University of Miami is moving out of the Orange Bowl, Could the MLS call it home?

[MLS1FAN]

With the Hurricanes set to depart, the Orange Bowl will no longer have a primary tenant. The Dolphins moved to the facility first known as Joe Robbie Stadium in 1987, and the Orange Bowl -- one of college football's marquee and best-known bowl games -- moved to Dolphin Stadium in 1996.

And that means the building's future is in serious doubt. The site has been mentioned as a possible new home for the Florida Marlins, or the stadium could simply be knocked down.

But could a possible investor groups bring back the MLS to Miami in a revamped down town Orange Bowl stadium made for soccer? The stadium has a regular seating capacity of 72,319 orange seats, and can seat up to 82,000. But the capacity and over all stadium size can be redisigned to a reduced capacity of 25,000 to 30,000 for MLS and International soccer use.

With a stadium in place, MLS wont have a problem granting a club to the area!


http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?slug=ap-miami-orangebowl&prov=ap&type=lgns

[Z010 Union]

MLS 1996, yes
MLS 2007, no

[krudmonk]

MLS 1996, yes
MLS 2007, no
well put

[MLS1FAN]

MLS 1996, yes
MLS 2007, no

Why do you say MLS 2007 no? Don't be fooled by the propaganda you've all heard about the Miami market and it's lack of support of soccer. That was said to justify the actions of the league (MLS) to disband the Miami Fusion club. Florida is a big soccer state and the US youth soccer headquarters is based in Bradenton, Florida and every year tons of international game are played here in South Florida.

The problem the last time around wasn't what was stated to the public and the media, it was with the ownership and his lack of support for the club and the lack of marketing.
In fact the Fusion had better attendance than the Kansas City Wizards at the time with the best league record and in fact it should have been the Wizards to disband and not the Fusion. We all know why the Fusion was used as the scapegoat for the Wizards in that situation. Hell today Kansas City still have the same issues of 6 years ago and yet they are still around.

With good ownership a South Florida MLS club can and will survive in this market and if marketed correctly the fans will come and show their support for the game.

Stop being a zombie of the media words, you remind me of the rest of zombies that say soccer sucks, just because the media says so! Get the facts first!

[Z010 Union]

With good ownership a South Florida MLS club can and will survive in this market and if marketed correctly the fans will come and show their support for the game.

Stop being a zombie of the media words, you remind me of the rest of zombies that say soccer sucks, just because the media says so! Get the facts first!


Here are the facts bub. The OB is a crumbling, aged facility. Lockhart Stadium was a great venue but was doomed by a underfunded owner and somehow alienated fanbase.

Zombie this, Seattle, St Louis and/or Philly (not Vegas or NY2) are in play for an 09 start.

Furthermore, Miami's attendance of 7,900 and an owner who wanted to bail made the decision very easy.

[denver_mugwamp]

With good ownership a South Florida MLS club can and will survive in this market...


There's your problem right there. Show us an ownership group and we'll take you seriously. Without one, this is just another South Florida MLS fantasy thread.

[MLS1FAN]

Here are the facts bub. The OB is a crumbling, aged facility. Lockhart Stadium was a great venue but was doomed by a underfunded owner and somehow alienated fanbase.

Zombie this, Seattle, St Louis and/or Philly (not Vegas or NY2) are in play for an 09 start.

Furthermore, Miami's attendance of 7,900 and an owner who wanted to bail made the decision very easy.

My friend, the Fusion home attendance had boost by 2001 to an average of 10,963 after three games, up 22 percent from that time in 2000. And by season end it was even higher. You are right about the ownership that didn't have the kind of money the other investors had to support a MLS team in the early days of the league. What was pushed out to the public to justify the shutdown of the club and and to save the owner image was that it's a bad market. It is the biggest lie, we had a owner that could not keep up with the financial commitment of running an MLS club period. With a proper ownership group in todays MLS a Miami club can survive! As for the Orange Bowl, the city of Miami wants to put a side money ($206 million) to help upgrade the stadium, with a good ownership group many things can happened...

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-74555846.html

[Z010 Union]

You might as well have typed "if I could use feces as currency, I could run a team".

The MLS is in a period where it can demand more than it used to and it will benefit the entire league.

MLS in 1996 would have hopped in bed with Rochester and Miami and whomever else lifted the skirt up a stadium's leg. Now a vacant building with no owner, or an owner without the resources to play ball with the big kids, doesn't have a chance. Thankfully, the league learned from Miami.

[MLS1FAN]

There's your problem right there. Show us an ownership group and we'll take you seriously. Without one, this is just another South Florida MLS fantasy thread.

The difference here is that we have an empty stadium not in use, all the others are looking and hoping for land and approval by local city governments before they can get the green light for an MLS club. Garber also loves the idea of a down town stadium.

[Z010 Union]

Gaber also loves the idea of a down town stadium.

