$5 Million renovation in 1998 http://www.sfo.com/~csuppes/Soccer/USA/MLS/misc/index.htm?../MiamiFusion/index.htm Date Built 1959 Capacity 20,450 Surface Grass Cost of Construction $5 million renovation in 1998 Other Facts Address 5201 NW 12th Avenue Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309 Phone Number (954) 202-3420 Tenant Miami Fusion Population 4,000,000 Parking The Fusion at Lockhart Stadium Nearly two decades after the likes of Pele, George Best and Franz Beckenbauer trod the turf of Lockhart Stadium, the hallowed ground made a spectacular return to the national spotlight on March 15, 1998, when Carlos Valderrama and the Miami Fusion returned top-flight professional soccer to South Florida in a historic matchup with Marco Etcheverry and DC United. Over the course of just three months before opening day, Fusion Investor-Operator Kenneth A. Horowitz spent nearly $5 million - with no taxpayer dollars - to transform Lockhart from a modest high school athletics facility into the nation's premier professional-soccer stadium. The result - a soccer-specific stadium created at a fraction of the cost of a new facility - set a new standard for MLS venues, creating a uniquely "fan-friendly" environment, where the front row seats are only 16 feet from the action. Last season, fans enjoyed an impressive first phase of improvements at Lockhart: the playing field and running track were replaced with a top-notch FIFA-regulation pitch 75 yards by 116 yards (the widest in MLS); new stands were added to the east and west ends of the stadium; new scoreboards and a new public address system were installed; bleacher seats on the sidelines were replaced with chairs and bench backs; luxury sky tents were constructed; new concession areas were added; a new broadcast facility was built atop the existing press box; and new lights were installed. Lockhart's 1998 debut - in front of a record, sell-out crowd of 20,450 and a national television audience on ABC - was stellar, perhaps marking the beginning of a new era for professional soccer in the U.S. No longer must MLS games take place in cavernous football stadiums or on narrow fields. Offering the intimacy and warmth of soccer stadiums common throughout South America and Europe, Lockhart became the first stadium in the U.S. reconstructed specifically for top-flight professional soccer. Lockhart has been an integral part of South Florida soccer for more than 20 years. Between 1977 and 1983, it was the home of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, one of the most successful clubs in U.S. Soccer history during the days of the NASL. For the past several years, the stadium has played host to the Umbro Select College All-Star Classic, an annual soccer event that showcases the best young talent in the sport. Almost 20 years after Lockhart hosted two Olympic qualifying game for the U.S. National Team in 1980, international soccer returned the stadium when DC United achieved perhaps the most significant victory in the history of U.S. professional soccer. United, the CONCACAF champion, knocked off Brazilian and South American Champion Vasco da Gama at Lockhart, 2-0 (2-1 aggregate), Dec. 5, 1998, to capture the InterAmerican Cup, the club championship of the Western Hemisphere. Originally built in 1959 as an athletic facility for local high schools, the stadium is part of a sports complex that also includes Fort Lauderdale Stadium - the Fusion's regular-season training site and the spring training home of Major League Baseball's Baltimore Orioles. Lockhart is conveniently located just west of I-95, between Commercial Blvd. and Cypress Creek Rd. Lockhart is owned by the City of Fort Lauderdale.
good post, guinella box http://www.sfo.com/~csuppes/Soccer/USA/MLS/MiamiFusion/interior.jpg Lockhart...what a great SSS see you at the game the theme is "BLUE" and USA flags, Blue jersey, Fusion..Mutiny... Blue...for the Florida soocer fans
You will have red, for USA and you will have Blue for Florida and USA, Fusion & Mutiny.... BLUE for soccer support in Florida, mixed in with the Reds. Blue will bring USA flags... Reds....HELP ! and then u have the White...for USA Canadians...colors....??????????????
Five million dollars? That's pretty cheap for such a stadium. What was it like before Horowitz' remodel? I'd seen 15,000 Striker attendance figures in the past, so he obviously added 5,000 seats and what else was done?
Before the renovation it was simply a small high school football stadium with a capasity at most of somewhere around 5k with the lone permanent stands being the south stands. Also, take note all seat were benches no actual chairs. The numbers you see for the Ole Striker games where probably portable stands that were added to the north stands plus the end-zones. Before the Fusion came Lockhart was basically one concrete south stand of bleachers with maybe some few portable bleachers on the north side with a narrow soccer field due to the large olympic track that surounded the field, no end field seat and a tiny rinky-dink scoreboard. PS: I love Lockhart for its intimacy...frankly it was awesome. However its biggest problem is its geography. Had South Florida had a Lockhart type soccer stadium in Bayfront part next to the American Airlines Arena/Bayside or anywhere in Miami proper the MIAMI Fusion would still be around. I remember looking at the auto tags of cars parked outside the stadium durring one Fusion game... more than 50% of the fans were from Miami-Dade county not to mention the many persons I knew that never went to a game for the simple reason that Lockhart was/is way too far... even for me a diehard fan no matter what... driving 50 miniuts at 75 to 80 mph was a killer. The fusion had its hardcore fans but what makes a team survive is those bandwagoner fans that come out due to convienence and fun. When you excude more than 50% of a metropolis' populace because of "inconvience" then you have a problem.
