Rumor: MLS Miami Bid: Beckham and Claure speak

So what you're saying is that sometime soon there is going to to be some kind of announcement from either Claure and/or Beckham about Miami and their involvement (either jointly or singly) in an ownership group to bring MLS there?

 

They should be able to tell us they really are in talks, I mean especially now that beckham is in the offseason of hi slast year in MLS....

The fans have to know of some progress with out it its not helping the growing fanbase..

We have to have solid evidence so the fans are growing on something that may come....

 

I hope they go with Ft. Lauderdale Strikers or something and not Miami Fusion.

 

Yeah...I don't know guys. I love the passion, and it's great that you guys are making noise for our area. But I still can't seem to see Miami working for pro soccer. I wish you guys were lobbying Traffic this hard to get them to do the right thing with the rebrand and make it Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. I can't see pro soccer working on a long term basis down here anyway other than Ft. Lauderdale Strikers.

 

It would be great if south FLA got a team.

I figured they would be Miami FC Strikers, but FTL Strikers would be cool too. Any one know which they will be?

Better get on the ball though, or the 20th team might be the Cosmos or Detroit.

 

Well definitely not Miami. It's probably going to be either Fort Lauderdale Strikers(as it should be) or South Florida Strikers.

I'm not worried about MLS stopping at 20, because they won't, though I do cringe every time I hear the league clamoring to shoehorn a second team into the NY market. But if it happens, it happens. I'd rather see St. Louis, Atlanta, Minnesota, Phoenix, heck even Tampa get a team before New York gets to have two.

I'm pretty confident that at some point in the next 10 years South Florida will have MLS again. I just hope our efforts down here speed up the process, be it with the Strikers or a team in Miami or whatever. So long as we don't get "Boca Juniors USA" I think it will work.

 

Either FTL Strikers or SFl Strikers would be fine with me. As long as the "fans" in the area actually supports them and not be silly and not support them whatever they are known by. If they really want Pro soccer in south Florida they will support them though. Well maybe not "Boca Juniors USA Strikers", good grief no, LOL.

I would love to see MLS grow, but only if the league is stable and the fanbase is actually growing. To much to soon can be a bad thing.
Detroit I hear is another option.

Im pulling for NYC to get a team, because Red Bull is NJ's team lol and the fanbase seems to be there. But I hope Miami gets one first.

 

Miami will be an exceptional MLS destination once MLS moves the season in line with the rest of soccer's best leagues. Playing in Miami on a hot summer day when it is 94 degrees, 90 percent humidity and ideal for heat stroke will be a great way to get players acclimated for the 2022 Qatar World Cup. It will not make for the ideal experience for the fans. When MLS changes, fans from New York, KC and every other frozen tundra soccer city will be able to come spend a beautiful week on vacation in the winter and watch their favorite MLS team play Miami.

This could work, but...

 

Do you know anything about the history of pro soccer in South Florida? It doesn't look like it based on your comments. What are you basing your information on? You do realize that the stadium was expanded to its current seating capacity long after the original Strikers franchise played there? The team averaged between 10,000+ and 14,000+ every year other than their inaugural year, which by the way followed their existence as the Miami Toros, playing in Miami, where outside of the year they went to the finals where they averaged a little over 7,000/game, they only averaged between 2,000 and 5,000.

Go do some research and see what the numbers bear out and you will find this - pro soccer in Miami has not been successful in this area. But pro soccer in Ft. Lauderdale (where the team was actually named Ft. Lauderdale) has been far more successful. Why would today be ANY different? Traffic needs to do the right thing and rebrand the team as the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. They then need to properly market the team to the tri-county area. This will significantly increase attendance. If there are good crowds, a good atmosphere, and also an entertaining squad on the field, the Strikers will do well, could easily be the top drawing team in the NASL. Perhaps someday that scenario could lead to Traffic ponying up the cash to jump to MLS. You know Garber and Co. have to be looking to fill the gaping hole in the Southeast on their map of teams. But everything has to be done properly, and most importantly we fans need to come out and support the team. Down in Miami that won't happen.

