News: Miami FC and the rest of the TOA confirm New League! Tampa would leave USL

I'd like to see an updated version of the red and yellow hoops with a modernized crest. Keep the old logo as a secondary logo and use it on a line of vintage wear.

Also, what would it take to get Lockhart stadium back up to a decent standard? New seats and a coat of paint, or does it need more work?

 

Here's a set not unlike your idea I came up with a while back:



Lockhart needs more than a coat of paint. The bleachers themselves are in decent enough condition, but the press box and "suites"(the covered areas with fans and lawn chairs atop the sideline seats) are borderline falling apart. And I'm sure the locker rooms need an upgrade, as well as the concessions. And it's larger than necessary capacity and occasional football lines from HS and FAU games are problems as well.

 

Here's another question then; Would anyone care if the cricket ground was turned into a permanent soccer stadium? For $5-7 million Traffic could come in there, remove the fence, move the light posts behind the existing grand stand, and build a new permanent grandstand on the opposite side (similar to Blackbaud. Made from aluminum but permanent with proper concessions and washrooms). The end result would be a unique 8,000ish seat soccer stadium, suitable for a strong D2 club.

*Edit: I know you've made a diagram of a retrofitted cricket ground, but that seemed like a temporary layout.

 

You know it just hit me... I can't believe someone actually wasted money building a freakin' cricket stadium... if it was just built as a 5,000 seat SSS it would have been actually perfect in a sense... who in their right mind thought 5,000 people would EVER show up for a cricket match in Ft. Lauderdale????

Sigh... this better not have been built with tax dollars...

 

Well I doubt the city would want to give up on the cricket configuration so soon. Any modifications for soccer would have to be removable. And personally I wouldn't want them to do something that. They need to work on building a stadium from scratch. What they ought to do is find a park that is being built or renovated and try to tack on a small stadium project. Nothing short of straightening out those grandstands will make the cricket stadium ideal for soccer. As a temporary home it is well suited because of it's size and the fact that it has covered seats and is brand new. For the long term MFC needs to look at building a Blackbaud, Rochester or similar style small stadium of their own if they are serious.

 

This is what i was thinking, but you guys are right, it wouldn't be worth the money.

 

I think a "new" stadium is premature at this point. It is Miami FC, FIU is in Miami, and it is a very decent stadium, even though it is field turf if I am not mistaken(isn't that the shit they have in Seattle?). Either way.. I think it would be cheapest and easiest to stay at FIU. Focus more on team development along with league development. Maybe, in a few years or 10 if the new NASL is still around, look at Lockhart or a Miami FC specific stadium in Miami.
Lockhart is in Ft. lauderdale along with the cricket stadium. I am in west Palm Beach, i wouldn't mind driving to FIU to watch Miami FC in the NASL for now.

 

Looks great, but yeah it would be a bit expensive and unnecessary. Exactly that setup with temporary bleachers(like Vancouver has at Swangard Stadium) would work great.

 

why spend the money when there is already a great stadium in Miami, namely FIU. Miami FC should stay there, save there money until NASL gets established and Miami FC gets stronger and better financially and then perhaps in a half of a decade or so build a SSS and move to MLS...maybe.

 

If you like football lines, then yes, FIU is great.

Also, FIU had Miami's worst attendance last year.

 

Also I'm sure it's not cheap to rent. FIU certainly wasn't giving MFC the sweet deal it had planned for the Barça MLS team.

The problem with both FIU and Lockhart is the capacity. The better setup for soccer and more modern facilities make them both light years better than Tropical Park, and MFC certainly seemed at least a bit more professional playing at those two venues last year. But when you got there and saw 90% of the stadium empty it didn't make the team look so great. First time fans were probably turned off. Is playing at a smaller stadium an illusion? Yes, but it works. Seeing 5,000 people in a 5,000 seat stadium looks a lot better than 5,000 in a 20,000 seater.

CCSUltra you know this first hand, if I'm not mistaken. Weren't the CCS fans happier in the smaller stadium(can't remember the name) the team played at in USL-2 as opposed to the bigger Middlefield Cheese Stadium this past season?

