Form Flight 19: Help bring back soccer to Ft. Lauderdale

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https://www.reddit.com/r/TampaBayRowdies/comments/b00hxy/form_flight_19_help_bring_back_soccer_to_ft/

Form Flight 19: Help bring back soccer to Ft. Lauderdale

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https://twitter.com/Flight_19/status/1105098060802211844

Flight 19
‏
@Flight_19

Big week ahead of us.

@InterMiamiCF wants to destroy our historic home of soccer & permanently relegate FTL to the home of a practice squad.

We're not going to let them.

Visit http://www.himmarsheefc.org/f19/operation-savelockhart/ … to learn how to contact @FTLCityNews & tell them you want to #SaveLockhart!

6:28 AM - 11 Mar 2019

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https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/commish-calls-support-for-major-league-soccer-in-st-louis/article_dda8b616-db88-5abb-b716-bc0b04731fef.html

Commissioner calls support for Major League Soccer in St. Louis 'remarkable'

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https://www.stltoday.com/sports/soccer/commissioner-calls-support-for-major-league-soccer-in-st-louis/article_dda8b616-db88-5abb-b716-bc0b04731fef.html

Commissioner calls support for Major League Soccer in St. Louis 'remarkable'

ST. LOUIS • The commissioner of Major League Soccer, in St. Louis on Monday to meet with regional business leaders, said a local ownership group is just steps away from securing an expansion team.

Commissioner Don Garber lunched with more than two dozen chief executives and business owners from some of the largest companies in St. Louis, and called the show of support for a local franchise “fantastic and remarkable.”

“I think it's fair to say that it was among the largest or, certainly, the most prominent group of 'C-level' leaders in any visit that I've had,” Garber told the Post-Dispatch, speaking of the chief executives.

Still, he said, proposed owners Jim Kavanaugh, chief executive of World Wide Technology, and Enterprise Holdings’ Taylor family must nail down corporate sponsorships, and quickly, to prove to the league’s other 27 owners that the St. Louis market can support a team.

“It would really help their bid if they had stadium naming rights and a jersey sponsor in place,” Garber said. “So there is a specific level of financial corporate support.”

Garber’s visit on Monday was part sales meeting, insiders say, to help Kavanaugh and the Taylors sell sponsorships, and part status check. The commissioner will report to league owners on progress in St. Louis. The stopover — Garber flew in for breakfast with four of the Taylors on Monday morning before lunch at the Four Seasons — signals a deepening interest in St. Louis as the league looks to pick its next expansion city. The league owners meet in April in Los Angeles for their spring meeting, and could make a decision that soon.

Both sides see some urgency: Garber’s visit suggests concerns that the St. Louis owners haven’t announced the big-dollar deals.

And Carolyn Kindle Betz, one of Jack Taylor’s granddaughters and a face of the local effort, said outright on Monday that, if this effort failed, her family would not try again.

“We're going to do it now,” Kindle Betz said. “We will probably not be here in a year.”

The league is looking to expand to 28 teams from 24 this year. Three of the slots are taken: New teams are set to kick off in Miami and Nashville in 2020 and in Austin in 2021.

At least eight cities — Charlotte, N.C.; Detroit; Las Vegas; Phoenix; Raleigh, N.C.; Sacramento, Calif.; San Diego; and St. Louis — have expressed interest in the last spot.

Sacramento has recently emerged as St. Louis’s biggest threat. In January, Beverly Hills billionaire Ron Burkle bought into the city’s bid. League officials called Sacramento “a strong expansion candidate.”

And, as with the addition of the Taylors to St. Louis’s bid, Burkle’s associates said that the billionaire grocery-store magnate wouldn’t have gotten involved if the Sacramento effort was speculation.

Garber called the competition good for the league.

“Life is good when you have options,” he said. “I believe that there are many cities in our country today that can support an MLS team. We’ve got to get this last one over the finish line and then sit down and figure out what happens to those cities that were not part of the 28 that we set out to finalize a couple of years ago.”

This is the third time Garber has visited St. Louis in connection with an expansion bid. The first came as the region fought to keep the National Football League’s Rams in St. Louis. The effort failed, but the idea to build a stadium that could be used by a soccer team started the conversation with the league. Almost two years ago, a second attempt, headed by Kavanaugh and current Schnuck Markets Inc. President David Peacock, skidded to a stop when St. Louis city voters turned down a request for $60 million in public stadium financing.

Garber said on Monday that he does not feel burned by any of the past attempts. Instead, he said he believed they set the groundwork for this one.

“We were missing a handful of things that have really changed in the last year or so,” Garber said on Monday, Kindle Betz sitting to his left. “The first is the involvement of the Taylor family. The second was a real confirmation on the stadium project.”

The league is confident that fans here will support a team. And the corporate showing at Monday’s lunch impressed him, Garber said. It included executives from the natural gas company Spire, electrical supplier Graybar, shoe company Caleres, financial powerhouses Edward Jones, Wells Fargo Advisors and Stifel Financial Corp, plus some of the region’s largest employers, such as BJC Healthcare and SSM Health.