 

A few things:

Sun Life is more likely than FIU. MLS was not impressed with FIU during the FC Barça bid process. Sun Life as of 2012 will be without a summer tenant and they want to make improvements for further Super Bowls(including a roof over the seats). There are many issues with FIU, including the artificial turf, alcohol sales on campus, etc. Even if a new stadium is built, Sun Life is more likely as a temporary home.

The Marlins new stadium will not host soccer, at least during the MLS season. They've spent 18 seasons sharing with the Dolphins, so they won't be sharing with anything that will screw up the baseball field during the Marlins season. Side note, but that is about the ONLY detail relating to the new ballpark that is a good thing. Marlins ownership is recklessly egocentric and it will show when that place opens...

Also, as Smoke & Mirrors pointed out, attendance nearly doubled when the Miami Gatos moved north to Lockhart and became the Strikers, and they had to expand the place twice before the team moved to Minnesota citing the lack of a good indoor facility in South Florida. Now I do think a team in Miami proper can be a tremendous success, but they'll have to go LA/NY style with multiple DPs and a great stadium experience. If they half ass the roster and play at FIU, we'll end up more like Dallas than Seattle. And if MLS fails in South Florida again, it will be the last team we get.

The smart, safe move is to embrace the local soccer history and return to Lockhart, only as the Fort Lauderdale Strikers this time(as it should have been in 1998). The Sounders, Timbers and Whitecaps, and probably soon the Cosmos too, have proven that if something worked before, it will work again.

 

Why does everybody assume that if MLS comes to the southeast we have to continue the NASL name? I say come to Miami and do the rebirth of Miami fusion FC....

A ft. lauderdale team in NASL is fine, but when it come to MLS, you have to go more south to miami....

New stadium in downtown miami, no FIU and no Sun life stadium... We need a new building just for Miami MLS soccer, and international friendlies. PERIOD

 

I agree but that's the problem, a new stadium will be a VERY tough sell. Miami just spent 500 million on the Marlins ballpark and the city has all kinds of budget issues. Nothing gets built with 100% private money these days so a totally new stadium, especially downtown, is pretty unlikely.

Even the most hardcore Miami supporter would have to agree that a team at Sun Life or the Fort Lauderdale Strikers playing at Lockhart is better than no MLS team in South Florida at all, right?

I would hope that if MLS does indeed return, and it is in Miami, at Sun Life or FIU or wherever, that the Strikers remain in NASL and forge a strong partnership with the new MLS team. I think with the Strikers name and all the history, they'd still be able to do well in Fort Lauderdale, especially if they are connected with a local MLS team.

 

Guys, listen. Pro soccer has been tried in Miami - and it has failed, more than once. Pro soccer has been tried a little further north - and the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers have been successful. If it was 10 years ago, I would agree with you that Miami, just because of the national name recognition of the city alone (not talking about soccer history here) would make more sense.

But along came the Seattle Sounders, San Jose Earthquakes, Portland Timbers, Vancouver Whitecaps, and now almost assuredly the biggest of them all - the New York Frakkin Cosmos! Times change, things change, people change, systems change, formulas change. Right now the wave is tradition, it's what's old is new again.

Do you think those Classic Ink guys in Texas are sitting on the Rowdies trademark because they think FC Tampa playing in D2 will provide them with a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Nope. They are hedging their bet that the Rowdies stand a decent chance of making it back to the top level of soccer in this country - MLS.

Let's see what 2011 holds for Portland and Vancouver. My money says, very similar things to what we've been seeing in Seattle. Now some might say, well, you could name them the Portland Arse Clowns, and they'll still draw fans. But the ownership group chose the Timbers name, and the tradition it comes with. They are wearing it proudly, just as they have in D2. It's the blueprint that is working to great success right now. The Cosmos will find a way to get a stadium deal worked out, and they'll join the party. I'm telling youm, right NOW is the time to strike the iron while it's hot.

