Comments on: Barca Miami Expansion Bid Is Far From Perfect

By: AFCAjax-A-player

AFCAjax-A-player — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 06:41:08 +0000

Im going to play there you’ll see

By: Barca90067

Barca90067 — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:34:15 +0000

Barca is coming to Miami!!!!! Not sure if you've heard, but FC Barcelona is in the process of bidding to become one of the newest MLS expansion teams. With our assistance, we can help bring the Barca flare to the United States.

I encourage everyone to visit their website at www.miamifcb.com. Let' convince the MLS to grant FC Barcelona and the city of Miami an MLS franchise. Please go to the website, sign up as a fan of Barcelona, and express your interest in season tickets in the event a franchise is granted. Also, the site allows us to give our input regarding potential names for the team and any other suggestions we may have.

Everyone, please check out the site (www.miamifcb.com) and let's bring Barcelona to the US!

By: Jim

Jim — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:01:13 +0000

Nothing in this world is perfect.

By: Middlesbrough Football

Middlesbrough Football — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:57:23 +0000

Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere but what would a link with Barca entail? Are they likely to send fringe/youth players to MLS to get games or is it mainly a commercial deal and an attempt to infiltrate the US market with merchandising sales?

By: BishopvilleRed

BishopvilleRed — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:23:38 +0000

You also have to realise that the team will use the stadium for “run thru” practises, thereby doubling their stadium use at least. That would likely be the Thursday / Friday nights before games. And football will get bumped because of FIU football.

By: kkfla737

kkfla737 — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:46:42 +0000

Now that FIU is in the Sun Belt they will play at minimum five home games, likely more a season. Couple that with the fact that in College Football due to the vast amounts of TV money and number of networks that carry live games (ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN U, ESPN CL, CBC CS, CBS, ABC, BTN, VS, etc, etc) game times are only set 13 days before the game actually takes place. For example Miami's November 1st game at Virginia was just set for Noon ET because it will be syndicated on Raycom. The game a few weeks back against FSU was played at 3:30 and shown nationally on ABC even though the “official schedule” before the season did not list 3:30 as the start time.

So sharing a stadium with a college football team whose games are also played on saturday and whose game times change is a risky proposition. Add turf to the mix, something that in football more than any other sport affects the play and you have a situation where they need to build a stadium in downtown, or dare I say it, even play at Lockhart.

By: The Gaffer

The Gaffer — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:45:43 +0000

Sorry Jason, I fixed that typo. I knew it was Florida International University, not Florida University. My apologies. Good points about the games not being that affected by the schedule, but it still means that Barca Miami would play second fiddle to FIU.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:52:28 +0000

Florida University? You live in South Florida and don't know the name of the university?

And as for fixture congestion, how many home games do you think FIU plays?

In 2005, they played five home games, and three of those were after November 19.
In 2006, they played six home games, four of them after November 11.
In 2007, five home games - three after November 17.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

By: Joey Clams

Joey Clams — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:36:13 +0000

They'll sort all that out.

By: Wendell_Gee

Wendell_Gee — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:32:29 +0000

The stadium may be rent free, but sometimes things cost nothing simply because that's what they are really worth.