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USL team heading to Tampa

Some seven years after the Tampa Bay Munity was snuffed out by Major League Soccer comes word that pro soccer is headed to the Bay once again.

United Soccer Leagues are set to announce the addition of a Tampa franchise to the first division. No word on who the ownership group is behind the new team, but soccer fans in the Tampa area who haven’t had anything to cheer about since Tiffany May ran onto the Raymond James field wearing just underwear and a flag will surely be happy to hear that they will soon have a team of their own to root for.

Will they be the Rowdies ala the NASL squad? Or will they revive the Mutiny?

What do you think of the news? Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I grew up playing with in Tampa watched both the Rowdies and the Mutiny. With the crowds we drew, I always felt an A-League team with an A-League specific stadium would do very well in Tampa.

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  2. CD 1, kpugs 0. Those were some cheap shots there on Tampa, kpugs. They cheer their teams well when there’s something to cheer for. Their MLS team was there at the wrong time and place. The MLS was mistaken and had no business bringing a team there at that time. Professional soccer has developed quite a bit in the past five years and with time a more stable support will probably probably develop for the new USL team.

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  3. No offense to Tampa Bay, but who cares? They are good at half-assed American football support and half-assed minor league baseball support. I bet a crappy new “minor” league soccer team will draw oodles of fans.

    Posted by: kpugs | June 19, 2008 at 11:05 AM

    With American Football in Tampa they have sold out every BUCS game at Raymond James. USF has one of the fastest growing fan bases in college football. They averaged 50k+ a game.

    The baseball team has been bad every year except this year and they play in a horrible facility in St Pete. This year now that they are competitive they are bringing in more fans.

    The hockey team always does well. The arena football team has always done well.

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  4. “Why would Chivas USA rebrand to a cheesy NASL nickname associated with their arch rival Club America. Use you f-ing brain man.”

    Posted by: oidiot

    Sorry, but I fail to see how that’s cheesy. I think it’s a badass name and I like traditional soccer names. As far as an association with Club America, are you talking about their stadium being the Azteca? Don’t you think you’re reaching there? I don’t follow FMF, so I don’t really know what you’re talking about.

    It’s still an awesome name and I hope it comes back. Aztecs vs. Galaxy rivalry would be awesome and they would garner much more of the fanbase they are searching for.

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  5. Anybody (besides me) tune into the weekly USL match on FSC? I may be wrong, but every broadcast has been from a USL SSS. The games from Atlanta and Carolina look very good. If Tampa can play in a similarly sized facility (4K-7K) that’d be great. Throwing a USL side into Raymond James would be a terrible mistake.

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  6. Rowdies, yes. Green and gold, yes. Hoop socks, perhaps.

    I hear the team won’t play until 2010. Hopefully that means it’ll be in its own stadium by that point.

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  7. No offense to Tampa Bay, but who cares? They are good at half-assed American football support and half-assed minor league baseball support. I bet a crappy new “minor” league soccer team will draw oodles of fans.

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  8. Are they bringing back the Wowdies with them?

    http://www.tampabayrowdies.com/wowdies.htm

    The first outdoor professional soccer game I attended was a Rowdies playoff game many years ago with my grandfather. I don’t remember much about the game itself but I do remember the two guys behind us spilling beer on us on multiple occasions. Not sure if anyone in Tampa understood soccer 30 years ago but they seemed to enjoy attending the games.

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  9. From here in Tampa, word is that it will be the Rowdies and they will use the old colors. The other rumor is that there will be a press conf today or tomorrow with some add’l details.

    Makes sense for Tampa to have a USL team. After all, the league is based here.

    I will remain cautiously optimistic until I see a shovel put in the ground. The economy is changing before our eyes and things are getting more and more expensive. HOWEVER, one of the key factors in the ability to build a stadium/ground is the only item that’s actually dropped in price: LAND.

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  10. as a RailHawks and USL supporter, I am thrilled to see this… new teams joining the league to replace the Seattles, Portlands, Vancouvers, etc when they all eventually make the leap to MLS is great news for USL and American soccer as a whole. The news that they’ll be getting their own stadium built and not playing in a high school stadium is also encouraging.

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  11. I heard not long ago from a USL insider that Tampa would get a new team called the Rowdies, a revival of the NASL name of the team that behind the Cosmos was probably the most successful in terms of local media penetration and fan support.

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  12. Ives, this is a long shot question, but how do you see USL and MLS’ relationship evolving? Will USL become MLS 2 in a farm system similar to hockey or promotion/relegation system (doubt it). Its great to have more teams, where more players can play, there is going to be an identity crisis for USL at some point.

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  13. Why would Chivas USA rebrand to a cheesy NASL nickname associated with their arch rival Club America. Use you f-ing brain man.

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  14. I’m thinking Burnley FC from the Championship will back the team. They’ve been looking for a USL franchise similar to Stoke City FC and the Austin Aztex partnership.

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  15. Tampa Bay didn’t have a shot at MLS anyways. This is good because it gives them something to cheer about. Now lets stop all the talk about Miami getting a soccer team. They can’t even support their baseball team, in a city where demographics would suggest baseball could be the most popular sport.

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  16. MLS, USL1, USL2, PDL, NPSL, WPS, we’ll cover the f—-n US with soccer!

    Thats actually why the US Open Cup getting a Champions leauge berth is so important, so that even small market teams can have a shot at something, and their fans can too!

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