If we come out in force to support the Strikers next year like this area never even dreamed of let alone saw with Miami FC, while at the same time the Timbers and White Caps are following the Sounders' success in MLS, and the Cosmos have been announced as the 20th franchise, why on God's green earth would Garber look anywhere else but right straight at Traffic and the Strikers and say, #21 is yours, just bring the cash.

And I'll tell all you Tampa fans right now too, the best possible thing in the world for you guys would be for the scenario I'm putting down here to come to fruition. Because you know what it would all but guarantee to a potential Tampa ownership group? That the Rowdies would be the apple of Garber's eye for #22. Hell, I'd be perfectly fine with a role reversal too! Although you guys need to get off that baseball field and figure out some way to get usage of the Rowdies trademark back. You west-coasters would certainly know better than I, but I have to believe that a PROPER marketing job of the team, as the Rowdies, would do wonders for your attendance, just like I believe it will for the Strikers on this side of the peninsula.

 

Oh, and you are 1000% right on the downtown stadium issue drsoflafan. Hell will freeze over before the local population will allow the complete dumbasses in local government to get royally screwed again like they did with the lauighing-all-the-way-to-the-bank Marlins owners. And just wait until the novelty of a new stadium wears off, I give it maybe 10 - 20 games, and they're right back to drawing flies.

Building a stadium in downtown Miami KILLED a large part of the team's fanbase. I am a thrid generation, die-hard, love 'em 'til I die, lifelong Cubs fan, and my son will be the 4th long suffering generation. But I WILL NOT go to downtown Miami from North Broward to watch them, even just once a year. And in case no one was paying attention, a LARGE portion of the team's ticket sales are to fans of a number of visiting teams, ie. - Mets, Phillies, Cubs, Yankees. Baseball fans from Broward and Palm Beach just don't want to go to downtown Miami to watch games. It only ever worked for the Dolphins, and I believe that's the way it will stay, in my lifetime at the very least.

 

You're correct that a lot of fans of out of town teams buy a lot of tickets. But the Marlins do pull in very good TV ratings. There is a decent Marlins fanbase but the stadium has been the worst in baseball since day one. Nobody wants to sit in 90º heat and have it rain on them for 3 hours in the summertime. Now the out of town fans still go because they can deal with the elements for one or two nights to see their team. I personally think that any fans the Marlins will lose by going downtown will be recouped by people who were further south, as well as people being drawn in by the A/C and roof at the new place.

Of course, when trying to build a strong following, it doesn't help when you have an owner dead set on taking a dump on team history, trading off the team's best and/or fan favorite players for next to nothing and making a mockery of the game of baseball. That is why I'm not going to the new ballpark. I'd happily drive to Miami to see games, just like I did for Miami FC, but September 28 2011, which happens to be my birthday, will be my last Marlins game until Loria and Co. are out of town. When the FLORIDA Marlins die, so does my support for them. Not so much because of the name change itself, but what it symbolizes. When the new Miami Marlins take the field it will complete Loria's bastardization of my beloved baseball team and I just can't justify supporting it. It's like if somebody came into Chicago and changed the Cubbies colors to purple and gold, or went into the Bronx and took the pinstripes off the uniforms because of their personal taste. What Loria is doing is downright disrespectful to Marlins fans and South Floridians who were here before he was.

Once he inevitably sells the team for a hefty profit, hopefully someone comes in and restores the proper team colors and runs the club with some class. Then I'll gladly make the trek to Little Havana.

/rant

Sorry but I'll bash that no good S.O.B. at any and every opportunity.

Back to soccer lol.

 

Let me start by saying that I'm not a fan of Loria AT ALL, but if the name change and color change keeps you from attending another Marlins game -- you are not a fan and hopefully you do stay away!

BTW, City of Miami and Miami-Dade County are flipping the bill for the stadium, you're damn right we want them to be the MIAMI MARLINS. If you wanted them to remain Florida or maybe Lauderdale - you should have contacted a politician!

