Di tengah derasnya masuk aliran dolar Amerika ke Liga Primer Inggris, dunia sepak bola Negeri Paman Sam itu justru disambangi orang Inggris tulen dengan gaya rambut man bun dan kaki-kaki lincah bak kilat: David Beckham.
Pada awal bulan Juni 2017 lalu, Dewan Kota Miami-Dade County telah menyetujui penjualan tiga acre tanah milik pemerintah kota kepada sekumpulan investor yang diwakili oleh Beckham. Tanah ini akan melengkapi rancangan tapak sebuah stadion sepak bola baru di kota terbesar di negara bagian Florida ini, sekaligus mempermulus langkah Beckham untuk mendirikan tim sepak bola profesional pertama di Miami.
Sebelum bertanya-tanya bagaimana Beckham dapat berubah dari gelandang-separuh-selebritis menjadi Silvio Berlusconi baru di belantara Florida, maka kita harus pertama-tama melihat klausul kontrak yang ia tandatangani dengan Los Angeles Galaxy pada 2007. Seperti yang dilansir oleh The Guardian, Beckham menyetujui klausul yang memberikannya hak untuk memulai sebuah tim waralaba Major League Soccer dengan tanda harga 25 juta dolar.
Enam tahun kemudian, Beckham memilih Miami sebagai tempatnya membangun sebuah tim baru dari nol. Ia menggandeng Simon Fuller, rekan bisnisnya yang juga pencipta waralaba American Idol, untuk mewujudkan sebuah tim profesional di wilayah metropolitan yang juga mencakup Fort Lauderdale dan West Palm Beach dengan total penduduk enam juta orang ini.
Langkah Beckham (yang dengan unik dinamakan Miami Beckham United) adalah pertama-tama membuka konsultasi dengan MLS, liga sepak bola profesional Amerika Utara. Seiring dengan langkah MLS untuk memperbesar jumlah tim dari 20 menjadi 24 pada 2020, Beckham mencapai kesepakatan dengan komisioner liga Don Garber untuk mengunci pendirian sebuah tim ekspansi pada Februari 2014.
“Siapa yang tak ingin bermain dan tinggal di Miami?” tanya Beckham retoris dalam sebuah jumpa pers. “Saya tahu kota ini telah siap untuk sepak bola (profesional).”
Beckham tak salah dengan pernyataannya yang terakhir. Seperti halnya kota-kota besar di Amerika, Miami adalah kota yang haus akan olahraga. Miami Heat, kala masih diperkuat LeBron James, adalah salah satu tim besar NBA. Miami Marlins dulunya bernama Florida Marlins dan cukup diperhitungkan di MLB. Jangan pula lupakan Miami Dolphins di NFL. Yang kurang benar-benar hanyalah tim sepak bola profesional, dan tak ada yang lebih layak untuk menjalankannya di Miami selain salah satu gelandang terbaik yang pernah dihasilkan oleh tanah Inggris.
Miami adalah wilayah metropolitan keenam terbesar di Amerika Serikat, dengan populasi muda-mudi. Tak kurang pula faktor besarnya populasi kaum Hispanik Amerika, salah satu demografi terbesar penonton sepak bola di benua ini, meyakinkan MLS akan perlunya sebuah tim di pantai selatan Florida.
Proses negosiasi yang alot terjadi antara Beckham dan pemerintah setempat, terutama dalam membangun stadion baru. Salah satu syarat untuk mendapatkan tim MLS baru adalah memiliki stadion sendiri, persyaratan yang menghalang banyak kota kandidat lain seperti Detroit, Nashville, dan Pheonix. Banyak stadion olahraga di Amerika Serikat yang pembangunannya menuai kontroversi karena didanai oleh anggaran pemerintah lokal maupun negara bagian (yang secara langsung merupakan dari para pembayar pajak) untuk sekelompok investor.
Pemerintah Miami sendiri memiliki pengalaman buruk dengan pembangunan fasilitas olahraga baru: mereka membangun dan memiliki American Airlines Arena, kandang Heat, dan masih terpaksa menyubsidinya dengan uang publik. Namun, Beckham dan grup investornya berhasil mengamankan kesepakatan setelah tarik-ulur kepentingan dengan pemerintah lokal Miami, terutama setelah memastikan tak ada sepeser pun uang pembayar pajak akan keluar untuk membangun stadion baru ini.