 

True I agree. I don't like football lines either. But do you really think Miami FC in a brand new bstart up league can afford to gamble on a new stadium? or even a rennovated old stadium? It will be new leage NASL with more hype and excitement and posotive good marketing. Hopefully the new NASL/TOA and Miami FC can be a little "louder" and make more of FLORIDA, not just Miami wake up and realize there is a professional soccer team in there state, make people excited and get invoved.
If Miami FC and NASL/TOA can get a good marketing program going, I think attendance at FIU will grow.
On the otherside, going to a soccer game and seeing football lines kinda does take the wind out of you. and seeing 5,000 people in a 20,000 seat stadium is also discouraging.
I think personally they should spend the least amount of $$$ on a stadium and spend more on team and league development and marketing.

 

Any other possible stadiums in Miami that don't require a lot of initial investment to refurbish or remake into a soccer field?
isn't there a park where they can just paint some lines on the grass and setup some lawn chairs? I'll bring a blanket and a cooler of beer! who's bringing the grill?...

 

Lockhart would have the same football lines as well if I'm not mistaken, since FAU plays their home games there as well. Why don't come down to Miami, CSSUltra? Maybe you'd learn more about our situation and our facilities.

FIU still remains the best option. It was built to FIFA regulations and was meant to host soccer just as much as it is meant to host football. If Traffic wants to market the team well, more people will show up to games. The goal should be to milk out the NASL name and aim to average somewhere between 5,000-10,000 people. Plus build the brand among the FIU community, which they did a poor job doing last season. Most FIU students ON CAMPUS did not know a) there was a professional soccer team and b) that they played at FIU. Ambitious? Yes. But we all know the kind of connections and the kind of dollars Traffic has. Traffic can no longer afford to be frugal anymore.

CLICK HERE to check out the facebook group aiming to make FIU Stadium the permanent home of Miami FC. We just renewed our efforts on this page and we've had almost a hundred new members in the past 24 hours. As people become more aware of the team, the more they will want FIU to be the home of Miami FC. Hope to see you on the page and contributing to our efforts!

 

If Miami FC wants to be recognized and taken seriously, I think they should act and market themselves as a world class team! Doesn't Miami FC sound like a world class team? Like FC Barcelona, A.C. Milan, Manchester U, FC Kobenhavn...
If they are marketed as a world class team people will most likely take an interest, sponsors will come which will lead to more marketing, more publicity, more people aware, more fans etc etc etc.

 

Everybody was happier at Krenzler. It was the perfect location, right in the middle of downtown. You had a great view of the Cleveland skyline from the stand. Plus it's soccer-specific.

@FIUJoel, I'd love to come down for a game. I'm just judging off of what I saw last year and some of what I've read on the boards. FIU's stadium looks like a great college football facility, but I don't think it's good for second division soccer. It's way to big. It seems like the cricket facility would be the best venue, at least in my opinion.

 

True, but it had the lines less than FIU did this year. Perhaps the one positive about the field turf at FIU is that the lines come right off. Problem was once FIU season started they didn't get rid of them for MFC games.

As of now the only viable options right now for MFC are FIU, Lockhart, and the Cricket Stadium. Well that and there is my unorthodox(but doable) idea of placing a floating pitch in front of the old Miami Marine Stadium on Virginia Key and having the team play there(https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1015216).

Tropical Park is a dump and should be avoided at all costs.

 

Until 2011, when FAU moves into their new stadium. So Lockhart would only have the gridiron markings in 2010 - and then only in the Fall. That, plus a few high school games (same as some SSS have, such as PHP).

Lockhart may be too big but you can use tarps to disguise that - it seems to work in Seattle; the trick seems to be to have enough fans to cover four sides of a lower bowl, so put your fans close to the field and don't use the upper rows (maybe this is hopelessly optimistic for the Traffic/MFC operation, but I don't think it is beyond reach of a TOA/NASL operation that was really trying to make it work).

Also, Ft. Lauderdale will be looking for new tenants for Lockhart, now that they are losing FAU, so it might be possible to swing a favorable lease for MFC there.

