Exactly. Not worrying about MLS is how you get MLS in my opinion. There are still a few morons down here who do nothing but whine about MLS all the time and it's 100% counter-productive to their goal. Meanwhile Orlando has MLS taking a look because they have seen great support in their first year plus. You guys in Tampa, supporters wise, have honestly outclassed us SoFla supporters overall since your first season because you are focusing 100% on the Rowdies. Us F19ers are trying to change that philosophy as we were founded as purely a Fort Lauderdale Strikers supporters group. Whatever division they are in doesn't matter, and whether or not they want to go up doesn't matter. The name on the crest over your heart is what's important, not the logo on the sleeve. (that's what my avatar symbolizes BTW, it's a dig at these idiots down here who openly refuse to support the Strikers because "they have no intention of going to MLS"). Get people excited about the local team in NASL, and the rest of the chips will fall into place eventually. And if they don't, I'm fine with a solid D2 club because in the end, I've had more fun and made more friends at Strikers games in the past year than I ever have at Dolphins/Heat/Marlins/Panthers games combined. Here's hoping for many more years of great Strikers-Rowdies soccer, NASL, MLS or otherwise.
lol...enjoying my neg rep from South Floridians all bothered by my "whining for MLS" comment. yes, many of you down there whine about MLS. This is ********ing fact, not fiction. Neg rep me all you want for posting factual statements.
I don't think any of us Strikers Supporters are disagreeing with you on this thread Speedcake....There is a lot of " Strikers MLS whining" going on. There is a lot of whining going on in every group and every city that wants MLS though. Everyone thinks they deserve to be the next team. Your facts are right though, and we need to change how we are perceived. Most of these whiners aren't even Striker Supporters or go to any of the games, plus all the Miami vs Ft.Lauderdale stuff, so we have a lot of unwanted little side issues that we have to deal with that complicates things and blurs the lines between real Strikers Supporters and MLS diehards who don't care for any local team unless its MLS.
Who cares? Garber did the same thing last year, talks to supporters and says "10k average attendance" yadda-yadda. "stadium downtown" yadda-yadda. "the question of if. not when" yadda-yadda. C'mon man Miami had Barca on it's side and still NO MLS, doesn't matter. We don't whine, we just support local soccer. See ya in the trenches.
For your reading pleasure: http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2012/03/orlando-city-sc-don-garber-mls-expansion.html
Probably the reason is we don't cry and whine and send e-mails to Garber to talk with supporters in Tampa, we are doing it naturally like Portland did. So if Orlando's city council doesn't approve a SSS will Rawlins move the team to a different city?
Ya, I think both Rowdies and Strikers fans need to cease the whining for awhile and focus on improving attendance. As a Rowdies fan, I don't think I can argue that my club deserves a shot at MLS until the team starts to average at least 5k per game for an entire season (I believe last year's attendance was about 3k). Once Tampa and Fort Lauderdale improve their average attendances, I think MLS would want to bring them into the league together as part of their emphasis on regional rivalries. As someone who did not follow MLS for a few years after the Mutiny folded, I can relate to the hard feelings about MLS expressed on here. However, I sincerely believe that Garber has no personal bias against the state. The dude is a CEO who has one motivation, which is money. If we show him there is a market for pro-soccer down here in Florida MLS will come.
I agree about Garber not having personal feelings. I also agree that it'd be best if we put up or shut up regarding attendance and interest, etc. However, attendance isn't the end game. Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, etc weren't blowing the doors off the gates at their lower division games before getting MLS. I think we do have the chance to grow organically ala Portland or Montreal, so that is what the Mob has been focused on doing rather than crying about MLS. Tampa fans DO want MLS and it is fine to say that out loud. It isn't whining. It has been a policy of Ralph's Mob however to just stfu about MLS and focus on the Rowdies and the NASL. We make good fun of our instate rivals for sometimes doing nothing but talk MLS, but honestly at the end of the day if they get MLS and we don't then how should we feel about that? I know alot of people might wish we HAD been more aggressive about asking for MLS. We just want a good league to play in and healthy, exciting crowds and healthy, exciting football to watch. We'd love to have MLS back one day and we'll bust our ass to make that work, too. But none of that will ever happen here if we don't focus on making what we DO have the best it can be and let what happens beyond that just happen.
I agree. I'll just say about the bolded part that MLS these days seems to embrace the importance of regional rivalries, so I don't see MLS letting Fort Lauderdale enter the league with the closest teams being in Houston and D.C. If MLS ever returns to Florida, they will likely establish two Florida teams at once, or bring in a Florida team and Atlanta at the same time.
