Thought only Beckham wanted MLS in Miami?

Did you think only David Beckham and his apparent partner Marcelo Claure were the only ones interested in bringing a Major League Soccer team to South Florida? Nope, there are more.

We recently heard that Dolphins owner Steve Ross might bring a team too. Well, he's not the only one.

Last night on the Ultras Alive Show we heard from another possible MLS Miami Bid group lead by former The Childrens Investment Fund partner Alessandro Butini.
Alessandro, has been working with the University of Miami School of Architecture on a Stadium project . This past Monday he met up with the Dean of the Architecture school and the senior students taking part in a Fall studio which is centered on the project of a soccer specific stadium for an MLS team in Miami. In December, the senior professors of the architecture school will name the winner of the project which will help Alessandro find a location (said to be in Downtown Miami) and the perfect design for a Roofed Soccer Specific Stadium that he tells us will be completely privately funded.

Butini continued, that he has spoken to MLS commissioner Don Garber and Miami city officials about what is needed and required to make this happen. He is fully aware of the challenges South Florida brings and has identified Miami as an event town, which he expects to address accordingly. 
He has the backing of Suzie MacCagnan, who has worked in numerous transactions of football clubs in the UK, and advised many board of directors, like Liverpool, Sheffield United, and Portsmouth. Plus Marco Felice Novelli, an investment banker who has focused his career in Real Estate deals and distressed equities. Alessandro is looking for his Miami team to start playing in his fully operational facility in 2017 .

For more information listen to what he said on the Ultras Alive Show, here is the direct link:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/soccersupportersradionetwork/2013/10/01/ultras-alive-109

Alessandro Butini has launched a website, be sure to check it out and fill in the petition!
 http://mia4mls.com/
Also Follow on Twitter: @Miami_MLS
LIKE this facebook page: MLS Miami Bid
 

Ray Hudson's Miami Fusion

I had to share this wonderful video looking back at my Favorite team of all time. The Miami Fusion.

Could it be MLS is preparing us for something? Only time will tell.
You want MLS back in South Florida?
LIKE -----> https://www.facebook.com/MLSMiamiBid
Follow ---> https://twitter.com/Miami_MLS

Looks like Beckham & Claure's MLS Miami team is taking shape.

It's been almost a month since a certain David Beckham was seen at a Miami Heat game with Bolivian billionaire Marcelo Claure.
We first heard the rumor of a Miami MLS team between Claure & Beckham a few years back. But, not many took notice until a small mention on May 1, 2013 on the Washington Post by Steven Goff:

*Getting word a David Beckham-backed effort to bring MLS to Miami is about to pick up a steam and could go public in about a month. The league has prioritized a second club in New York for the 20th team and is intrigued by Orlando’s aggressive expansion campaign, but with Miami featuring Beckham and Dolphins management, Miami has quietly re-emerged. South Florida had an MLS team from 1998 to 2001, the Miami Fusion, which played at Lockhart Stadium in north Fort Lauderdale (30 miles from downtown Miami) but lacked the investment muscle and public will to survive. Commissioner Don Garber has said repeatedly MLS needs to expand into the South; currently, there are no teams south of Washington on the East Coast.

You can read the rest of the piece HERE.

Fast Forward to Tuesday May 28 when Simon Evans breaks out the news that Beckham is indeed on his way to Miami to meet with Marcelo Claure at a Heat game no less!
 Simon Evans wrote:

Former England captain David Beckham will visit Miami this week as he steps up his interest in owning a new Major League Soccer (MLS) team.

 Beckham, who played for L.A. Galaxy in the MLS, has an option to create a new franchise in the North American league.

 While the exact location is still to be decided, he will be in the Florida city to explore possibilities, according to former Miami mayor Manny Diaz.

 "Yes, he is coming. My understanding is that it's very exploratory at this stage," said Diaz, who took part in the last time a Miami-based MLS team was under discussion in 2009.

Read the rest of the article HERE.

A few days later on Thursday May 30th, anyone that watched the Miami Heat game could see Simon Evans was on the money about the meeting.

Having had a couple of days to work with, a few fans decided to have a Beckham rally to show support. Michelle Kaufman from the Miami Herald covered it HERE.

 Beckham ended up staying almost a week touring stadiums and taking in everything Miami had to offer. South Florida was a buzz with Beckham sightings across town. A couple of local news sites were able to get an exclusive interview with him.

“I think bringing an MLS team here to South Florida would be exciting,” Beckham told Miami's CBS4 News. “I think Miami fans are very passionate about the sport and about winning and of course, it would have to be success but it’s definitely exciting.”

