Back in January, The Commish met with South Florida fans while the MLS Combine was in town to discuss Major League Soccer returning to the area. He offered a few simple things fans could do to show they really want the top flight back in the market. Among them: - Support the Gold Cup: Check 18,000+ fans for the 2 games held at FIU Stadium with mediocre teams - Support international friendlies: Check 70,000+ fans for FC Barcelona-Chivas 21,000+ fans for USA-Honduras, outdrawing the most recent LA and NY USMNT games - Support the Fort Lauderdale Strikers: Check Average crowds around 4,000 and the season is not done yet. Better average than the Seattle Sounders pulled when they were in D2. The key is obviously finding an ownership group willing to take the jump, and securing a proper soccer venue. Lockhart Stadium has renovations on the horizon, and could easily be turned into a state of the art SSS. And with the turnaround year South Florida has had in 2011, the market has to look as attractive as ever to potential investors(better than when Claure/FCB tried their luck in 2008/09). We may never get our MLS team back, but we can take pride in the fact that we are erasing the unfair notion that South Florida is a poor market for domestic soccer.
While i agree with your post, i really think that S. Fla being a strong soccer market has always been out of the question. whatever Mr. Goober said is BS. We never had to prove anything. It was always about having an onwer willing to foot the bill, better marketing/management (even with miami fc, i only heard about the team in 2009 when Claure started to make noise, 3 years after it debuted!) and having a reliable stadium or build a new SSS. The Fusion experiment tarnished our image unfairly indeed. but time and again we've shown our strong interest in the sport.
id also like to throw in MLS futbolito held in Miami. it always draws a good crowd and many ppl signing up to play the 4v4 tournament.
MLS Futbolito in Miami is actually the best attended stop for the event in the country. Heard that from one of the MLS guys this past year when I played in the tournament with the Ultras. And we are the only market without an MLS team that hosts Futbolito. South Florida has always been viewed as a strong soccer market in general, but support for the local, domestic game(what we need for MLS) is what has been called into question after the Fusion and later Miami FC came in and tarnished the image of the market. Both had poor branding and promotion and never really got any traction. This year the Blues rebrand to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, a brand with strong local tradition, and spent a bit more on promoting the product, and viola, better crowds. It's more of an issue with the general soccer public and media across the US. Now that we have had teams like Portland, Seattle, Montréal etc. that have come in with prior strong D2 support, MLS will have to justify giving us a second chance. 5 years ago, if someone came in with the check for the expansion fee and a decent stadium plan, we already be back in. That did not happen so now it's gonna be a bit more tricky. We have Orlando drawing 5K+ per game now and they have ambitions to go to MLS. We have NYC still being a strong possibility. We'll need to keep up the support for the local team and other soccer events so there is really no excuse for us to not get MLS back. Only time will tell if it ever happens.
I'd hold off on that check until after next year. Drawing 3,769 is a start, but it has to happen over a few years. Seeing a rise to over 5,000 in 3-5 years would also be nice. But there is always the chance that attendance could go down next year. Things can be so fickle. Seattle and Vancouver's D2 attendance is also why you can't read too much into D2 club attendance when determining potential MLS markets.
