Fort Lauderdale commissioners listen to proposals to redevelop disused soccer stadium

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https://wsvn.com/sports/fort-lauderdale-commissioners-listen-to-proposals-to-redevelop-disused-soccer-stadium/

Fort Lauderdale commissioners listen to proposals to redevelop disused soccer stadium

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - The Fort Lauderdale City Commission listened to two proposals to redevelop the disused Lockhart Stadium.

Commissioners heard the two proposals at a meeting at city hall, at 100 N Andrews Ave., Monday.

FXE Futbol is proposing a $100 million makeover of the 60-year-old stadium, at 1350 NW 55th St.

Their renovation would include a renovation of the stadium, over 30 acres of community space, a Topgolf facility, youth and championship-level fields and a United Soccer League Division 2 team.

David Beckham and other members of his Inter Miami CF ownership group spoke at the abandoned structure last week to detail their plans for the stadium.

Beckham’s group wishes to build a $60 million, 18,000 seat stadium, which would see the current stadium razed, and they would bring in a Major League Soccer team that would spend two years in Fort Lauderdale for their games as well as community facilities, and then, it would turn into a training facility.

“Our commitment is also to South Florida because we also feel that, you know, we’re not coming here for just two years, and we’re gonna desert this,” Beckham said last Thursday.

John Paul Reynal, FXE Futbol’s Managing Partner, attended Monday’s commission meeting.

Reynal said, “I think that the city of Fort Lauderdale deserves a professional soccer team for the next 50 years, and the Beckham folks have been very honest about the fact they want to come here and play for two years while they get their stadium built in Miami, so what we’re saying is, you know, we’re telling the city and folks here in Fort Lauderdale that, ‘Do you want a two-year MLS experience, or do you want to have a 50-year professional soccer experience?”

“Our home base of our training facility will be there for as long as we’re there,” Inter Miami CF spokesperson Paul McDonough said. “Fifty years, 48 years, 50 years. We said the MLS team will play here for two years at least, and then we’ll see where it goes.”

Residents who attended the meeting had questions about the two proposals.

“I don’t want to see anybody make a promise and pull the rug from underneath,” one resident said.

“I really am concerned about public land for public use,” another resident said. “The most soccer fields possible for the use of our youth and adults.”

Commissioners are expected to decide which proposal to negotiate with on Tuesday.

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https://www.wfla.com/news/pinellas-county/clearwater-woman-breaks-parking-garage-gate-to-free-rowdies-fans-stuck-for-hours/1859374549

Clearwater woman breaks parking garage gate to free Rowdies fans stuck for hours

The Tampa Bay Rowdies issued an apology to spectators and fans Monday night after hundreds of people were held up for hours trying to leave Saturday night's home opener in downtown St. Pete.

A Clearwater woman says the delay even forced her to break down a gate at the McNulty parking garage off 2nd Street to help trapped cars escape. Kathryn Socash, 63, was eventually arrested for disorderly conduct.

Some of the fans "held hostage" for hours in the McNulty parking garage took to social media to document the delay and vent their frustrations. Some posts described spending more time trying to leave the garage than spectators spent at the game.

Saturday night was Socash's first, and likely last, time attending a Rowdies game.

"I will not park in that parking garage again," she said Monday night. "And I will think twice about going back to one of those games again."

Socash and her family were among the hundreds "held hostage" trying to leave Saturday night's game. After two hours went by and their car had only moved from level five to level four, Socash decided to do something about it.

"I got out of the car," she recalled. "I said 'I am going to go down and see what's going on, this is ridiculous.'"

When Socash got to the ground floor she discovered there was only one parking attendant working, taking money and letting cars out one by one. She also noticed an unmanned exit, blocked only by a flimsy wooden gate that warned "$50 fine for breaking gate."

"Honestly, I've never done anything like this in my life," Socash said. "I decided it was worth it to break the gate."

Breaking the gate allowed for some cars to escape. It also quickly landed Socash in handcuffs, as St. Pete police and garage management made their way to the chaos.