 David eventually attended a second Miami Heat game and for the next few days the media continued to cover his visit, as fans also began to light up twitter and facebook with pictures and mentions of sightings.

A month later and as talk of Orlando's stadium project began to get attention. Brightstar CEO Marcelo Claure tweets a picture of David Beckham holding a Club Bolivar jersey (Bolivian Champions also owned by Claure) which indicates talks are still on going and mentioning Beckham as Claure's MLS partner on his Twitter account.

 It's an exciting time to be a South Florida resident and soccer fan. Hopefully we'll soon know if our Miami MLS dream will come true!

Want to be part of the South Florida MLS movement?
Join MLS Miami Bid:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MLSMiamiBid
Twitter: @Miami_MLS
Website: mlsmiamibid.com
Email: info@mlsmiamibid.com

Will David Beckham bring MLS to Miami ?

It's all over the internet this week, but it's been talked about for a few years now. David Beckham is going to be part of an ownership group that would bring a Major League Soccer team to Miami.

The case for Miami:
Miami is becoming a soccer hub and growing soccer scene: Home to CONCACAF, Traffic Sports, beIN Sport, Univision-ABC, Telemundo, US training base, new owner of World Football Challenge, NASL, GolTV, and all the soccer stars who own homes here.
All we need is MLS in Miami!

It's our time to act! He already denied any contact with a NY team but he hasn't done it with South Florida.

Let's send emails, tweets and facebook messages to David Beckham to show our support. We've done this in the past with MLS and its worked.

Tell them you want MLS in Miami and that we will support them!
#BeckhamMLSMiami

Simon Oliveira

simon.oliveira@xixentertainment.com
Twitter: @simonolive

Victoria Beckham
Twitter: @victoriabeckham

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Beckham

Check out all the sites that have reported about #BeckhamMLSMiami

Links below.
Palm Beach Post
ESPN
BBC
Sports Business Daily 
Digital Spy
Give Me Football  
Daily Mail
People UK
Football365
Terra
WNZine

Support our push for MLS.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MLSMiamiBid
Website: http://mlsmiamibid.com/
Twitter: @Miami_MLS

MLS keeping an eye on South Florida...

Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald wrote about it on her Total Futbol blog yesterday:

"Miami may not have an MLS team anymore, but apparently it still has MLS fans. The league has discovered that Miami is one of the top three television markets for MLS games among non-MLS cities, along with San Diego and Atlanta."

Reliable sources tell me Major League Soccer is investing a pretty penny in South Florida to promote upcoming playoff games thanks to reports that MLS TV ratings in South Florida are among the highest in the country, not to mention the great turnout at Friendly International matches in the past year.

 It also helps that the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the North American Soccer League have also had strong attendances numbering just under a 4K average... Not bad considering it's Division 2!  Add to that the great atmosphere you can experience at Lockhart Stadium with the supporters groups Flight 19 & The Ultras and did we mention the epic tailgates? If you haven't been to a game you should try it. Check out the video!


Just last year I helped organize a meeting with MLS Commissioner Don Garber, where he told the Miami Ultras in attendance that South Florida needed to show him we wanted MLS... Well, Commissioner Garber, in 1 year we've done all you've asked us to do!

Recently Commissioner Garber had this to say about our market on mlssoccer.com :

“Miami is continuing to intrigue us a bit more than it had been,” Garber said. That growing intrigue stems from recent news supporting Miami’s soccer bona fides. First, there is the strong interest in the recent news that Chelsea and AC Milan will play a friendly at Sun Life Stadium as part of the World Football Challenge. Second, Garber pointed out that Miami had the third-highest local TV rating for last weekend’s LA Galaxy-New York Red Bulls match on ESPN. Only LA and New York had higher TV ratings. “We’re going to do in Miami what we’ve done in many other markets,” he said. “We’ll continue to schedule international games and continue to get inundated with emails from the Miami Ultras, who want us to bring a team there. We’ll continue to be intrigued by it"

All I can say is that South Florida is ready for the next level! Be it the Strikers that make the leap to MLS or a new group of investors (Rumors of Beckham ownership), we want to hear you are out there! The fans are here and we are ready! 
If you want to help support soccer in South Florida by playing in our soccer teams (Miami Ultras FC or Ultras FC) or if you want to come out and support the Strikers with us or if MLS is your passion and want to help with our campaign then contact me at uncleed@miamiultras.com
You can also Follow us on Twitter: @miamiultras
or join our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/MiamiUltras
or Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/miamiultras/
You can also head over to www.miamiultras.com 
or www.mlsmiamibid.com
Don't forget to listen to our Internet Radio Show: Ultras Alive every Monday at 9PM! All the best soccer guests you can think of! www.ultrasalive.com

David Beckham to bring MLS to Miami?

