governor Kross upon the the latter's retirement from government two years previously. Governor Allenson's campaign billed him as a "human conservative", or what you and I might call a human supremacist. In one of his earliest trideo interviews on the campaign trail he was quoted as saying "Orks and trolls make great offensive combat bikers, but they haven't got the brains for much else." Despite his outspoken views towards metahumanity he still managed to win the election of '36 in a landslide. This sparked a series of protests and sometimes even outright riots in areas of the city with high metahuman populations. Using his newly invested powers, Allenson ordered Lone Star to crack down on the protesters, rioters, and innocent metahumans alike. Unsurprisingly, the Governor's new pogroms did not restore peace to Seattle. Quite the opposite, as for almost eighteen months the city faced increasing terrorist activities from both pro-meta and anti-meta groups alike.
On February 7^th, Allenson mobilized the Seattle Metroplex Guard to round up and "protect" every metahuman they could find. Ostensibly these metahumans were being gathered in the warehouse district of Tacoma to be processed and transported to San Francisco to "improve racial harmony" in the city.
In actuality these metahumans, numbering into the thousands were ripped from their homes, escorted under armed Guard, shoved into dilapidated warehouses along the Tacoma waterfront, and left there. Before long anger and fear turned into hysteria. From one of the warehouses came the sound of screams, an eruption of gunfire, and finally a large explosion. Then more explosions, until the entire waterfront was alight with the flames. The death toll was truly staggering considering the majority of Seattle's metahumans were consolidated in those old warehouses. Many metahumans were able to escape the flames through the cities sewer system, but hundreds died in those warehouses, trapped like animals.
No one can pinpoint exactly who sparked the Night of Rage, but members of a fringe branch of (the already radicalized) Alamos 20,000 known as The Hand of Five were seen in the area just prior to the explosions.
While the waterfront burned and hundreds died the Seattle Metroplex Guard stood by and did nothing.
Once the story broke in the media violence erupted not just throughout the city, but throughout the world. We refer to these events as The Night of Rage, but in actuality the riots and protests lasted for several days, some estimate even into the weeks that followed.
Protestors, the media, and even the Seattle's own United Corporate Court all called for an investigation into the matter, the resignation of all the Governor and the Metroplex Guards that refused to act to save lives and property. The media was particularly hard on governor's administration, and even reported rumours that the Governor himself was a member of The Hand of Five. Despite these accusations and the public outcry, Allenson refused to abdicate his position.
One day earlier, on February 10^th the aforementioned radical humanis policlub Alamos 20,000 used both magical and mundane explosives to destroy the Sears Tower in one of the largest single acts of terrorism in the Sixth World. The Sears Tower came crashing down on the heads of thousands of individuals out on their lunch break. It destroyed several blocks' worth of buildings, streets and sidewalks doing untold billions in damages.
But the damage didn't stop there. Gas lines were ruptured causing the entire Loop area to go up in flames. The Second Chicago Fire was barely averted by a group of mages who managed to contain the fires within the span of an hour. The damage was still done though... by the end of it the death toll reached almost 26,000 individuals.
As if the physical damage wasn't enough Alamos 20,000 made the entire incident appear to be metahuman revenge for the Night of Rage massacre in Seattle. The corporations immediately sealed their corporate 'burbs, excluding metahumanity from their neighborhoods. With the help of City Hall they built a series of projects on the Northside to segregrate metahumanity from the rest of the city. They also built several factories in the area. Ostensibly these were to provide jobs for the displaced metahumans. In reality though they were labor camps where the populace was forced to work long hours for low wages.
The area that was destroyed by the collapse of the Sears Tower were left to rot. Those who could get out did. Those who couldn't tried to eke out a meager existence with no help from their government. All manner of human and inhuman creatures settled in the area. A large ghoul community grew within the area that became known as the Shattergraves. And the ghosts of those who died in that tragedy are said to still roam the streets.
The reason that the Sears Tower was targeted by the policlub was because IBM had acquired it several years earlier during the ASIST Boom. IBM was fairly unique in the Chicago area at the time due to their actual honest to Ghost equal-opportunity hiring practices. In a time when most orks and trolls were seen as only manual laborers, IBM was willing to hire them as programmers and project developers. It's no wonder that Alamos 20,000 saw them as the enemy.