Socash was arrested for disorderly conduct and spent the rest of the weekend in the Pinellas County jail.

Socash says the fault should lie with the parking garage, which she claims wasn't adequately prepared to handle the post-game crowds, but she's the one who had to pay the price.

"I have never had anything happen to me like what happened Saturday," she said. "The whole situation was absolutely disgusting."

McNulty garage management did not return calls for comment as of Monday night.

The Rowdies are offering complimentary tickets to those who were stuck in the garage and can provide a parking receipt.

The Tampa Bay Rowdies are aware of parking difficulties before and after Saturday night's 2019 home opener, particularly at the McNulty Garage on 2nd St. S. The McNulty Garage is privately managed, and the Rowdies are working diligently with the operator of that facility to ensure Saturday night's issues are addressed properly for the benefit of our fans.

While Saturday's issues were outside of our control, the Rowdies apologize to those who had problems at the McNulty Garage. Affected fans can bring their home opener ticket and parking receipt to the box office at Al Lang Stadium to receive two complimentary tickets to a match of their choice in March or April.

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https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/mls-relegation-major-league-soccer-fifa-president-gianni-infantino-2019-ussf-usl-a8829191.html

MLS relegation: Major League Soccer row continues with Fifa president Gianni Infantino called to spark shakeup

The Fifa president was presented with a letter asking to bring the United States in line with the rest of the world

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has been dragged into the debate over introducing promotion and relegation to football in the USA.

Infantino was presented with a letter this weekend calling for FIFA to bring the US into line with the rest of the football world, by enforcing its Article 9 on the US Soccer Federation.

This represents the latest exertion of pressure on the USSF to introduce an “open system” in American football. The USSF is currently facing multiple legal challenges, including one at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, from football clubs hoping to open up the current closed hierarchy in the sport in the US.

This letter was written to USSF president Carlos Cordeiro, signed by hundreds of football clubs across the US who are hoping for reform.

The letter blames the unhealthy state of football in the US on the league structure, which has Major League Soccer perched at the top, accessible only to those who buy their way in: “The failure rate of clubs and leagues across the US soccer landscape vastly exceeds any other country in the world,” the letter says.

“Dozens of team owners from multiple leagues have seen their investments go to waste and hundreds if not thousands of players have seen their potential unrealised. In global soccer terms this situation is unique and, the evidence suggests, is a function of the exceptional nature of our closed model.”

Clubs and leagues across the US have continued to sign the letter over the weekend to register their opposition to the “closed model” of the USSF. “More than 20 new clubs have signed on to the letter in the last 48 hours and we expect that number to continue to rise,” organiser Dan Workman told The Independent.

“It has been a grassroots effort and we’ve seen support come from different areas and levels of the country. The interest level is high in the grassroots, but the Federation have shown little interest in organising a pyramid.”

This letter follows the launch last year of a high-profile legal challenge to the USSF’s closed system, also brought by two clubs from outside MLS.

Kingston Stockade play in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), effectively the fourth tier in the US, and were set up by FourSquare founder Dennis Crowley.

Miami FC play in NASL and are owned by Riccardo Silva, the Italian investor who set up sports rights company MP & Silva with Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani.

Between them, Kingston Stockade and Miami FC brought a case to CAS, calling on FIFA to impose their own Article 9 on American football. Something they have been clearly unwilling to do in the past.

That case is due to be heard in May. This weekend’s letter has broadly the same goal as the CAS case, to push FIFA into pressuring USSF to open up the American game.

“Ultimately, you can’t ask the USSF politely to do this,” Crowley told The Independent last year about the CAS case. “They’re not interested. What we’re trying to do with the CAS filing is to say ‘listen, USSF has to play by Fifa’s rules.’

People have been trying to do this for years, and USSF has not been forced to respond. The thinking is that the CAS filing forces the issue, forces them to articulate their position, and hopefully forces them to make some changes here. The USSF has to acknowledge that this is part of Fifa’s rules.”