Here's food for thought: if, and this is a major if, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers have or will have any interest in considering the MLS. Whether they sell the Strikers, allow new investors into the fold or any other method, the Strikers would continue to exist. As discussed before, the Strikers date back to the original NASL, and have historical credibility. Look no further than after Miami FC relocated to Fort Lauderdale; the attendance skyrocketed. The Strikers name and the Fort Lauderdale location are the main reasons for this occurrence. Two obstacles prevent the Strikers from becoming an MLS Franchise. First: Lockhart Stadium. They've done renovations in the past, but, lets face it, the current state of Lockhart is not of the current quality of MLS SSSs. A serious renvoation, and possibly reconstruction, would have to occur if the Strikers can consider staying at that location. Another option is to search for locations within close proximity to downtown. Fort Lauderdale has made efforts to invigorate the downtown area, after decades of suburbia expansion. A state of the art soccer specific stadium would be perfect. The second part is the renaming. No, not the Strikers; the Fort Lauderdale. If the stadium is to be located near Fort Lauderdale (within Broward County), Fort Lauderdale is not nearly as recognizable of a city as Miami and both domestically and internationally. However, in order to avoid a potential repeat of Miami Fusion (albiet there was an increase in attendance the year after their eventual) the team should not simply be named Miami Strikers. Fort Lauderdale has its own unique identity, and contrary some people's beliefs, is not a suburb of Miami. So here's an idea: how about calling them the South Florida Strikers. Brand recognition from Strikers and the location name encompasses an entire diverse area that is South Florida; the Patriots are able to get away with naming their team after the entire New England Region, why can't the strikers. Also, if the MLS plans to expand to Orlando, the team should not be named the Florida Strikers, not too savvy in my opinion. Any thoughts?
I like the idea...in a perfect world, this would be perceived as Fort Lauderdale keeping its Strikers (with slightly adjusted name), Miami as "getting" its team (not really, but somewhat), so the potential of true soccer fans of both markets would be combined. Since I'm not from South Florida, however I don't know if current Strikers fans as well as the "Miami MLS" supporters would be happy about this kind of arrangement. Also, as far as I know, the Strikers organization doesn't have the least bit of interest in going MLS and I think this could only work, if the Strikers organization join forces with Claure/Beckham, which I think is highly unlikely for a whole lot of reasons. So, I like the idea but think it's very unrealistic.
The Strikers have said repeatedly that they have no interest in joining MLS. Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald has given a series of radio/podcasts in the last week or so that indicates that MLS has no interest in the Strikers or Ft Lauderdale. This seems to say that no matter who owns the Strikers, MLS is not in their future. True. No one seems to care. Then was then, now is now, times have changed and all that is meaningless. No. The main obstacle for the Strikers going to MLS are the Strikers do not want to go to MLS & it seems that MLS does not want them. There is a reason that Lockhart and Ft Lauderdale Stadium are not on any ones must use list: both are owned by the FAA. The NY Yankees & the Baltimore Orioles left because of the ownership, as have the local HSs and FAU. The Strikers say they are willing to stay, if they get a long term lease (10 years +). The FAA won't do it. The Strikers are currently looking for a location for a new SSS with 8,500 to 12,000 seating capacity somewhere in Broward County. There is a site in Ft Lauderdale on Andrews Ave that is being looked at along with several others around Broward County. However, the Strikers announced this search several months ago & have only recently said that they've narrowed the search down to 3 outfits to do a fesability study for them. Personally, I think they need to be a *bit* further along than that with Mr Beckham needing to make his announcement before the end of the year and many folks saying that his choice will be Miami. Time to poop or get off of the pot or you may very well be but a footnote in the history of this game in the USA. The Strikers want to stay the Ft Lauderdale Strikers & stay in Ft Lauderdale or, at worst, Broward County. There have been conversations between the Strikers/Traffic & Mr Claure in the past & this seems to be a sticking point. He wants Miami and only Miami and undoubtedly a name change specifying Miami. Evidently there is no meeting of the minds on this. Also, according to Michelle Kaufman, MLS wants Miami. Since the rumors about Miami & Orlando joining MLS at the same time I think it is safe to say that neither will be designated as Florida. Miami & Orlando will probably be it. Thank you for stating that Ft Lauderdale is an entity separate from Miami. They are both the County Seat of their respective County's and are quite different even though they are both "minority" counties. IMO, it looks more and more that the Strikers actually intend to stay here and continue to play in the NASL with or without competition to the south. They might actually survive if they can build a solid team, get a new stadium located far enough away from where ever the ClauBecks MLS team is located - recent rumors of rebuilding Tropical Park on SW 40 St in Miami have me delighted.....get that team as far away from Broward County & Palm Beach County as possible - and entrench themselves in the tri-county, especially the northern 2 and their 3,000,000+ inhabitants. One thing is for certain. After losing every team that has ever been here one after another, for one reason or another, there will never be a dull moment in South Florida concerning pro soccer/football/futbol/futebol. That is one thing we can count on never happening. And I think it would be a hoot if we could have 2 vibrant, well supported teams in the tri county. It probably won't happen, but it would be sweet fun for us all if it did.
Here is my question, right now everyone is saying that Beckham-Miami MLS is about 75% sure to happen. What happens to the Strikers then? Will they still draw 3k per game if MLS is playing 30 miles away? Why are the strikers looking to build an 8k seat stadium anyway? Their biggest attendance was under 6k and that seemed awfully inflated anyway. A lot of us Dade people went to the Fusion games back in the day. Will North Broward people come to Miami? I guess a lot of these questions will play out of the next couple of years.
I guess they hope to grow the attendance and increase it from what it is to filling that stadium. I'll be there along with many others, but, realistically, good luck with that. Possibly, if they build an 8,000 seat stadium they might just pull it off. Or the ClauBecks apparition might kill them. We only hope that they can survive. We've lost the Strikers 2 or 3 times already. Losing them again will not make many people happy. As yet there is no indication from Mr Claure & his people that anyone north of the M-D county line matters. This seems to be a Miami thing for them. All they ever talk about is the number of fans of the sport in the large Hispanic community in M-D county. That seems to be their target audience. For all of that the location of their stadium will probably decide if folks from Broward County and Palm Beach County attend in large numbers. The further south and/or downtown they go I suspect the fewer folks from the north will bother to go. Who needs a new, distant team that really doesn't seem to want us anyway. Yes, and no one knows exactly how it will play out. Some say it has to be a roaring success because of Becks. Many more are skeptical given the spotty history of the sport in South Florida and, especially, Miami.
I doubt anyone in Broward is being alienated. There are a lot of latin people in Broward too and if MLS is going to work we should probably put the border feud behind us. Just because Claure might not mention Hollywood or Plantation by name doesn't mean they don't care about potential customers in Broward.
Bottom line....the only chance this could ever happen is if someone with deep pockets buys the team very very soon. It is not happening with Traffic ownership......and it seems like Claure/Becks in Miami is almost inevitable. Argue the merits all you want....and there are legit reasons to think a Broward-based and branded MLS team might have a better chance to succeed....but the chances of it happening are somewhere between slim and none.
Traffic doesn't want it. Not to mention a not insignificant segment of the Strikers' fanbase would rather see the franchise die than be rebranded as a "Miami" franchise. Shame too, as bringing the Strikers up to MLS (albeit with relocation to Miami-Dade) was a pretty good option.