The Cleveland City Stars were an American professional soccer team based in Cleveland, Ohio , United States. Founded in 2006, the team played in the USL First Division (USL-1), the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid in 2009. The club folded soon after the 2009 season.
20-669: City Stars may refer to: Cleveland City Stars , a former association football club in Ohio FC City Stars , an association football club in Lahti, Finland Nairobi City Stars , an association football club in Kenya Oxford City Stars , an ice hockey team in England Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
40-527: A half-time segment highlighting the team's weekly inner-city coaching and life-lessons program. On April 6, 2009, the City Stars announced a new deal with SportsTime Ohio to air 12 home games. Glen Duerr returned and was joined by two new TV commentators, Mark Zimmerman and Steve Bell, former A-League (USL-1) and MLS player. Bell also did play-by-play for three matches on Fox Soccer Channel . SportsTime Ohio FanDuel Sports Network Great Lakes
60-552: A new naming rights partner for the FSN channels. Sinclair announced the new Bally Sports branding for the channels on January 27, 2021. On March 31, 2021, coinciding with the start of the 2021 Major League Baseball season , SportsTime Ohio was rebranded as Bally Sports Great Lakes , with all other former Fox Sports Networks also rebranded as "Bally Sports" accompanied by a regional description appropriate for each network. The first live sporting event to air on Bally Sports Great Lakes under
80-601: A payment to the Cleveland Guardians . On April 5, 2023, Major League Baseball , on behalf of the Guardians, filed an emergency motion asking the bankruptcy judge to order Diamond to pay the Guardians fully or give its media rights back to the MLB. Diamond argued that because of cord-cutting the contract rate for the media rights of the teams was too high. A hearing on the matter was set for May 31, 2023. As an interim, on April 19,
100-546: Is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV , as well as outside Ohio on AT&T U-verse . FanDuel Sports Network Great Lakes was launched on March 12, 2006, as SportsTime Ohio ; it was founded by the family of Cleveland Indians owner Larry Dolan , becoming the second regional sports network in the Cleveland area, after Fox Sports Ohio (which launched in February 1989 as SportsChannel Ohio). SportsTime Ohio assumed
120-689: Is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group , and operates as an affiliate of FanDuel Sports Network . The channel, which is a sister network to FanDuel Sports Network Ohio , broadcasts statewide coverage of professional, collegiate and high school sports events throughout northern Ohio , including the Cleveland area. FanDuel Sports Network Great Lakes is available from most cable providers in Northeast Ohio and select providers in other portions of Ohio (including Columbus ), Northwest Pennsylvania , and extreme Western New York . It
140-538: The Charlotte Eagles in the tenth game of the season. They ended the regular season undefeated at home, and clinched the second seed for the USL-2 play-offs, where they progressed to the semi-final, and lost to eventual champions Harrisburg 1–0 after extra time. The team's success continued in 2008 as they finished the regular season unbeaten at home. City posted a 10–3–7 record, which proved good enough for third place in
160-505: The FanDuel Sports Network ; on October 18, 2024, Diamond officially announced the rebranding, which will take effect October 21. Under the agreement, FanDuel will have the option to take a minority equity stake of up to 5% once Diamond Sports exits bankruptcy. The branding will be downplayed within programming related to high school sports. FanDuel Sports Network Great Lakes held the exclusive regional cable television rights to
180-676: The Bally banner was the opening-day coverage of the Indians visiting the Tigers on April 1, which was preceded up by the Indians Live pregame show. On February 15, 2023, Diamond Sports Group, the owner of Bally Sports Great Lakes, failed to make a $ 140 million interest payment, instead opting for a 30-day grace period to make the payment. On March 14, 2023, Diamond Sports Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection . During its bankruptcy, Diamond missed
200-399: The City Stars announced a deal with SportsTime Ohio that saw all of the team's home games aired on the station. Each match aired tape delayed on game night with replays airing on Sundays. Play-by-play and color commentary was provided by Desmond Armstrong , 1994 World Cup TV commentator and former US national team player, and Glen Duerr, a former City Stars player. The broadcast included
