Details are sketchy, but Brian Quarstad’s Inside Minnesota Soccer reported on Saturday that USL President Tim Holt sent an email to three USL-1 clubs in the Team Owner’s Association (TOA)—Minnesota, Carolina and Miami—terminating their player contracts, which was followed by news from David Fellerath at Triangle Offense that the three club logos had been removed from the USL-1 main site.  It appears the decisions were made because the clubs, along with current USL semifinalists Montreal and Vancouver, did not renew their contracts with the league (there is speculation that Montreal and Vancouver’s contracts weren’t voided in part because of their progress as semifinalists).

The TOA member clubs’ refusal to renew with USL stems from a dispute dating back to last August, when USL was purchased in a last minute bid by non-USL club owner NuRock Soccer Holdings.  Before that the TOA had been working to work out a way to buy the USL, thereby breaking its single-entity structure, giving the clubs more control of the league and making it more ‘FIFA friendly.’ Non-club-owner NuRock’s purchase of the league effectively wrecked those plans and the TOA threatened to pull out of USL altogether.  After a month of stale negotiations and no club renewals by TOA members, Tim Holt’s mass email effectively called ‘the TOA’s bluff.’

While reports vary on what exactly will happen next (the Kartik Report lays out the consequences of a ‘break away’ league scenario), this sort of brinkmanship on the eve of playoff semifinals doesn’t reflect well on the league.  Yet there’s another, happier angle to this story: it was unearthed and confirmed by dedicated local football bloggers like Quarstad, calling USL-1 and TOA reps for much-needed answers.  This sort of scrutiny wouldn’t have existed five or ten years ago, mostly because the inner intrigues of USL, even with its wider implications for American club soccer, would have fallen on deaf ears in the traditional press.

So, while USL-1 fails, local American soccer bloggers pick up the pieces, FTW.

Worldwide Stories

• Dennis Wise is Modern Football incarnate: he went over his own club manager’s wishes to satisfy some player agents representing South American players, which led to Kevin Keegan’s resignation and now, his £2 million settlement.
• It took Sigi Schmidt’s Seattle Sounders to finally break the Columbus Crew‘s 22 home game unbeaten streak in a weird game that saw Guillermo Schelotto miss a penalty.  Yes, the league is that tight and unpredictable, as Ives breaks down over at Soccernet.
• Sulaiman Al-Fahim is selling a portion of his Portsmouth portion to a wealthy Saudi consortium headed by Ali al-Faraj, reports the Guardian, which will herald untold success at Fratton Park for years and years to come.  Or not.
• Are old strikers as intensely brilliant as they say they are, or are they a bunch of whingeing old cranks (I’m looking at you, Gerd Müller)?  Ian Plenderleith breaks it down for us at When Saturday Comes.
• And if you haven’t read a match report on the Chelsea Liverpool game, please go directly to Run of Play author and Pro Vercelli’s most storied manager Brian Philips piece on how Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba learned to stop worrying and love the ball.

Richard Whittall minds the shop like Vince at Nabootique here when he’s not crimping like Howard at A More Splendid Life.

Today we’ll look at Miami, and follow-up in the coming days by considering St Louis, New York City, and the Canadian candidates.

Miami

Background
You can’t consider Florida and MLS without noting that two previous franchises there have failed. In 2001, the Miami Fusion folded in their fourth year of attendance, and it was a bitter, bitter end for all involved: the club achieved its highest average attendance that season (11,177) and finished first in the Eastern Conference. Coached by Ray Hudson — yes, that Ray Hudson — they dominated the league before falling to the San Jose Earthquakes in the semi-finals of the playoffs. But four months later, the league leaking money like nobody’s business, Miami ceased to exist.

A Miami Herald writer recently recalled that sorry end:

Average attendance rose from 7,460 in 2000 to 11,177 in 2001, which is way more than the Marlins and Heat get on some nights. There was a real energy at Lockhart that season, a feeling like this was the start of something special. And then, just when things were getting really fun, the team folded. Not enough fans. Not enough money. The Fusion died at age 4.

So whilst the Fusion did fail, it is worth remembering that they were getting somewhere.

Stadium
Miami played in Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, some way out from Miami itself (almost 30 miles). The situation would be different this time. The City of Miami is looking to fund new soccer and baseball stadiums on the site of the old Orange Bowl. The former would cost $100 million and seat 25,000 and be located just a mile from downtown. Ironically, it was at the Orange Bowl that Miami were first set to play back in 1997 — the collapse of that damaged the team initially

Supporters
There’s a lot of talk that Miami is not a “soccer” city, as much of its immigrant population and transient tourist based economy doesn’t match the profile of your typical soccer fan. But let’s be honest: if Columbus can support an MLS team, surely Miami can too. Moreover, the demographic profile of Miami has changed since 2001, with more traditionally soccer-orientated immigrants moving in.

Some local supporters are, in the vein of the Sons of Ben, taking matters into their own hands. MiamiSoccerFan.com is selling t-shirts, running a petition, and connecting with people via Facebook. At the moment they seem to be around the size of the Sons of Ben twelve months ago. As whispers of MLS in Miami grow, perhaps they can get some of that same momentum and give a big push to the effort. As their site says, “It is time to wage war! We need to attack all media markets. Radio, newspapers, television, internet and MLS Headquarters need to hear about our passion and desire for an MLS team in Miami.”

Backing
What’s less clear about Miami is where the financial backing is coming from. It seems that USL side Miami FC have talked to MLS, but whether they have connections to the deep pockets needed to get into MLS these days is unclear. With MLS now demanding over $30 million upfront just to join the league, Miami will need to find some serious investors. There have also been rumours of Boca Juniors starting a team there, but that seems somewhat far-fetched.

Overall
If Miami can get investors involved, and the Mayor backs a stadium effort, MLS would probably jump at the chance to establish themselves down south again in a heartbeat. Would it be the right decision? It’s a lot easier to launch an MLS team now than it was over ten years ago. The league is established and media attention greater. Soccer has grown. If it can’t succeed in Miami now, it’s not as strong as we think. What are your thoughts on Miami’s candidacy?