Back in in Seattle, on February 11^th, Governor Allenson was found dead in his office from several gunshot wounds. The mystery surrounding his death was never solved. With the city in flames and the governor murdered, a special gubernatorial election was held. Political analysts of the time believed that Ivar Lindstrom, son of Seattle's first governor Charles C. Lindstrom and current mayor of downtown Seattle, would be the clear victor. Instead, the mayor of Bellevue and relatively unknown, Marliyn Schultz was elected to the position by a surprisingly large margin. Analysts claim, in hindsight, that what won the election for her was that she was one of, if not the, first city official to appeal to the United Corporate Court for aide during the Night of Rage.
Her first act as Governor was to issue an ultimatum to Lone Star; arrest the leaders of the Hand of Five or face a breach of contract lawsuit. This led to a week long manhunt that included countless raids, several shootouts, and countless arrests. This became known as the "Week of Sirens" due to the (allegedly) constant sound of police sirens throughout the city. By the end of the week all of the suspected leaders leaders of the Hand of Five were either dead or awaiting trial.
A little over a month later and on the opposite coast more terrorism reared it's ugly head. On St. Patrick's Day, just weeks after the Night of Rage, a terrorist organization identifying itself as The Knights of the Red Branch "struck a blow for Eire" by detonating a bomb in a popular elven restaurant along the parade route killing two dozen people, and injuring dozens more. The parade quickly fell to general rioting that eventually overtook the entire Boston Metroplex. Residents of different nationalities, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds used the mayhem to strike out against their particular hated group. The civil authorities imposed martial law to quell the riots. But by the time they had achieved their goals hundreds were dead, and hundreds more were injured in the events that became known as Bloody Thursday.
The Knights of the Red Branch claimed that their attack was in revenge for the elven annexation of Ireland, and the creation of Tir na nOg. The Knights, and approximately half of the Irish descended population of Boston at the time, felt that the Sidhe had taken over their ancestral homeland and unlawfully deported lawful citizens of the country. This sentiment was echoed by the metahuman minority of orks, dwarves, trolls, and even the British Isle specific metavariant of trolls, the formorians. It was, and in some quarters still is, believed that the Sidhe wish for Tir na nOg to belong solely to the elves. With every other metatype as second class citizens. While humans are treated with outright hostility, distrust, and no legal rights as citizens.
On June 1^st Fuchi Incorporated hosted the Universal Matrix Specifications Conference in Tokyo. This conference was attended by more than 7,000 humans and metahumans to determine the basic set of standards for Matrix programming. This conference, in conjunction with Villiers' contribution by bringing the portable cyberdeck, launched Fuchi into the forefront of the Matrix Industry. A position that they maintained throughout the rest of Fuchi's "lifespan" as a AAA-rated megacorporation.
A month later on July 5^th in Charleston, South Carolina (CAS) the first case murder to be solved with the assistance of the deceased's ghost is closed by Julius Wren. Wren, a criminologist and thaumaturgist, studied the deceased's actions as a spirit and used that information to bring the serial killer to justice. The arrest and conviction were upheld in court, and Wren's testimony was granted as admissible in open court.
Sometime during the time period above, in London, there was a massive chemical speill on Teeside (aka Teesprawl, locally) that killed more than 70,000 people from nerve gas poisoning. This has widespread effects on the, currently in power, Conservationist Party. The public outcry was the beginning of the end of the Party.
This dome was the target of a terrorist organization called Pan-Europa on August 6^th. P-E released an unknown and previously only theoretical paranormal virus (paravirus) that fed upon the bio-fabric of the London Dome which was under construction at the time. This dome was designed to regulate the environmental conditions surrounding the capital and prevent the sort of poisoning that had occurred in the Teesprawl earlier in the year.
In better times this sort of terrorist action would have strengthened the resolve of the people to support a strong right-wing government like the Conservationist Party. But it came so quickly on the heels of the failure in the Teesprawl that the citizens swung in the other direction completely. The government was lambasted in the media and in the public forum for allowing the ecological situation deteriorate to the point to where the Dome had to be built in the first place. This led to the rise of the Green Party in United Kingdom politics. More on them later.
A week later on August 13^th the African nations of the Cape Republic, the Zulu Nation, Oranje-Vrysraar, and the Trans-Swazi Federation pen an accord that resulted in the creation of the Azanian Confederation. This accord created the largest and strongest industrial nation on the African continent. It was immediately recognized by the UN upon it's formation in 2040 and is an active participant in the Global SIN Registry.