220-434: The Indians announced that it would sell SportsTime Ohio to Fox Sports Ohio parent Fox Entertainment Group . The deal was finalized four weeks later on December 28. Fox retained SportsTime Ohio's existing staff despite coming under common ownership with Fox Sports Ohio, with Katie Witham becoming a traveling reporter with the team. Now under new ownership, the network became a member of Fox Sports Networks . In April 2013, at
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#1732845533546240-653: The USL Second Division, and playoff qualification. They faced the Western Mass Pioneers in the quarterfinals and won 4–2. They traveled to Richmond for the semi-final and won 1–0 after extra time. The City Stars hosted the championship game and defeated Charlotte 2–1 for the team's first championship. During 2007 & 2008 season the Cleveland City Stars operated a reserve team that competed against PDL, international & other U23 teams. The program
260-400: The bankruptcy judge ordered Diamond Sports to pay 50% of what the Guardians were owed. On June 1, 2023, after a two day long hearing, the bankruptcy judge ordered Diamond to pay the Guardians fully within five days. On October 16, 2024, it was revealed in a court filing that Diamond had reached a new sponsorship agreement with FanDuel Group , under which it intends to rebrand Bally Sports as
280-653: The beginning of the 2013 Major League Baseball season , SportsTime Ohio transitioned to the Fox Sports branding and imagery, but maintained the SportsTime Ohio branding (following the model of FSN's similar secondary channels Sun Sports , SportSouth , and Prime Ticket ). On December 14, 2017, as part of a merger between both companies, The Walt Disney Company announced plans to acquire all 22 regional Fox Sports networks from 21st Century Fox , including SportsTime Ohio, sister network Fox Sports Ohio, and Fox's 50% stake in
300-466: The campus of Bedford High School in nearby Bedford, Ohio , where they played in 2009. The team's colors were green, black and white. Their final head coach was Rod Underwood . The Cleveland City Stars were founded in 2006 as a member of the USL Second Division and played their inaugural season in 2007. The team found success early on, going undefeated for the first nine games before losing to
320-403: The network and served as its first President. His knowledge of the cable industry served a vital role in the success the network enjoyed while so many other team facilitated network launches failed across the country. Starting off as rivals with Gannett -owned WKYC providing studio operations for the cable channel, the two networks would soon become corporate sisters, when on December 3, 2012,
340-1406: The network's Cincinnati sub-feed. However, on June 27, 2018, the Justice Department ordered their divestment under antitrust grounds, citing Disney's ownership of ESPN . On May 3, 2019, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios (through their joint venture, Diamond Holdings ) bought Fox Sports Networks from The Walt Disney Company for $ 10.6 billion. The deal closed on August 22, 2019, thus putting SportsTime Ohio and Fox Sports Ohio under common ownership with several Sinclair stations in Ohio, which include WSYX / WTTE / WWHO in Columbus, WKRC-TV / WSTR-TV in Cincinnati, WNWO-TV in Toledo , WKEF / WRGT-TV in Dayton , and WTOV-TV in Steubenville, Ohio . The deal also marked Sinclair's entry into Northeast Ohio , where its nearest existing broadcasting properties are WSYX/WTTE/WWHO, WNWO, WTOV and WPGH-TV / WPNT in Pittsburgh . On November 17, 2020, Sinclair announced an agreement with casino operator Bally's Corporation to serve as
360-528: The regional cable television rights to Major League Baseball games involving the Indians from Fox Sports Ohio, which had served as the exclusive local broadcaster of the Indians from 2002 to 2005, when it was majority-owned by Cablevision Systems Corporation (a New York-based company owned by Dolan's brother, Charles ) until an asset trade with then-Fox Sports Net parent News Corporation who also owned 20th Century Fox and Fox News . Jim Liberatore, former President of Fox Sports owned Speed Channel helped start
380-576: The title City Stars . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=City_Stars&oldid=756922876 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Cleveland City Stars The team played its home games at Bearcat Stadium (renamed Middlefield Cheese Stadium for sponsorship purposes ) on
400-523: Was lead and coached by Kent Manson, James Jaggard and Marcelo Galvao. On December 4, 2008 the first team announced that they would compete in the USL First Division for the 2009 season. Soon after the end of the 2009 USL First Division season, the City Stars club folded due to financial issues. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. On April 7, 2008,
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