Stadion baru tim yang masih tak bernama ini akan berkapasitas 25,000 orang dan dibangun di tepi Sungai Miami. Henry Grabar dari Slate memujinya sebagai “kesepakatan pembangunan stadion terbaik di Amerika”, terutama karena pilihan grup investor itu untuk tidak membangun gedung parkir dan alih-alih mengoptimalkan transportasi publik. Pemilihan tempat di pusat kota Miami juga dinilai tepat karena booming populasi dan ekonomi yang dalam lima tahun terakhir di wilayah tersebut.
Berkat pada klausul pada kontrak lamanya bersama Galaxy, Beckham hanya harus membayar 25 juta dolar expansion fee pada operator liga, ketimbang nominal sekitar 150 juta dolar yang harus dibayarkan peminat-peminat lain.
“Ini adalah proyek yang amat pribadi bagi saya,” ujar Beckham pada kesempatan lain. Ia telah berencana untuk mendatangkan pelatih top kelas dunia, pemain-pemain berpengalaman dengan bumbu Eropa dan sebuah akademi usia dini. “Saya ingin membangunnya seperti tim saya sendiri.”
Showing posts with label mls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mls. Show all posts
24 February 2017
Indy Eleven’s MLS bid is a good idea
Rejoice, soccer fans: Indianapolis-based Indy Eleven, the Hoosier State’s only professional soccer club, has submitted a bid to join Major League Soccer.
According to an official statement, Eleven will bid for one of four available slots in the expanded MLS, bringing the number of participants into 28 professional teams.
Indianapolis will compete with other cities like Charlotte, Detroit, and Cincinnati to bring professional soccer to their city. If approved, teams will need to pay $150 million of expansion fees. The league is expected to make decision by the end of 2017, and new franchises will start playing no later than 2020 season.
It is important to note that MLS currently is the fastest growing sports league in the United States, thanks to massive investment and better quality of players. Last season, the league received a gross television viewership of 25.7 million, highest since its inception more than two decades ago. Its average seasonal attendance is in all-time high of 21,692: third highest after NFL and MLB. The average club valuation is in $185 million, an impressive 400 percent spike since last decade.
Arrival of renowned international players from across the Atlantic, such as David Beckham, the English version of Tom Brady, and Italian free-kick maestro Andrea Pirlo also significantly helped the league on attracting more skilled players and deep-pocketed investors. It slowly becoming more integrated to American sporting lexicon, challenging for the title of fourth major league from NHL.
Any person with basic knowledge of international soccer would know that pro leagues around the world operates with promotion-relegation system, in which the worst team in the highest league would be replaced by the best team in lower league. But this is America: no way NFL would kick the Browns out of the league simply because they ended 1-15 last season. MLS adopt the same principle, therefore any new addition would only be possible by the way of expansion.
The Eleven bid for a major league spot is a good example. Established in 2013, the team currently plays at the North American Soccer League, MLS’ indirect competitor but with less prestige and coverage: think of NBA Development League or Minor League Baseball.
For a four-year old team, their achievement has been quite impressive: last season, under veteran coach Tim Hankinson, they won the league spring season and made it to the play-off for the first time in history, marching to the Soccer Bowl where they lost to the New York Cosmos in a penalty shoot-out. With that kind of roster, they would have no difficulty competing with other MLS team.
Another major league team would give a huge advantage to Indianapolis itself. Dubbed by Brian Straus of Sports Illustrated as “America’s most underrated sports city”, the Circle City is a robust market for a professional sports team. Hoosiers’ passion for sports should be historically undoubtable: from pro to high school, from football end zones to basketball sidelines, one might wonder why we only have the Colts and Pacers.
For last three seasons, the Eleven has consistently attracted second highest attendance in NASL: only Sacramento fared better. Last season’s semifinal home game against FC Edmonton lured a record number of 9,700 people. A major league status would undoubtedly attracted more people. In 2013, a preseason match between European household names AC Milan and Liverpool at Lucas Oil attracted 42,000 spectators. With a major league status, hard not to believe that the Eleven would not lure more people.
Good quality talent will never be in short supply for the team. Unlike other candidate cities, Eleven would have a strong advantage in the form of abundant youth player supply from collegiate and high school level.