I think you are right about the location, Mike-T. I live in Kendall and it is over 50 miles to the games. While I went to every game, regardless of the often appaling summer weather, I knew many people who just wouldn't go that far, which I always thought was such a shame. Mind you, to be fair, if it was more towards Miami, we could have lost the Palm Beach/Broward crowd. Sadly, even at Ft. Lauderdale, the Fusion should have had better attendancies. Poor promotion is not the only reason - the game was played at the wrong time of the year for our climate (it was either unbearably hot or torrential rain) and the "security" did everything they could to intimidate fans not to return with their outrageous bullying.
I probably shouldn't be sticking my oar in the discussion since I've never set foot in Florida, but I will anyway. Don't you think if the Fusion can draw 20,000 fans for a game that there is potential there? In Lockhart Stadium, even in that questionable location? It seems to me that building a sports franchise takes a lot of losses in both money and progress, but through good management and patience, a solid base can eventually be realized. It looks to me, a gross outsider, that Horowitz has rather peculiar ideas and can't seem to grasp the big picture and long-term investment. I assume he simply doesn't have the needed cash to continue the Fusion, but I do believe he does favor the game and wants badly to be a part of American soccer (which gives him a couple of points in his favor IMO).
Lockhart SSS what a beauty. http://www.olympvs.com/Service1.htm joe guy... here is a pic befor and after the refurbish... in the o'll days there was plenty of room in the end zone... (NASL) 14.500 was the average attendance in the best year, with 11K, 12K, 13K in others... there where plenty of games with 18K + I will try to find out what the record was in NASL for the highest attendance at Lockhart or maybe someone here knows ?? Stuart .... next time, IF, we get a team ..we all have to do better Miami..Ft Laud. and PB county...to motivate the ones that want soccer in their back yard only.. Many fans from our youth travel club..come from Royal Palm & Wellington ( PB County ) 55 miles away, and most were season ticket holders... not to speak about Boca, WP, Delray, Boynton. one advantage we have in Florida, that we can get from Kendall or Royal Palm to Lockhart in 45 minutes. The I/O and the fans need to give more...... next time.... WE HOPE
I don't want to or turn this into a pi$$ing contest betwean the OB, Miami supporters..and the Lockhart SSS, Broward and PB supporters. Historical facts, and demographically, Lockhart is the better choice. And now that it is a true world class SSS, specially in USA..even more so. But it is to late..it is after the fact and all this if, if, if...it just dont matter anymore !!! it is done with. We have no team but we have a great soccer history. S. Florida, was, is, will be in the top 10 soccer markets in USA...ALWAYS The truth is, we will have 2 factions..in s Florida, and we all, need to do a better job next time ????????????? I/O & FANS & LEAGUE here again are the NALS attendance numbers. FACT 1972...Miami Gatos ............. 2,112 attendance 1973 Miami Toros ..............5,477 (name change) 1974 Miami 7.340 1975 Miami 4,921 1976 Miami 3,070 1977 Miami "toros" move to Lockhart/Ft. Lauderdale 1977..Ft. Lauderdale Strikers.........7,939 1978 Ft. Lauderdale 10,479 1979 Ft. Lauderdale 13,774 1980 Ft. Lauderdale 14,279 1981 Ft. Lauderdale 13,324 1982 Ft. Lauderdale 12,345 1983 Ft. Lauderdale 10,283 for 84 season the Strikers moved to Minnesota and after that season NASL folded. FACT in 2001 FUSION folded but, again.... at least us the locals...KNOW! this is a great place for SOCCER so... if it is Kendall or Royal Palm...jsut get your butts to the games, Lockhart or OB. We have a few games to show our support for the game ! ;-) get there !
Joe, you are right about Horrorman's peculiar ideas. He boasted that the Fusion would have "more than the Dolphins in a few years" - the last glance shows the Dolphins getting around 80,000. He was just a dreamer and had no realistic idea of how to grow the fan base. IMO, getting over 11,000 in only four years was a success. A success that could and should have been built upon. Building up a loyal base takes years (especially if the early product was absolutely dreadful.) It can seem churlish to criticize someone who invested over $20 million into South Florida soccer and perhaps he was mislead about how much losses he would have to endure to keep the New York-style franchises afloat (The Fusion had its own stadium and not a single player earning the league max). But, creating and then destroying a soccer club isn't like creating and closing a Wendy's restaurant. We gave our hearts to the club and he killed a little bit of each of us. For that, he can never be forgotten or forgiven.