But the last leg of the stool — corporate dollars — is key, Garber said.

“That's why I'm here today,” he said. “We very much need to see the corporate community get behind this team and show their financial support.”

Kindle Betz said the league has not asked her team to present at the April meetings.

But she said they’re ready.

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https://theathletic.com/390737/2018/06/13/stark-how-mlb-expansion-could-lead-to-realignment-a-new-playoff-format-a-universal-dh-and-more/

Stark: How MLB expansion could lead to realignment, a new playoff format, a universal DH and more

“I want to be clear about expansion. … We’ve made clear we have two big issues — Tampa Bay and Oakland — that need to be resolved before we think about it. But the fact of the matter is, we’re blessed. We’ve got cities out there that want to have Major League Baseball. And I think Major League Baseball has to show some receptivity to that because down the road, we are interested in it.”

-Commissioner Rob Manfred, to the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal last month

Close your eyes and imagine baseball in the year 2025. Close your eyes and imagine baseball after Rob Manfred’s expansion dreams come true.

Imagine a sport that could look dramatically different with 32 teams instead of 30.

Imagine a realignment, based almost solely on geography, that could blow up the structure of the leagues and divisions as we’ve always known them.

Imagine a postseason that could also expand, to 12 or even 16 teams.

Imagine a totally...

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http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/20190311/NEWS01/190319993

Dillon Stadium comeback delayed

The revival of Hartford's historic Dillon Stadium has been delayed by at least a month.

The Hartford Athletic pro soccer club on Monday afternoon announced it will play its first-ever home game on Saturday, May 4, at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, instead of Dillon Stadium, which is currently undergoing a $10 million overhaul.

The Athletic, the newest members of the expanded division II United Soccer League (USL), will begin play at Dillon in mid-June, according to officials, who said the renovation project at Dillon is taking longer than expected.

If the Athletic debut at Dillon for its scheduled match on June 16, the team would have played its first five games at Rentschler Field. The team will play 34 regular season games between March and October.

Bruce Mandell, the team's CEO and chairman, previously told Hartford Business Journal the team planned to play home games at Rentschler Field, UConn football's home venue, if Dillon Stadium renovations were further delayed.

In September, construction crews found several infrastructure issues at the 84-year-old stadium, including an antiquated concrete bleacher foundation and an uneven playing surface. When completed, Dillon is expected to house about 5,500 seats.

Also Monday, the Athletic announced a new TV broadcasting partnership with WTNH News 8, which will air 17 live games this year on its sister station, WCTX MyTV9. The team's inaugural home game at Rentschler Field will be played against the Charlotte Independence beginning at 7 p.m.

All USL matches air on the over-the-top subscription service ESPN+ and online streaming service ESPN3.

Trinity Health of New England recently signed on as the club's title partner to serve as its healthcare provider and jersey sponsor.

The Athletic lost its season opener on Saturday by a score of 2-0 in Georgia vs. Atlanta United 2.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2019/03/11/mls-commissioner-visits-st-louis-as-mls4thelou.html

MLS Commissioner visits St. Louis as #MLS4THELOU makes its pitch

Don Garber hears from the Taylor family and a roundtable of business leaders making the case for how a MLS franchise would benefit the region

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https://awfulannouncing.com/soccer/fc-cincinnati-announces-their-own-flosports-deal-a-day-after-dc-uniteds-flosports-debut-was-plagued-with-issues.html

FC Cincinnati announces their own FloSports deal a day after DC United’s FloSports debut was plagued with issues

FloSports has a deal with a second MLS club, but this weekend, they experienced plenty of streaming issues with DC United.

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https://www.socceramerica.com/publications/article/81595/what-theyre-saying-don-garber.html

What They're Saying: Don Garber

MLS commissioner Don Garber on his lunch with chief executives and business owners from some of the largest companies in St. Louis, part of his ...

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https://fox2now.com/2019/03/11/tko-st-louis-has-chance-to-land-mls-silence-critics/

TKO: St. Louis has chance to land MLS, Silence Critics

On Monday, MLS Commissioner Don Garber was in St. Louis.  The local ownership group working towards gaining a franchise sent out a picture with Garber overlooking the Arch.  It's the latest step in solidifying a major league soccer team.  MLS4THELOU indicated Monday's meeting was also about showing what corporate support there would be for a team.   TKO:  The Kilcoyne Opinion talks about this important next step and it's bigger meaning.

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https://thefloridasqueeze.com/2019/03/05/fort-lauderdales-lockhart-decision-beckhams-mls-plans-vs-plucky-upstart-fxe-futbol/

FORT LAUDERDALE’S LOCKHART DECISION: BECKHAM’S MLS PLANS VS PLUCKY UPSTART FXE FUTBOL

Founded in 1915, Broward County has a relatively brief history. A meaningful part of that history can be traced to the 64-acre parcel of recreational land in Fort Lauderdale that houses Lockhart Stadium built in 1959, and the adjoining Fort Lauderdale Stadium (1962).