I think we as Rowdies fans need a big money owner to build us a SSS first to even dream of the possibility of entertaining the thought of MLS back in Tampa. Like Ive mentioned in the Ralph's mob forums: let's win another NASL championship first before we put the cart in front of the horse with MLS Tampa talk. Now, I would want the MLS in Tampa again, but it did leave for a reason. Apparently it is still fresh in the minds of the MLS top brass. But, I'm willing to bet a rich owner throws the enterance fee of, let's say $50 million, then Garbs sings a different tune. Tampa would need this said owner. Let's start saving fellow rowdies fans.
Glazer could of bought both Miami and Tampa and still had a crap load of money left over vs buying MAN U. Glazer would have been a hero in Florida for soccer fans..
Yep. If I were a billionaire shopping for a soccer team right now, I would seriously consider MLS over the EPL or other European leagues. With the cost controls in MLS (plus SUM http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/m-l-s-leading-off-5-big-picture-items/), I believe I could make more money as an MLS owner than I would make as an owner most major European leagues.
Going to do a little mind reading....I take it you are impressed with Tampa's sixth place ranking on this list? Think MLS should plunk down a team in the Bay area with no stadium, no owner, ....and no fan base? Think again. If you take out the Mutiny's numbers, Tampa ranks fourth all time on that list easy...not too far behind New York really. It shows just how special the NASL Rowdies were. And I repeat WERE. The Mutiny was ordinary. IF the Mutiny ever had an actual owner/partner to promote the team, this whole discussion might be moot. The team probably would have succeeded and avoided contraction. Bad break for us Bay area fans it didn't work out that way. Get a life. The MLS ship has sailed. Tampa gets a team, only if someone rich enough comes along and wants to burn the money to buy into the league. That is very unlikely. Not impossible, but unlikely.
Agreed. Tampa Bay only gets an MLS franchise when an ownership group ponies up $70 million for the enterance fee, and $100 million for a stadium. Look, this team did not even sell out its first playoff game in the NASL last season. What makes you think we could possibly fill a hypothetical new stadium with 20,000 seats (or less)? And if you are the ownership group, how do you make a profit when no one shows up? Because we all know, it is about the money. (I don't even understand how Nestor makes a profit now.) Again, I am just being real here. Most will deem me and my posts negative. But I look at both sides because I'm a fair person. Part of me wants the Rowdies to succeed immensely, but the logical, practical other side of me sees that as a business and business owner how do you stay viable when you can't sell out consistently? How do you pull a profit when you don't have your own stadium? And how do you stay relavent went most of your fan base is/are ambivalent and trendy? (not counting us hardcores bc we love soccer). I still think the Rowdies need to win a NASL Championship, sell out ALF and/or the "new stadium" several times over then we should entertain the thought of an MLS team. We need a soccer culture back here again Tampa Bay. All of us have been working on that by going to games, being apart of the mob and so forth. But it is much, much more than that. We need more fans. We need more supporters groups. Most importantly we need the whole community to be behind us. Crawl before you walk. Not run before you crawl.
After reading an article from Inside Minnesota Soccer about the Rowdies, I am impress with stadium improvements and location in downtown next to the water. With Rowdies name, colors and Ralph's Mob, I could see MLS do well in Tampa Bay.
tampa bay doesnt even support their other pro teams, loved seein the rays on a playoff run with half filled stadium
So when did the Rays have a half-filled stadium for playoffs? or are you talking about the midweek games at 1PM?
2011 AL Division Series, games 3 and 4. Not to mention the Bucs have been second-to-last in NFL attendance for a few years now. The Jaguars, who have been the media's favorite butt monkey in regards to crowds (despite outdrawing Chicago's capacity), have outdrawn the Bucs six of the past seven years (only exception being 2009).
So in that vein of thought Lions attendance sucks, who do they compete against? I heard ORL is the new Seattle and Montreal? Is their any doubt that Lions will make the playoffs, I can bet $1000 that Lions will make the playoffs, what a predictable and competitive league
I'm a red sox fan and I founding appalling that game 7 of the alcs I could get tickets outside for $40. I was more shocked to see empty seats that game too. Rays, Bucs and Lightning fans are pretty bad in support. Again, too trendy. Kind of like Miami. They don't support teams down there either as well. Sad.
Well that's the trend in FL at least when you go to a Rowdies game their are more fans of the home team...unlike Yankees and Red Sox at Rays games. But we don't have pro/rel in any of those sports so it doesn't matter. I don't think Rays, Bucs, or Lightning are going anywhere.