On September 10^th the CAS Senate begins a series of hearings regarding charges of racial prejudice against metahumans and their families. These hearings bring to light that most metahumans living and working in the CAS were living in what amounted to slavery throughout most of the CAS. The NAN immediately issued economic sanctions against the CAS as a means to encourage the nation to reform its views of metahumanity. These sanctions are met with mixed feelings, and it is sometime yet until the metahuman standard of living met parity with the human standards.
Almost a week later on September 16^th, the Western Great Dragon Dunkelzahn met the mysterious Nadja Daviar in Paris at an Alone exhibit. She was soon thereafter selected as Dunkelzahn's newest Voice.
At the time (and even today) little was known about the Estonian elf. Her parents allegedly died during the second VITAS outbreak and she was remanded into state custody. In truth, she pretty much raised herself in the streets of a country that was, at best, indifferent to the those who were "stricken" by UGE. She officially left the state's custody in 2030 just ahead of the Russian invasion that kicked off the EuroWars. In reality she was one of many who exploited the black/grey market of the time to amass no small amount of wealth. Her particular stock in trade appeared to be smuggling throughout the region. With her natural charisma, and rumours of magical ability, she was able to escape the streets and enter into high society.
November 15^th brought with it a successful coup in the relatively newly seceded Shaanxi to install a monarchy in place of the military establishment that was in control. Queen Michelle Chou was crowned Queen of Shaanxi on this date.
Chou was half Chinese and half British, and that combination sowed the seeds of her eventual rise to power, and the form that the Shaanxi government eventually took. Chou's father was Chiangsiu Chou, an executive for China's privatized industries and descendant of the last emperor of the Qing dynasty. Her mother was Vanessa Fitzroy, a distant cousin to the Duke of Grafton. When Shaanxi seceded Party loyalist murdered Chiangsiu for allying with the new government, and Fitzroy fled back to England with her daughter in tow.
While in England, Michelle studied to become a barrister and did quite well in that field. She kept ties with several of her fathers associates that had successfully gone underground to escape the military coup. Michelle used her mothers connections to funnel support to the rebels from afar. Eventually she was able to gather enough resources and allies to overthrow the military junta and seize power of Shaanxi completely. She put her legal training to good use and drafted a constitution for the country creating a parliamentary system much like England's and other European powers. To thank her for her support and assistance the newly formed government of Shaanxi crowned her Queen.

2040

After the busy year that was 2039 it seems that major events in 2040 took awhile to start up. The first truly significant event was on April 7^th in the unlikely location of the Athabaskan Council Nation. This NAN member-state officially recognized sasquatches as a sapient species and granted them the same inalienable rights that all metahumans are entitled to in their legal system. They are one of the first nations to do so, and the only one to do so within the first half of this decade.
Throughout the spring of 2040 the Univerzita Karlova (Charles University) shifted their Arcane Studies program from a strictly hermetic training program, as was prominent throughout the world at the time, to a cross-traditional approach at the behest of one of their instructors, the Western Great Dragon Schwartzkopf. This approach to magical training garnered the University quite a bit of acclaim, and was the foundation of Schwartzkopf's Unified Theory of Magic. That's further down the line though, so we'll touch on that later.
The Middle East at this time was embroiled in a war between Iran and Iraq. The two nations were warring to come a decision as to who had the proper right to rule the Shi'ite Muslims throughout the region. The Kurds had recently declared independence to stay out of the fight, and that brought Turkey and Syria into the fray. Quite simply the Middle East was in chaos. Everyone was fighting everyone else.
This set the stage for Badr al-Din Ibn Eisa and his Islamic Unity Movement to broker a treaty between Iraq and Iran on July 18^th. This treaty guaranteed that the Kurds would remain within a newly created Iraqi Federation, and appeased Iran enough to stem the tide of war in the region. The Islamic Unity Movement became a power player in the region throughout the next decade based on this original showing.
It wasn't all beer and skittles for Iraq though. The newly formed government quickly went broke. Without funds they weren't able to keep Kurdistan from leaving the Federation three years later. But, like a shot from the blue, Saeder-Krupp Heavy Industries stepped in to assist the Iraqi Federation. Before long S-K had control of the last oil fields in the Middle East, thereby cinching their position as the dominant petroleum producing corporation in the world. This helped boost the AAA corporation to the the top of the Corporate Court due to everyone else's reliance on S-K's oil production.
