Beckham starting an MLS club in Miami.

chopperbyrne

http://m.skysports.com/article/sports//9151728

Huge market for sports in Miami. Hope it goes well for him.

The_Kew_Tour

no Miami Sharks.

Dolph Starbeam

chopperbyrne wrote: »

http://m.skysports.com/article/sports//9151728

Huge market for sports in Miami. Hope it goes well for him.

Not really a huge market, its a retirement state, Miami Heat struggle to attract crowds and they are one of the best teams in the NBA. I know one of the Baseball teams had the same problem.

Agueroooo

Miami Spice.









not mine. laughed when i read it on Twitter.

FatherTed

Florida is a strange state when to supporting sports teams. Yayabanana is right, they always start off great but then fall away as Floridians dont seem to stomach sustained support. MLS did have teams there before in Tampa and Miami but they both went out of business rather quickly with very poor attendances near the end. Actually Miami Fusion was a very nice team, won the MLS East Division with Carlos Valerama, then bang they're gone.

For this new team, the stadium location is a big factor. Miami Fusion played further north in Fort Lauderdale so it missed out on a lot of the Miami community. They're talking about Port Miami which is an island between Miami and South Beach which would be a good location.

syngindub

There is a huge Mexican population in Florida which will benefit hopefully.
I've no doubt that Beckham will generate huge interest and plenty of new fans.

FatherTed

syngindub wrote: »

There is a huge Mexican population in Florida which will benefit hopefully.
I've no doubt that Beckham will generate huge interest and plenty of new fans.

Actually, the hispanic population is mostly of Cuban descent in the Miami area. History has shown in MLS that teams are wasting their time catering to specific demographics. All teams have gotten player X because he's from a country where there is a large expat population living nearby and they've all failed at that. There's no shortage of Prem/La Liga/Seria A/MX Liga coverage on TV here so expats by and large will always support their home countries teams first. That's not to say some of us expats won't follow an MLS team like I do, but we are in the minority.

~Rebel~

Indeed, the teams with the best support are oddly the ones up nearer (and in) Canada rather than Mexico - the Vancouver Whitecaps, Seattle Sounders, Montreal Impact and Portland Timbers all get over 20,000 average. The Sounders get over 40,000 average - by a mile the highest in the league.

Aside from LA Galaxy, they're the only teams with an average over 20,000.

Pawwed Rig

The cities you mention are more compact with a real city centre where people can gather before and after matches. Miami is so spread out (similar to LA) that supporters will be forced to drive to the stadiums with therefore no 'buzz' is created before or after the games.
Best part about the English leagues is the amount of people that walk to the grounds. They have a real local connection which the US franchise model fails to address.

Dempsey

Beckham will have his work cut out for him but I'm sure he'll continue to make good business decisions

~Rebel~

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

The cities you mention are more compact with a real city centre where people can gather before and after matches. Miami is so spread out (similar to LA) that supporters will be forced to drive to the stadiums with therefore no 'buzz' is created before or after the games.
Best part about the English leagues is the amount of people that walk to the grounds. They have a real local connection which the US franchise model fails to address.

Good point - lack of buzz is a serious issue with nearly every game i've been to here. It's all very sedate. Only the most important games (playoffs etc) generate any real atmosphere.

dundalkfc10

~Rebel~ wrote: »

Good point - lack of buzz is a serious issue with nearly every game i've been to here. It's all very sedate. Only the most important games (playoffs etc) generate any real atmosphere.

Half the games in England are dead atmosphere wise, Old Trafford, Anfield etc... are dead for run of the mill league games, only loud on European nights, big league games. MLS would be better looking at Germany than England for atmosphere, as every game does be electric

Pawwed Rig

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

Half the games in England are dead atmosphere wise, Old Trafford, Anfield etc... are dead for run of the mill league games, only loud on European nights, big league games. MLS would be better looking at Germany than England for atmosphere, as every game does be electric

I'm not too sure about that. I went to see Man U v Norwich last year and the stadium was jammers, singing never stopped, great crowd around the stadium before and after the match. Went to Sunderland v Bolton a couple of years ago and the same buzz was there. Compared that to sports events in US where I drove to the stadium, sat there for a couple of hours with a fairly disinterested crowd (ice hockey) and drove home again.

Vinz Mesrine

Dempsey wrote: »

Beckham will have his work cut out for him but I'm sure he'll continue to make good business decisions

This is why I think it will work. The man has never failed at anything in his professional life.

FatherTed

Forgot to mention that Orlando is also starting a team next year. Miami will start in 2016 or 2017.

dundalkfc10

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

I'm not too sure about that. I went to see Man U v Norwich last year and the stadium was jammers, singing never stopped, great crowd around the stadium before and after the match. Went to Sunderland v Bolton a couple of years ago and the same buzz was there. Compared that to sports events in US where I drove to the stadium, sat there for a couple of hours with a fairly disinterested crowd (ice hockey) and drove home again.

