Real Madrid plan theme parks in Miami and Beijing

SoccerPrime · 08-05-2005, 12:58 PM

Real Madrid plan theme parks in Miami and Beijing
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldFootballNews&storyID=URI:urn:newsml:reuters.com:20050805:MTFH04301_2005-08-05_08-54-09_L05167835:1

Jose Luis Luviano · 08-05-2005, 01:19 PM

Does anyone else see it as funny that Generalisimo Franco's favorite team is building a theme park in a Communist country?

No stranger, I supposed, than building one in a place where the beisbol-loving Cubans, Dominicans & Boricuas would not go to a soccer game at gun point.

SoccerPrime · 08-05-2005, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jose Luis Luviano

No stranger, I supposed, than building one in a place where the beisbol-loving Cubans, Dominicans & Boricuas would not go to a soccer game at gun point.

And where might that be? :signsayin

AreliusII · 08-08-2005, 09:25 AM

Posted on Sun, Aug. 07, 2005

REAL MADRID
Soccer power has local interests
Real Madrid wants to build a soccer facility in Miami and use it as a North America foothold for one of the world's biggest sports brands.
BY DOUGLAS HANKS III
dhanks [at] herald.com

Real Madrid, one of the world's most popular sports teams, wants to open a youth soccer facility in Miami in an effort to expand its presence in the United States, city officials said Saturday.

The Spanish sports powerhouse has not offered details for the would-be facility, and city officials described the talks as being in the early stages. But Real Madrid president Florentino Perez was quoted in a Spanish newspaper last week as saying the park would ''become the focus for the legions of Real Madrid fans'' in the United States.

''They appear to be very interested,'' said Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, who had lunch with Perez in Little Havana about three months ago. ``They're expanding their horizons.''

It's unclear what kind of facility Real Madrid wants. Diaz and Otto Boudet-Murias, the city's economic-development director, said team executives discussed a soccer school for young players from South Florida and around the world. But the Spanish sports daily AS quoted Perez as wanting parques temáticos -- or theme parks -- in Miami and Beijing.

Boudet-Murias and Diaz said the translation is misleading and that Perez was referring to something akin to a soccer academy. ''There's no theme park,'' Diaz said.

Also under discussion: Real Madrid playing an exhibition in the Orange Bowl next summer, which Diaz called a ``strong possibility.''

A Real Madrid presence would bring one of the biggest names in soccer to a region in which the sport has long struggled to create a workable business plan.

The Miami Fusion, a franchise of Major League Soccer, folded in 2002 after four years and $50 million in losses, the latest in a string of failed pro soccer squads.

Talks of a Real Madrid soccer academy in Miami began after the city approached Real Madrid about creating a professional soccer team to play in Miami's Orange Bowl, officials said.

''We feel that the demographics are perfect for it,'' Boudet-Murias said. ``I think Major League Soccer feels strongly a franchise would work down here.''

The Fusion played at Fort Lauderdale's Lockhart Stadium, and Miami officials say the city's heavy mix of Latin American immigrants makes Miami a natural for soccer. ''I think Little Havana would be a much better fit,'' Boudet-Murias said.

But the Fusion found demographics weren't as simple as they might appear. Immigrants' strong loyalty to their home teams -- and the quality of European soccer stars such as Real Madrid's David Beckham -- left Major League Soccer and its relatively low budgets struggling to attract die-hard soccer fans.

Still, an MLS spokesman said Saturday the league hasn't ruled out a return to South Florida.

''Let's just say it hasn't deterred us, the Fusion's experience in South Florida,'' said Dan Courtemanche, the league's senior vice president of marketing. ``We've always been a believer that South Florida could support an MLS team.''

Diaz said he first contacted MLS commissioner Don Garber shortly after being elected mayor in 2001 about bringing a team to the Orange Bowl. Real Madrid is one of several potential team owners the city has pursued, Boudet-Murias said.

Diaz and other officials met with Real Madrid executives during a November trade mission to Spain, and in the spring Perez met with Diaz again during one of the team president's frequent trips to Miami.