Off-topic While looking through the various MLS stadia, I noticed that listed under Arrowhead's former tenants is a team named the Spurs identified as an MLS team. Any ideas what this refers too?
Hey, Stuart its nice hearing from a fellow Kendalian on these boards. I also treked up to Ft. Lauderdale for Fusion matches. I find it rather nice of you in remembering Palm Beachers when questioning whether the Fusion or any future team for that matter should play closer to our area. Stuart, I think I'll be a little more blunt about the situation. No disrepect to Palm Beachers like Ieca...truthfully. Reality is when it comes to business a large part of success is location, location, location, plain and simple. Sure, should a venue be closer to Miami-Dade or IN Miami-Dade you may loose some Palm Beachers(though probably less percentagewise than those from the Big city), however, you have to look at the big picture. First of all you have to note the nucleus population of South Florida. 2.3 million in Miami-Dade alone another 1.5 in Broward with at least half of that in south and southwestern Broward. That leaves a mear million in Palm Beach County. A million dispersed in a county larger than Broward and nearly as big as Miami-Dade(keep in mind that more than half of Dade county belongs to the Everglades). My point is that Lockhart is and was made for the Ft. Lauderdale locale and is a horrendous venue to take advantage of the entire S. Florida region as a whole, particularly all points south and even less so if you are targeting(at some level) the Hispanic population in this area. Yes there are pockets of hispanics in Broward and even in Palm Beach, but if you want to reach the largest concentrations the numbers are by far in Miami-Dade and in southern and southwestern Miami-Dade specifically. PS: Ieca, I know you LOVE to tout Lockhart as a wonderful SSS, and it is to some extent it is. However, you know what it really is. Its just a large soccer field(because they got rid of the olympic track) that happens to have high school stands built around it most of with are made of portable ALUMINUM material. A "Lockhart" type of facility or one even better could be and could have been made/renovated in several other high school stadia in the area. Thats just a fact.
Oh, Ieca, and should you give your other response to support Lockhart... history and out of date NASL attendance figures for the Miami Gatos/Toros vs the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. I beg to differ...YOu know this area has changed dramatically all around and even moreso with regards to hispanics from soccer loving nations. Why don't you give some stats on the number of Brazilans, Colombians, Hondurans, Guatemalens, Venezuelans, Argentinians, Peruvians, Chileans or Ecudorans living in Miami-Dade in 1975 vs 2003. You'll see a HUGE difference. There is even a large population of Mexican which live in the southern-most populated tip of M-D county in Homestead... which I personally could not stand... they woud come out only for the Galaxy matches to cheer them on. The entire region has change for that matter. IN 1977 people flocked to see the Strikers, even though their average attendence was not much better than the Fusion, just because it was the only "major" sport in the Broward. Now there is the Pathers(NHL) that play in Broward and the Dolphins and the Marlins both play by the Broward-Dade county line. In 1977 the lone major sport in town was football with the Dolphins playing down in the Orange Bowl. So when the Strikers moved north and soccer was a fad it WAS a big deal for them... and even then they could only average at most just a little more than 14,000 one season during their heyday. Lockhart because of its location is A-League material at most. If MLS want a successfull franchise in the S. Florida area *if they give us a realistic chance* it will be in Miami-Dade county. JUST look at the attendences for the upcomming two national team games. One in Ft.Lauderdale(in Lockhart) and the other in Miami. That alone will tell you the story. For that matter lets just compare apples to apples the Fusion played 3 years in Lockhart with barely any marketing...and you-all know the numbers there. Well the same Fusion played but 2 matches, also with no marketing, in the O.Bowl (granted the atmosphere was not the same- though not bad either- sitting next to the roudy Afusionados in the end-zone) and they got about 15,000 for the first game and over 22,000 -the largest Fusion home crowd ever - in the second. Thats an average of 18,500 an average highly respectable compared to the rest of MLS. Yet we have to hear all the nay-sayers about S. Florida's support for MLS. I find it rather unjust how people in these boards love to knock down S. Florida's support for soccer while we see Kansas City and San Jose's dwindle at or below the Fusions numbers even after having championship seasons and 2 more years to build on and no-one badmouths their supporters... Why is that???
Although I've never been, I've always been a big fan of Lockhart Stadium. I was always rather jealous back then watching the Fusion play because it seemed like such an intimate affair. Too bad they're gone... I think it will be a great place for the Nats to play and am looking forward to it. Bring the Fusion back!!!