Lockhart has the history of drawing soccer fans, you can't disregard that. Even the miserable Traffic/MFC operation this year, IIRC, was able to draw fans in the low four figure crowds to Lockhart, as opposed to the low three figure crowds they drew elsewhere.

If there's a better venue, great; I don't know the area so as an outsider I'm only going on what I know of past soccer history. But it doesn't seem like any venue in Miami has ever drawn well for soccer, whereas Lockhart does have some positive history behind it.

Anyway whatever happens, best of luck in 2010.

 

There's a large cricket playing and cricket watching population in South Florida - British Caribbean folk mostly, plus some Indians and Pakistanis and the occasional Australian, Kiwi, or South African expat.

The problem with the cricket stadium is that it was designed for attracting matches between top sides, and no one apparently has bothered to attract any top sides - due in part no doubt to the fact that the USACA is in a state of complete anarchy and couldn't organize a piss-up in a brewery. Plus the rich billionaire who is most likely to organize these kinds of high level tournaments, R. Allen Stanford, has been accused of banking fraud and isn't going to be throwing his cash around the cricketing world any time soon.

If they actually played some cricket matches in the new stadium between top level clubs or national teams with world famous players, they would sell those 5,000 seats, easily. But they aren't going to be selling many tickets if it's just a few local cricket clubs using the facilities.

 

Sometimes the more successful team in a large market area turns out not to be the traditional, big city sports towns, but a non-traditional sports town located nearby. San Francisco and Oakland didn't work, but San Jose did. Miami didn't work, but Ft. Lauderdale did. We'll see what happens, but I suspect history might repeat itself. Only the stubbornness of Traffic wanting to be in the USA's "gateway to Latin America", ie, in Miami, and/or the unavailability of Lockhart, and/or the current rights holders to the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers name not cooperating, might stand in the way of a rebirth of the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. But really if you want to give yourself a temporary boost and a new start, and if you're playing in Ft. Lauderdale anyway, a revival of the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers name and colors is hard to argue against. You can't create history where there is none, but you can borrow a little bit of history if it does already exist.

The problem with Traffic and Claure and Barca and other foreign owners or would-be foreign owners, past and present (ie, Chivas USA, or the Mexican owners of the Philadelphia Atoms, who interestingly enough, were basically the same people: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Atoms) is that they tend to look on the USA as a kind of colonial project where they go in and plant their own system completely without regard to the local situation, and without regard to the non-Spanish speaking, non-Latin American population. It will be interesting to watch and see if Traffic is capable of learning its lessons, or if it will continue to be completely oblivious to the situation.

If so one wonders who they will blame if they continue to fail. They won't be able to blame USL this time. Meh. I hope I'm wrong about that. Sorry, not trying to be a downer.

 

If I may.....

One would expect that Miami, with a huge latino basin and a metro area of more than 6 mil. would have a greater following. It intrigued me (and a number of friends of mine) that there had been a poor showing at last years' season opener (we sort of recalled a little more than 1,000). The actual attendance was 1,568 (match report: http://www.montrealimpact.com/Tracker/Tracker.aspx?GameID=134&language=EN), which was at FIU.

Could someone in your neck of the woods provide us with a brief explanation as to this -- intriguing -- low turnout??

 

The actual season opener versus Cleveland was at Lockhart in Ft. Lauderdale and attendance was 2,105. Montréal was the second game.

The poor showing has to do with a lot of things. MFC up until very recently has had no real marketing locally. Traffic Sports, the owners out of Brazil, haven't spent nearly the amount of money necessary on promoting the team.

Besides that, the huge Latin community you mention in most cases already has strong ties to their clubs from back home. Getting them to support a US minor league team ain't exactly easy. There were some decent crowds when Romario and Zinho played in 2006 but that gimmick wore off fast. Since that first year the team has not made the playoffs. A bad team in a minor league with no promotion and it's not hard to see why they haven't drawn well.

