Sold out crowd at Lockhart Stadium for Miami Fusion v DC United
Apologies to the rest of the world, but I have an important announcement for soccer fans in South Florida. If you’re reading this and you’re in the area this weekend, it’s time for you to stand up and show how much you love soccer by meeting with Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber this Saturday, January 8, 2011 at 1pm. Garber wants to meet with the Miami Ultras and other soccer fans.
This possibly may be the last time we get a chance to vote with our feet and demonstrate to Garber why South Florida should get a MLS team. The New York Cosmos are a red-hot favorite to land the 20th spot in the league, so South Florida is up against some serious competition. The Cosmos have considerable financial backing from investors. South Florida has a group of people who have banded together to create enough noise to make Garber to take note and listen.
Soccer fans in South Florida have gone through a lot of pain and suffering over the years with false dawns, teams contracting, Barcelona teasing us that they were going to be financing a team but then the economy took a nosedive just when it seemed that MLS was returning to the southeastern United States. The list goes on and on. But we can take pride in the fact that we’ve shown glimmers of making soccer a success in South Florida. The sold-out crowd for Miami Fusion’s opening game in 1998. The near sell-out in 2010’s Gold Cup when Costa Rica played Canada followed by Jamaica versus El Salvador. Of course, we’ve had similar big crowds throughout the last few decades especially when world-class teams came to visit including Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Colombia and the United States.
So if you love soccer and want to see Major League Soccer return to South Florida, I urge you to take a couple of hours of time this Saturday and come out to the meeting. Sit in and listen, or bring your questions you want to ask Garber. The man has been kind enough to take time to meet with us. The least we can do is come out in numbers and show our support.
The meeting with Garber will be held at 3030 Restaurant at Marriot Harbour Beach Hotel, 3030 Holiday Drive, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316. I hope to see you there.