At varying times, the Lockhart site has hosted New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles spring training baseball, a lineage of professional soccer teams dating back to the original Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977-83), and high-school football games featuring scores of players who became stars in the NFL and at major universities.

In their present state, neither stadium hosts anything.

The baseball stadium has been dormant since 2009, when the Baltimore Orioles last played spring training in Fort Lauderdale. (save one soccer match played by Miami FC at the stadium in 2010). Lockhart Stadium’s once immaculate playing field now resembles a wildlife preserve, with native shrubs rising untamed where soccer legends such as Pele, George Best and our own Teofilo “Nene” Cubillas introduced Broward to the world game.

From abandoned property comes opportunity for revival and so it is for the Lockhart site. At present, two entities – Inter Miami SC, the David Beckham-backed Major League Soccer (MLS) team set to debut in 2020, and the newly incorporated FXE Futbol – are appealing to the Fort Lauderdale City Commission to remake the land. Each has submitted a formal proposal with the required $25,000 application fee, along with slick computer-generated video renderings (embedded below) that show what they’d do if they win the bid.

In its proposal, Inter Miami intends to build a year-round training site for its MLS team and youth academy, with administrative offices, 10 practice fields, and a new 18,000-seat stadium that would replace the existing Lockhart structure. The team would play its 34-game MLS season in Miami at the yet-to-be-approved 25,000-seat stadium planned as part of Freedom Park, a 131-acre mixed-use development being bankrolled in part by majority owner, Jorge Mas. Mas is committing $75 million to re-landscape the Lockhart site.

FXE Futbol’s proposal creates a mixed-use venue in which a team from the second-tier United Soccer Leagues (USL) would play in a refurbished Lockhart Stadium. The property would have 11 soccer fields, a Topgolf entertainment facility, and commercial space for shops and restaurants. At this time, FXE is not contracted with USL or Topgolf, though its CEO, JP Reynal, says such deals are contingent on the City of Fort Lauderdale choosing FXE’s site plan. He estimates the cost at $100 million.

Both proposals show open-access park space at the entrance to the property, a politically necessary concession in seeking public land for private gain. And, both proposals would be supplemented with up to $25 million in City funds should a $200-million bond referendum for park space be approved by voters on March 12.

It’s a crucible moment for the Lockhart site and a fairly stark choice for the Commission. Inter Miami brings Mas’s wealth and Beckham’s soccer cache to a fully-scaled, year-round  training facility that could rival any in the hemisphere, with enough fields and a new stadium to also host visiting teams from the U.S., Europe and the Americas. FXE plays the role of the spoiler, a mostly unknown soccer entity that envisions a team in a second-division league, plus Topgolf, retail, and a community park.

Lockhart is in its current abandoned condition, more a refuge for birds and woodland creatures than people, because every business model for soccer up to now has failed, and because baseball spring training moved elsewhere. The choice for City Commissioners is which plan provides an economic model that can sustain the remade property for the next 10, 20 or even 50 years, or until rising tides chase us all to higher ground.

This is where the headwinds favor Inter Miami. Mas, the majority owner, is CEO of the global company MasTec, which reported a record $6.6 billion in revenues in 2017. His ownership group includes Beckham, Jose Mas (Jorge’s brother), English music mogul Simon Fuller, Marcelo Claure (telecom entrepreneur), and Masayoshi Son (founder/Chairman, Softbank). Their combined net worth is in the billions.

They will compete in a first-division league with 24 teams currently in the U.S. and Canada, increasing to 26 in 2020 with the addition of Inter Miami and Nashville SC. Average MLS attendance in 2018 was 21,875 per game.

Inter Miami plans on fielding a secondary team in USL League 1 at Lockhart, effectively a reserve team for the MLS side. The reserves are a player development cost, as is the free-to-play youth academy, not a source of revenue. However, Broward County has a history as a fair-weather training destination for national and club sides, and a host for matches featuring teams from the Americas. Inter Miami’s business model views Lockhart similarly as a year-round training attraction, with soccer friendlies and tournaments, and American football (high school and university) to be played in the new stadium, as well.

Activity generated by Inter Miami at the Lockhart site would more likely benefit the tourism, restaurant, and entertainment industries financially from hotel stays by visiting teams, and soccer events held at the stadium. The other impact is the media coverage that Inter Miami and visiting teams would originate almost daily from Fort Lauderdale, replicating the attention the New York Yankees brought to Broward by holding its spring training base there from 1962-95.

FXE has a less convincing business model for soccer, as shared by Reynal at a recent town hall for local fans in Fort Lauderdale. Reynal said the USL club would partner with major South American clubs to develop and sell players in Europe. He added further that FXE expected to absorb operating losses for the first three seasons before seeing a profit. Inter Miami is also likely to absorb losses in its start-up.

