Strikers: Miami MLS thread

The 4 year old rumor comes true....

The word being used is "exploratory". We'll see how this plays out. Love it or hate it, it make things even more interesting for the SoFl fan........

 

Just curious, do you guys think their is enough of a fan base to support both the Strikers and a Miami MLS club? Anyone here planning on jumping ship to team Beckham?

 

I'm not. The Strikers have been my team for 30+ years. Traffic changing Miami FC to the Ft Lauderdale Strikers was a game changer for me; MY team was back!

I'll support them as long as they exist. If they can co-exist with an MLS team in Miami is debatable. Some here say absolutely not and others say yes they will. I'm one that says that I simply hope they can. If they do survive they get my time & $$$ 1st, Miami's team a distant second. Strikers games will always be attended, Miami's only if there is another team worth seeing and I can afford it. Miami MLS will always be secondary, but I will attend since, unlike some people in both Counties, they are in my town as I see it and, although they are secondary, they are "my" team to that extent.

What if the Strikers die and there is only Miami MLS? Since it will probably be Miami MLS that killed my team, then they will NEVER be my team. If my son wants me to go with him to a Miami MLS game when he thinks his kids are old enough to go and he invites me, I'll probably go since it is a family thing. I'll go as a neutral. at best.

If not for that I'll not attend any of their games. What $$$ I have to spend on sports I'll spend on the Dolphins, Heat, Panthers and, in season and it makes me gag, the Marlins. Kill my 1st love and you'll not replace them. You'll go from a rival to a bitter, hated enemy that I cordially invite to perform a physically impossible sexual obscenity upon yourself until the end of time or you arrive in hell, whichever comes first.

 

Count me among the not jumping ship crowd. I sing Strikers 'til I die at each game and I mean it.

I think there is enough of a fan base to support both. Primarily because I think there is no fan base in Miami to begin with, so a team playing 44 miles from Lockhart shouldn't be a threat. Even a team at Sun Life which is 22 miles away would leave room for the Strikers. I don't think many casual soccer fans and families in Broward and Palm Beach would drive an extra 45 minutes and pay twice as much for tickets to see marginally better soccer.

I just ran some numbers, comparing the 2009 Miami FC attendance at FIU(where Claure & Becks seem keen to put a team) with the 2013 Strikers numbers at Lockhart. Keep in mind: same owner, same next to zero marketing budget, same crappy performance on the field, same caliber of players.

2009 Miami FC at FIU Stadium:
748 average attendance(7 games)
USL-1 Average That Year: 4,709
MFC Percent compared to League Average: 17%

2013 Strikers at Lockhart:
4,533 average attendance(4 games)
NASL Average 2013: 4,757
FTL Percent compared to League Average: 95%

Scale those numbers up to the MLS level and the Strikers would be at 16,387, while FIU FC would be at 2,932(the percentage of the league average crowd they would average). You never know what COULD happen, but based on the history these are interesting numbers to say the least.

 

Love that major/minor league thinking! It's just not soccer!

BTW, you left out that the last game the Sounders played for USL at Qwest field was a draw against the Portland Timbers with attendance of 10,184. They then went to Starfire Sports Complex (Max Seating Capacity: 4,500) for the remainder of the season.

You also left out that the Toronto Lynx self-relegated two levels in 2006. They didn't become Toronto FC. They decided in the face of poor attendance that it would be an embarrassment to compete against an MLS team. Their previous numbers hovered between 2000-3000. Also worth noting is that Centennial Park, the stadium the Lynx played, had an official capacity of 2,200.

Your simplistic description is upsetting.

 

And as a Cosmos fan I can say with unmitigated joy that I can't wait to beat your team on Aug. 3. Like old times.

 

But you said: "In 2006, the year before TFC joined MLS, Toronto's Division 2 attendance was 1,551."

And we all know the story of how the famous Sounders got back into MLS and fought for their name, et cetera. The implication was that TFC was the same thing and it wasn't. You left something out.

