Commissioner says MLB is open to new Rays stadium in St. Petersburg

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https://www.tampabay.com/sports/2019/02/08/commissioner-says-mlb-is-open-to-new-rays-stadium-in-st-petersburg/

Commissioner says MLB is open to new Rays stadium in St. Petersburg

After disappointing collapse of Ybor deal, Manfred said focus is on St. Pete but not limited to Trop site

ORLANDO — Though disappointed with the collapse of talks for the proposed Ybor City stadium, commissioner Rob Manfred said major league owners and officials are open to the Rays finding a new home on the St. Pete side of the bay.

"I think the focus is on St. Petersburg,'' Manfred said at the end of the quarterly owners meetings.

At the moment, that would appear to be the only option given expiration of an agreement that allowed the team to look for a new home in Tampa.

Manfred said Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg "continues to be enthusiastic and engaged about his alternatives'' for a new stadium.

"We are still committed to the region and would like to see a solution,'' Manfred said. "Certainly St. Petersburg is an alternative. It may be that there's another opportunity on the Tampa side at some point in the process.

"We think the Tampa Bay region is a major-league market. And Mr. Sternberg continues to devote a lot of time and effort to getting a positive result for the region.''

Though Manfred spoke favorably of the Ybor site when it was announced last spring, he said MLB has no preference.

"We're agnostic on where,'' Manfred said. "We really are. Other than in the region. I liked the Tampa site. I think there's probably places on the St. Pete side that could be completely workable as well.''

He wouldn't, however, say whether MLB would be okay with building a new stadium at the Tropicana Field site, where the Rays have had attendance issues for most of their 21 seasons. That is likely to be the preferred choice for St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman.

"I don't want to get into individual sites,'' he said. "I'm going to wait and kind of look at those before I say.''

Manfred said he was “disappointed” the Rays and Tampa leaders couldn’t work out a deal for the Ybor site by the Dec. 31 expiration of the “free look” agreement. He sent a strongly worded letter to Hillsborough officials pointing out how their offer was incomplete in advance of the Rays announcing in December that they were ending talks.

"There was a lot of time and resources devoted to getting a deal done on that side,'' Manfred said. "I very reluctantly weighed in on the topic because I felt it was important for people to understand why it came up short and where it came up short.''

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https://ussoccerplayers.com/2019/02/the-stadium-game-continues-in-mls.html

THE STADIUM GAME CONTINUES IN MLS

Time flies when you’re having fun. It also flies when you’re attempting to prepare for your first season as a Major League Soccer franchise.

For both the freshly named Inter Miami and the future Nashville MLS club, there’s a lot to do and not much time to do it in. The business of putting a team together - hiring a coach, signing players, installing a style of play—is naturally front-and-center. In order to make any of those hirings and signings matter, however, both teams need a place to play.

To be clear, both Miami and Nashville have plans to build soccer stadiums as permanent homes for their teams. Inter Miami’s centers on Melreese Golf Course, a site on the western edge of Miami adjacent to Miami International Airport. After a November ballot question passed that allows the City of Miami to negotiate a no-bid lease with the team, the matter of starting the project is down to finalizing that lease. There's also having to navigate through a few Miami-standard lawsuits that intend to scupper the deal.

In total, the Inter Miami project has a cost projection of $1 billion, though that includes development beyond the stadium itself. The venue will have 25,000 seats, anchoring a 131-acre site. Barring hurdles typical to the political environment of Miami, the stadium currently dubbed “Freedom Park” will open in 2021.

2021 is also the targeted year for the completion of Nashville’s purpose-built soccer venue. Also beset by political challenges, the proposed 30,500-seat stadium in Nashville is creeping towards a completed construction agreement that will allow shovels to get into the ground at the Tennessee Fairgrounds site. The cost of Nashville’s stadium is $275 million, with principal owner John Ingram and his family contributing $25 million up front and an additional $9 million over 30 years. Bonds will pay for the bulk of the project.

Both venues figure to fit within the current state-of-the-art standard of MLS. The league is rapidly collecting a remarkable group of stadiums thanks to the rising popularity of the sport and the interest from multiple cities in MLS expansion. Hundreds of millions of dollars are pouring into soccer, a dramatic change from the early days of the league.