Reynal went on to outline how such iconic Argentine clubs as Boca Juniors and River Plate would send their “best talent” to play for his USL team in a partnership to develop players’ career prospects in Fort Lauderdale. It’s well known in soccer circles that Boca Juniors and River Plate have produced many of the world’s best players. It remains to be seen why either team, or any other major South American side, would break with a proven development model to send their “best talent” to play for a second-tier team in the U.S., then share the proceeds from multi-million dollar transfer fees paid by European clubs.

Reynal also indicated he wanted to have “10-15,000 people at [Lockhart] for USL” games. At its peak in 1980, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers averaged 14,000 fans per game. There is no record of a second-division team, especially one that would compete with a Beckham-backed team one county away, ever averaging more than 4,500 fans a game at Lockhart. It’s a leap of the imagination to expect a second-tier team in any sport to pull those numbers in Broward. It suggests that FXE’s USL team could suffer the same fate as the five previous soccer franchises that tried and failed at Lockhart.

We know this much: The 64-acre recreational wasteland the City of Lauderdale has today at Lockhart will be bulldozed and remade in due time, with soccer at the epicenter. The Fort Lauderdale Commission may hear the arguments and make its choice as early as its March 19 meeting.

The brief histories of soccer teams at Lockhart Stadium:

Fort Lauderdale Strikers 1977-83 Moved to Minnesota
Fort Lauderdale Sun 1984-85 Disbanded mid-season 1985
Fort Lauderdale Strikers 1988-94 Disbanded
Miami Fusion 1998-2001 Disbanded
Miami FC 2009-2010 re-branded as Fort Lauderdale Strikers 2011
Fort Lauderdale Strikers 2011-16 Disbanded

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https://thefloridasqueeze.com/2019/03/07/why-saving-lockhart-is-a-chance-worth-taking-a-case-for-fxe-futbol/

WHY SAVING LOCKHART IS A CHANCE WORTH TAKING – A CASE FOR FXE FUTBOL

I was born in Hollywood in 1985. I’ve spent my entire life in central Broward County, most of it just off Broward Blvd in Plantation, a stone’s throw from the city limits of Fort Lauderdale. This is my home, someplace I’m proud of.

But here, we don’t have much that has a history of even ten or fifteen years, let alone before I was born or even further back. Any and everything around these parts seems to be at risk of fading away, casualties of the ever-constant march of progress and development.

But there’s someplace still standing that’s soaked in tremendous history, a spot where wonderful memories have been made for so many local residents over the years. That place is Lockhart Stadium, and we have a chance to save it.

Everyone pretty much knows the history of the venue by now. One of the true bastions of soccer in the United States, home to over four decades of terrific teams, championships, and some of the greatest players to ever lace up their boots and play the game. Beyond soccer even more sporting legacy permeates the field, with countless local high school football clashes and the birth of the FAU football program in the early 2000s.

I could go on for days re-hashing familiar stories about the legends that have played at Lockhart over the years, so I’m going to start by telling you a different story. The story of how Lockhart changed my life.

In late 2010 I had the honor of being one of the people who helped bring back the Fort Lauderdale Strikers name to the field, while I was doing freelance work for the then-Lockhart-based division 2 team Miami FC and they were considering rebranding ahead of the launch of the new NASL.

In anticipation of this, myself and a few other Broward-based supporters broke off from an existing group and founded our own, that we called Flight 19 (in honor of some of our local history). We thought the return of such a historic part of our local identity deserved dedicated support, not the placeholder club status that some of the existing supporters were giving it while they campaigned for MLS to return to south Florida.

Throughout the last three Miami FC years from 2008-2010, my disappointment of MLS not returning to the area quickly faded away as I fell in love with the club I already had. And the adoption of the classic Fort Lauderdale Strikers name – the only local sports identity that actually represented my community, my hometown, only strengthened this feeling of pride and purpose.

As the seasons went on, our group grew, and we had countless amazing experiences – both at Lockhart for every home game as well as plenty of unforgettable road trips to places like Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Carolina, New York and San Antonio. We hosted our popular tailgate parties, hand-painted giant messages of support for our players and our city to display at the games, even started a radio show. Heck almost all of my current friendships and professional relationships come from my involvement with my local soccer club.

The biggest joy of all came when I met my wife, Tara, at a Strikers game in 2014. I’ve had the five most amazing years of my life (and a lifetime more ahead of us) thanks to a chain of events and connections that all started because I had a local club that drew me into a historic stadium. I’d love the chance to someday take my children to the same place their parents met, so they could enjoy this wonderful place like we have.

While we never had terribly massive crowds or huge local relevance, it certainly would have been nowhere near as big of a cultural touchstone and brought many less people together if we were just a farm team with no identity of our own. I know I certainly wouldn’t have started a supporters group and spent countless hours of my own time and thousands of dollars supporting something like that.

Lockhart is a special place for us, and I know we aren’t the only ones who had our lives positively influenced at Lockhart over the years, so that’s why I’m fighting, and willing to take another leap of faith, to save it.

