Florida Superthread

Anthony Wallace (St. Petersburg) - FC Dallas

 

if we were to get a team in florida, i think we have to re-instate either the mutiny or Miami FC i don't think any other area would stand a chance.
opinoins?

 

Just bring back the Tampa Bay Rowdies and be done with it. After we get the investors and the SSS lined up of course. Rodney Marsh and the Corbetts will not stand in the way, quite the contrary.

 

yeah the rowdies still have a big fanbase here


as for tampa and miami, which one gets a team first. miami will say that they have a big spanish population, but they cant even support their USL team.

 

Too bad they're not professional soccer fans.

 

If the Mutiny had played in Fort Meyers, I'm not sure their support would've been better than what the Fusion got playing in Fort Lauderdale.

To be honest, I don't see Florida as being a "failed" MLS market. The only real crime that the Fusion and Mutiny made was in not being owned by big investors. MLS had a real catch-22. They needed league owned teams in order to get off the ground. Without them, the league may never have started. And giving the undercapitalized Horowitz and expansion team forced an unfortunate lesson. When the league finally was forced to put itself on a stronger financial footing, those just happened to be the two teams without chairs when the music stopped.

Neither team "failed". The business operations beneath them are what failed.

I don't think there are any "magic bullets" to making MLS succeed at this point. I'm guessing there are a good 50 or more markets in the U.S. and Canada that could support a team given committed ownership and a stadium.

I don't think any experiences with the USL or NASL are relevant. I'm not sure that even the experience of the Mutiny or Fusion is even relevant. The landscape for professional soccer in this country has changed a great deal in just the last five years.

I also don't see any particular reason for any Miama vs Tampa thing.

 

I would LOVE to get a team back in tampa!!! Actually, I would love it even more in ft myers since I live there, perhaps the new FGCU stadium and having only a team here you would get people from Miami and Tampa since it is in the middle, just a thought, will only happen in my dreams though, because I could get to a MLS soccer game in 5 minutes from my house, but anyways there needs to be a team in florida again!!

 

question for you.
if there were to be a team in tampa, would you be willing to drive here and go to the games?

 

Most definatly, it's only about a two hour drive and I went to I'd probably say like 10-15 Tampa Bay Mutiny home games a year back when they existed, I would go to at least that many with another opportunity.

 

wow thats a damn good post.........i thought these weren't allowed on BS






On a side note, this whole Miami vs Tampa dispute reminds me a lot of the LA vs BayArea thing, but in this case, both cities have no team

 

that's another thing, LA has two teams in the same stadium, can't you be satisfied with one?

and NY is begging for another team, but they can't get anyone to come to their games in the first place.

 

As much as I would like to see a team in Tampa again, I would rather see profitable city (cities) get teams first. The more profitable teams there are, the better for US soccer and probably better for smaller markets.

That being said, I'm pretty sure (dare I say 95% confident) that a team will eventually come to Tampa. It may be awhile since a SSS would probably be needed to block out the elements (and to be profitable).

 

I dont care where in Florida, but the MLS needs a team here. There is a huge soccer fan base here and i think a professional soccer team would draw good revenue. Miami and Tampa would be the ideal places for a team but orlando or jacksonville might work as well. And I understand Tampa and Miami once did have teams and that they were failures but times have changed.

 

What if it ended up in Dixie County? I bet you'd care then.

 

In the next couple of years their will be a MLS team..either in the Tampa/St.Pete area or Orlando

 

cant wait for a tampa-miami rivalry

 

I heard the attendance wasn't bad for the Mutiny... at least not compared to the Red Bulls and Kansas City or even Columbus.