Ah, but it does when it was the first and only game played in a facility that could hold more than 4,500 people. See, when the Timbers moved up to MLS they had already about 10,000 people and REFITTED the stadium to have more seating.

I don't doubt that the Sounders' numbers were inconsistent. After all, their opening game at Qwest field-- as a D2 team was, what? 25,000. Who knows what the confusion of the Seahawks being there might have caused?

What we do know is that Seattle reached MLS numbers IN D-2, and MLS did nothing but expand upon a base that was there-- far from your ridiculous claim that "some towns just show up for major league that won't for minor league". That just isn't the whole truth.

You mean besides Miami and Tampa? MLS already failed there. NASL is doing fine there though. So maybe the problem isn't the market, Prime-- maybe it's .... MLS!

I keep getting prizes for posting! I love it! I just need six more people to like my posts and I get another one!

Edit: Why is "facts" in quotes? Are not kenn.com (the owner of which's name, per his request, remains unmentioned by me) and news articles not enough to be facts?

 

Explaining it to you will cost you, Soccer Prime. I'd like repping powers, and then I will go into detail about implications.

To come to the solution you will have to divide attendance by 3 for the Mutiny, which would equal 3,150 their closing year (2000). As we've seen above, the Striker likers are growing, and averaging what for this year? 4,533, three times which would equal 13,599, which the Fusion never actually reached! I win again!

I really feel I am saying anything here. But as to what I said, I said:

"I don't doubt that the Sounders' numbers were inconsistent. After all, their opening game at Qwest field-- as a D2 team was, what? 25,000. Who knows what the confusion of the Seahawks being there might have caused?

What we do know is that Seattle reached MLS numbers IN D-2, and MLS did nothing but expand upon a base that was there-- far from your ridiculous claim that "some towns just show up for major league that won't for minor league". That just isn't the whole truth."

Why not just refit the old stadium?

 

I wouldn't do it till the average is at least 5K. That just seems smarter.

 

The plans have not been shelved. As far as I know no decision has been made yet, but continuing at Lockhart, hence it's refit, are pretty much at the bottom of the list. The stadium and the land it is on is owned by Uncle Sam, the FAA, and they do not seem to want to give the Strikers the long term lease that the Strikers want.

There are rumors we hear about various locations that may be used to build an 8,000 to 10,000 seat stadium. One is actually in M-D County, barely, and the rest are scattered around Broward County from east to west, north to south, and many points in between. Conversations and negotiations are still going on and it seems that the Strikers intend to do this no matter what transpires in M-D County with Beckham & Claure.

We have no idea when we'll hear more, where the stadium might be or if the possibility of MLS in M-D will kill everything. We'll see what transpires over the next 60 to 90 days. Maybe by then things will have sorted themselves out.

BTW, Beckham is supposed to be here through tomorrow and the Strikers/Traffic have issued an invitation to him to meet & discuss what it is he wants & what can be worked out between the 2 groups. If they they actually do meet and can work something out that would make my MLS dreams come true.

We'll see. As ever, there is never a dull moment concerning pro soccer in SoFl.

 

I can only judge by your one-sided conversation trying to bring logic and reason to the boards, that you are conversing with the clown I have on ignore. Be careful! You might be a hater or euphemizer.

 

You are correct. The Mutiny's lowest average was not quite three times what the Rowdies averaged in year one, their best. In most years, the Mutiny averaged about three and a half times. Facts. Facts. Facts. They always get in the way.

 

Would be prudent of the Strikers to meet with Beckham if he is indeed considering a MLS bid for Miami. No sense being adversaries if it isn't necessary. If the Strikers are content to draw somewhere in that 4 to 8K range forever, then they just might coexist. If Beckham decides he wants a unified approach to the market, maybe he would listen to the Strikers' commitment to the PB area and decide he wants to invest in the Strikers and take them into MLS.

