Soundbites from Don Garber at Tampa Bay Sports Business Event at USF (self.TampaBayRowdies)

1. Don Garber was extremely complimentary regarding the Tampa Bay market and Al Lang stadium. Garber did go out of his way to mention the beauty of Al Lang's waterfront view.

2. Garber mentioned MLS looking to expand to 28 teams. Sacramento, Las Vegas, San Antonio, and many others were mentioned. Miami didn't sound definite.

3. Audience question was asked about Orlando having a hold of this market. Garber said Tampa Bay is doing great things and is a prime market.

4. Don Garber also mentioned that it is pivotal that the St. Pete Mayor (Kriseman) and the other governmental bodies get behind bringing MLS to St Pete.

5. Garber mentioned Bill Edwards by name a couple of times during the discussion. As soon as the discussion finished and everyone began to mingle, Edwards was the first person Garber spoke to. Garber acknowledged the large media market we have here in Tampa Bay. He also mentioned that if Tampa had an MLS team that Orlando City's TV rights could be changed.

(Follow link for full article.)

https://www.reddit.com/r/TampaBayRowdies/comments/59lgm0/soundbites_from_don_garber_at_tampa_bay_sports/

Soundbites from Don Garber at Tampa Bay Sports Business Event at USF (self.TampaBayRowdies)

phat7deuce

(h/t @sudsanity for tweeting highlights from the talk: https://twitter.com/sudsanity/status/791442295019204609)

Series of tweets below

A few Rowdies people in attendance tonight at the #TampaSportsBiz event as well as USL personnel

Don Garber was extremely complimentary regarding the Tampa Bay market and Al Lang stadium while acknowledging the attendees

Garber mentioned MLS looking to expand to 28 teams. Sacramento, Vegas, San Antonio, and many others mentioned. Miami didnt sound definite...

...he did go out of his way to mention the beauty of Al Lang's waterfront view.

Audience question was asked about Orlando having a hold of this market. Garber said Tampa Bay is doing great things and is a prime market

Don Garber also mentioned that it's pivotal that the Mayor (@Kriseman) and the other governmental bodies get behind bringing MLS to St Pete

EDIT: Added context from u/RyeToastK below:

Garber mentioned Bill Edwards by name a couple times during the discussion. As soon as the discussion finished and everyone began to mingle, Edwards was the first person Garber spoke to. Garber acknowledged the large media market we have here in Tampa Bay. He also mentioned that if Tampa had an MLS team that Orlando City's TV rights could be changed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

reanimate_me

I wanted to go to that

but I had class at that time.

Don Garber also mentioned that it's pivotal that the Mayor (@Kriseman) and the other governmental bodies get behind bringing MLS to St Pete

I love this. What sub was it the other night where someone was saying MLS wants Tampa and not St. Pete? Looks like that was wrong and I was right.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

phat7deuce

It was in r/NASLsoccer...to some extent they may prefer Tampa because it's more well known than St. Pete. MLS also wanted Minnesota United to be in Minneapolis vs. St. Paul. If it were to ever be seriously pursued I think they'd be hard pressed to find a better location in Tampa than we already have in St. Pete. And for those concerned about coming over the bridge because of the Rays struggles, as someone said in another thread it's easier to get 18k to St. Pete on a Saturday than get 30k to watch baseball game 56 of 81 on a Tuesday night against rush hour traffic.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

reanimate_me

I don't even think you'll find much support for a soccer specific stadium in Tampa until at least the Rays situation is resolved, and I somehow doubt Tampa will be eager to build another stadium right after that is completed. I wish St. Pete leadership would wake up and realize the Rays are not going to stay in St. Pete and let Tampa have them and focus on helping the Rowdies succeed in DTSP.

And for those concerned about coming over the bridge because of the Rays struggles, as someone said in another thread it's easier to get 18k to St. Pete on a Saturday than get 30k to watch baseball game 56 of 81 on a Tuesday night against rush hour traffic.

Yup. I mostly cruised on my way to Rowdies matches. Meanwhile, remember that game the Rays played where they donated all proceeds to the Orlando shooting victims fund and 40,000 people attended? It took me two hours to get there. That bridge is night and day during the week and weekend.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

phat7deuce

I used to commute home from Tampa to St. Pete on on Red Sox or Yankees game nights it was horrible because of the timing...weekends are a total different story.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EquinsuOcha

Tampa is still paying for the Bucs stadium and the Lightning, so they're pretty much tapped out as far as a tax goes. MLS is nice, but it doesn't have the pull of the other two leagues as far as average citizens are concerned. Any stadium will have to be privately financed, or may have a tax subsidy like the one in St. Paul.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

dietrich14

It was a discussion between Kartik, myself and others. They're a lot of reasons why st.P is a bad location for baseball (and one could argue hockey and basketball) but perfect for Saturday night Soccer.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

reanimate_me

Right. That's the point I think I tried to make. The Rays issue are completely independent of the rowdies.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

burr11

I think it's interesting how he totally blew off the notion of Orlando's territorial rights. Basically MLS isn't going to let a thing like that stand in the way of capturing a good market.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MobEquinsuOcha

Tampa Bay is the #13 television market in the country. Orlando is #19. MLS wants that rivalry.

(My comment: Tampa Bay is now #11 TV market, the largest not in MLS.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

reanimate_me

Orlando doesn't really even deserve Tampa Bay in its territorial rights because they never advertise here and the media here never covers them in return. It's basically a waste of time.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

phat7deuce

I can't imagine they would have...I thought that was overblown when that story rose about around the stadium lease extension earlier this year...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike-Taylor

I would love to see the Rowdies make a solid push for MLS.