There are two proposals vying for the Lockhart site. One of them is the FXE Futbol group, who I support and is seeking to totally renovate Lockhart into basically an entirely new 10,000 seat stadium, saving the historic field itself and whatever little of the original structural core of the facility is still useable. The competing Inter Miami group is proposing knocking down Lockhart and replacing it with a modular 18,000 seat stadium elsewhere in the complex. Both plans call for a nearly identical mixture of park space, community soccer fields and retail/dining, with the notable differences beyond the stadium plans themselves being FXE calling for a USL Championship (division 2) pro team as main tenants vs Inter Miami proposing a USL League One (Division 3) reserve team, as well as FXE’s inclusion of a TopGolf interactive driving range facility.

I’ve seen some folks making comparisons between the FXE Futbol group to recent pro soccer regimes in this city – notably Traffic Sports (2006-2014) and the cohort of various Brazilian investors including Ronaldo that took over in 2015 and steered the Strikers almost immediately into oblivion.

As someone who’s involvement with the club went from supporter, to freelance graphic artist, to part-timer and eventually a full time staff member, I had a front row seat to a sprawling range of incompetence and mismanagement over the years.

Should we question FXE Futbol? Absolutely, I know better than perhaps anyone the sting of grand promises that go undelivered. Is there a risk in our city partnering with them for such a large, long-term project? Of course, just like a partnership with any other private entity would be. But in my opinion I believe any fears based on experiences we’ve had with prior soccer enterprises are unfounded.

The FXE group is making no ridiculous claims of immediate profits on a lower league American soccer club alone, or of “innovation zones” and beer-delivering drones at the stadium. They aren’t affiliated with some famous former out-of-shape footballer with hopes that it will make them relevant.

While bullish on the future prospects of USL as a league, they aren’t taking potshots or threatening litigation with US Soccer or MLS. While FXE is a soccer promotion company, something Traffic Sports was, they are entirely based in southern Florida and have actually brought (and successfully run) several international soccer events to the area over the last 4 years. During their stewardship of our local club, Traffic brought just one such match that I can recall, a Strikers friendly vs Cruzeiro in 2013.

FXE has mentioned bringing in and developing/showcasing young talent at the club and then moving them on to higher level teams, which is uncommon in practice in the USA, but is that not how every lower league club around the world operates?

Their commitment to this community shouldn’t really be a question, as they’ve been working on this project in Fort Lauderdale for nearly 2 years, originally as part of the second abandoned waterpark proposal for the Lockhart site. They are saying all the right things in regards to valuing and truly embracing the actual Fort Lauderdale community where they would play, which no group since the Robbie Family in the 70s/80s has had the courage to properly do. And as a local company whose primary business is bringing in and managing soccer events, they have a vested interest in making the stadium complex and team successful.

And just by virtue of putting in the time, effort, and money required to even make this bid to the city in the first place, you have to give them credit for being committed to making the project happen. This is a robust proposal including what is basically a new, permanent stadium at the historic Lockhart site (not unlike what the Miami Dolphins have done, just on a smaller scale). This isn’t just sweeping up the current mess and slapping on a paint job, and they aren’t asking for public funding either.

Over my 8+ years of involvement with the previous regimes, there was never anything seriously considered that was even remotely close to this, let alone actually brought forth as a legitimate proposal. Even behind closed doors, the only thing we ever saw in regards to stadium development was a phony re-skinning of the San Antonio Scorpions’ Toyota Field stadium renderings for theoretical sponsorship purposes and a hypothetical rendering commissioned by someone who wasn’t even part of the ownership group. The closest thing to stadium development that we ever got was the Ronaldo-affiliated group’s groundbreaking 21st century additions of cupholders, poorly-repainted plywood (plastic if you were lucky) seats, the conversion of part of the press box into a “luxury” suite, and a rented video board that wasn’t even turned on half the time.

Yes the FXE group should be asked tough questions. Where is the money coming from? Do they have agreements with a pro league and construction/retail vendors?

But those same types of tough questions should be asked of the Inter Miami proposal. Upon seeing their proposal I certainly have a few:

Why are they proposing a massive complex and an unprecedented secondary 18,000 seat stadium before their main stadium and bid for over 70 acres of public land in Miami is even approved?

Why such a big capacity for a 3rd division reserve team that nowhere in the country averages more than 3,000 people (and in most cases it’s more like 500-1,000 per game if you’re lucky)?

Why would anyone build a second stadium and push marquee events such as international matches away from a 25,000 seat stadium they completely control?

Why, if they truly are committed long-term to the Fort Lauderdale community, are they seeking to construct a modular, temporary-style venue (conveniently when they are now under a year away from kickoff and have yet to secure a place to play in Miami)?

Why, after nearly a decade of MLS completely disregarding Fort Lauderdale (or anything at all north of the Dade-Broward county line) in their quest to return to south Florida, have they coincidentally put in a massive flashy bid for the Lockhart site just as an unrelated group was preparing to make their efforts public?