Also for the first 3 years the team played at Tropical Park, a HS stadium with a track and poor facilities. Not exactly the most professional setup. This past year FIU and Lockhart were better but still weren't perfect. They were still mostly empty even on good nights, and you can bet more than a few soccer purists were turned off by the field turf and football lines at FIU.

Specifically in the case of Miami, the city has never really supported domestic pro soccer. The Miami Gatos/Toros lasted 5 seasons before moving 30 miles north to Ft. Lauderdale to become the Strikers and saw a huge increase in attendance. The Miami Freedom of the APSL were outdrawn 5 to 1 by the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers in the late 80s/early 90s. Miami FC has been even worse, although this is the first time the team has not been in the top tier at the time.

One can only hope with the new league Traffic steps up and really makes an effort to improve the situation.

 

Kudos to drSoFlaFan's post #73 above. To it I'll add that the 5.5 million, not 6 million, residents of "Greater Miami", the 4th largest population center in the US, live in 3 different counties: Miami-Dade w/2.4 Million, only @400k live in the City of Miami; Broward County w/1.7 million and Palm Beach County w/1.3 million. All are restricted in westward expansion by the Everglades to the west & the Atlantic Ocean to the East.

There is also a distance of around 75 miles from the City of Miami to the City of West Palm Beach. There are undoubtedly people in Palm Beach that have no clue about Miami and folks in Miami that know nothing about WPB. I'd wager that most of them would like to keep it that way.

Miami-Dade County is over 60% Latino, 19% black & 17% white. Broward is 47% white, with Latino & black about the same around 24% to 25% of the population. Palm beach is over 65% white. Black and Latino are about equal there, too.

Add to this the fact that much of the population was born somewhere else and still have strong ties to that location and you can see that this is a tough place to get any cohesion in anything. The folks in WPB & much of Broward think of Miami as a foreign country to be avoided. The folks in Miami-Dade seem to think anything much north of Aventura is the dark side of the moon. And, of course, everything was much, much better where ever they came from, be that Chicago or Caracas, New York or Nuevo Laredo, Dallas or Montreal. That's why you have more Canadiean's or Bruin's or Ranger fans watching the Panthers play in Sunrise, or Met fans or Phillies fans watching the Marlins at the Shark. The Shark still seems to have more Dolphin fans than not, but the opposition from any east coat team is always well represented by loud & vocal folowers.

Getting folks here to support local teams is difficult, at best. Even those that have won championships in their respective leagues, leagues that are usually the best leagues in that sort woldwide, will almost always have seats available for any home game. Trying to get folks to support a minor league team in a sport that is not a major sport here is damn near impossible.

Miami FC has a tough road ahead if it ever wants to gain repectability. I wish them well. I'll support them as best I can as long as they survive. It's the best any of us here can do.

 

I am in West Palm Beach and would support ANY soccer team in South Florida. Then again I am not a typical American, I am from Denmark.
I will have to agree with the two previous posts (73&74). It is unfortunate that S Florida is so "divided" ethnically in a sense, and that many residence strongly support their professional team from their "home town" from their country of origin and really don't care about anything really of their country of current residence (but that can open up a whole other can of worms).
I still think, if Miami FC wants to be recognized they have to start acting like a world class team(i.e. Barcelona, Milan, Manchester)even with limited finances, PR needs to step up significantly, advertise as a world class team, try and get big time sponsorship. I think if you market the team as a "world class team" you might get more attention from the "internatioanal" residence in the greater Miami area( Dade, Broward, Palm Beach counties). Marketing and branding the team (and the new league) as the biggest and best is important.
Finances have to be concentrated on marketing the team Miami FC and the NASL first, publicity is everything!.
If the team and league ever get the ability to be known and popular through marketing, that is when the money will start to come in, enabling them to progress, but this process has to be slow, calculated and careful. Look at MLS and how long it has taken them to get where they are! and they have been successful and most likely will continue. Miami FC needs to start marketing outside of Miami as a world class team, even if it doesn't have "world class" players YET! If you market it that way they will come! maybe, it might be hard as a low tier league.
I am very excited about the new NASL and the new Miami FC. I am a new fan and supporter. The future of Miami FC and the new NASL is exciting!