Indiana Hoosiers men’s soccer program is one of the best in the nation, having won eight NCAA Division I championship. The program have produced a significant proportion of players that goes pro and even became the backbone of their team: thirteen of them went to represent Team USA, several gone as far as the FIFA World Cup.
Up north, Notre Dame have good program too, having won national title in 2013 under Bobby Clark. Isn’t it better if homegrown Hoosier talent to be given chance to continue their career inside the state, just like how Stanford standouts empowered LA Galaxy to national glories in past ten years?
In many ways, arrival of a pro soccer team in Indianapolis would be a huge advantage for all. It is time for us to embrace the beautiful game, just like billions of people around the world.
An edited version of this column appeared in the 24 February 2017 edition of the North Star, the student newspaper of Lawrence North High School, Indianapolis.
According to an official statement, Eleven will bid for one of four available slots in the expanded MLS, bringing the number of participants into 28 professional teams.
Indianapolis will compete with other cities like Charlotte, Detroit, and Cincinnati to bring professional soccer to their city. If approved, teams will need to pay $150 million of expansion fees. The league is expected to make decision by the end of 2017, and new franchises will start playing no later than 2020 season.
It is important to note that MLS currently is the fastest growing sports league in the United States, thanks to massive investment and better quality of players. Last season, the league received a gross television viewership of 25.7 million, highest since its inception more than two decades ago. Its average seasonal attendance is in all-time high of 21,692: third highest after NFL and MLB. The average club valuation is in $185 million, an impressive 400 percent spike since last decade.
Arrival of renowned international players from across the Atlantic, such as David Beckham, the English version of Tom Brady, and Italian free-kick maestro Andrea Pirlo also significantly helped the league on attracting more skilled players and deep-pocketed investors. It slowly becoming more integrated to American sporting lexicon, challenging for the title of fourth major league from NHL.
Any person with basic knowledge of international soccer would know that pro leagues around the world operates with promotion-relegation system, in which the worst team in the highest league would be replaced by the best team in lower league. But this is America: no way NFL would kick the Browns out of the league simply because they ended 1-15 last season. MLS adopt the same principle, therefore any new addition would only be possible by the way of expansion.
The Eleven bid for a major league spot is a good example. Established in 2013, the team currently plays at the North American Soccer League, MLS’ indirect competitor but with less prestige and coverage: think of NBA Development League or Minor League Baseball.
For a four-year old team, their achievement has been quite impressive: last season, under veteran coach Tim Hankinson, they won the league spring season and made it to the play-off for the first time in history, marching to the Soccer Bowl where they lost to the New York Cosmos in a penalty shoot-out. With that kind of roster, they would have no difficulty competing with other MLS team.
Another major league team would give a huge advantage to Indianapolis itself. Dubbed by Brian Straus of Sports Illustrated as “America’s most underrated sports city”, the Circle City is a robust market for a professional sports team. Hoosiers’ passion for sports should be historically undoubtable: from pro to high school, from football end zones to basketball sidelines, one might wonder why we only have the Colts and Pacers.
For last three seasons, the Eleven has consistently attracted second highest attendance in NASL: only Sacramento fared better. Last season’s semifinal home game against FC Edmonton lured a record number of 9,700 people. A major league status would undoubtedly attracted more people. In 2013, a preseason match between European household names AC Milan and Liverpool at Lucas Oil attracted 42,000 spectators. With a major league status, hard not to believe that the Eleven would not lure more people.
Good quality talent will never be in short supply for the team. Unlike other candidate cities, Eleven would have a strong advantage in the form of abundant youth player supply from collegiate and high school level.
Indiana Hoosiers men’s soccer program is one of the best in the nation, having won eight NCAA Division I championship. The program have produced a significant proportion of players that goes pro and even became the backbone of their team: thirteen of them went to represent Team USA, several gone as far as the FIFA World Cup.
Up north, Notre Dame have good program too, having won national title in 2013 under Bobby Clark. Isn’t it better if homegrown Hoosier talent to be given chance to continue their career inside the state, just like how Stanford standouts empowered LA Galaxy to national glories in past ten years?
In many ways, arrival of a pro soccer team in Indianapolis would be a huge advantage for all. It is time for us to embrace the beautiful game, just like billions of people around the world.
An edited version of this column appeared in the 24 February 2017 edition of the North Star, the student newspaper of Lawrence North High School, Indianapolis.
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