Expansion: Miami

[RealG-TFC]

Well, its looking like a Miami-based team is a sure thing.

http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2...anchise-no-22/

[MartinUtd]

Still not sure about Miami but brilliant move by Beckham. First sign of trouble and he can cash out for quadruple his money.

[JavierMartini]

[barticusz]

Here's hoping this works out. I know I'll go for a trip to catch a game in sunny florida, that's for sure!

[RealG-TFC]

Oh definitely. That's why I'm excited for it, road trip games/sunny destination all in one - and on the East Coast! I suppose Orlando would also serve that function as well but having been to both towns I must say I prefer Miami/Miami Beach over Orlanda. As for it working out, I can see definitely see that happening. I don't know if there will be a large supporter group culture but I bet there will be a lot of interest and appeal from non-sg fans.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/articl...com-weds-10-am

[OgtheDim]

Hmmm......likely to play for a couple of seasons on a turf field. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIU_Stadium

[maninb]

Good luck signing any decent foreign players if they have to play on a plastic pitch...

[Red CB Toronto]

Hmmm......likely to play for a couple of seasons on a turf field. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIU_Stadium

I actually would not be surprised if they initially played at the Marlins new stadium with grass.

[Whoop]

Photos of new stadium.

[Whoop]

[Whoop]

[cmonyoureds]

Good luck signing any decent foreign players if they have to play on a plastic pitch...

One look at those photos will probably take a big bite out of a players excuses about a plastic pitch. Particularly the one with the ocean views and palm trees.

[GuelphStorm2007]

I hope it works out Wow what a nice Staduim

[Canary10]

THAT looks like a stadium. If BMO was to become something like that, I'd be fine with the Argos coming in. Unfortunately it won't.

We needed a Beckham back in 2005. Instead we got a guy who got to practice being a sports executive on our team. Glad that whole crew is finally out.

[TFC07]

Beautiful stadium. BMO field even with roof looks like crap compare to Miami's SSS.

[PopePouri]

Parking for boats only it seems.

[WestStandGeoff]

Photos of new stadium.

I didn't see it elsewhere, but at the Miami colours going to be red and white? Otherwise it looks like there's some solid TFC away support in the rendering!

[Whoop]

Looks like double blue. Maybe the Argos should move to Miami.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...-MLS-side.html

25,000 capacity

[Carts]

Beautiful stadium. BMO field even with roof looks like crap compare to Miami's SSS.

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home...

[ManUtd4ever]

Incredible.

[james]

awesome. Makes me wonder tho, at what point is MLS going to have enough teams. Almost every league around the world seems to have 20 or less teams in the first division ( do any leagues have more then 20?). Do we want to have 24-26-30 teams in MLS? I know a lot of us look at other leagues around the world and compare, and for whatever reason probably a lot of us don't want to be completely different then other soccer leagues and don't want to be like other sports in North America, a 2nd division may look very good to many of us and outsiders looking in, and a lot of people might take the league more serious with 2 divisions. However I doubt they would ever go the relegation 2 division format.

[JuliquE]

Looks like double blue. Maybe the Argos should move to Miami.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...-MLS-side.html

25,000 capacity

Steve Buscemi sighting.

[cherono]

Miami Spice

[InDa_110]

Good luck signing any decent foreign players if they have to play on a plastic pitch...

I have a feeling selling them on living and partying in South Beach, wll trump the plastic pitch.

[Initial B]

awesome. Makes me wonder tho, at what point is MLS going to have enough teams. Almost every league around the world seems to have 20 or less teams in the first division ( do any leagues have more then 20?). Do we want to have 24-26-30 teams in MLS? I know a lot of us look at other leagues around the world and compare, and for whatever reason probably a lot of us don't want to be completely different then other soccer leagues and don't want to be like other sports in North America, a 2nd division may look very good to many of us and outsiders looking in, and a lot of people might take the league more serious with 2 divisions. However I doubt they would ever go the relegation 2 division format.

North America has a greater population than all of Europe combined. How many first division teams could the USA support? I figure at least 80. The problem is there is only so many weekends in a season for meaningful play. If they want every team to play every other team at least once (and intra-division games twice, have decent-sized conferences/divisions, and keep to the current 34-game schedule, a 28-team league (2 conferences/4 divisions of 7 teams each) is as large as I can see them expanding.

As for a Second Division, I don't see the NASL accepting that role. I could see in the future that the CSA could come to an agreement with NASL to become Canada's de facto First Division if they allow as many Canadian teams to participate as they want. NASL craves respectability and legitimacy so I think they would jump at the chance.

