Honduran fan as well as South Florida soccer historian Robert Scorca gives us a great foundation regarding one of the pillars of our footballing history.
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Part IV: NASL is Gone, What's Next
By Robert Scorca - The Fort Lauderdale Strikers moved to Minnesota because there was no suitable indoor facility here. Click to continue reading...

Statement tonight from the United Soccer Leagues:

"In response to the Team Owner's Association (TOA) announcement that the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore will be joining a prospective new professional soccer league, United Soccer Leagues (USL) has issued the following statement:

"Both the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore have contractual commitments to USL to play in the 2010 USL First Division (USL-1) season.

Click to continue reading...

USL News Release Friday, November 20, 2009

TAMPA. Florida – In response to the Team Owner's Association (TOA) announcement that the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore will be joining a prospective new professional soccer league, United Soccer Leagues (USL) has issued the following statement:

"Both the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore have contractual commitments to USL to play in the 2010 USL First Division (USL-1) season.

Click to continue reading...

This morning, my personal site, the Kartik Report along with partner site Inside Minnesota Soccer was among those breaking the story that Crystal Palace Baltimore and Paul Daglish's Tampa Bay Rowdies were joining the new TOA "breakaway" league . Later it was reported at USL News, Â and discussed at Match Fit USA among other places, today it was revealed that Miami FC purchased the trademark for the defunct North American Soccer League. Click to continue reading...

The future of American soccer appears to be the past of American soccer.

It's being reported that the new breakaway league consisting of several former USL clubs has registered the name North American Soccer League, apparently with the intent of using it at launch next spring.

There are those of us old enough to remember the original NASL (if you're not, go here).

Click to continue reading...

According to the Whitecaps website the TOA League is now 11 teams strong!

The addition of Tampa Bay and Baltimore brings the new league to nine teams, as they join the owners of the Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina RailHawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, St. Louis Soccer United and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

Click to continue reading...

Just when we were beginning to wonder if this TOA league would really get off the ground with just seven clubs they go and add two more. Yup, now they are up to nine as Inside Minnesota Soccer has learned they have snatched two prime USL teams away with Tampa Bay rejoining the group and now a new addition in Crystal Palace Baltimore.

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Miami FC Registered Two NASL Trademark Claims on 11.16.2009
According to a search of the United States Patent and Trademark Office records, North American Soccer League, LCC in Delaware filed two trademark claims on November 16th, 2009. They claims were marked c/o Miami FC 501 Brickell Key Drive, Suite 407 Miami FLORIDA 33131
As we know Miami FC is part of the TOA "Breakaway" second division that today was joined by the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore. Click to continue reading...

The Team Owners Association announced today that they have added Crystal Palace Baltimore and the Tampa Bay Rowdies to their new league. The two clubs brings the TOA's total up to nine, putting to...

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The Tampa Bay Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore have now joined the Team Owners Association (TOA). This has brought the number of teams to 9 for the TOA, who will release a name for the league next week.

This is throwing the USL into chaos at this point. I wonder with this loss of teams if USL will decide to rework the league rules and spending to allow a merge of USL-1 and USL-2 and make it just United Soccer League.

Click to continue reading...

TAMPA, BALTIMORE TO JOIN NEW PROFESSIONAL SOCCER LEAGUE
Expansion brings new league to nine teams

Nov. 20, 2009 – The Tampa Bay Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore have joined the new professional soccer league announced last week, beginning play in the United States and Canada in April 2010.

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STARTERS
On Thursday Toronto FC is expected to name Preki as their new head coach.
dN
Incredible quote from Real Salt Lake head coach Jason Kreis on his teams tough regular season: "I was very overconfident. I think I added to what was a little bit of an underlying thing on the team that we were a bit overconfident going into this season. Click to continue reading...