We all know it's unfair to say we have to "prove ourselves" as being worthy of another look by MLS. But the league has changed a lot since 2001 to go along with the stygma we've gotten from the rest of the country, fair or not. As DR says, getting into MLS is no longer simply a matter of writing a big enough check. MLS is in a position to be very choosy about who to let in and when at this point. If they league hadn't progressed as far as it has in the last 10 years, we'd alreayd have gotten the Cosmos announcement, and Garber and Co. would just follow it with prayers that they could get everything in order in time for them to start playing. Here's my take, some of you have heard it before, heh, on "proving" ourselves. I think friendlies of Barca vs. Chivas are completely meaningless. In reality, a game like that is a lose/lose proposition. If you draw 70,000 it is really easy for critics to say, ok, so what? Every market should be able to draw a capacity crowd for the #1 club team in the world. And if you don't, they can say, well look, the #1 club in the world comes to town, and you can't even sell out the stadium. You're a bad soccer market just like we've been saying. The way to make believers out of critics is by #1 supporting the only pro team we've got - the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. #2 supporting any friendly match involving MLS teams that might get played down here. For example, if say the Red Bulls played a friendly at Sun Life during preseason training against say a South American team or something. Not Barca, not Man U, not even say a Bayern Munich. An MLS team, and a "smaller" D1 club from somewhere in the world. And #3 would be supporting the US national teams. American soccer. That's what this market needs to show it will support. I personally believe that within the next year or so, things are going to come to a head here in South Florida with regards to pro soccer. The Strikers had a great season so far. If they could finish off Puerto Rico and make it to the finals, they'll build more support, and more importantly, will finally rate some slightly better local media coverage. If they could actually go all the way and win the NASL championship, that would be the best thing that could happen to this team with respect to growing the fanbase at the moment. People love winners. In a town with a lot of disgruntled Marlin and Dolphin fans, a winner would surely grab some casual sports fans' attention. Traffic's situation with respect to the NASL is probably going to become a much bigger factor by this time next year if no investors are found for the Silverbacks and Railhawks. At IMS, BQ is hinting at interest in one of Traffic's teams, but nothing official so far. For all we know, that interest could be in the Strikers. And to me, if someone is willing to pay Traffic to take over the Strikers, you'd have to think that MLS intentions are most likely part of the equation. But unless Traffic finds itself with only the Strikers by the end of 2012, realistically we have to start wondering if they'll stop funding the other teams, unless they were to see some extremely significant attendance increases. So at the end of the day, if Traffic still owns the Strikers, and they don't want to fund additional teams to keep the NASL alive after 2012, what do you do? Disband the team? Surely they'll never go back to USL. Does that become the timeframe to decide if you want to try for MLS? By then I expect the Lockhart renovations to be underway. I strongly believe that given Garber's endless statements about the league badly wanting #20 to be NY2, I think it's a foregone conclusion. But Klinsmann's recent comments about the league needing to play more games, and Garber's receptiveness to talking with him about it, helps you draw some strong possible conclusions. What's the easiest way to have more games? Have more teams. I don't really think MLS will stop at 20 teams. There appears to still be markets out there that want and could make a successful team happen. Personally I think South Florida with the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers could be one of those teams.
Well if you break it down by supporting domestic soccer or international, yes theres an argument to be made. but even then we all know how fickle our market is, with any sport. it comes with the territory. Im willing to bet if tomorrow a wealthy fellow(s), money upfront and all, is ready and wants to own an MLS team and have it in FTL or MIA ( stadium ready, FIU or lockhart), Mr. Goober and his cronies will be all ears, despite whatever excuses they make againts us.
Just like The Don continues to mention NYC2 as the 20th franchise, he continues to mention the South Florida, Atlanta, and more recently Minnesota and Las Vegas markets, when asked about future expansion. None of those markets are eye openers, well except maybe Vegas. Many factors go into which markets MLS will look to with respect to future expansion. If someone did come into the picture with the cash and a plan for Lockhart and was ready to take the Strikers into MLS, I think it would get a lot more consideration than someone with deep pockets saying they'd like to start up a new team in Miami somewhere. I don't think the league stops at 20. I don't know if they go beyond 24 though. That will all depend on the future growth of the sport overall in this country. If it keeps growing, then something like we see in the other big four sports somewhere down the road is plausible. But even at the current level of fan interest, I think there is enough to justify a 22 or 24 team league. And the empty spots in the country both geographically and in the TV markets size listings are easy to spot. The league wants to be in South Florida, no doubt about it. It's up to us to show an American club team can be supported here. If we do, someone, whether it's Traffic or someone else, will take the risk and go for it with the Strikers.
Too bad south Florida couldnt get Lebron James to put his money into South Florida/MLS instead of Liverpool.
If Lebron has any interest in American soccer, then it certainly would be incredible if he showed up at Lockhart to watch a game in his own backyard. I certainly don't expect it, and I have no idea just how much of a fan of soccer he actually is. But Lebron teaming up with Traffic or someone else to own the Strikers would certainly be an attention grabbing story in this market, and it might even get some 305ers to drop their ridiculous hate of anything not named Miami. LOL But again, before anyone criticizes me, we're just talking fantasyland here.
Not sure if he has any interest in soccer period, he probably did the Liverpool thing for money reasons only, who knows. And yeah fantasy land lol. While we are there, I wonder if Lebron and Liverpool would invest in the Strikers lol... I agree, who cares if the team isnt in Miami itself. The region would have a MLS team. I dont see NFL fans in NYC hating the Giants or Jets because those teams are located in Jersey or NYC baseball fans living outside the Bronx or Queens hating on the Yankees or Mets because they dont live in those burroughs. Why cant soccer fans be the same way.