Orlando City celebrates and Don Garbor publicly acknowledges Miami as opponent

[CF DolFan]

Like I had mentioned previously ... these things are done way ahead of time. Garbor had told us at Orlando City a while ago that they weren't going to bring us in without a rival either Atlanta or Miami. Once they got Beckham on board with Miami it was a slam dunk. Now Beckham and his ownership will play the political game of "we need this or else" to get a stadium built.

The reason I posted is because of Garbor said at the party on the microphone. He told Orlando to get ready for Miami. I don't know if it was a slip as it has been discussed privately but the first time he has said it publicly that I know of. These crowd events are kind of intimate so I don't know if he just got caught up or what.

[Dave Gray]

Does this play into the Dolphins at all?  Will they use MLS leverage to get a multi-stadium built?  Or does MLS want its own thing.

[Phishfan]

MLS has been saying they want soccer specific stadiums in the 20k seat range. Orlando City is announced to begin league play in 2015 (the same year our new stadium opens). They may have different plans if they really want Miami but my understanding was our building a stadium was key to getting the announcement.

CF, were you downtown for the celebration? It was quite the event from what I saw on the news. It was about two hours before the statement time and the crowd was in full swing wearing their colors, playing their drums, and singing. I wondered if they played it up for the news cameras or if they were carrying on all that time.

[Fau Teixeira]

they should build a soccer stadium in PBC! . .there's room in west boca .. you'll get all the northwest broward commute too

[CF DolFan]

No I wasn't there but that's the real atmosphere. There are three fan clubs (Ruckus, Iron Firm and the Orlando Natural Riddim Section) who have a serious presence at all events as well as the games but a ton of people from Orlando City Youth as well as regular fans were there.  Soccer fans are much more boisterous than basketball fans.

Dave ... Phish is correct. MLS wants intimate soccer specific stadiums now and has the leverage to require them. Some teams like Seattle are off the charts and can get away but most cannot. I think 4 of the current teams are in the process of building SSS for their teams which will leave only a few in football stadiums.