"On life support in recent weeks," Miami's expansion bid to rejoin MLS in 2010 died on Tuesday when the league, FC Barcelona, and investor Marcelo Claure jointly announced they pulled the plug on the proposed expansion franchise because the timing wasn't right and the economic climate too tenuous," writes the Miami Herald's Michelle Kaufman.
After extensive negotiations, and due to the current worldwide economic downturn, Barcelona decided the financial risk was too great and Claure felt that the $40 million franchise fee should have been lowered. But MLS had its own reservations about putting a second team in Miami after the Fusion folded after just four years, with concerns about a stadium featuring artificial turf as well as often fragmented support among South Florida soccer fans.
''We are convinced Miami is a soccer market, but we are not convinced it is an MLS market at this point, and for the stability of the league we had to make sure we make a smart decision so it doesn't come back to haunt us later,'' said MLS Commissioner Don Garber in the Herald report. "For now, we are seeing more fan support and promise from the other cities — Portland, Vancouver, Ottawa and St. Louis. We didn't sense that same local buzz from the soccer community in Miami.''