Florida Considers MLS Stadium. You know. Just in Case.

If you build it, they will come.

(Yes, I’m sure that every article on this topic will include that line. I just wanted to get my licks in first.)

Word out of Miami today is that when Floridians raze the Orange Bowl, they may replace it with not just a baseball park for the Florida Marlins, but also a professional soccer stadium. Because you never know when you might need one of those.

One minor detail that might make taxpayers balk at the up-to-$125 million cost? Florida has no MLS franchise.

Miami’s soon-to-be razed Orange Bowl could be replaced by not only a Florida Marlins ballpark but also a Major League Soccer stadium, a soccer spokesman says.

League officials have “been in discussions with Miami City Mayor Manny Diaz to secure funding for a soccer stadium that would serve as home to an MLS expansion team,” said Dan Courtemanche, senior vice president of marketing and communications.

The Orange Bowl site is “the one they’ve [city officials] initiated interest in,” he said. And soccer officials agree the Little Havana neighborhood would allow the league to “closely connect to our core soccer audience.”

Yes, Miami was on MLS Commisioner Don Garber’s shortlist as a possible recipient of an MLS franchise. If you call nine cities a “short list” in a league that is currently expanding at the rate of one franchise a year.

In alphabetical order, Garber gave an update on expansion possibilities in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Miami, Philadelphia, Montreal, New York (a second club), Portland, St. Louis and Vancouver

But maybe throwing $125 million at a new stadium is one way to get you bumped up the list? I guess we’ll find out in the next few years, at least if Miami residents are in the mood to open their wallets.

The Offside Blogging Team can also be found at these Offside blogs:
Roma | World Cup | LA Galaxy | Serie A | Les Bleus | Gli Azzurri | Serbia

Some Related Stories:

Category: MLS, World Football