Making professional sports ventures or any entertainment option for that matter successful in Miami is a delicate proposition. There are just too many miles of beach to frolic on and an excess of activities at any given moment at the disposal of the South Floridian.
Entering this world is yet another option to scarf up the disposable income of those living in the Magic City. After some bumps along the way, Major League Soccer is returning to the region.
MLS held a star-studded, energetic welcome announcement last Monday at the Adrienne Arscht Center for the Performing Arts, which was highlighted by the presence of the ownership group’s point person, international soccer superstar David Beckham. While some may say that starting another franchise in a market that has at times seemed ambivalent to sports projects is a mistake, I think this venture has the best set-up anyone could hope for.
First, Beckham is the biggest asset for this project if it is going to work in Miami. If you roll out any run of the mill team in the 305, people would most likely take a pass.
Starting an organization with a star like Beckham in the lead at least gets Miamians curious and talking. It is precisely the reason Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has tried to augment his ownership group with minority shareholders like Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, and the Williams sisters.
Miami’s MLS group already positioned themselves as a “team of the stars” with an opening video at the press conference that featured well-wishes from Lopez, Anthony, Tom Brady, Jay-Z, and others.
This star-cultivation process is even more effective if you have celebrities competing on the field and not just chilling in the owner’s box. Beckham, with his worldwide Rolodex jam-packed with a who’s who in soccer, again factors into this mission for Miami’s yet-to-be-named club.
There is no question that some of Beckham’s peers at the top of the sport may want to jet to South Beach and kick the ball around for a few years. One of the top players in the world, Lionel Messi, has already hinted as much.
Even if the star-studded names Beckham attracts are a bit over-the-hill, it does not matter. They will be able to be above average players at worst in MLS and still provide the name brand recognition for potential patrons.
Not only will Beckham attract big names to play for him on the pitch, he already has heavy hitters surrounding him off it. One could not possibly imagine a more influential group that has been hand selected to spearhead this expansion effort.
Miami-made business brothers Jorge and Jose Mas got cheers that almost equaled Beckham’s on Monday. They wanted to save the universally-hated Miami Marlins, but their rebuffed ownership attempt is to the detriment of baseball fans and a boon to soccer enthusiasts.
Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, entertainment mogul Simon Fuller and Japanese telecommunications billionaire Masayoshi Son are also apart of the ownership pot. This merry band of six boasts deeper pockets than anyone in the league.
Money is not everything, but when you are able to spare no expense, it can certainly help.
Some of those mega dollars will undoubtedly go towards erecting the new stadium for the club that is earmarked for the banks of the Miami River in the historic Overtown neighborhood. While Beckham initially had glitzier locations like the Port of Miami and Biscayne Bay’s waterfront in mind, this spot just a stone's throw from downtown and near rapidly improving mass transit, is a win.
Once upon a time, MLS tried to have a presence in the area with the old Miami Fusion playing over 30 miles from the center of the city at dilapidated Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. Like many of the league’s early ventures, that foolhardy, ill-conceived attempt at success did not last long.In this newer, rapidly growing MLS, all the ingredients are in place for a winner on and off the pitch in Miami. The stars will come, ownership money will keep the team competitive and this organization is coming into existence at the right place and time.
The ultimate measure of success will be how many Miami fans, jilted by past sports projects built on big dreams, buy in. Will a group of passionate supporters who hail from soccer hotbeds around the globe get on board with a league that does not rank among the world’s best?
Miami regularly ranks among the top markets in television ratings for international competition, but that does not necessarily translate to enthusiasm for a domestic league.
Beckham and MLS leadership are no longer prospectors of a dream. They are now in business together, betting on soccer in South Florida one more time.
There have never been any guarantees about what will catch on in this market, but no plan has ever had so much promise.
Carson Ingle is a South Florida native. He has been a sportswriter and sports talk radio host based in Orlando for the past ten years. He can currently be seen several times a week on Spectrum Sports 360's Face-Off segment at 10:30 p.m. on Central Florida News 13, channel 1013. Follow him on Twitter.