He also loves the ideas of owners with enough coin to last and stadiums, with the exception of Seattle, that are built for the game. And even Seattleites will tell you MLS was considered during design.

[Kayak]

This could totally happen.

[Kayak]

With an investor rich enough to buy the stadium knock it down and rebuild a soccer specific stadium in its place.

Had you going there for a second didn’t I?

[ButlerBob]

You have an empty stadium that's about to be torn down. But I'm guessing if you had a owner with a check in his hand and the agreed upon possible new stadium you could get a franchise. But you better move quick, it looks like the next two spots are filling up soon. :D

[MLS1FAN]

You might as well have typed "if I could use feces as currency, I could run a team".

The MLS is in a period where it can demand more than it used to and it will benefit the entire league.

MLS in 1996 would have hopped in bed with Rochester and Miami and whomever else lifted the skirt up a stadium's leg. Now a vacant building with no owner, or an owner without the resources to play ball with the big kids, doesn't have a chance. Thankfully, the league learned from Miami.

Point taken, but keep your eyes open...it's a ideal situation if it can come together.The league now has more pull, how would you explain Kansas City now and then? That club should be relocated to Philly!

[marford21]

MLS would have to locate somewhere else because it ain't happenin at the Orange Bowl..............

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/college/hurricanes/sfl-canesmove082107,0,5652498.story?coll=sofla_tab01_layout

UM's decision will free up the Orange Bowl as a possible location for a new ballpark for the Marlins. Earlier this year, Miami-Dade County and Miami city officials said if the Hurricanes moved, they would favor leveling the Orange Bowl to make way for a Marlins ballpark.



The OB is too old anyway. Why do you think the U is moving out?

I love the Marlins, but I would like to see a new MLS stadium there instead.........


:(

[Z010 Union]

Point taken, but keep your eyes open...it's a ideal situation if it can come together.The league now has more pull, how would you explain Kansas City now and then? That club should be relocated to Philly!


The club has and has had financial resources. Despite the embarrassing attendance, they found someone to buy it - and now they are building training facilities. Eventually the owner will come to a point where they tire of hemoraging money and sell OR, and more likely, they market properly in a small stadium and turn a profit off of a 16k seat stadium.

Relocation is a dirty deed that I am glad has only happened once.

[denver_mugwamp]

The difference here is that we have an empty stadium not in use, all the others are looking and hoping for land and approval by local city governments before they can get the green light for an MLS club. Gaber also loves the idea of a down town stadium.

There's actual ownership groups trying to get teams in Atlanta, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Montreal, Las Vegas, and three have come forward in the Pacific Northwest. The fact that your sorry old rundown stadium is going to be sitting unused is not the same thing as a group of people with money having an agreement with the local government in Miami. Nobody knows if the Orange Bowl is available for MLS because there's nobody trying to get a team. And Garber likes lots of things. I hear he likes to ride his motorcycle and appreciates good beer.

[MLS1FAN]

MLS would have to locate somewhere else because it ain't happenin at the Orange Bowl..............

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/college/hurricanes/sfl-canesmove082107,0,5652498.story?coll=sofla_tab01_layout





The OB is too old anyway. Why do you think the U is moving out?

I love the Marlins, but I would like to see a new MLS stadium there instead.........


:(

They are moving, just agreed to a 25 year deal to play all home games at Dolphin stadium starting in 2008.
The location was proposed to the Marlins before and they don't like the location. The marlins are looking for land on the Bay or near the Miami river to build a stadium with some kind of roof that can open on non rain days.

[JRedknapp11]

The Orange Bowl is a dump, it would be a horrible stadium for the MLS. First you need someone dumb enough to spend the money to renovate the OB which would cost some serious money, money that could of been spent on a new facility.

Even if you get someone to fix the OB up, you have to deal with the OB being in a horrible area of Miami. Tons of people skip events at the OB simply cause of it's location. If Miami is going to enter the MLS, it needs something sexy and cutting edge, sadly the OB doesn't cut it. If you want to pull Miami soccer fans back into the MLS, you're going to need something super special and as of now Miami doesn't have anything to offer.

[Taoism]

You might as well have typed "if I could use feces as currency, I could run a team".

The MLS is in a period where it can demand more than it used to and it will benefit the entire league.

MLS in 1996 would have hopped in bed with Rochester and Miami and whomever else lifted the skirt up a stadium's leg. Now a vacant building with no owner, or an owner without the resources to play ball with the big kids, doesn't have a chance. Thankfully, the league learned from Miami.

How would you define this? I'm genuinely serious. An owner that can out of pocket sustain a team for x years @ x payroll?

Setting aside a stadium issue for the moment... If I went on a roadtrip to North Dakota and bought a ticket in one of your US Powerball $300M jackpots and won, and took the (after taxes are removed) immediate payout of say $100M would that make me an eligible owner?

Would $20M in assets make me viable? $30M? Do I have to be a billionaire now that the MLS is starting to show some signs of serious interest?

I am curious about your opinion.

Cheers!