Strikers Stadium Thread

The key meeting is on June 17th, 2014 when the Ft Lauderdale City Commission votes on the lease agreement for Schlitterbahn, the City, and the FAA. A yes vote approves the agreement and gets the process started and 180 days later, at the latest, work begins on the 1st phase of the water park's construction. The projected schedule has the park 75% to 80% finished in 16 months when it can open for business and whatever is to be done to Lockhart Stadium can start. Work on it will be done while the final phase of the water park is completed which is supposed to take another 8 months. No word given if the stadium will be done in sections while it remains open during it's rebuild or if it will be closed completely. Evidently work on Lockhart should take about a year.

This means that by 2017 or so the Strikers should have a new home on familiar ground.

I hope so. We'll see.

 

The meeting mentioned above should be on Tuesday June 17, 2014 starting at 6PM (1800) at the Commission Meeting Room on the 1st floor of Ft Lauderdale City Hall located at 100 North Andrews Ave in downtown Ft Lauderdale.

 

I went to the 2nd informational meeting about this last night. The most important thing said was that all the Ts have not been crossed nor all the i's dotted on the lease for the site. Consequently the vote on this has been moved from the Commission meeting agenda for June 17th to the agenda on the meeting on July 1st, 2014. As ever, all this must be done and presented to the FAA by July 14th or the process starts over. It is now a 1 shot deal.

Schlitterbahn vote will be done at the Ft Lauderdale City Commission meeting on July 1st, not June 17th.

 

any idea how new Stadium Law just sign will affect Lockhart?

 

The City Council meeting on July 1st is at 6PM. The USMNT plays at 4PM & broadcast could last until 7PM. Some decisions will have to be made by any Striker Likers that intended to attend the meeting.....

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/03/4217653/david-beckham-group-expected-to.html

This might be of some concern to the Strikers plans.

 

Evidently not. Tim Robbie was on the Ultras Alive podcast last night and talked about many thins concerning the Strikers. I do not remember Mr Beckham being mentioned.

 

The City Council meeting on July 1 was indecisive. They will meet again in a special session on Thursday, July 7, 2014 at 1400 (2PM). If the lease passes then we can consider life good. If not we may have some problems.

 

Uh, that was 2 days ago but not on a Thursday. What date did you mean to post?

 

THURSDAY JULY 10th

The motion passed by a 5-0 vote. It now goes back to the FAA for final approval. Since they are the ones that set up the lease that should not be a problem. By 2016 we should have a Schlitterbahn water park operating on the baseball stadium site with new parking, etc in place. By 2017 we should have a new/rebuilt/refurbished/whatever Lockhart Stadium with the Strikers as the primary tenant. Since the water park lease is for 40 years (30 + two 5 year options) the Strikers should get the long term lease they have longed for. All things being equal this means the Strikers should survive for as long as they want to....

Damn good, IMO...

 

I cannot see how they can't be concerned. If Becks cannot get it done in Miami and ends up building somewhere in Broward (and assuming the MLS team was successful) it would certainly suck whatever life there is out of the Strikers.

 

Basically, no one here thinks that Becks will come to Broward simply because MLS wants Miami and only Miami. MLS blames the Fusion's failure, at least in part, with it being located in Broward County. They are certain that an MLS team will only succeed in Miami. His flirtation with Broward is thought of as a way to give the folks to the south a kick in their hinder parts to awaken them to the fact he might have more options that they think. Evidently he has some of those in M-D that do not concern public property is the latest word/rumor. He will use that long before he moves to a place that MLS does not want.

 

Most of us consider this to be insane stupidity. The Strikers started out as Miami FC playing at Tropical Park in M-D. They then tried a few games at the Orange Bowl. Then a few more at FIU. They finally tried some games, still as Miami FC, at Lockhart Stadium and drew marginally better there. They rebranded the team as the Ft Lauderdale Strikers and their season tickets went from under 50 to just over 1,000. The average attendance from 1,200 to over 3,000. That ended the Miami venture.

With Beckham coming into M-D along with a Div 4 team (Miami United) there, too, and the Strikers to the north I do not see any room for a Div 2 team in Miami-Dade. Unless it is in Homestead some 40 miles South of Miami or something like that. They'd do much better to go west or northeast, IMO, but since the commish and his boss, Aaron Davidson, march to the beat of their own drummer & honestly think they are building a league superior to MLS they will do things that defy expectations and what everyone else considers to be common sense.

BTW, that is the same Aaron Davidson that is the President of Traffic Sports USA, the Strikers owner. And the Carolina Railhawks owner. The person and outfit that started NASL as the Div 2 league in the USA. He is the reason for this insanity. He has long wanted a NASL team in Miami for whatever reason It is not necessarily a Flo Ri Da thing as an Aaron thing.