By about a 2000 odd in the Stretford End out of 70000....

Compare that to 90% of Stadiums in Germany when its over half the stadium singing

SherlockWatson

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

By about a 2000 odd in the Stretford End out of 70000....

Compare that to 90% of Stadiums in Germany when its over half the stadium singing

Those are some solid statistics that I bet totally aren't made up at all.

Royal Irish

Vinz Mesrine wrote: »

This is why I think it will work. The man has never failed at anything in his professional life.

Corholio

Vinz Mesrine wrote: »

This is why I think it will work. The man has never failed at anything in his professional life.

His career ended with a whimper at PSG. He'll shine a light on the MLS again but will it be any more than when he was playing? I think he was far more valuable as a player there.

~Rebel~

Corholio wrote: »

His career ended with a whimper at PSG. He'll shine a light on the MLS again but will it be any more than when he was playing? I think he was far more valuable as a player there.

I don't know about that...Won the MLS with Galaxy after a great season, then with the kindly timing of the American league, was able to pop back to Europe after Christmas - to beautiful Paris no less - for one final swan-song in the Champions League, as well as earning a second domestic title in the space of 6 months. All, of course, while playing for free, with his wages going to charity. A pretty awesome final year in football I think.

OneColdHand

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

I'm not too sure about that. I went to see Man U v Norwich last year and the stadium was jammers, singing never stopped, great crowd around the stadium before and after the match. Went to Sunderland v Bolton a couple of years ago and the same buzz was there. Compared that to sports events in US where I drove to the stadium, sat there for a couple of hours with a fairly disinterested crowd (ice hockey) and drove home again.

You're saying hockey crowds are disinterested? You've clearly never been to a game between 2 Canadian NHL teams!

Pawwed Rig

OneColdHand wrote: »

You're saying hockey crowds are disinterested? You've clearly never been to a game between 2 Canadian NHL teams!

Nope it was San Hose Sharks. There was alot of choregraphed cheering and all but none of the passion you would see at a GAA, Rugby or football match. I did say US rather than Canada. Hockey is a different beast up north.

Wichita Lineman

I wonder will he look to bring in a lot of English players? Paul Scholes might be tempted out of retirement - again - and maybe Nicky Butt could do a job for them, mind he's a bit pale so the sunshine might not agree with him :P

aidan24326

Andy Dunne11 wrote: »

I wonder will he look to bring in a lot of English players? Paul Scholes might be tempted out of retirement - again - and maybe Nicky Butt could do a job for them, mind he's a bit pale so the sunshine might not agree with him :P

Not necessarily, he'll take the best of what's available I'm sure, wherever they may be from.

Isn't there a rule in MLS that you have to limit the amount of foreign players?
(or is that more to do with limiting salaries)

Anyway it's never going to be a league that attracts the top players, not in their prime anyway. Somewhere to go and bank a nice retirement fund* before you finish up, a la Robbie Keane, Henry etc

*Only for the star names though, your typical MLS player doesn't earn huge money and many would be the on the kind of wages you could get in League 1 in England.

I8A4RE

Who will be designing the jerseys, David or Victoria?

mikeym

Interesting times for money bags Beckham.


Hope it goes well for him.

ShoulderChip

mikeym wrote: »

Interesting times for money bags Beckham.


Hope it goes well for him.

Why are you calling him money bags Beckham? thats not very nice is it?

Timmyctc

ShoulderChip wrote: »

Why are you calling him money bags Beckham? thats not very nice is it?

I daresay he has a chip on his shoulder ShoulderChip?

Neil3030

I feel a need to offer some balance to this curiously obsequious thread because personally, I can't stand the little PR patsy.

Usual caveat of I'm sure he's a nice bloke, blah, blah, but he's a pawn in a ruthless marketing machine, who epitomises unwarranted celebrity and fame.

May this venture fail, biblically :pac:

Corholio

~Rebel~ wrote: »

I don't know about that...Won the MLS with Galaxy after a great season, then with the kindly timing of the American league, was able to pop back to Europe after Christmas - to beautiful Paris no less - for one final swan-song in the Champions League, as well as earning a second domestic title in the space of 6 months. All, of course, while playing for free, with his wages going to charity. A pretty awesome final year in football I think.

In actual football terms it was a whimper, as was going to play in the US. It was a good lifestyle etc yadda yadda, and I wouldnt begrudge anyone that, but lets not bundle them together. He went to play in a league that wouldnt even be in the top 10 leagues in the world. As for his 'wages', surely not that naive are you?

By the way im a fan of Beckham and always liked him, just disappointed he finished his career a good bit before it actually finished.

James__10

Did BT and ESPN now show MLS games anymore?