Breton said on the Rise Guys the other day that he's been told "on the down-low" that league officials weren't exactly thrilled by Beckham's choice of Miami. I think they would hang with him well into 2016 if they were really committed Miami. As an aside, I think it was also he (or I may have heard/read it elsewhere) that said one of the theories regarding lack of support for the Fusion was that the Latin American community looked down on the quality of play in MLS so they continued to follow Central and South American soccer. Who knows the validity of that and whether it still holds true.
Well it's being used as leverage. Think about it. If Sacramento is awarded, then what does the league have on Miami to use as leverage? Right now, they can go to Miami and say "look, you need to get this together now because we have this other city ready to go. If you don't get it together we're going with them and your city will miss out on getting a franchise!" If Sacramento is 24, it then becomes an ambiguous, less urgent situation, which could make apathetic civic leaders just sit on their hands and ignore the whole issue longer. It's just business on MLS' part. Sucks to be used like a pawn in this situation, though. And didn't the league say a few weeks back that the decision on expansion would be made by the end of the year? It wasn't until that interview with Garber that suddenly we heard the 60 days timeframe come back. So it's just unfortunate to hear that timeframe given again...
No additional details, but it's now in print. Grant Wahl on Miami and SRFC: This reporting still contradicts the press conference information about Miami.
How stringent are the contractual requirements likely to be? Especially given the contract was written in 2007. MLS requirements have come a long way since then. Beckham might be trying to satisfy more recent requirements but if the contract specifies less restrictive requirements he could decide to play at FIU and force the issue. Or maybe the contract has some vague language about 'acceptable' facilities or whatnot, while I am no lawyer, I think the very recent example of MLS awarding a franchise playing in Yankee Stadium would be good for Beckham should this situation result in a lawsuit. I think MLS is in a position where they can't say 'no' to Beckham without huge legal fights that they could easily lose.
This certainly seems to be the case. They probably could ditch him (pay him off), but it would certainly cost the league dearly. And they don't need to do that. They want to go to Miami, after all. MLS, in effect, has to save a spot for him. That's the hang-up right now. The question is, once the league fully admits that they're going beyond 24 (the recent language was only that they'd evaluate going beyond 24), then all of a sudden more spots will be open. At that point are they really going to halt expansion waiting for him? No way. They'll still save him a spot, but instead of being 1 of 24 places, it'll be 1 of 28 or 32 (or 40!). So even if things really fall apart in Miami, MLS won't renege on the deal. His expansion spot will still be secure. But if there's a significant delay, the league will move on with expansion to other places. MLS is growing and wants to grow. They can't put that on hold waiting for Beckham, and they won't.
What really sucks is that you have a rabid fanbase and a city with a proven track record of pro sport team support that now is viewed as a concession to a city who has already failed MLS once, failed NASL before that, and has precisely eff-all of public support for their expansion team. Unbelievable.
http://www.startribune.com/sports/296469491.html Interesting article on the political aspect in Minn. if they at looking for public funds, doesn't sound like it's there at all.
My hunch is that public funds in Minneapolis is a non-factor. Ownership is very well-heeled and they don't need public funds to build what is a pretty cheap stadium compared to those of the other major sports. They've just approached government because the worse that can happen is govt. says no. That just leaves haggling over parking, infrastructure and the like.
read this article on Claure and MLS Miami ... it will make you feel better about Sac Rep's chances: http://reprints.longform.org/howler-miami-marcelo-claure
Yes because I am sure MLS has made all its decisions not knowing anything about the true nature of Beckham's ownership group. I still say either Miami has it together or MLS just lied to Johnson and Sacramento.
What it says to me is that the interest in having MLS in Miami is far more ardent in Mr. Garber's office than it is in the city where the team is actually to be placed. This whole thing is All About Beckham. The simpler path would have been to give Beckham LAFC and be done with it, or perhaps even give him a chunk of the Pink Cows once NYCFC starts cannibalizing them.
I am incredibly bullish on Sacramento's chances, especially after reading that article, it just re-enforces how much of a total cluster Miami is, and if its been a cluster for this long.......its not going to be any less of a cluster by the end of the year. They dont have a clue, they have little local government sense, and that bodes well in Sac's favor, who just played this game with the Kings.
Sure seems like an MLS 1.0 POV they're taking with regard to Miami. Forcing a team into a region they want rather than into a region that has shown interest in the sport and has a budding to explosive fan effort.
Garber during yesterday's 'Quakes/Fire broadcast: "We never thought we would get, when we were at 10, to 14, then at 16, then we have a goal for 24. We’re really evaluating going past that. We’ve got a couple more decisions we need to make. I imagine some time in, you know, the next year or so, we’re going to lay out the plan for how large this league can be." Care to guess what one of those decisions will be?
he beat around the bush on that pretty well on that trying to avoid it, he was just saying how nice it would be to have miami in the league and that they are hoping it works out, etc, etc, etc. I think the due lip service was given there. I think everyone has an idea of just how dire Miami is. I think this time next year, Sacramento is named in due to Miami's ineptitude.
I think they're going to try to plan out what expansion will look like in the next round before they do that. That is what is driving the real time line I think, other than they simply prefer Miami. But IF they decide to give Sacramento 24 and push Miami back, they're going to have specifically what the expansion past that will look like so Miami is as lined up as they can be.
I think ownership has plenty of dough to fund. They're just seeing if they can get anything chipped in. Doesn't hurt to ask, as long as you're more diplomatic than Beckham.
So with MNU apparently getting their "privately" funded stadium, Atlanta playing in the Stankonia Dome, and Miami now actually feeling some heat at their feet, the next contestant for MLS Expansion Follies is Los Angeles. So is the Undead Corpse of Chivas going to bunk in with Galactofilth at the Stubby, or are they getting a new stadium somewhere, anywhere in the basin? Or does anybody know?