Not much about the Inter Miami bid adds up at all, unless you connect the dots and come to the conclusion that they are either A) trying to use the Fort Lauderdale project as leverage in their quest to secure a lease for Melreese in Miami, B) frantically scrambling with under a year to kickoff and no home venue secured, C) attempting to block soccer competition in the south Florida market, or some combination of the three. Either way none of these most logical reasons for wanting to build at the Lockhart site line up at all with what they are publicly stating at this point. Even the most ambitious, biggest clubs on the planet don’t go out of their way to build extra stadiums over 30 miles from where their actual home base is. The whole thing seems incredibly suspicious.

At the end of the day I think Fort Lauderdale deserves a project that’s the best deal for the community. And I don’t think the best deal is the reserve team and pop up stadium that the Inter Miami group is proposing. All of their proposed benefits – the youth academy, soccer jobs, B-team and so on, will all happen somewhere in the region no matter what. After the absolute grind Major League Soccer has put up with to put a team back in this market, they will not let it fail. FXE winning this battle is a net gain for the soccer community in the region because it adds even more soccer jobs and infrastructure on top of what MLS is bringing.

I fail to see the negatives in leaving Lockhart to the actual locals. Putting a team in place that Fort Lauderdale can really be proud of (and one that itself is proud enough to wear the city’s name) and saving one of the few truly historic places we have left has tremendous value.

What’s wrong with letting this community have its name in lights once again as part of a growing and dynamic ecosystem of professional and amateur soccer clubs throughout south Florida? Truly elevating the game in this country starts with every community having a club (or clubs) they can really get behind. If we want to catch up to the rest of the footballing world, we have to be more like the rest of the footballing world. And to me giving near-monopolistic control of a vast, diverse region to one single entity is the exact opposite of that.

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http://www.yanksarecoming.com/eighteen-years-after-the-fusion-the-debate-about-soccer-in-miami-or-fort-lauderdale-rages-on

Eighteen years after the Fusion, the debate about soccer in Miami or Fort Lauderdale rages on

The competing plans for the revitalization of Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale have opened up age old scars in the South Florida soccer community. At issue is whether teams called Miami can play in Fort Lauderdale, whether Broward is better for pro soccer than Miami-Dade and vise versa.

In the process of narrative building, it’s become convenient to misrepresent the demise of the Miami Fusion, the former MLS club that played its home matches in Fort Lauderdale at Lockhart Stadium.

It’s also worth remembering the thriving MLS of 2019 isn’t the close-to-extinction MLS of 2001 nor is the crime-ridden reputation Miami had (with little justice) in 2001 indicative of the sexiness of the image of that name in 2019. It’s also worth noting the independent identity of Fort Lauderdale and Broward County, something I grew up militantly embracing, isn’t quite what it was in the late 1990’s either.

It’s been convenient for zealots on both sides of the Miami v. Fort Lauderdale debate to mischaracterize the Fusion’s demise. But assuming the Fusion failed because they played in Fort Lauderdale instead of Miami would also ignore the history of other soccer clubs-four in total-that gravitated from Miami to Fort Lauderdale and found the pastures greener to the north.

Contrary to the commonly accepted narrative, the Fusion’s struggles were largely unrelated to location and in fact, the combination of location and having what after 1998 was basically a soccer-specific-stadium probably made the club more viable than it would have been otherwise.

Owner-operator Ken Horowitz overpaid for the franchise, a reported $20 million in an era when MLS clubs were worth less than half that much. He didn’t have the resources to throw into the club that three owners did – Lamar Hunt, Robert Kraft and Phil Anschutz. With the nearby league-owned Tampa Bay Mutiny failing (the unnecessary downfall of the Mutiny is another sorrowful Florida soccer story we’ll save for another time), the decision was taken to become a more geographically compact league and exit the southeast completely. In  2001, two clubs that still exist today, Kansas City and San Jose, averaged less fans per match than the Fusion.

In 2001, MLS was on the brink of collapse.

The league’s quality was questionable. A lack of quality football matches made it harder for the many fans who tried to support the Fusion to stick with it. Understandably, they were discouraged by a club whose finances were strained and who, despite talented scouts, lacked the cash flow to build a deep roster. There was a sense that despite having a good team, the organization was “less professional” than the clubs in other places. Most other MLS clubs were having similar problems at the same time, but the geographically isolated Fusion were singled out for contraction. Other owner-operators were bought out of the league, while Ken Horowitz was given other promises and incentives by MLS as he exited the scene.

Soon after the Fusion and Mutiny were contracted, MLS formed Soccer United Marketing (SUM) and fundamentally changed the economic viability of investing in the league. Had the Fusion survived to the SUM era there should be little doubt they would exist and be competitive today.

