As Portland receives a huge boost to its bid to be the next Major League Soccer city, Miami is removed from life support. Today MLS announced that the Miami bid for an MLS franchise was officially done and dusted. The official reason stated was because of "adverse market conditions", but one has to believe that FC Barcalona's recent hesitance in regards to backing the project has to be the main cause. Most people (myself included) also feel that dispite changes in the cities demographics, South Florida is a terrible market for any sport. Their local USL-1 Side averages only around 1,000 people in attendance per game and looks likely to go bankrupt and stop play this year. I feel for the soccer fans in Miami, I can't imagine living in a city without a club to support, but I agree with MLS that their city isn't the right move for the league. Soccer in Miami has never done well, like most other sports. Though lets be honest, spend a summer day in a boiling stadium 30 minutes outside of the city or go to the beach for free. It's not really hard to see why, Miami soccer is a casualty of the other entertainment options avalible to residents. Even their baseball team which has two recent championships struggles emensely to bring people in. All and all while I feel bad for their fans, I'm glad for the league. I agree with "The Don" Garber, Miami is not for MLS.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Miami's Out
As Portland receives a huge boost to its bid to be the next Major League Soccer city, Miami is removed from life support. Today MLS announced that the Miami bid for an MLS franchise was officially done and dusted. The official reason stated was because of "adverse market conditions", but one has to believe that FC Barcalona's recent hesitance in regards to backing the project has to be the main cause. Most people (myself included) also feel that dispite changes in the cities demographics, South Florida is a terrible market for any sport. Their local USL-1 Side averages only around 1,000 people in attendance per game and looks likely to go bankrupt and stop play this year. I feel for the soccer fans in Miami, I can't imagine living in a city without a club to support, but I agree with MLS that their city isn't the right move for the league. Soccer in Miami has never done well, like most other sports. Though lets be honest, spend a summer day in a boiling stadium 30 minutes outside of the city or go to the beach for free. It's not really hard to see why, Miami soccer is a casualty of the other entertainment options avalible to residents. Even their baseball team which has two recent championships struggles emensely to bring people in. All and all while I feel bad for their fans, I'm glad for the league. I agree with "The Don" Garber, Miami is not for MLS.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment