Here in Bmore, they took away rec centers saying bigger & better ones were supposed to come but that never happened.
They took away public pools, parks, & basketball courts also. I think they even took away some play grounds (that were dilapidated). Fat chance of getting fustal cages.
City just doesn't have the infrastructure to do that.
It's a miracle they got lacrosse here but it's doing relatively well. The lily white programs they play don't like them though... They be getting their ***es handed to them & they don't like it.
They did build some new schools though...
I know this isn't footy, but a great feature on an HBCU school here in Bmore Morgan St & their lacrosse program in the 70s....
I think footy would florish in Bmore & other inner cities. You don't need to amount of equipment like other sports. US soccer is really missing a huuuuuge opportunity by not growing the sport in the inner cities.
Some clubs here in MD can cost upwards of $8k-$12k & that doesn't include travel to other states or countries for tournament play. I know a black kid, great player who got a scholarship to a big time program here in Bmore... He got plenty of playing time but the parents (white of course) who were paying top dollar were getting pissed that "this black kid" was getting more playing time. These "parents" weren't really friendly with the kid's parents either. After a year, they moved back to their former club, which is a great club, just not upper echelon like the one he was on.
They say institutional racism isn't in American footy, but I beg to differ.