It could be argued that at the time a Miami identity wasn’t worth embracing in Broward County. The very real “white flight” of the 1970’s and 1980’s culminated after Hurricane Andrew and the reputation of the area suffered even more greatly after the high-profile murder of Gianni Versace on Miami Beach in 1997. Ironically, that murder changed things; Miami-Dade County’s government initiated a series of reforms after the international embarrassment that have vaulted the city into a vibrant new millennium. These reforms, coupled ironically with Versace’s embrace of Miami as a potential fashion capital to rival Milan, Paris and New York, helped the city begin its post-Andrew revival.

But an hour north in Broward, old perceptions have died hard.

As a militant Broward County resident, I held the Miami Heat’s decision to not relocate to Broward against them for years. I refused to pick up relatives out of Miami International Airport and eventually turned on the Marlins as they embraced a Miami identity (while simultaneously swindling the Miami taxpayers). But in the long run, I realized Miami’s reputation has changed and it is now emerging as a global, cosmopolitan city, a link between North and South America and an oasis of culture and commerce. Meanwhile, Fort Lauderdale remains largely a sleepy town which, while serving as the seat for a bustling, populous county, is nothing like Miami. Linking Fort Lauderdale with the Miami brand is a delicate issue, especially among locals proud of their Broward roots, but for me and many other South Floridians  it is not as cut-and-dried as it once was.

Today, Miami is a sexy, world renowned destination. There’s a value to the brand, just as there is with New York and Los Angeles and Chicago. The association with Miami and deployment of it as a branding term is on the rise, hence the renaming of various entities such as MetroZoo to incorporate the Miami name. Broward and Palm Beach counties enjoy a symbiotic relationship with Miami both economically and culturally. While stressing local roots and pride is important, the Miami branding and closeness to Miami does nothing but enhance Broward County as we enter the 2020’s.

This branding value applies in the sports context. It’s part of why MLS has made so many sacrifices to accommodate a Miami franchise and beyond. But the value has been proven beyond the pitch.

The Florida Marlins decision to rebrand as the Miami Marlins was immensely valuable from a revenue standpoint, with merchandise sales increasing by almost 100% in the first year after the rebrand.

While the Marlins are a poorly run and supported franchise by any metric, anecdotal evidence points to that revenue expansion crossing county lines. There’s no evidence that more Marlins merchandise was worn by fans in Broward County before the name change than after the change.

Despite winning five national championships before relocating, Miami Hurricanes football has likewise seen an increase in attendance and revenue through cooperation with its neighboring county to the north. UM football attendance is actually significantly higher since move from dilapidated Orange Bowl, even if the common narrative is the program lost its way with the move. During the final season at the Orange Bowl before the move was announced (2006), the Hurricanes averaged 41,908 fans a game. In 2008, the first year at Dolphins Stadium the average was 46,299. The Hurricanes had the same record in 2006 and 2008.  By 2013, Miami was averaging 53,837 fans and in 2018 with the same 7-6 record as 2006 and 2008, the Hurricanes averaged over 60,000 fans a home game. The bottom line is the move north to Broward has given UM closer ties to its wealthy alumni base and engaged more local fans, while preserving the image of the Canes as “Miami’s” college team.

Now let’s focus on the most recent failed soccer club in Broward County, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

In 2014, the last season data was made available to me, 25% of Strikers season ticket holders came from Miami-Dade County, and 22 % from Palm Beach County. The club still struggled to sell tickets and had to dig deep under the leadership of President  “Soccer” Tom Mulroy to engage the entire South Florida community. Any club in the tri-county area that seeks to play at a professional level but ignores potential fans from another county doesn’t just risk failure; they invite it.. That’s true for an MLS club playing in Miami or a lower league team playing in Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach. It’s true for an MLS Club playing in Fort Lauderdale too.

South Florida has its share of critics as a soccer market and as a locale and honestly, with history as a guide, many of the critiques of the region as a soccer market are accurate, even if the stereotypes about the communities widely miss the mark. Currently, a small group of fans are attempting to gain an advantage by mischaracterizing the ability of Broward County to support a high-level club. They are not only wrong, but if they get their way, Inter Miami CF, who have already had a host of issues getting started, could go down as the most challenged MLS startup since Chivas USA. MLS  and American soccer cannot allow misplaced geographic snobbery to force a new club to adhere to a tight geographic base. More vitally, a diverse soccer market that would love to support another professional team should reject the politics of parochialism and embrace cohesion and unity. It’s the only way big-time soccer- and whoever wins the bid for Lockhart- will survive in South Florida.

(Follow link for full article.)

http://www.himmarsheefc.org/f19/operation-savelockhart/

Operation #SaveLockhart

Since we lost our beloved Fort Lauderdale Strikers in early 2017, we’ve always been committed to helping try to bring them back to the field.

Now we have that chance, and unfortunately it may be our last. There is a fork in the road, and in the coming weeks/months, the City of Fort Lauderdale will be choosing between two proposals for the Lockhart Stadium site:

One is from David Beckham’s MLS group, Inter Miami CF, who wants to bulldoze the historic home of soccer in this region ( one of the few historic soccer venues left in the US) and replace it with the MLS team’s training ground, youth academy & fields, a park and a modular stadium in a different location on the site that is supposedly to host their USL League One (Division 3) reserve team.