Yesterday we found out that the new League was a go and today a number of sites confirm that the TOA will play the 2010 season in a new league.
Teams such as Miami FC, Atlanta Silverbacks, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, Carolina Railhawks and the Vancouver Whitecaps will soon be joined by a St. Click to continue reading...

Our new Thursday series looks at classic football programmes, that perfect accompaniment for a trip down memory lane. Today, an NASL team visits England gets rowdy.

Birmingham City vs Tampa Bay Rowdies, October 1st 1983.

Programme cover courtesy of Footysphere.

Click to continue reading...

We are way behind on posting this, but since the last question answered has become more relevant after the events of the past couple days, it still make sense to post this.
The TBR Mailbag is a bi-weekly feature brought to you by the TBR front office to allow you, the fans, to write in and ask questions about the team, organization, and the return of professional soccer to Tampa Bay. Click to continue reading...

Head over to ESPN Soccernet and read a nice piece about one-time Rowdies midfielder, Hugo Perez. The article is by Jeff Carlisle and details the career of one of the better US national team players of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Before Claudio Reyna and Landon Donovan, there was Hugo.
He played just two seasons with Tampa Bay and unfortunately his career coincided with the dark years after the collapse of the NASL. Click to continue reading...

Our tiny little corner of the World Wide Web is all a titter because the USL office has emailed players under contract to Miami FC, Carolina, and Minnesota that their contracts have been voided. This information was broken by Brian Quarstad at Inside Minnesota Soccer.
It seems that these three ring leaders of the TOA group have not paid their fees for the 2010 season by the September 1st deadline. Click to continue reading...

October 3, 1976 - Tampa Bay Rowdies midfielder Dennis Wit made his USA debut in a scoreless draw against Mexico. The match was part of the failed USA campaign to qualify for the 1978 World Cup. Wit had joined the Rowdies earlier in the 1976 season in a trade from the San Diego Jaws.
Wit played just fourteen matches for Tampa Bay during his two season tenure (1976-77). Click to continue reading...

September 27, 1993 - Ken Fogarty is voted the APSL Coach of the Year after taking the Tampa Bay Rowdies from a 4-11 start to a final 12-12 regular season record. He had to battle injuries on his squad throughout the season and the absence for much of the season of 1992's team and league leading scorer Jean Harbor. Click to continue reading...

Note to Rowdies management: Please, oh pretty please, include a roof on the stadium you are building, wherever it my end up. I don't mean one of these so-called roofs that don't cover anything. I mean an honest to God roof. The kind that keeps the sun off my face and the rain off my back.
My hunch is that the Rowdies will play at USF in 2010 and hopefully move into a new stadium of their own design in 2011. Click to continue reading...

Thanks to Kenn Tomasch we can now be underwhelmed with USL attendance for the 2009 regular season. Remember that the Rowdies will be in a league with some or all (we hope) of these outfits in 2010.
Montreal Impact are by far the standouts in this group with an average attendance in excess of twelve thousand a game. Click to continue reading...

September 14, 1979 - The Tampa Bay Rowdies honor retiring star midfielder Rodney Marsh [above with the ball]with a testimonial match at Tampa Stadium. A crowd of 20,655 turned out at Tampa Stadium on a Friday night to get their last look at the Rowdies' star on the pitch.
Marsh scored the first two goals to help the Rowdies win 3-0 against their arch rivals, the Ft Lauderdale Strikers. Click to continue reading...

September 11, 1993 - The Tampa Bay Rowdies play their last match at Tampa Stadium before folding. The regular season finale was against the Los Angeles Salsa and the Rowdies pulled out a 3-2 victory with a last gasp goal by Derek Backman [left].
The win gave the Rowdies third place in the APSL regular season with a 12-12 record and qualified them for a playoff spot. Click to continue reading...

Thanks to Ed Serrano from Football in Miami and Beyond for the heads up on this story...
From the Sun-Sentinal:

The five USL-1 clubs and three other organizations, including 2010 expansion club Tampa Bay, are aligned with the Team Ownership Association (TOA), which wants the clubs to run the league, rather than a management entity such as NuRock.