 

1) The strikers are not in Palm Beach. They are in Broward, just above Miami.
2) Aaron Davidson already responded, so there's nothing to wonder. If Beckham wants to work with the Strikers, nice. If not, oh well.

 

I thought you had me on ignore. I guess picking the line I took apart was a coink-key-dink

 

I agree, but I do not know what the Strikers want to talk about. Perhaps what you suggest. We'll see what develops IF Beckham decides he wants Miami. I think Orlando is on his short list, too, and I assume they'll give him the royal treatment. I wonder if Mickey and Minnie will be involved....

 

Beckham and Orlando have NO involvement with one another. Orlando City's big coup was Flavio da Silva. They're targeting a Brazilian fanbase and don't fit the mold of BIG cities that Beckham likes to associate himself with (Manchester, Madrid, Los Angeles, Milan, Paris).

 

Beckham isn't meeting with the Strikers and there is no plan for him to field a team anywhere but Miami. MLS wants to be there for TV marketing reasons, attracting better quality players, etc. and you can bet every penny in the bank that MLS has had closed-door talks with him about starting up a franchise there, even before he retired. Beckham didn't just magically retire and two weeks later said, "Hey, I'm off to Miami to meet Marcelo Claure."

The fantasies of seeing the Strikers in MLS are just that. They have said they have NO INTEREST in joining MLS and instead want to focus on helping NASL develop into a real strong second division. Honestly, this decision will, in my opinion, doom and kill the franchise, which is a shame. Making a push for MLS, despite being unlikely to land a deal, would have brought media attention and a buzz that could have brought out more casual fans who would have been willing to return even with Miami landing an MLS club.

As for the Strikers' search for a soccer-specific stadium, I'm willing to bet it never leads to one being built. Their announcement of the search was mainly to spin some buzz with locals (it didn't muster up all that much) and to explore the slim chances of them finding a cheap home in Broward County, which they have not made any progress with.

By the way, to the poster that said MLS has marginally better soccer than NASL, you're either on hard drugs, don't watch enough of both leagues or your bias is blinding you from seeing the truth. On average, an MLS game is much more entertaining to watch than those of NASL.

EDIT - Just went back and checked and that poster was unsurprisingly drSoFlafan.

 

No, he did it after NYC basically turned its back on MLS. A MLS Miami franchise will be its first real failure of the Garber era (and the second failure in Miami).Second I thought Beckham would be meeting with the Strikers Tuesday. If I were a smart businessman, I would take any opportunity the Strikers give me and eat the cost.

I am glad they closed that door. It gives us time and opportunity to focus on building in South Florida again. It won't kill the Strikers. That's the problem for MLS. These are not the old NASL teams. These teams are capable of surviving on the margins they have as far as I can see. But MLS teams in these regions can't. They've seriously made a tactical blunder.

You may well be right on this. But I think we are reaching an interesting point in US soccer history. The MLS will have to learn to deal with the NASL and other divisions as partners, not competitors. If they can't, that's their problem.

Don't know if it was me who said it, but it could have been. I watched MLS for two years not knowing about other divisions. More injuries than boxing, and such sleepy play I thought I was becoming narcoleptic. Then I realized it was just bad soccer. I could watch MX games fine, and the worst part was I don't care about Liga MX.

NASL games are not at that skill level. They make mistakes in executing strategy. But for Pete's sake, they use strategy and it's obvious. Probably because the costs are higher if someone gets injured.

 

What?

As for Beckham meeting with the Strikers, who said that?

Their vision of the future differs greatly from yours of the past. You, and several others, continue to discuss the past as if that pertains to MLS in 2013. Beckham said it himself in his interview the other day: "Miami demands a winner so it will be challenging but it's exciting."

The Strikers are not the ones entirely to blame for their crappy situation, though they have dropped the ball a few times (unattractive preseason friendlies, not partaking or trying to partake in Disney Classic).

Traffic meanwhile continues to be a shady company that just doesn't show it cares much about how all of its teams in the league are doing.