Got this in a email, wanted to pass it on: Hi Guys, Good news! Don Garber, Major League Soccer's commissioner will be in South Florida and will meet with fans on Saturday January 8, 2011 at 1 pm at a location to be determined. He will give us 1 hour of his time to ask him questions. It's a good sign since Mr. Garber only shows up to cities that have an actual chance of getting a team. From what we know Mr. Garber receives close to 100 emails a week from South Florida Soccer fans. We need to show up in large numbers to support our chance of getting an MLS team in our area. For that purpose we will be gathering on Sunday January 2 at 10 AM at D&B Tile. 14200 NW 4th St, Sunrise, FL 33325. We have asked for support from groups in West Palm, Broward and Miami Dade. The meeting will provide information, posters and flyers that will be distrubuted to all the fans so that we can prepair and be ready for the Actual meeting to take place as stated earlier on Saturday January 8, 2011. Please email me back if you are intrested in helping us bring Major League Soccer to South Florida! I live in the Kendall area and can give rides to up to 3 other people. Please forward to anyone you know who loves soccer and wants a Major League Soccer team in our area. Thanks! Uncle Ed http://football-miami-n-beyond.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/footballsoccerm
Interesting. Hopefully MLS will forget about all this Miami Fusion and Barcelona USA nonsense, and return first division pro soccer to south Florida under the name Fort Lauderdale Strikers!
Well Traffic own all the Striker logos/names so unless they are involved, forget that name. But seriously, more important is building a nice fan base, addressing the stadium issue and finding a deep pocketed investor.
If not Traffic, any idea who the potential ownership group might be? I mean, Don Garber would not travel to Miami merely to visit with a bunch of fans (at least, I doubt it). There must be some wealthy individuals he plans on meeting with while down there.
I think Brightstar owner Marcelo Claure is still in the mix to be a owner, if not a big part-owner of a team. I have zero confidence that FCB is involved any more.
Why couldn't Traffic be part of an MLS bid down here? I know they are putting a lot of money into D2 NASL right now, but I don't think that should preclude them from being at least a part of an ownership group for MLS as well right? NASL isn't seeking to compete with MLS. Just the opposite according to Davidson, he and the league want to develop a relationship between the two leagues.
No reason Traffic can't or wouldn't be part of a MLS bid. Just saying if its so important to use the Strikers name, you have to go through Traffic to use it. On the other hand, I can think of one reason Traffic wouldn't want to be part of MLS: Player ownership.
Claure is indeed still the major player, as far as I know. Barça is certainly out, despite them playing AC Milan here next year. It's exciting that The Commish is going to meet with us. Can't wait. Traffic's involvement with the new NASL and Strikers don't necessarily keep them from being involved with an MLS venture, but it means they probably will not be the main investor. In all likelihood it will be someone else(Claure etc.) that is the major force behind the new team and Traffic will jump in as some kind of minority partner, perhaps keeping the NASL team in operation as a farm club where they could still own player contracts but also have a relationship with the MLS team in the market.
Will be interested to hear how this goes and who besides Garber and fans was in attendance. Make sure you give us a report afterwards! Let's throw out a hypothetical here and see what everyone thinks about how it might play out. Let's say the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers rebrand this year is a big success. Bigger crowds then anyone anticipates, and the team performs well on the field. And let's assume the Timbers and White Caps follow in the footsteps of the Sounders in drawing in the upper echelons of the league and being decent on the field, thus solidfying the new "retro" expansion wave. With all that in place, and the Cosmos also being a lock to be announced next year, what if Garber comes to Traffic and says - The time is right, we want the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers to join their resurrected brethren in MLS, for say 2014 or 2015? What does Traffic do? Do they say, no thanks Don? Do they say, sounds good, and start planning to move the Strikers from D2 to MLS? Or do they say, since our model is developing players, we'll let someone else operate the MLS version of the Strikers, as long as you affiliate with our D2 club in NASL as your reserve team, because we want to keep our main focus on D2?
I'm genuinely curious. How would joining MLS hinder Traffic's player development? MLS teams across the country are creating academies. New mls rules allow MLS teams to retain home grown players. Vancouver is moving from Div 2 to MLS with their development program intact. So why couldn't Traffic own a team in MLS and still run their development program?
You are very much in line with my original thinking. But Prime brought up "player ownership" as a sticking point. Traffic's game is to develop players at all different levels and sell them right? Makes sense that they would want to then be able to operate teams at as many different levels as possible right? Because really, most of the soccer world would look at MLS as either a developmental league or a place for older players to get a few more years out of their legs right? I think if you find some way around the player ownership thing, then the main issue becomes money. That was kind of what my last post with the hypothetical situation was about. Faced with the option, what would they do?
Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber will meet with Soccer fans on Saturday January 8, 2011 at 1 pm. Address: 3030 Restaurant @ Marriot Harbour Beach Hotel (3030 Holiday Drive, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316) He will answer questions about MLS Miami! Be sure to read more about it here: http://bit.ly/dZIRF8 Want to help bring MLS to South Florida? We are also planning to meet at D & B Tile on Sunday January 2 at 10 am Address is 14200 NW 4th St. Sunrise, FL 33325. We will prepare a presentation and we need ideas and help organizing the event with Commissioner Garber. We appreciate your input. Anyone is welcome. Please forward to all Soccer fans. Don't forget to go to our website: http://www.mlsmiamibid.com/ Follow us on Facebook and Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MLS-Miami-Bid/123889570963495 https://twitter.com/mlsmiami Want to make suggestions? Want to join us? It's free! Email : info@mlsmiamibid.com
So the Don is coming to town to meet fans.....in FT. LAUDERDALE!!! Time for you guys to amend your schtick to Bring MLS to Ft. Lauderdale!!!! Everyone wear Strikers gear, and only say these words to him: San Jose Earthquakes...Seattle Sounders...Portland Timbers...Vancouver Whitecaps...New York Cosmos...FT. LAUDERDALE STRIKERS!!!! LOL
I'd hazard a guess that even if Traffic isn't involved with an MLS bid, the Strikers name could be had for the right price.
Really? Of course, he could be in town because the MLS Player Combine will be going on at the time. Since the various team officials that will all be in town will be busy Saturday afternoon at the first Combine double-header, is it really a shock that the Don would engage in some public relations? Or we could just blow this all out of proportion.
Well he didn't meet with local fans/media last year at the Combine, or the year before, when we actually had an active bid for a team in South Florida going on. I'm not reading too much into it, but it's still kinda a big deal for our cause.
Yes Ultras, media and anyone else who wants to show up. MLS also posted a video today where they mention it(see link below). If you can't make it to the meeting with Garber @ The Marriot Harbour Beach, definitely try to come out to the Combine at the Cricket Stadium. I'll be at both. They want to see that South Florida will support MLS, so we all need to be there. http://www.mlssoccer.com/videos?id=11012&catid=112
According to MLSSoccer.com 1:45 and 3:30 for the games Saturday. I think tickets will be $10. There will probably be some overlap with the Garber meeting and the first game but I'm sure a good chunk of us will make it over to the games too.
Thanks for the info. In other words: just follow the Ultras to the Cricket Stadium after meeting with Garber on the beach......
Not trying to flame here, but didn't Tampa Bay do better attendance wise back in the old NASL days? I just don't know what the allure is with the "Striker" name.