Inter Miami and the Nashville club will have the look of teams from those early days, at least for a season. Because both are launching in 2020 but won’t have their stadiums completed until at least 2021. They’ll play in temporary venues in their inaugural seasons.

Which temporary venues? For Nashville, the question had an easy answer. Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans of the NFL and a building that has hosted plenty of soccer games in recent years. Nashville is a regular stop for the USMNT and Gold Cup host city. Nissan Stadium has proven to be a solid home for soccer in the city.

Nissan Stadium is unsurprisingly massive, seating 69,000 fans. That’s more than double the planned capacity of the MLS stadium, meaning the new Nashville team will either close off the upper decks to retain a measure of intimacy or attempt to fill the entirety of the building. Playing in front of a full house in an NFL stadium is normally associated with Seattle and Atlanta. It will be interesting to see if the new Nashville team can generate the same sort of excitement.

MLS Nashville president Ian Ayre pointed a good working relationship between the expansion club and the NFL team. Because the teams do not share ownership, that relationship is important to ensuring that Nashville’s MLS existence gets off to a good start at Nissan Stadium. It will be even more important if the planned stadium if the soccer team has to extend their stay past 2020.

It’s not so simple for Inter Miami. While there are several options in South Florida for the new club, none of them are ideal. Reports on Thursday revealed that Marlins Park, a baseball stadium, is out of the running. Beyond the obvious problem of placing a soccer field in the confines of a baseball stadium, scheduling overlap between the Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer seasons make the idea untenable. While NYCFC makes it work in large part because the New York Yankees have a stake in the soccer team, there's no shared interest between the Marlins and Inter Miami.

The more natural fit is Hard Rock Stadium, home to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. Like Nissan Stadium, Hard Rock is a massive venue that would be difficult for the soccer team to fill. Though the venue has hosted major international friendlies in recent years and has the look of a European soccer stadium thanks to $500 million in renovations, Hard Rock Stadium officials aren’t overly keen on hosting Inter Miami because of scheduling conflicts. In the spring, Hard Rock Stadium will host the Miami Open tennis tournament for the first time. In the fall, the Dolphins and the Miami Hurricanes use the building for football.

That leaves just one viable option within the city limits of Miami, Riccardo Silva Stadium at Florida International University. Recently upgraded, the building seats an MLS-appropriate 20,000 fans. Since 2016 it has been the home of Miami FC and carries Silva’s name because the Miami FC owner funded necessary improvements to the venue. That club started life in the NASL and since that league’s hiatus has played in the NPSL as an amateur side.

Unclear as it is where Inter Miami will play while Freedom Park is under construction, it’s interesting to note the planned capacity of that building is 25,000. While that's larger than several soccer-specific stadiums in the league, it is a moderate cap in a rapidly changing competition.

Nashville’s plan for 30,500 looks like a hedge. Any more than that might mean too many empty seats on gameday. Fewer would make it hard to compete financially with the rest of MLS via ticket sales. As the league’s 24th season approaches, the pressure to bring in more money is increasing rapidly. In Portland, that pressure has resulted in an expansion of Providence Park the team identifies as crucial to keeping the Timbers in touch with the wealthiest clubs in MLS.

Providence Park is expanding first and foremost due to demand. The Timbers can put in 4,000 more seats through an upward expansion on the stadium’s east side because they know fans will fill them. The Timbers are willing to suffer through a 12-game road swing to open the 2019 season. They know what those extra seats represent.

Stadium issues are at the center of success or failure in MLS. Those that are stuck in limiting stadium deals and/or locations stand out as the obvious stragglers during the league’s push into a more spend-happy future.

For Nashville and Miami, there’s only one chance to make a first impression. Their temporary homes will serve as the first backdrop to their teams’ play and set a tone for the future. For Portland, maximizing the number of seats in a stadium confined by its urban setting is worth the $50 million it costs.

