Yea, but a lot of Tampa fans would still come down to see an MLS game. There's a huge difference between both. And yea, the TV exposure will be great. The Pregame show guy will be Minervini for sure. lol. Even some people outside of Florida will come down, to see "Barca", and because its the closest team to them
Yes but fans in Tampa wouldn't be able to go down to games in Miami on a regular basis. But they will have a local USL side that will be easy to get to home games and watch, ie the Rowdies, who have something of a large (albeit dormant) following from the NASL era which can be capitalized on if the new owners play their cards right. The important thing about the Barca/Miami MLS franchise is that if it is successful it will finally kill off the annoying and destructive anti-Florida pro soccer meme that has been floating out there in the public mind since MLS contracted out of Florida in 2002, which has been ignorantly used to blame Florida soccer fans when the real blame lies with MLS mismanagement. Success for MLS in Miami will make a "return" of the Rowdies to top flight division one pro soccer in North America much more likely, ie, it will attract some deep pocketed investors to move the Rowdies up to MLS, as has happened with the Seattle Sounders and will eventually happen to other USL clubs like those in Montreal, Portland, and Vancouver. Tampa is a natural and inevitable MLS rival for Miami and I wouldn't expect Miami to remain the only Florida team in MLS for too long. It will depend on a lot of factors, including how fast or slow MLS expands after going to 18 teams, but I'd be surprised not to see Tampa in MLS within 5 to 10 years after Miami. Probably, IMO, much closer to 5 years.
Bring back the Tampa Bay Mutiny. Rowdies USL big freakin deal. They had a good team like El Pibe, Lassister, Hejduk, and Ralston. Bring team back. Put them in downtown Tampa with a nice 20 to 25,000 seat stadium. The ownership group should be on of the Glazer sons and Carlos Valderrama. Tampa Bay had more success than Miami. I am for the Mutiny in the MLS.
MLS is coming to Miami and not Tampa. Maybe in the future. We all should be happy that Florida is getting an MLS team.