Time for MLS to look beyond Miami for second Florida soccer team

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Time for MLS to look beyond Miami for second Florida soccer team

Kartik Krishnaiyer

March 11, 2015

The idea of reentering the Miami market was based largely around television, and the size of the local TV market. Jacksonville, whose new NASL entry is already in many ways further ahead of where Orlando City was in 2011, would be among the smallest TV markets in MLS. Tampa Bay, on the other hand, is a larger TV market than Miami and has a history of supporting pro soccer.

Many will point to the folding of the Tampa Bay Mutiny in 2001 as a reason MLS should not return to Tampa/St Petersburg but the plug being pulled on the Mutiny has little relevance today. The Tampa Bay area boasts the best youth soccer infrastructure in the state of Florida, and a second division club that has a richly unique history and local brand recognition. The Tampa Bay Rowdies are a local institution, but when MLS began play in 1996, they were reluctant to embrace any portion of the original NASL’s legacy.

The Rowdies recent success owes itself to Bill Edwards’ ownership and a full embrace of the 1970’s and early 1980’s legacy that made the Rowdies the second best supported soccer club in the United States at the time. Elevating Tampa Bay Rowdies to MLS would mirror the NASL legacy clubs from the Pacific Northwest that have joined the top division and could have a similar local galvanizing effect.

The Tampa Bay area and Orlando are separated by about an hour of interstate and the rivalry between the two clubs sets of fans is about as intense as it gets in US soccer. This would give MLS yet another big localized rivalry, something that can help the league grow.