Two days after the Iran-Iraq Treaty, on July 20^th, a famous mage by the name of Martin de Vries began a series of one-man vampire hunts throughout Europe. These early hunts became the basis for his eventual book Shadows at Noon, which sold roughly six million copies world wide. But it was the beginning of his semi-autobiographical "fictional" novels starring vampire hunter Darren Cross. More on Cross as de Vries later though...
Back in the Emerald City on September 10^th groundbreaking began on the Renraku Archology.
During the fall of 2040 BTL (better than life) usage skyrocketed throughout Korea. This trend continued for the rest of the year, but then suddenly changed direction due to a number of awareness programs initiated by several different groups. Chief among these groups is the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.
The UK's Conservationist Party took their final hit on October 15^th when ork journalists on Channel 7's "Medicine Bag" uncovered evidence that the government had encouraged the Adams-Hoffman Corporation's infamous Project 42-20. This project, sanctioned by the Conservationist Party, was a fifteen year long top secret project to manipulate the gene pool of the British populace in order to discover how to control the goblinization process. Over the period of a decade and a half the project had secretly crippled, mutilated, and generally decimated the south London housing estates. Adams-Hoffman had secretly dispersed their testing agent into crowded areas causing unexpected mutations, spontaneous abortions, the deterioration of internal organs, and the destruction of the host's immune system.
One particularly nasty transmission method was applied to Generation Epsilon/Alpha 16. The government inserted the gene-virus into free milk that they were giving out to school children!
Fifteen days after "Medicine Bag's" fateful (and final) episode the citizen of Brixton, Camberwell and New cross took to the streets and rioted. The rising tide of violence made it all the way to the Tower Bridge where the local constabulary had blockaded the bridge to protect the crossing into Adams-Hoffman's London headquarters. During the rioting nineteen people, later dubbed the Lambeth Martyrs, were killed and the Tower Bridge as well as the Thames Wharf shopping mall were badly damaged. The riots continued for several more days until the police, and eventually the military quelled the rebellion.
But the rioters went underground and came back up with automatic weapon and asymmetric terrorist tactics. The Lambeth Martyrs hit Waterloo and Victoria Stations and the Bond Street Station mall killing almost a hundred people. Several more attacks came quickly on the heels of those. The most famous of which was the infamous raid on Dulwich Village which killed seventy-four people, including an ex-prime minister.
The government declared a "medical emergency" and created the Lambeth Containment Zone, colloquially known as "the Squeeze", which arose as a countermeasure to the public's taking up of arms against the government in response to Project 42-20. The efforts of the government to restore law and order have only been partially successful, and the "state of emergency" still exists in the Squeeze to this day.
On November 6^th the UCAS elected Carl Preston to become President of the United Canadian American States while the CAS elected Joseph Alexander as President of the Confederated American States.
December 12^th the New Horizons corporation came under scrutiny for its Superkids project overseen by CEO Paul Louberge when one of the test subjects commits suicides. Investigations into the matter reveal striking similarities between Superkids and Project 42-20. Superkids however sought to genetically manipulate favorable traits into children below a certain again. This extensive genetic manipulation was only the tip of the iceberg though, as it was discovered that there was also substantial physical, mental, and emotional abuse used to punish subjects who were not performing up to New Horizons projected expectations. The Superkids project is eventually shut down later in the month.
President Elect Alexander selected several prominent metahumans for posts in his Cabinet. He used the inclusion of these metahumans as leverage to convince the NAN to lift some of its economic sanctions and provide the CAS with some much needed economic relief.
Christmas Day in a Connecticut, UCAS casino started with a bang. More precisely it ended with one. The casino, built on the site of a former Indian Reservation was hit with a magical explosion of unknown origin that destroyed a part of the building, killed eighteen people, and wounded dozens more. Eventually a group called Warpath claimed responsibility for the attack.
Only two years down and this post is already getting long. I'll do up another one of these soon and try to use up the character limit in the future so we can condense [History 101] into as few posts as possible. I only got about halfway through this one. But it's been forever, and this is a good enough start to get me back on track.

References!!!

• The Sixth World Almanac pp. 57, 59
• Seattle 2072 p. 30
• New Seattle pp. 25-27
• Shadowrun: Third Edition p. 32
• The Neo-Anarchist's Guide to North America pp. 103-104
• Bug City pp. 34-35
• Target: UCAS pp. 37-39, 99, 79-80
• London Sourcebook p. 20-22, 109-110
• Shadows of Europe p. 192, 75
• Street Legends pp. 148-149, 140-141
• Shadows of Asia p. 35, 94, 184