The competing proposal from the FXE Futbol group (backed by soccer promotion company OnSide Entertainment) however would save Lockhart, renovate and modernize it, add the same type of community soccer fields, place an independent USL Championship (Division 2) team in the stadium, and in addition add a complex of park space, retail, dining and entertainment (including a Top Golf location) around the facility. In addition, with community input they are open to making the new D2 team the Fort Lauderdale Strikers if it is possible to secure the rights to the name.

Now, considering what we’ve been through over the years with various leagues and owners, it’s perfectly natural to be skeptical of grandiose plans such as this. But our stance since founding Flight 19 in 2011 has been clear: the City of Fort Lauderdale is a world class community in its own right, and our soccer history and tradition deserves respect and support. We’re not just a suburb serving our neighbors to the south. Even when accounting for any reservations or concerns we may have, only one of these proposals aligns with that mantra, and it will not succeed without the support of the community (that’s us).

It should be noted that we are not opposed to Inter Miami building a training center, academy, team offices and having a B-team somewhere in south Florida. We simply do not want them to take control over the historic home of the game in our city, monopolizing the game in the region and preventing the return of independent professional soccer to Fort Lauderdale.

We believe a scenario in which FXE wins the Lockhart site and Inter Miami has to build their training center elsewhere (perhaps on some the 73 acres of public land they are seeking in Miami, or the land they already own in Overtown) would be better for soccer in south Florida, because it would result in MORE soccer facilities, MORE soccer jobs, and MORE professional player opportunities in the region – in addition to the greater overall economic impact outside of soccer that the FXE plan for Lockhart is proposing.

So with that being said, we urge you to help in showing support for the FXE proposal.

Contact the City of Fort Lauderdale on social media and tell them you want the Lockhart site to be revitalized with a project and a team that represents this city and this community. Tell them you don’t want to see one of the few standing historic soccer venues in the United States torn down. Tell them you support soccer, green space AND new commercial & entertainment options at the site.

You can contact the Mayor, Vice Mayor and City Commissioners at the emails, phone numbers, and Twitter handles below:

In addition, we need as much support as possible on Monday, March 18th for a pair of pre-vote community meetings, and Tuesday the 19th at 6PM at City Hall for the Commission Meeting and vote. This is our chance to make a difference!

We have a shot to bring pro soccer back in a meaningful way, and to save Lockhart so that future generations can make great memories like we all have at this special place. Our motto as supporters is “Defend The Fort” and The Fort needs defending now more than ever.

Let’s get to work, and #SaveLockhart!

#DefendTheFort

(Follow link for full article.)

https://www.lagalaxy.com/post/2019/03/11/must-watch-late-late-shows-james-corden-pranks-david-beckhams-statue-beckhamstatue/

MUST-WATCH: Late Late Show's James Corden pranks David Beckham's statue | #BeckhamStatue

Ahead of the unveiling of David Beckham's statue at Dignity Health Sports Park, Late Late Show host James Corden decides to have a little fun at Becks' expense with a hilarious statue prank. Check it out above!

(Follow link for full article.)

http://www.theonlinecurrent.com/alumnus-juan-tejada-signs-with-tampa-bay-rowdies/article_1fb6e842-4461-11e9-811b-abbcdbf1b307.html

Alumnus Juan Tejada signs with Tampa Bay Rowdies

(Follow link for full article.)

https://www.standard.co.uk/stayingin/tvfilm/james-corden-pranks-david-beckham-with-hideous-fake-statue-before-la-galaxy-unveiling-a4088976.html

James Corden pranks David Beckham with hideous fake statue before official LA Galaxy unveiling

Corden decided to taunt his footballer friend before the big reveal earlier this month

(Follow link for full article.)

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/david-beckham-statue-prank-james-corden-la-galaxy_us_5c8767bce4b08d5b7864f643

David Beckham Falls Hook, Line And Sinker For James Corden’s Statue Swap Prank

“I honestly look like Stretch Armstrong.”

(Follow link for full article.)

https://www.fm104.ie/the-buzz/james-corden-pranks-david-beckham-with-ugly-statue/

JAMES CORDEN PRANKS DAVID BECKHAM WITH UGLY STATUE UNVEILING

We can't stop laughing.

From Cristiano Ronaldo to Mo Salah, there's been a recent trend of footballers having statues made in their honour that just didn't quite hit the mark.

Now, poor David Beckham thought he was the latest to be added to the Hall of Statue Infamy.

James Corden thought it would be absolutely hilarious (which it was) to stage Beckham's upcoming statue unveiling.

Poor David tells the 'artist' that the statue can't go out in front of the stadium because his parents are coming over from London to see it, his wife is coming to see it and if his children saw it 'they'd probably cry.'

Watch the hilarious clip here.