 

I think you're missing the point. The city and the county bought fool's gold. We can make a laundry list of reasons why people have not, and will continue to not attend Marlins games. I hear the heat and rain arguments all the time. But really, it gets way hotter in most places around the country in the summertime then it does here. It rains everywhere, except maybe San Diego LOL. These have always been excuses. You'll see how little value they have mid-way through the first season in that ballpark when you get maybe 10,000 for a weeknight game against the Astros.

Anyway, back to the bigger picture. I really believe that the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers is the best long term viable option for pro soccer down here. There aren't a bunch of New Yorkers down here that will say, hell no, I'm not rooting for the Strikers, I'm a Cosmos fan 'til I die! It's not like Giants, Jets, Eagles, Bears fans who would just as soon spit on Tony Sparano then shake his hand and cheer for his team. LOL

Drsoflafan has said multiple times that he believes a factor in MLS not working here was eschewing the Strikers name for something new. Naming the team the Miami Fusion, and then moving them to Lockhart in Ft. Lauderdale was pretty stupid as well. I think this area will support the Strikers given the proper marketing of the team, and an exciting product on the field, whether it's NASL or down the road maybe MLS.

 

The Hispanic and Brasilian base in South Florida has grown tremendously since the days of the Gatos and then subsequently the Strikers. That foundation exists in far larger numbers in Miami than in Ft. Lauderdale. The million and a half Hispanics in Miami alone could support a team.

With the Fusion, I was surprised at how little name recognition there was among the Hispanic soccer base in So. Fla. I've heard different theories on this, but there seems to be a consensus that marketing to this target audience was both essential and poorly handled.

Properly handled, soccer in So. Fla. should thrive. When someone who understands the game and the community puts it all together, a team based in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale will be an MLS gold mine.

 

Wow... failed? I believe that isnt fair to say. When Miami had the Gatos, you were competing with imigrants that knows real soccer, and it was a league that was in a country that didnt respect the sport. When they brought the FTL Strikers they were not succesfuk either buddy, they still folded like any other team.

Im sorry but I dont understand how you strikers fan believe that the striekrs was a success story when in reality it all failed here, in Miami and Ft Lauderdale. Get off that mentality already. They all failed! period!!

Now, I believe that if they was to bring back MLS to Miami, we are dealin with a whole different time, different demographics, different population in MIami, more normality to MLS, with international competitions, with a team in these times, with the players we are beginning to attract (Ronaldinho, Anelka, etc.). Miami can be very successful, like I said before and I will say it again, Miami MLS would be like the Yankees of MLB. Miami has very different nationalities, we range from all over the world, but all of them and us (second generation immigrant americans) love soccer.

Im tired of everybody talking smack about Miami being a failure, the league failed us, and before the NASL's and USL's and SPSL's those leagues had no international competitions, no exposure, how the hell did you expect for miami to ever get on the map?

Miami in MLS now would be very differnt and veery successful, with the DP rule and great ownership, advertising, international competition, we would be big in MLS!!

Yes bring on STRIKERS but dont proceed to MLS, Ill root for Ft. lauderdale in NASL, but not MLS, for that you have to go to MIAMI!!

Miami is a great city for a team, and believe me so is ft. laudy but Miami, pro soccer, big city of soccer loving citizens just equals greatness.

I know there are other fans out here that wouldn't mind rooting for ft. laudy and are from Miami, but yall are just desperate. You guys wouldnt mind a team in the keys for petes sake but if somehting has to be done it has to be done right.

BRING MLS TO MIAMI!!!!!!

 

Remember that when the strikers were alive, this part of the country was a retirement home, most fans I dont think are around anymore, not that many people know the strikers now than they did back then..

Remember we are a growing city, a lot of people come here with no knowledge or history of the past. So why bring on something that not everybody knows.....

Bring on a new MLS Miami based team and they will be big...