By Paul Kennedy and Ridge Mahoney
Tuesday is the day MLS is scheduled to announce Orlando as MLS’s 21st team, but there is other big news on theexpansion front out of Florida.
On Monday, NBA superstar LeBron James confirmed he’s had preliminary talks about teaming up with
“There’s some interest on both sides,” James
James is no stranger to soccer. He has asmall interest in American-owned Liverpool. The Miami Heat star is one of the few U.S. athletes who can match Beckham as a global icon — Liverpool and James were a natural as both are hugely popularin China — so he is well versed on international soccer.
The big question remains: how can Beckham or Beckham and James tap into the fickle South Florida sports market.
Saturday’s international match between Brazil and Honduras drew more than 70,000 fans, but pro soccer has struggled in South Florida. The Miami Fusion holds the distinction of being the only MLSexpansion team that has failed. The problem isn’t exclusive to soccer. Baseball has done particularly poorly in Miami.
Any number of other investors have been mentioned as possibleadditions to Team Beckham.
The other issue that Beckham faces is finding a home for the team. Any number of existing stadium facilities — none perfect — or locations for a soccerstadium have been thrown out.
ORLANDO HEALTH RENEWS. A day before the scheduled announcement that it will become MLS’s 21st team, Orlando Cityannounced an extension of its existing partnership with Orlando Health, which will remain the club’s jersey sponsor and official healthcare partner.
The agreement means Orlando Health ison the verge of becoming the first jersey partner in MLS history to commit to an expansion club before admittance into the league.
KWIK GOAL SIGNSGUZAN. One of the USA’s goal guardians has signed a deal to represent a manufacturer of said equipment. Kwik Goal has finalized an agreement with USA and Aston Villa goalkeeper
As a player representative for the company, Guzan will write blogs for kwikgoal.com in 2014 andcontribute to its Google+ and twitter accounts. He will also be featured on the 2014 Kwik Goal catalog cover with a photo taken during his shutout performance in a 1-0 defeat of Costa Rica in asnowstorm last March.
“Brad’s career and performance on the pitch have been on an upward trajectory for a number of years now with both Aston Villa and the U.S. national team,” saidJames J. Pepe, director of marketing for Kwik Goal, said. “We are proud to partner our company with a great player, and more importantly a greatperson.”
— Kwik Goal recently signed a deal to have Alan Hopkins, formerly of Soccer America, Fox Soccer and ESPN, serve as aspokesperson.
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