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https://www.euronews.com/2019/02/09/beckham-to-be-honoured-with-statue-in-la

Beckham to be honoured with statue in LA

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http://www.espn.com/soccer/la-galaxy/story/3769436/la-galaxy-to-unveil-david-beckham-statue-ahead-of-2019-season-opener

LA Galaxy to unveil David Beckham statue ahead of 2019 season opener

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https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/david-beckham-will-be-honored-by-la-galaxy-with-a-statue-news.71433.html

David Beckham Will Be Honored By LA Galaxy With A Statue

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https://the18.com/soccer-news/david-beckham-statue-la-galaxy

LA Galaxy Building A Statue For David Beckham

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https://www.si.com/soccer/2019/02/07/la-galaxy-david-beckham-statue-season-opener

LA Galaxy to Unveil David Beckham Statue Before March Season Opener

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https://www.gwinnettprepsports.com/sportsxchange/galaxy-stadium-improvements-to-include-beckham-statue/article_58c4d29e-f681-559f-9a57-3f5f0829b2f6.html

Galaxy stadium improvements to include Beckham statue

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https://www.thechestnutpost.com/news/galaxy-to-unveil-beckham-statue-before-03919-opener/

Galaxy to unveil Beckham statue before '19 opener

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https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/8381081/la-galaxy-david-beckham-statue/

STATUE OF LI-BECK-ERTY LA Galaxy confirm David Beckham statue in honour of Man United legend

Golden Balls shocked the world in 2007 when joining the MLS side from Real Madrid as he paved the way for other stars such as Thierry Henry and David Villa to follow him Stateside

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https://menafn.com/1098083563/United-Premier-Soccer-League-Announces-Florida-Expansion-with-Miami-Atletico-Club

United Premier Soccer League Announces Florida Expansion with Miami Atletico Club

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https://menafn.com/1098088684/United-Premier-Soccer-League-Announces-Floridas-Tropics-SC-as-Expansion-Team

United Premier Soccer League Announces Florida's Tropics SC as Expansion Team

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https://www.reddit.com/r/TampaBayRowdies/comments/ao7is8/tropics_sc_to_field_upsl_team/

Tropics SC to field UPSL team

Okay, now we're just seeing how many different leagues we can have a squad in.

MASL (pro indoor) - Florida Tropics SC

USL League Two (semi-pro/national amateur outdoor) - Lakeland Tropics

UPSL (national amateur) - Tropics SC

Florida Suncoast Soccer League (local amateur outdoor) - Kickers FC

WPSL (women's semi-pro/national amateur) - Lady Tropics SC

Tropics Adult Arena Soccer League [TAASL] (local amateur indoor) - 4 team league that plays games before MASL home games

Youth - Lakeland FC

Youth - Pinellas County United

Youth - Celebration FC

Seriously though, in the press conference Chris Economides said this team would be the seed of an eventual League One team. There's no real roster regulations in UPSL as opposed to L2, so this'll give the team a chance to field a much higher level roster than in L2.

They posted this on Instagram that backs that up:

We are excited to announce that many of your indoor favorites will be playing for Tropics new @upslsoccer franchise at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex starting this spring!

I imagine midseason MASL signings Andre Braithwaite & Antonio Manful (of Cleveland SC last year) will play on this team.

In the past two L2 seasons, we'd had a couple MASL guys on that team, so it'll be interesting to see if all our top guys go UPSL and if the L2 team is just college players.

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http://www.upslsoccer.com/news/2019/02/07/upsl-announces-floridas-tropics-sc-as-expansion-team

UPSL Announces Florida Tropics SC as Expansion Team

Founded in 2015, Lakeland (Fla.)-Based Professional Soccer Club Joins UPSL

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https://www.tampabay.com/sports/rays/2019/02/09/the-rays-stadium-future-looks-bleak-but-it-doesnt-have-to-be/

The Rays stadium future looks bleak, but it doesn’t have to be

Stu Sternberg can no longer talk to Tampa, and isn’t sure he wants to stay in St. Pete but there is still time to figure out a solution.

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https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/safety-is-on-officials-minds-at-st-pete-grand-prix-revs-up/67-944534da-6790-4781-af4e-844e22181896

Safety is on officials' minds at St. Pete Grand Prix revs up

A terrifying crash in China put racing dangers in the spotlight.