 

Antique is right on the money. A Flight 19 member not long ago surfaced some documentation that the Miami Fusion trademark had recently been purchased, and I believe it was by an entity associated with the NPSL Miami United team. Some speculate that Miami United could be the group butthead Peterson is talking about. And then I'll throw this into the mix. Antique is dead on about Davidson. He still delusionally thinks NASL can arise to MLS level. That being the case, he wants Miami, he wants LA, he wants Chicago, he aready has NY. All the big tv markets. Traffic is finally looking like they will sell the Strikers based on the things we're hearing down here. The Lockhart deal falling into place was the key to the next move which is new ownership. If Miami United can't get another investor in place, and Davidson really insists on Miami coming into his league again despite the failures Antique described above, who would doubt that, once they've unloaded the Strikers, that Traffic could back Miami United until/if they could get other investors? I wouldn't bet against it, despite how stupid it would be. The people running this league do stupid stuff regularly.

 

MIAMI FUSION FC - Trademarkia
www.trademarkia.com/miami-fusion-fc-85959138.ht..

This is a brand page for the MIAMI FUSION F.C. trademark by Intelisport Inc. inAventura, FL, 33180. Write a review about a product or service associated with ...

 

The latest, and best, information/rumor we are hearing is that the Strikers could acquire new ownership before this season ends. If not then certainly well before the start of next season (year's end?). This, if it does come to pass, along with a better stadium coupled with a definite place to go - thank you, Schlitterbahn... - could very well insure the Strikers survival come what may. As with all things concerning this sport in SoFl we'll believe all of this when we see it.

 

Well, let's just say that DB cannot get a deal done for any of the prime hip and trendy locations in Miami and decides that the western edge of Sunrise is close enough for jazz. How many second division clubs have or could survive an incursion of the first division into its backyard? When Toronto FC arrived, the Lynx self-relegated to the PDL. In the other examples of MLS expansion into second division territory (Seattle, Portland, Vancouver and Montreal) they basically "promoted" the older club. I suppose we will see what happens with Atlanta when Arthur Blank's club takes the pitch or the Cosmos for that matter when NYC comes online.

 

There is no doubt in most Striker Liker hearts that anyplace from Joe Robbie Stadium north that Becks sets up shop will be too close and the Strikers will ultimately succumb to the bigger fish. But personally I don't see it as an probable scenario. Sunrise doesn't have much room left for a stadium in Sawgrass now thanks to the Metropica project now underway. Really the only scary place left is next door to the Dolphins. But if Becks and MLS are determined to make this team Miami Glamfest, that ain't gonna do it. I'm sure Becks's people are just tossing out the Broward idea to try desperately to gain some tiny bit of leverage with Dade. I've said it before. Beckham isn't used to hearing "No" when he wants something, so this is becoming the problem may of us knew it would be from the start.

I think the most realistic endings to Beckham's Miami story are either:

1. He settles for having to buy privately owned land somewhere reasonably near downtown Miami (for BIG $$$) and building his stadium on what will amount to basically his 4th or 5th choice.
2. Time and costs grow too big trying to get it done and another city (outside South Florida) steps in and makes him an offer he is too frustrated to ultimately refuse.

 

Agreed on all counts. I was just supposing if the scenario were to happen.

My thought from the moment the Beckham-MLS deal was announced was that it seemed to be more of a "wouldn't it be cool to have a club in a trendy part of Miami without much thought beyond that. There are a lot more realistic and deserving places to have an MLS team than Miami. The Pacific Northwest/Montreal approach of "promotion" from an already established and viable market should be preferable. Well, not to the NASL I suppose, but if they can continue to find potential markets like Indianapolis and Ottawa they will succeed.

 

I see I am not the only codgermudgeon that has given up trying to keep up with what they are calling it today.

 

For me it's more about history and tradition. The Robbie family made South Florida into a professional sports market.

 

Evidently Mr Garber made a statement to Alexi Lalas during halftime of the Seattle/Galaxy game that MLS would only have a franchise in Miami - downtown Miami - or nowhere in SoFl. Obviously that puts Broward & Palm Beach out of the running. Joe Robbie Stadium, too. Word I get is a site on the Miami River, by the Miami-Dade School Board, and various unknown & unnamed privately owned sites in the City of Miami are being considered. It is also said that one of the principles involved in this, lives locally, is telling the Miami faithful that this franchise IS going to happen. Keep the faith, etc.

For me this is good news. Either Becks gets something in Miami or he goes away. Either way my team, under new majority ownership & in a new or rebuilt stadium, survives. This is the important thing for me. All else is secondary.

As with all things involving soccer in SoFl, we'll believe it when we see it, and then just barely believe.

 

We're in the air. We're on the ground. We're always in control.

 

This I can believe. The whole Beckham in Miami thing seems to me to be based on a desperate idea that Miami just has to be a viable soccer market. After all, it's such an international city it can't not work. Never mind for the most part it is a lousy sports market. And the "Miami or nothing else in SoFla" attitude furthers my belief that it is mostly about image and Miami as a brand.

And it certainly good for the Strikers.