By Andrew Dixon - MIAMI, FL (Mar 10, 2008) USSoccerPlayers -- I've slept on it.
I've given it a few days.
My initial reaction hasn't changed about FC Barcelona not coming to Miami.
I'm not disappointed. That's reserved for what happened to the Dynamo getting obliterated in Mexico.
I'm not sad. That's what I was for Montreal in the Champions League.
I'm not simply shrugging my shoulders on this one. That's my reaction for David Beckham, though I am looking forward to 13-date, North American leg of the "Potential MLS Investor" tour.
No, when it comes to the decision that led to Miami missing out on an MLS franchise, I'm mad.
Bitter.
Salty.
Let me make it clear from the outset: I already have a favorite MLS team and will always support them above all. But I supported the Fusion when they were alive because I wanted MLS to succeed here in S. Florida.
I wanted this new FC Barca/Miami/MLS venture to succeed. First they had to show up but that was a mere formality. A shoo-in right? I even subscribed to the Miami Ultras email list so that I could be down.
There already was a stadium. Granted, it was all the way out by FIU, but at least it was viable venue designed partly with soccer in mind. There was the brand name in FC Barcelona. There was the logic in having a team in a city with plenty of soccer fans due to the ethnic make up of Miami-Dade and Broward counties. There was the chance at redemption for an area that lost the Fusion after that Supporter's Shield winning season.
Top flight soccer in Miami was supposed to be a sure thing.
Instead, we get nothing.
And you know what? I'm not even sure why. Everyone is blaming everyone and everything else for why MLS isn't back in a city where it absolutely should be.
Ultimately, that's what's burns me the most. Too much blame. Too much finger pointing. Too much of it entirely too familiar.
Follow the script, and it's Barcelona's fault. They're blaming the economy. They say the $40 million price tag they were supposed to split with Mauricio Claure was too high given the worldwide economic conditions. Maybe it was less than that, with reports stating that their investment was maybe 30% consisting of providing the technical support, coaching and players. Hmmm, a club that currently sits third on the money revenue list having generated $388 million over the past year was unable to come up with their share of the entry fee? Right. Did they all of a sudden wake up last week and realize that the global economy was an issue?
Or maybe it was the League's fault. Reports were the Claure asked the league to lower its entry fee because of the economy but it didn't budge. MLS wanted to get paid. Supposedly The Don was iffy about FIU's artificial surface, never mind the fact that MLS played an All-Star game on one last season.
No, wait it was Miami's fault. After all, the city is a bad sports town. The soccer fans didn't support MLS back in the day and won't support it now because they feel the soccer is better in [insert-county-of-origin here]. There was no "buzz" about a potential team here, nobody lining up to buy season tickets. It just wasn't viable. The timing wasn't right.
For real, are we really still on that? After all the talk about how the League is more mature and that the audience here would be more welcoming, we're still hearing that S. Florida's soccer fans don't care about MLS?
No, no. Actually it's Beckham's fault. With him leaving LA, "the economic picture changes," Claure told El Deber. What that has to do with putting fans in the seats in Miami, especially when Claure also said that he wanted to form an Iber-American team with players from South America, Spain and the US to reflect the fan base(Caribbean and African players apparently need not apply) I have no idea, but there it is. Beckham left, so no Barcelona.
Ultimately, I don't care. All I know is that the chance of having MLS come back here to South Florida is done.
You say I'm hostile? I got a right to be hostile, man.
I'm not the only one. I went to the Miami FC Ultras' 24 Soccer Thon over the weekend and played for about the first four or five hours until my legs cramped up. While everyone's main objective was having a good showing to help support Miami FC (which is on the verge of going the way of the Fusion), the Barcelona/Miami/MLS debacle was fresh on people's minds. Blame and unkind words were directed at everyone, from The Don, to the League, to Barca. I won't repeat the things said about The Don. As for Barca? Well a couple of people who paid some nice money for some solid FC Barcelona shirts were now talking about burning them.
They knew as I did that there was no way this should have fallen apart.
I tell you I feel had.
I feel took.
Hoodwinked.
Bamboozled. Led astray. Run Amok.
See, when the Fusion folded I was sad but not real surprised. Actual attendance was awful, even during the 2001 season.
But this.
This was a slap in the face. I felt like the league was saying "your market isn't strong enough," that Barca saying "your league isn't worth enough," and Miami saying, "your product isn't good enough," with everyone slapping each other with rubber gloves but hitting myself and other MLS hopefuls instead.
So yes, MLS 2010 will come and go without Miami being on the schedule. By then I'll have forgiven all the parties involved.
But like that jilted lover I won't forget.
I'm mad.
Because MLS should be in South Florida. It's as simple as that.
Andrew Dixon is a soccer writer based in Miami and a weekly columnist for USSoccerPlayers. Contact him at: golnoir@golnoir.net
