Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! Well, plenty of media types do it. I was just surprised that a venue announcer in a locale where Spanish is fairly prominent would do it.
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! Another reason to hate baseball! Broward County voted 8 to 1 in favor of destroying Lockhart and supporting the Orioles stadium. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/15619896.htm
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! As the starter of this thread, I remain saddened about the Orioles' plans to demo Lockhart...and for what? 15 Spring Training dates a year... This is ridiculous...(cue the music) I grew up at Lockhart in the 70's, stuck with the various incarnations of soccer in the late 80s/early 90s, celebrated the birth of the Fusion and practically wept at its demise. As a former Broward Schools middle school girls' soccer coach, I dreamed of coaching a game at Lockhart (though we fell one game short on that one!). I've often joked that if I kick off early, my wife can scatter my ashes on the Lockhart pitch (outro music)... I just can't believe that this idea has actually picked up some traction with the city--and we're even supposed to kick in close to 1 mil a year for 30 years in bed tax revenue for the priviledge of having the O's--unbelievable.
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! The Baltimore Orioles probably specifically wanted to tear down Lockhart and made it a point of contention that it had to be torn down. They probably don't want any possibility of anything else going on in that area that isn't directly related to the Os and their stadium, even if it is a minor league soccer team.
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! Another reason to hate baseball! I'm sorry Angelos' douchebaggery has reached Florida fusionmansteve.
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! Lockhart was the shit when the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers were still around. Now it's an old and decrepid stadium that's used mainly for high school football games. The Fusion was dead before it's first game. Why? Because they called themselves Miami and played in Ft. Lauderdale.
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! Some more stories, but with no changes...except soccer promoter Eddie Rodgers did manage to steal some time with Orioles management and tried to convince them to leave Lockhart and build the new Orioles stadium on the other side of the property. We'll see. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/soccer/sfl-sprusnak01oct01,0,7181643.column
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! Well, as we've found out in the DC area, Mr. Angelos and the Orioles management are very willing to lend an ear to differing ideas. And then they just go out and do whatever the hell they want to. If anyone wants to save Lockhart, they ought to join the 'Free the Birds' (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2597721) movement.
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! Just another Salvo in what I predict will become a heated competition in the future between professional Soccer and professional baseball. sad...
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! I bet if soccer fans had actually gone to see Fusion games in any significant numbers, this thread wouldn't exist.
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! Eritrea, You're so predictable...I knew eventually, someone would take an uneducated shot at our 'substandard' attendance. Do some research, you'll see that the 01' numbers (right before contraction) were about the same as a few other franchises...KC, TB, SJ ring a bell? In fact, the numbers were significantly higher than the previous campaign...but the owner took his ball and went home. You might be the last person on these boards who still believes it was 'the fans' that did in the franchise. While you're at it, try and dig up some facts on Kenny Horowitz's documented distaste for the cash calls that single entity ownership requires. Do you know who Ken Horowitz even is? Or what single entity entails from an Investor-Operator's standpoint? Sad. And embarrassing for you.
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! The reality is that attendence isn't all that important at this juncture in MLS. We see SSS being built in markets that have relatively low attendence numbers. Plus, the "announced" attendence numbers are suspect anyway, to say the least ("fabricated" might be a better choice of words). While I think that the improvement of the game in the US is the ultimate goal, the immediate goals for the league is to establish a reliable way to make money. The teams do not make any money, regardless of how many seats are filled (or at least sold) each week.
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! Tampa=gone because no one owned them Miami=gone because someone didn't want to own them any more San Jose=gone because someone could make more with the team playing in Houston Sadly, it had little to do with attendance in any situation. If so, Colorado, New England and Dallas would have been gone long ago.
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! And, the fact that nothing in his post is anything but 100% true is pretty embarassing for you, given your hysterical overreaction to it. Sure, Horowitz bailed on SEM. But, had the team drawn the numbers that they should or could have, there is no reason to think that his opinion of SEM wouldn't have been a bit more forgiving. Not to mention, reduced those cash calls.
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! I'm not sure who SEM is, but Miami Fusion had a dramatic increase in attendance and team play its final season. Simply, Horowitz couldn't handle the "normal" loss that a MLS I/O incurs and no one, including the other I/Os of MLS were willing to step up when Kenny left the Fusion.
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! Thank you SoccerPrime...some people do 'get it' on BigSoccer...maybe you can translate some of this for SYOshoniys...
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! Pretty sad especially because it was re-built for the Miami Fusion in 98. I guess baseball brings in more money than the propsed USL franchise would and there would also be room for another minor league baseball team or at least the high scools, JC's or even Universities can play their too. I'm sure they will find someone to use it. It is sad, however especially for those who remember the NASL's Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. Its almost like killing the memory of Nene Cubiallas, Gerd Muller, George Best and Ron Newman and Gordon Banks. Not to mention Norm Wingert, David Irving and Ken Fogarty.
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! I find it amazing that these communities do not have any real clue about the true sporting "legends" that have appeared in these venues. Ft. Lauderdale is not the only place in the country where these people are overlooked. We should keep our fingers crossed that Lockhart is saved in some fashion. By the way, I "broke in" to Lockhart Stadium in 1979.....long story, but I did climb the fence, along with all of the NASL San Jose Earthquakes, that year. The team was scheduled to practice, but there was no one there to let everybody in, so over the fence we went.
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! No you are ritght. I'm thinking of Norm Piper. Norm Wingert played gk for the Philly Atom's in the early 70's.
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! Another reason to hate baseball! Ah. Don't you mean Devilos? Par for the course.
I would think that another potential ally in a "Save Lockhart" campaign would be Florida Atlantic University's football program. They're a Division-I school (Sun Belt Conference) and currently play their home games at Lockhart. I'm surprised they haven't weighed in on the matter, since they play 4-5 games a year there. Does anyone know what the deal is with them, and if they have an alternate plan for where they would play?
Re: Tearing down Lockhart?! Going by the logic some use, 15 games of baseball is more than 4-5 football games per year, right....?
