Joe Cole spoke about @TampaBayRowdies referendum victory on Tuesday night - FULL STORY on @SpecSportsFL 1147! #MLS2StPete #COYR @MLS
Happened to be in the St. Pete area last month and caught the Richmond match (and great work by 2 of my favorite former Rapids Matt Pickens and Deshorn Brown). I was very impressed by the whole operation - stadium, tailgating, merchandise, Rowdies' signs on parking garages, crowd enthusiasm, etc. What you need now is to SELL OUT EVERY MATCH! Sacramento, Cincinnati, etc. are impressing, so you need to show the league there is a great pent-up demand for a franchise. You've got the ideal stadium plan and great organization, just show them that this is a new level of public enthusiasm!
They still have hurdles besides the land. And if Orlando is publicly seen as a plus by Garber to our bid, isn't Miami another plus? Any argument against Tampa Bay applies just as much, even more, to everyone's darling Sacramento, IMO.
Perhaps. But it seems with so much interest across the county, will MLS award #24 and one of the 25-28 to a Florida city?
I agree, rivalries have to be territorial, not millions of miles away and call it a rivalry, via KC vs Real Salt Lake
To be fair, we've played a controversial MLS Cup against each other and yellows and reds fly every time they play. It has the touches of a rivalry if not one actually (yet). Nothing manufactured about that.
What about #23 LAFC and a California city? San Diego hitting the skids maybe helps both Sacramento and Tampa Bay. There's still two spots left for whatever other regions MLS wants to hit. The Southeast is still underrepresented overall. True. Those are sometimes the best rivalries. Born on the pitch with silverware on the line.
My guess is 35 million in CA is just bigger than 20 million in FL. Besides LAFC is really just Chivas USA's (#11) spot. Just saying if you are on the BOG of MLS and care about national coverage, do you go for more single state coverage or do go for heavy hitters like (for example) Phoenix, Charlotte or Detroit? Not saying anyone is right or wrong here, just thoughts. I mainly wondered if generally Rowdie fans thought Miami getting closer to MLS was good or bad.
Yeah it's a legit debate. I would argue the NHL went for the heavy hitters in their expansion over more sure bets and quickly regretted it in some cases (Phoenix in particular right now). Tampa Bay is arguably one too though by the media market measure. I still feel confident. Maybe not those first two spots, but the later two. We're definitely a little more touchy about Miami moving forward (the Rowdies fans I follow on Twitter were quick to respond to the news),
I believe it is, especially when the league pushes it as a rivalry, like a broken record. all i am saying Miami-Tampa-Orlando would be the new NW rivalry, each team will have the opposite team fans at the rivalry home games all the time. It would be awesome. And have a Cup for it too...
I guess I won't bring up the preseason friendly where there was 3 red cards issued and police were called. Yeah completely corporate manufactured...
Real rivalry is the one Tampa and Orlando have, they are just opposites, there was always a rivalry between the two, USF vs UCF, Disney vs Busch Gardens, the I4 rivalry? an MLS rivalry would be awesome between the two, adding Miami is icing on the cake, no one likes Miami, we always like to rival against the other big cities ala New York, LA. Im hoping there would be three Florida MLS teams in the near future....
1,000 miles plus, a rivalry. 15 hour drive? maybe it seems like a rivalry but really because each team gets grumpy on that 15 hour bus ride.
This on the other, can be a great rivalry...The Bermuda Triangle, all 3 cities within hours of each other...
Real rivalry? Tampa could care less and Orlando just looking for someone to pick on. Unless we are talking Arena Football, there is no rivalry here. - SoccerPrime, resident of Orlando in until 2008.
The Ruckus have gotten themselves arrested and herded off into a temporary section of bleachers here. Kind of wish they weren't so stupid so we could enjoy the rivalry more. No need to emulate the crappy parts of supporter culture.
I think Tampa would be a good MLS city, the Mutiny were poorly run so I don't think that should be held against them.
The Rowdies are owned by the Rays now so they theoretically have more money for a bid than before but it's been all quiet on that front. Considering the Rays have been focused on getting new baseball stadiums here and in Montreal I doubt MLS is on their radar any time soon.
@Burr, yeah I haven't heard anything about a bid either and because of what you said it does seem unlikely