Here are some of last week’s top stories from around the global soccer industry…
Beckham Soccer Stadium Won’t Come with Big Promises for Little Havana (Miami Herald)
It’s a crystal clear Wednesday night. The Miami Marlins just drubbed the Boston Red Sox 14-6. And right about now, thirsty baseball fans should be pouring out of Marlins Park and into Ysbel Medina’s sports bar two blocks away.
That’s what Medina envisioned when he says he plunged $700,000 into the Batting Cage on Northwest Seventh Street and timed its opening with the Marlins’ first season at their $639 million ballpark in Little Havana. But the 26,000 fans leaving in streams large enough to snarl traffic are mostly walking into the surrounding neighborhood toward their cars — not the businesses that Miami’s politicians and the team said would thrive in the Marlins’ shadow.
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Hennepin County to Minnesota United: We’re Ready to Work with You on Soccer Stadium (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Many have faced the question in circumstances from major to mundane: Minneapolis or St. Paul?
The owners of a potential new Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise have now been asked to make the choice between the Twin Cities.
Over the past week, Hennepin County Commissioners Mike Opat and Peter McLaughlin met privately with Minnesota United franchise owner Dr. Bill McGuire. The commissioners told him and other members of his ownership group that the county is ready to work on a stadium package for a new MLS team — but the county wants to be their only dance partner.
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Global Soccer Leagues Turn to Digital Strategies to Compete for Viewership and Fans in the United States (Huffington Post)
The race to capture American soccer fans’ viewership attention just gained another runner.
August 14 marked the beginning of Fox and the Deutsche Football League’s five-year United States television agreement. Under the deal, for the first time, all 306 of the Bundesliga’s matches will be aired in the United States across television, digital and mobile platforms.
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Football Returns in FIFA-Suspended Indonesia (Yahoo!)
Despite being under a FIFA suspension, domestic football returned to Indonesia on Saturday after intervention from President Joko Widodo led to the introduction of two new tournaments.
Persekap Pasuruan kicked off the 24-team Independence Cup with a 2-0 win over Madiun Putra at the Wilis Stadium in Madiu.
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NBC Keeps English Premier League Soccer for Six More Years (Bloomberg)
Comcast Corp.’s NBC will be the sole broadcaster of live English Premier League soccer games in the U.S. for six more years through 2022.
NBC is in the final season of a $250 million, three-year accord with soccer’s richest domestic competition. Terms of the new deal, which begins next season, weren’t disclosed.
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U.S. Prosecutor Warns FIFA Against “Superficial” Reforms (Reuters)
World soccer’s scandal-plagued governing body FIFA has been warned by the U.S. prosecutor at the center of the investigation into its affairs that its reform plans should not be “superficial”.
Kelly T. Currie, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, whose office indicted nine soccer officials with close FIFA ties in May, said that it was monitoring changes at FIFA closely.
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Emirates Airlines On Board for UAE’s Arabian Gulf League (Soccerex)
Emirates Airline has signed a deal to sponsor the Arabian Gulf League, the top professional league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Dubai-based carrier becomes the official airline of the competition, in a three-year deal reportedly worth Dh25 million (US$6.8 million). Emirates will have branding at all 182 league matches and this weekend’s Arabian Gulf Super Cup, as well as 45 Arabian Gulf Cup ties and 26 televised Under-21 League fixtures.
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In Spain’s Soccer Tiffs, Government Intervenes Again (NPR)
It’s hard to imagine a world in which the U.S. federal government would involve itself in settling disputes over the dates of professional sports games.
Across the pond, though, it’s a different story.
Wednesday, for the second time in two months, the Spanish government has intervened in a scheduling disagreement between the country’s professional soccer league, La Liga, and its national soccer federation, RFEF.
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Will New Cincinnati Soccer Team Succeed Where Others Failed? (Cincinnati.com)
The city has seen many soccer teams come and go, but with a prominent home, notable backers and a solid league, this time could be different.
The Enquirer has learned that an announcement will come Wednesday about the establishment of Futbol Club Cincinnati, a United Soccer League team funded by Carl Lindner III and other investors. The team is set to take the field in spring 2016.
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With Soccer Pitch, Pro Sports Back In Play for Downtown Las Vegas (Las Vegas Review Journal)
Jason Ader and his business partners want to bring a Major League Soccer team to Las Vegas. Mayor Carolyn Goodman wants a major league team downtown, and any sport will do. So, once again, Goodman said she’s willing to listen to a plan for pro sports in Las Vegas. This time, Ader’s group wants to redevelop Cashman Field on Las Vegas Boulevard on the edge of downtown into a home for professional soccer.
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