Was afraid they were going to settle for that location. What a bummer, they could have done something really special with Miami. This is underwhelming and won't help their long term stability.
Honestly, it was this or bust for Beckham Miami. Becks absolutely had to have public land; its too expensive to buy privately. Beckham and company would have shelled out $100+ million to buy something close to downtown (The Miami Herald site in downtown went for closer to $200 million). MLS franchises are just not valuable enough to privately fund a $500 million stadium. And I'm sure Garber sees the writing on the wall and will Ok it. How soon it gets built, though, a whole different matter. Lots of hurdles
Yes, exactly. It's just so lame. It's Miami. If they were going to go there, they should go big. Now this stadium will live in the shadow of what is arguably the worst tax payer rip off monstrosity to grace the country. They could have done a lot worse, but it's a shame they were unable to do better.
Now the only question remaining is whether or not Da U will get involved with the project. The 'Canes have been looking for something, anything better than what they currently have at Sun Life Stadium, and this stadium next door to the site of the old Orange Bowl may just be the ticket. Of course, there's that whole, messy parcel size argument, but hey...it's more stadium pron, so let's get to it. Maybe the next mockup will be made out of Elmer's Glue and tongue depressors.
They never would have been able to buy anything downtown. There is zero interest from the locals in a stadium being built there. They would have fought tooth and nail. The money isn't even the issue. This is the only place it was getting built.
Well it makes sense doesn't it? Downtown land is a rare and valuable commodity, and the leaders of the city want to reserve it for maximum profit generating possibilities and employment/tax generating factors. An MLS stadium is hardly a great option from a cities point of view even though it would be nice to have downtown for the fans. I think that a location nearby downtown but not in it is a good deal and this site is quite close to that. I'm sure that the various retail and stuff will eventually improve. The only issue is lack of transit, but I'm aware that Miami isn't a transit kind of town anyway.
You never know who's going to pop by City Hall. Great meeting with @landondonovan @JedYork @srfc_kevin #BuiltforMLS pic.twitter.com/lbPQDrPeqn— Kevin Johnson (@KJ_MayorJohnson) July 23, 2015 No clue what this means, if anything...the speculation is sure fun though.
Hmm I wouldn't be surprised if he was being brought in as an investor. Remember also that Cobi Jones was up here and it's still unclear exactly why. It is kind of strange, kind of random. Could be they just wanted him to come up here to "consult" with the investors/city before moving forward with stadium plans?
I thought about LD's involvement with SRFC a little more last night, and was thinking how much having him involved with the club would instantly give the SJ vs Sac NorCal rivalry (assuming Sac is in MLS one day) more teeth. Lots of SJ fans never forgave LD for leaving, see him as a traitor and has represented LA for such a long team. Whether he is a partial investor or involved in operations some way, it's instant trolling of SJ and would give lots of Quakes fans another reason to dislike Sac.
Below article reports that expansion is topic at MLS Board of Govs meeting today. Will be briefed by Beckham United. City council members are concerned that the stadium may displace apartments and businesses nearby. The club will bear the co$t of relocation. So, how hard will residents and apt. building owners fight this? http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/...-displaced-residents-0728-20150727-story.html
Nope. Sorry. You already said it would be announced either at this year's all star game or the December league meetings. No take-backs. You promised. Edit: MLS cup, not December league meeting.
I figure the next step is for the league to announce what is the new target number of teams and by what year. Until then, expansion is just some unknown thing off in the future somewhere. When they announce a new timeline is when we can all sit at the edge of our seats.
I don't know. I see that as two separate issues. There are plenty of cities gearing up for an MLS push that I think the league can now set a goal of, for the sake of this discussion, 28 by 2024. MN/MIA will probably have their stadium situations figured out within the next year or so and be ready around the turn of the decade. Meanwhile, the league can still expand their footprint in the South with Charlotte, perhaps. Indianapolis or St. Louis provide Midwest expansion and I think San Antonio is another not-if-but-when situation. Even if Miami and MN continue to falter, Sac and probably SA (expandable stadium, even if not downtown) can be ready by 2020. So, they still meet the 24 by 2020 deadline and MN/MIA should have it all figured out in time for 2024. At least, if I were the Don, that's how it would go from here.
Well, what do you know? MLS is losing money. No wonder so many rich guys want in on the deal. http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2015/07/31/mls-losing-money