Greetings,
This is an open letter addressed
to Mr. Jeff Bezos and Mr. Bill Edwards. I have been writing a series of open
letters in regards to getting the Tampa Bay Rowdies into an expansion slot in
Major League Soccer (MLS), as documented here:
http://supportyourlocalfootballclub.blogspot.com/2016/11/updated-letter-writing-campaign-so-far.html
Some news items have come to my
attention concerning the new second headquarters that Amazon is planning to
build, and the Tampa Bay Area business community’s campaign to land this. I
note that the Tampa Bay Rowdies are involved in this campaign as well (see
links below for reference).
As I am sure everyone is aware,
12 markets are currently competing for 4 remaining expansion spots in MLS. The
Tampa Bay Rowdies are one of the markets trying to get into MLS. Back in
January Bill Edwards mentioned that he was talking to potential investors in
his MLS bid, but since then we have heard nothing and Rowdies fans are worried
about our chances, as other markets seem to be making better progress.
Let me list some of the talking
points for a Tampa Bay Rowdies MLS team, and why this might be a good
investment for Jeff Bezos if he was interested in investing in a major league
sports team:
The Tampa Bay Rowdies are one of
the better known American soccer brand names, since 1975, and have a long and
distinctive history in American professional soccer. I still run into people
all over the world who recognize the Rowdies name, logo, and the green and
yellow hooped sleeves; in the UK in particular the Tampa Bay Rowdies are still
remembered as the team that Rodney Marsh played for. The Tampa Bay Rowdies drew
crowds on occasion of over 40,000 and in one case over 56,000 in the old Tampa
Stadium (the Big Sombrero) and were averaging over 28,000 a game by 1980.
The Tampa Bay Area is the
largest TV market (#11) that does not have an MLS team.
The Tampa Bay Area is still one
of the fastest growing markets without an MLS team that is currently bidding to
get into MLS.
The Tampa Bay Area, and St.
Petersburg, have been attracting a lot of millennials and young professionals
over the past 10-20 years, precisely the kinds of people who are increasingly
attracted to soccer. St. Pete in particular has a very hipster-like vibe that
makes it a kind of subtropical version of Cascadia. There are a lot of soccer
ties from the old 1970s era North American Soccer League (NASL) connecting the
Tampa Bay Rowdies to the Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders, and Vancouver
Whitecaps, which reinforce this “vibe”.
Al Lang Stadium, where the
Rowdies play in the United Soccer League (USL), can be expanded for MLS comparatively
cheaply, and it is an ideal location: on the waterfront, next to the harbor, in
downtown St. Pete; an urban walkable location surrounded by museums, hotels,
bars, restaurants, shops, malls, galleries, cinemas, theaters, music venues,
clubs, and nightlife and other things to do.
The Rowdies have a growing and
passionate fan base, in particular the supporters group, Ralph’s Mob. Since the
Rowdies were revived in 2010, Ralph’s Mob has grown in a manner similar to the
Timbers Army in Portland, or the Emerald City Supporters in Seattle, or the
Southsiders in Vancouver, etc., prior to those cities joining MLS.
Since moving to Al Lang Stadium
in St. Petersburg in 2011, every year the Rowdies average attendance has risen;
this is six straight years of slow but steady growth in attendance, in spite of
the Rowdies having some of the more expensive tickets in lower division
American soccer:
Rowdies Home Attendance Thread - Game 16 vs. New York Red Bulls II
[10/4] (self.TampaBayRowdies)
6 straight years of attendance growth for the Rowdies - a pretty
impressive run.
Being about an hour and a half’s
drive away from Orlando, and about four hour’s drive from Miami, the Tampa Bay
Rowdies in MLS have the potential to form a very intense, three way in-state
Florida rivalry, similar to the three way Cascadia rivalry in MLS. Indeed we
have already had some very intense rivalry clashes between the Tampa Bay Rowdies
and Orlando City.
For these reasons and many more,
I urge Jeff Bezos to consider investing in the Tampa Bay Rowdies as part of an
ownership consortium with Bill Edwards to take the Tampa Bay Rowdies to MLS, to
help preserve and continue the historic Rowdies soccer tradition in the Tampa
Bay Area, at the top level of American professional soccer.
I don’t know if Mr. Bezos is
interested in sports team ownership; offhand I know that fellow Seattleite Paul
Allen is involved in sports ownership; if Mr. Bezos was interested in such a
thing the Rowdies might be suitable. It would certainly “synergize” well if Mr.
Bezos also found either Tampa or St. Petersburg to be the ideal location for
Amazon’s planned second headquarters. I urge Mr. Bezos to take a good look at
the Tampa Bay Area: it is a lot different from the kinds of stereotypes that
outsiders would tend to assume.
In any case, no harm in my
asking/suggesting the idea, I hope!
Regards,
#MLS2StPete #MLS2TampaBay
#Rowdies2MLS #COYR
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Tech Data, the
Rowdies help Tampa Bay make the case for Amazon's HQ2 bid
Some of the Tampa Bay Rowdies also are expected to be in the video.
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Tropicana Field site could lure Amazon's new headquarters to St. Petersburg
Amazon moving to town would be a Prime opportunity for the Rays
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Tampa Bay vies for new Amazon headquarters, eyes familiar site
One proposal would put the retailer's second headquarters on the site
of the Trop.
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Amazon wants a second headquarters. What are Tampa Bay's chances of landing the giant?
Amazon.com is on the hunt for a second corporate headquarters — a
massive deal worth $5 billion in capital investment and 50,000 new jobs with
the potential to permanently alter Tampa Bay's economy, if the project landed
here.
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Prime real estate: Amazon looks for second headquarters
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/prime-real-estate-amazon-looks-for-second-headquarters/2336578
NEW YORK — Amazon is on the hunt for a second home.
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