Miami Soccer Community is sophisticated

Miami soccer community might be a little too sophisticated for Miami FC and NASL, after all Miami-Ft. Lauderdale is probably the top rated TV soccer market in the nation, if we look at the Confederations Cup ratings, were Miami Metro was #1. Also, in the last Gold Cup a game between Jamaica and El Salvador drew more than 17,000 fans, and Miami is currently sitting 3 with 18,277 supporters behind the 2018 World Cup bid, only Seattle and Philadelphia are ahead, Indianapolis which is 4th has 14,892 supporters registered.

This clearly shows that Miami is a top soccer market, the problem might be that these fans are too sophisticated to appreciate 2nd division soccer, this is shown by consistent attendances below 2000 at Miami FC games, even in the so maligned Fusion years attendance in the last year at Lockhart was more than 11,000, and this was pre-Beckham hype.

What surprises me the most is that the owners of Miami FC (a soccer company) do not seem to realize this, and instead of aiming to playing 1st division they have chosen to create a new 2nd division league. Under the current league even if they increase attendance by 10 times (say 10,000) this team will not be able to make it mainstream, as no big time player a la Henry, Beckham, Ljumberg will leave Europe to play on a 2nd division team in the U.S.A. With the possibility of bringing up to 3 Designated Players an MLS franchise can bring the level of quality and sophistication the Miami soccer fan needs to be turned on. This city can potentially be a soccer mecca in the U.S. but it needs investors/owners that understand what this city wants.