There has been a plethora of news coming out of the Florida soccer community in recent weeks, adding to the busy year Florida soccer has already had. Jacksonville has provided us with the latest developments, announcing their team name and crest, and have piggy backed off of other major soccer announcements in the sunshine state recently. With the announcements of Orlando City and Miami to MLS along with Jacksonville joining Tampa Bay and Fort Lauderdale in the NASL, is the Florida soccer landscape becoming too crowded? And will it negatively affect some of those teams?
We have seen soccer succeed and fail in the state of Florida. The Fort Lauderdale Strikers and Tampa Bay Rowdies of the first installment of the NASL became some of the most iconic names in American soccer. Before the original NASL disbanded, the Rowdies and Strikers had made names for themselves in the soccer community, featuring some of the first great American players.
However, we have seen plenty of failures as well. The Tampa Bay Mutiny and the Miami Fusion were both clubs that were apart of MLS before folding in 2001 together. It’s hard to necessarily blame this on soccer though, as we have seen a number of sports in Florida fail to draw the number of fans that normal professional teams are expected to. Both the Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball normally sit near the bottom of the pile in terms of annual attendance rankings. The Heat weren’t much to yell home about either until the arrival of Dwayne Wade, and then Lebron James. (No disrespect to the Alonzo Mourning days). The NFL has always done well, because it’s the NFL and even the worst teams in the league can sell out a stadium on Sundays. But despite MLS’s previous failures in the state of Florida they have opted to return by announcing expansion to both Orlando and Miami this past year.
It’s not too hard to figure out why Florida seems to be so important to the US Soccer Landscape. US Soccer’s full-time residency program is in Bradenton, and some impressive American players have come from there (maybe most notably Jozy Altidore at the moment). Therefore its really no surprise that MLS would try again in Florida, but the important questions for us are: What does the arrival of two MLS teams do for the NASL clubs already in place there? Does the additions of Miami and Jacksonville negatively add to an already crowded soccer state?
Let's start with the first question. The obvious concern for NASL teams in Florida is this: Will the causal soccer fans gravitate towards the MLS sides that are coming soon rather than explore the “second-division” teams in the NASL? I think it’s reasonable to expect the die-hard Rowdies, Strikers and Jacksonville fans including their respective supporters groups, to maintain their love and loyalty for their club. But I also think its reasonable for the casual soccer fan who supports Manchester United/Arsenal/Chelsea and attends Fort Lauderdale Strikers games because its nearby, to become a Miami MLS fan because of the draw of a bigger league and a bigger name (David Beckham). Both the Strikers and Rowdies fans will maintain that they are not fazed by the new MLS boys and that they don’t think they will be overly-affected. But its clear that the arrival of MLS clubs to the state certainty won’t help matters, and maybe more so in the case of Fort Lauderdale. The Strikers ranked fifth of seven teams in attendance in the 2013 Spring Season and fifth of eight in the Fall Season. Now add an MLS team to their own backyard that will most likely draw all of the casual soccer fans in the area, and it would be ridiculous to deny the possibility of negative ramifications for the NASL club.
Tampa Bay may be a bit more fortunate. They are centrally located on the West Coast of Florida, and have some space between them and the next closest soccer team. Florida isn’t the biggest state, and Orlando is within the Rowdies’ proximity, but that shouldn’t affect Tampa’s fan base. The Rowdies ranked sixth in attendance figures in both the Fall and Spring Seasons in 2013, so although they will retain their loyal fans base, the argument of the casual Florida soccer fan comes to play. Tampa has done well in the offseason, bringing in some very talented players at this level and going through an ownership change as well. With successful marketing, the Rowdies may still be able to draw similar or better crowds in the next few seasons, especially if they continue to have such a dynamic and fun attacking team to watch.
Jacksonville is still an unknown at this point as an expansion club. The team recently released exciting news, revealing their new logo and name, Jacksonville Armada FC. The Armada also have the benefit of being across the entire state from one future MLS team in Miami, and 140 miles from the other in Orlando. But with their addition to the second tier league in the US, Florida will eventually have five teams in the top two tiers of American soccer. That’s, well. A lot. New York will have three, Texas has three, and California has three. Five for one state seems a bit crowded.
In regards to our two posed questions, we probably wont have answers for some time, however we don’t mind speculating. There is potential substance to the idea that five top-two tier teams in one state can dilute the loyal fan bases to strictly consist of the supporters groups and die-hard fans, leaving the casual Florida soccer fans up for grabs. If this were to happen, our initial thoughts would be that the NASL teams would struggle more so to attract the fans, simply because MLS carries more weight and more star power. Although you feel for Fort Lauderdale’s loyal supporters, in five years I cant see the casual fan in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area picking to see the Strikers at Lockhart stadium over the David Beckham owned Miami MLS side. We could also potentially see the waters being muddied between causal fans in the Tampa, Jacksonville and Orlando areas. Again, MLS will be featured more on your local sports station along with the national players of ESPN and NBC. There will be more reason to support an MLS side in your proximity than find a way to Al Lang stadium to watch the Rowdies take on FC Edmonton.
There is some hope for the NASL squad however. Supporters groups like Flight 19 and Ralph’s Mob are some of the most dedicated out there and will not only always be the first through the gates on game days, but they will also be the first to help promote their team to the causal fans in the area. Another advantage the NASL has is financial. It will be much more feasible for middle class families and single bachelor soccer fans to spring for NASL season tickets, than it would be to buy nosebleeds at David Beckham park. Teams like the Rowdies and Strikers (and we envision Jacksonville) make up for the lack of luxury and star power at their matches by providing entertaining soccer in a fun environment at an affordable price. The players interact more with the fans, the crowd is united and more personal, and the front offices are passionate. These things can give hope to the possible worried fan base of the Florida NASL teams.
Listen, no amount of soccer is too much soccer. It’s the most popular sport in the world for a reason. On paper, it seems like a great idea to have the state of Florida constantly surrounded by pro teams in a vamped up soccer community. But unfortunately fantastic ideas on paper sometimes don’t pan out, and it’s hard to see five pro teams in one state survive for the long run. We aren’t bold (dumb) enough to make predictions on teams succeeding or folding, but we do believe it will be a battle for the NASL squads once both MLS teams are active and rolling. Passionate fans and affordability can keep the NASL clubs ticking right now, and it seems as if this won’t be a problem for two of the oldest names in American soccer in the near future. It remains to be seen how Jacksonville start, but there is plenty of optimism coming from North Florida as well. The soccer landscape in the sunshine state is growing at a rapid rate, meaning everywhere you go you will run into another pro soccer team. But hey…is that really such a bad thing?
(image courtesy of mlssoccer.com)
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