[Beach_Red]

North America has a greater population than all of Europe combined. How many first division teams could the USA support? I figure at least 80. The problem is there is only so many weekends in a season for meaningful play. If they want every team to play every other team at least once (and intra-division games twice, have decent-sized conferences/divisions, and keep to the current 34-game schedule, a 28-team league (2 conferences/4 divisions of 7 teams each) is as large as I can see them expanding.

As for a Second Division, I don't see the NASL accepting that role. I could see in the future that the CSA could come to an agreement with NASL to become Canada's de facto First Division if they allow as many Canadian teams to participate as they want. NASL craves respectability and legitimacy so I think they would jump at the chance.

Maybe the question should be how many sports teams can each North American city support?

[Cashcleaner]

North America has a greater population than all of Europe combined. How many first division teams could the USA support? I figure at least 80. The problem is there is only so many weekends in a season for meaningful play. If they want every team to play every other team at least once (and intra-division games twice, have decent-sized conferences/divisions, and keep to the current 34-game schedule, a 28-team league (2 conferences/4 divisions of 7 teams each) is as large as I can see them expanding.

As for a Second Division, I don't see the NASL accepting that role. I could see in the future that the CSA could come to an agreement with NASL to become Canada's de facto First Division if they allow as many Canadian teams to participate as they want. NASL craves respectability and legitimacy so I think they would jump at the chance.

You are forgetting that there are other sports soccer competes with in North America, though. Soccer is king in Europe with few other sports coming even close to it's popularity. Whereas in North America, the MLS overlaps with hockey, baseball, basketball, and NFL/CFL football. And that's just the pro leagues. College athletics, believe it or not, are even more popular!

That's why we can't just make comparisons using populations alone. Each sport itself, not just each team, is competing against other sports for your ticket money.

[C.Ronaldo]

You are forgetting that there are other sports soccer competes with in North America, though. Soccer is king in Europe with few other sports coming even close to it's popularity. Whereas in North America, the MLS overlaps with hockey, baseball, basketball, and NFL/CFL football. And that's just the pro leagues. College athletics, believe it or not, are even more popular!

That's why we can't just make comparisons using populations alone. Each sport itself, not just each team, is competing against other sports for your ticket money.

europe competes with Fustal, "ice hockey", Roller hockey, handball, volleyball and making a big push table tennis.

yah..not really big ticket sports..not even close

[evermorian]

North America has a greater population than all of Europe combined. How many first division teams could the USA support? I figure at least 80. The problem is there is only so many weekends in a season for meaningful play. If they want every team to play every other team at least once (and intra-division games twice, have decent-sized conferences/divisions, and keep to the current 34-game schedule, a 28-team league (2 conferences/4 divisions of 7 teams each) is as large as I can see them expanding.

As for a Second Division, I don't see the NASL accepting that role. I could see in the future that the CSA could come to an agreement with NASL to become Canada's de facto First Division if they allow as many Canadian teams to participate as they want. NASL craves respectability and legitimacy so I think they would jump at the chance.

Europe actually has a larger combined population than North America. Over 700 million people in Europe compared to over 500 million in North America.

European population: http://www.worldpopulationstatistics...pulation-2013/

North American population: http://www.worldpopulationstatistics...pulation-2013/

Personally I think the mls needs to slow down its expansion plans. The talent pool will continue to dilute as a result. I'm not sure how many soccer teams, or leagues, north america can handle (Canada and the USA) but the trend seems to be that more people are starting to watch soccer and support north american soccer clubs in greater number.

[Initial B]

Europe actually has a larger combined population than North America. Over 700 million people in Europe compared to over 500 million in North America.

European population: http://www.worldpopulationstatistics...pulation-2013/

North American population: http://www.worldpopulationstatistics...pulation-2013/

Personally I think the mls needs to slow down its expansion plans. The talent pool will continue to dilute as a result. I'm not sure how many soccer teams, or leagues, north america can handle (Canada and the USA) but the trend seems to be that more people are starting to watch soccer and support north american soccer clubs in greater number.

That's a really cool site. Hmmm, I must be going off old population data. When I was growing up, Russia (USSR) was not considered part of the the European population statistics.

I think the talent pool can handle growth to 24 teams by 2020. The league added 9 teams in 7 years and the quality of play has only improved. It might need a bit of a breather at some point, but I'm not sure the economic forces will allow them to stop. I can see MLS having 28-32 teams by 2024.