During the State of the League address, MLS commissioner Don Garber mentioned a meeting with an ownership group in Florida. A few hours later, Orlando City confirmed over Twitter that they were the ownership group Garber held a meeting with. This of course raises some interesting speculation. While Garber tried to pimp NYC2 at the address (mostly goaded by international press who were begging for the introduction of the Cosmos), that idea is in quite a bit of disarray in reality. The Cosmos ownership group is suffering turmoil to say the very least, Wilpon has expressly bowed out, and they have three possible stadium sites with precisely zero willing and able owners. Someone on the OC subforum posed the idea of DC United moving to Orlando. Personally, I seriously doubt that one (though I do know DC United fans that live here). DC is looking for a new stadium, something Orlando does not have. This is, ironically, similar reasoning to me saying the Citrus Bowl was the only viable venue when the Aztex moved to Orlando, since one of their reasons was not having a venue where they could sell beer. Besides, all signs point to DC United moving to Baltimore, if anywhere.
He should have called the group Orlando instead of Florida. Doesn't sound to me like he's that interested and is just using them to get a second New York team. He's done this before (St. Louis to get a team for Philadelphia).
I doubt he'd use US to get his NYC2 team. He's already putting enough effort into it, I don't think he needs to turn any screws on that matter. MLS still needs a southeastern presence. And it looks like Orlando is in the pole position for that.
The conditions seem to be right for Orlando as far as fan support and an interested ownership group. but what about the stadium? is there a sss already, or are there plans to lease one?
Is Orlando anymore 'South-East' than Tampa or Miami though? South-East to me means somewhere like Nashville or Atlanta. Florida is it's own thing altogether. Also how are Orlando going to afford to enter the league? Rawlins isn't exactly loaded in an MLS sense.
Phil Rawlins isn't the entirety of our ownership. We also have Brendan Flood, who is more wealthy than Rawlins.
well, if were gonna break it down like that, Northern Florida can count as "the south" and the region is near Orlando. Central and especially South Fla is a whole other monster.
Orlando City posted today on their meetings with Major League Soccer. Among the things mentioned include “soccer stadium options”, future MLS executive visits to Orlando, and “a potential ‘high-profile’ international friendly” next summer. So at the very least, MLS is beginning to look at Orlando seriously. 2012 will be the year when Orlando can really wow MLS with its soccer support. Two things I am interested in. First, what are the “soccer stadium options”? I’ve heard rumblings late last season of the possibility of building a soccer stadium, though nothing concrete. Second, who will Orlando City pick up for an international friendly next year?
Still, it seems nowadays MLS wants billionaires. The idea of MLS helping Orlando with international friendlies sounds awesome.
Was the Hotspur owner actually ever involved or was that just logical, theories from fans? It would make his trifecta of Anglo soccer clubs complete: http://m.smh.com.au/sport/a-league/spurs-owner-shows-interest-in-mariners-20111031-1ms97.html
They were approached early on to be a charter group, but balked at the single entity model. Didn't think it would last.