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Question #3 was: What will be the result of the sale of the USL?
Results:
35% - USL 1 will see steady growth
35% - Doesn't matter, we are all done for when the Mayan Calendar ends in 2012
10% - USL 1 will now prove its dominance over MLS
15% - Nothing will change
5% - Rowdies will find themselves without a league again, just like 1985
A full thirty-five percent of you think that USL 1 will have steady growth as a result of the sale by Nike to NuRock Soccer Partners. Click to continue reading...

The TBR Mailbag is a bi-weekly feature brought to you by the TBR front office to allow you, the fans, to write in and ask questions about the team, organization, and the return of professional soccer to Tampa Bay. If you have any questions you would like answered, please email us at mailbag@tbrowdies. Click to continue reading...

I suppose the dream of a MLS club in Ottawa is over, for now at least. Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), along with their partner Ottawa Fury owner and CEO John Pugh, announced today they have applied for a United Soccer Leagues First Division (USL-1) franchise.

The team would play and be based at a proposed new stadium at Lansdowne Park.

Click to continue reading...

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

OTTAWA, ONTARIO – Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), in partnership with Ottawa Fury owner and CEO John Pugh, announced today they have applied for a United Soccer Leagues First Division (USL-1) franchise. The team would play and be based at a proposed new stadium at Lansdowne Park, which would be built as part of the Lansdowne project, subject to Ottawa City Council's approval.

Click to continue reading...

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

OTTAWA, ONTARIO – Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), in partnership with Ottawa Fury owner and CEO John Pugh, announced today they have applied for a United Soccer Leagues First Division (USL-1) franchise. The team would play and be based at a proposed new stadium at Lansdowne Park, which would be built as part of the Lansdowne project, subject to Ottawa City Council's approval.

Click to continue reading...

There is a song by the Smiths that goes like this:

The death of a disco dancer
Well, it happens a lot 'round here

Well, it's not the death of a Disco Dancer but more like the Death of Soccer in Miami, and it does happen around here quite often! It appears Soccer does not live long and prosper in this town . Click to continue reading...

I've been a little busy today so the links will be fairly light tonight. I guess that's what you can expect when it is the week of your wedding and you have loads of things to do other than write on a blog. But I will have more on that in a couple days.

Tonight I want to really get into a couple things here.

Click to continue reading...

This comes directly from BCSoccerWeb.com. USL-1 team owners are NOT happy with the sale by Nike of the USL to NuRock. Prospect of USL-1 clubs jumping ship to newly created team owned league looms.
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TEAM OWNERS ASSOCIATION CHILLS RELATIONS WITH USL Atlanta, Carolina, Miami, Minnesota, Montreal, St. Click to continue reading...

Over at USLnews.com they have posted a press release from an outfit called the Team Owners Associaton (TOA). This cabal was formed in January 2008 to push for reform within the USL to get the heavy handed league ownership (was Marcos, then Umbro/Nike, and now NuRock) to relinquish control and ownership of the USL to the member clubs. Click to continue reading...

This press release just in from the Carolina Railhawks at 4:00 pm CT today:

TEAM OWNERS ASSOCIATION CHILLS RELATIONS WITH USL AFTER NIKE SELLS USL TO NON-TEAM THIRD PARTY

Atlanta, Carolina, Miami, Minnesota, Montreal, St. Louis, Tampa and Vancouver to Aggressively Explore all Options for Future

August 31, 2009.

Click to continue reading...

This press release just in from the Carolina RailHawks at 4:00 pm CT today:

TEAM OWNERS ASSOCIATION CHILLS RELATIONS WITH USL AFTER NIKE SELLS USL TO NON-TEAM THIRD PARTY

Atlanta, Carolina, Miami, Minnesota, Montreal, St. Louis, Tampa and Vancouver to Aggressively Explore all Options for Future

August 31, 2009.

Click to continue reading...