Getting a Major League Soccer team isn’t an easy task, but the Miami Ultras, a Miami soccer fan organization, have improved their chances by organizing toward that goal.
“MLS is the highest level of professional soccer this country has to offer,” Ultras President Pieter Brown said. “We want the best this country has to offer in our hometown.”
Because of that desire, the Ultras have started a grassroots campaign for the 21st MLS team.
Ed Serrano and Julio Caballero initiated the Ultras bid campaign in 2008. It started with an email list but has grown to include a website, Facebook, Twitter and flyers.
“We’ve gotten louder and it’s paying off,” Brown said. “We’re starting to get noticed.”
One of those payoffs was a meeting with MLS commissioner Don Garber.
Garber encouraged the Ultras to engage with ethnic communities within South Florida that support foreign teams.
“He challenged us to reach out to those pockets and unify them,” Brown said.
That’s why the Ultras have created South Florida United. SFU is an umbrella group intended to unify smaller groups who may not want to join the Ultras, Brown said.
One of the things the Ultras hope to do with such an organization is increase support for Miami’s current division two soccer team, the Strikers.
“We need to support the current division two team,” Brown said. “We need to show that we can support a team week in and week out.”
But the history of MLS soccer in Miami has taught the Ultras that fans aren’t enough. After the 2001 season, former MLS team Miami Fusion folded.
“He was a millionaire in a billionaire’s club,” Brown said of the team’s owner.
Thus, the Ultras are targeting potential investors too. They’ve sent packages with scarves, t-shirts and letters to potential investors. The organization is also collecting the names and emails of those who say they want to buy season tickets. The Ultras hope that such a list will be persuasive to potential investors.
Despite all the work of the Ultras, they think that they’re unlikely to get MLS’s 20th team.
“Since Garber has his heart set so much on New York, I don’t think we’d go to the top of that list,” Brown said. “If that happens, we’re hoping for the 21st bid.”
A 21st bid means that an MLS team isn’t even a possibility for Miami for 5-10 years, Brown said. But that’s alright.
“Support what you have and dream for something bigger,” Brown said.