The mayor said Miami's heavy mix of Latin Americans and Europeans appeal to Real Madrid, because it would give the team easy access to two of its strongest fan bases. Diaz said the team plans to send the city some sort of proposal in the next several months.

The two sides have not discussed potential locations, he said.

Boudet-Murias also said the facility would encompass some sort of ''farm system'' for adult soccer players.

SoccerPrime · 08-09-2005, 06:04 AM

Anyone think its odd that once again Real Madrid is doing something in America and it still doesn't involve RSL in any way?

Deuce · 08-09-2005, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoccerPrime

Anyone think its odd that once again Real Madrid is doing something in America and it still doesn't involve RSL in any way?

I think it is pretty safe to assume that we won't see anything in this area for quite some time... At least til we become the strongest market in MLS. Which does not seem that difficult... but it still might take some time just to shun the stigma that seems to be associaited with everything that is Utah...

Time will tell

Hermey · 08-09-2005, 10:46 AM

Even after reading the article, I still don't understand why they'd go to Miami. I'm slightly biased against Florida, and the entire east coast to be honest, so I probably would never be in favor of anything good going in there. If their reasoning really does have to do with demographics and they aim to draw from the Hispanic population, I think they will be disappointed. As Jose Luis Luviano indicated, the most prominent Hispanic groups in that area are from countries where baseball, not soccer, is considered the #1 sport. People do remember the absolute failure that was the Miami Fusion, right? That had a lot to do with the local population just not caring at all about soccer.

SoccerPrime · 08-09-2005, 10:58 AM

As a Florida resident, I must respectfully disagree with you.
Florida isn't that bad. And obviously you are a Westerner with a East coast bias. Florida has +5 times the population that Utah has. It needs a MLS team. Its too big to ignore.
It was not attendance that doomed the Miami Fusion FC, it was an owner that was unwilling to help grow MLS in south Florida. It just so happens that at the same time MLS wanted to contract that the Fusion owner wanted out. It also doesn't help the Florida MLS "Scene" that when MLS wanted to contract by 2, it had 1 owner in South Florida who wanted our and a league-owned team in Tampa, Florida.

True, most of the hispanics in South Florida are from the Caribbean and care more for baseball than soccer, but there also many Mexicans, Haitians and Jamiacans that are very pro-soccer. The Orange Bowl (Miami) and Lockhart Stadium (Ft Lauderdale) have good attendance for international friendlies that happen here on a regular basis.

On the Real Madrid/Miami connection, Miami also boasts a large population of wealthy hispanics and ones who are actually from Spain itself. Thus the Real connection.

Plus can't you just see Becks here on South Beach?
Well probably not, since you've never actually been there...

Hermey · 08-09-2005, 11:39 AM

SoccerPrime, I wasn't trying to personally insult you with the Florida comments. I meant them more in jest than anything else, so I'm sorry if they came across differently. And you are right that I've never been to South Beach, but I did live in Pensacola for two years, so its not like I know nothing about Florida. My east coast bias comes from actually having lived there for a combined 7 years (the two in FL and then five in Virginia).

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, I'll concede that attendance wasn't the only thing that doomed the Fusion, but it was a factor that tied in with the problems with the owner. Correct me if I'm getting this wrong, but from what I remember the difficulty he ran into is that he just didn't have the kind of money that Hunt and Anshutz had and couldn't afford the losses that were inevitable for a new club.

As for attendance at international friendlies, that isn't exactly the best indicator of the interest in an area. Mexico can sell out the Coliseum, but Cheetos is struggling in attendance for a club that was supposed to have this huge built in fan base. They couldn't even sell out their home opener. I'm not saying that soccer can't succeed in Florida, and I can completely understand wanting to have a local team, but I don't think expansion in Florida will happen anytime soon.

I hope that this Real Madrid venture can work there in Miami, I'm just not sure it will. The idea of a Real theme park seems a little goofy to me anyway, but, who knows, the soccer complex they want to put there could turn out to bevery positive for soccer in the region.

I hope that clears thing up. 🙂

SoccerPrime · 08-09-2005, 11:55 AM

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