Last night on Telefutura's Contacto Deportivo, Ivan Kasanzew (Twitter: @elcondek)asked David Beckham if he will bring Major League Soccer (MLS) to Miami!
There has been a constant rumors that Marcelo Claure, CEO of Brightstar and owner of Bolivia's most popular team Bolivar has contacted David Beckham in hopes of bringing a team to Miami.
This is the first time a journalist has asked Beckham if this rumor is true on television. Props to TeleFutura's Ivan Kasanzew aka el CondeK for being the first.
Do you want to help bring MLS to South Florida? Then support our MLS Miami Bid on:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MLSMiamiBid
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Miami_MLS
www.mlsmiamibid.com
If you want to help contact: uncleed@miamiultras.com

Check out the video: In English with Spanish subtitles.

An interview with Burrito...

Throughout Sports history there are fans who have become an insignia or symbol of a team. The Lakers have Jack Nicholson, The Knicks have Spike Lee... The Miami Fusion had Burrito.

Very little is know about this mysterious and solitary soul. According to Burrito he was Born one cold night in the year of our lord 1998 in the city of Toluca, Mexico. His Mother a Chihuahua, his father unknown, this half breed was a Toluca Fan since birth and became a member of the supporters group known as la Perra Brava! He eventually came to this country by ways unknown and now resides in Homestead, Florida. I was able to get a hold of him by chance, while walking by a restaurant in Homestead called El Toro. I looked down and felt something hump my leg... He proceeded to eat out of the trash and while he chewed on a piece of leftover quesadilla we talked about Mexico, Futbol and bitches... Mostly bitches...  and here is what happened: (I'll try my best to capture Burritos accent. I mean, he speaks dog so here is my translation and My nickname is Chichi btw...read on...)

Uncle Ed (ChiChi): Just like many of us, your heart must have been broken when our team The Miami Fusion was taken from us.
Burrito: Pinches Putos nos chingaron! All Burrito have was that team. If it wasn't for the Mexican League and Burritos mami back in Mexico, Burrito would have died. And Burrito gots to tell you his mami is a real bitch!
UE: Why the name Burrito?
B: Why the name Chichi carnal?
UE: ChiChi is a nickname.

B: In Mexico they call boobies chichis puto, you should change the name. Burrito call himself Burrito after favorite food and because when Burrito play Futbol people say Burrito looked like Ariel "Burrito" Ortega from Argentina.
UE: Is it true you used to take the bus to Lockhart Stadium from Homestead? That's got to be like 50 miles at least.
B: Si, it was very far but when you love Futbol like Burrito love Futbol then you no think of it. Burrito used to sneak in pick up truck of this Afusionado member and he listen to some music by Vicente Fernandez and time go by fast. Pero now Burrito just live at Lockharts Stadium.
UE: Have you tried doing something about your writing skills?
B: No, Burrito got paws so kina hard to type.
UE: So we almost had a New MLS team in 2008 what are your thoughts on that?
B: Que? Burrito drop piece of quesadilla...
UE: Oh... never mind.
On that note, It was nice talking to you. You should come back to the Bigsoccer forums where you used to be a hit!
B: Burrito have too many enemies in Bigsoccer, people no like him there an give him Red Card! Beside, Burrito too Macho for them, maybe one day when Strikers make it to MLS Burrito make return. Burrito used to be part of Afusionados, but now Burrito is a Miami Ultras and sleep under section 115 at Lockhart Stadium. Sometimes late at night people can hears cowbell and hot bitches yellings. When you hear that then you know its Burrito!
UE: Ok Burrito thanks!
B: Arf!
You can read Burrito's contributions to this blog from time to time so stay tuned!!!

For more on Burrito see his profile and become his friend on Myspace:

myspace.com/burritoe 

Yes, Myspace!  Not kidding!

Follow Burrito on Twitter: @BurritoFutbol 

LIKE his facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/burritofutbol
You can sometimes listen to Burrito on Ultras Alive  www.ultrasalive.com every Monday at 9PM 

Burrito is the only soccer blogging dawg in the known universe! Since 1998! Join Burrito's everything or he hit you on head with quesadilla! Vamos Strikers!