Patrick Brennan

pbrennan@enquirer.com

There's a reason some industry insiders refer to the Tampa Bay Rowdies as the "silent assassins" of the race for Major League Soccer expansion.

The Rowdies are a relative newcomer to the mainstream MLS expansion conversation after formally announcing their intent in December, but don't misinterpret that for a hurried and premature MLS pitch.

The Rowdies' announcement came after years of behind-the-scenes work and investment from the team and Rowdies Chairman and CEO Bill Edwards, who has his club knocking on the door of MLS.

By the way, he doesn't care if you hear the Rowdies knocking or not.

"At the end of the day, I think it's hands down that we belong in MLS and probably ahead of a lot of the guys that are on the list," Edwards told The Enquirer. The Enquirer also toured Tampa Bay's facilities Dec. 23.

Yes, MLS has been in the Tampa-St. Petersburg metro area before. And, yes, it didn't work out.

The Tampa Bay Mutiny were folded by the league in 2002 for a variety a reasons, but Edwards appears to have big plans that would remedy the issues that befell the Mutiny.

The Rowdies aren't to be taken lightly in the MLS expansion race, and what's happening on the St. Petersburg waterfront is a stark reminder to fans of Futbol Club Cincinnati, Sacramento Republic FC and other teams: The groups involved in the expansion application process are all fighting desperately for the same prize.

Strong, monied contenders with compelling pitches could, and likely will, lose out in the end.

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The stadium plan: "If you dream it, you can do it"

Perhaps the strongest prong of Edwards' pitch to MLS are his plans for a privately-funded, $80 million expansion of historic Al Lang Stadium, a baseball venue that opened in the 1940's and in recent years was converted to soccer-specific by the Rowdies.

Front office staff can already boast on Al Lang Stadium as a bona fide soccer venue with a waterfront view. They also say the site is essentially ready-made for the expansion, which would upgrade the facility and increase capacity from 7,200-plus to about 18,000.

Edwards told The Enquirer he could have the expanded site operational by 2019.

The venue already features more than $4 million worth of modern soccer amenities including upgraded locker rooms and an in-stadium production studio for match broadcasts, Edwards said (The team uses up to 13 cameras for its broadcasts).

The look and feel of Al Lang Stadium immediately stands out because very few baseball-specific features remain at the stadium.

Clay warning tracks have been sodded. Green and yellow seats were installed in the grandstands, as was a free-standing grandstand and VIP area in what used to be left and center fields.

Even the home team locker room toilet stalls have Rowdies brand marks on the doors

"The biggest day of my life is when I took the batter's eye out of that place," Edwards said through laughter. "Everything you could possibly imagine that you could do with that stadium, we did it."

The first and third base dugouts remain. Other than that, the venue is almost indistinguishable from its past life as a baseball stadium.

The stadium is up to international playing standards, too. Al Lang will host this weekend Florida Cup 2017 matches featuring Bayer Leverkusen and VFL Wolfsburg of the German Bundesliga, and Club Estudiantes de La Plata, one of the biggest clubs in Argentina.

The Rowdies' stadium plan looks especially enticing following a Tuesday report that Missouri governor-elect Eric Greitens ruled out public funding for stadiums. St. Louis is one of nine other cities vying for MLS expansion and, for months, experts tipped the city as a favorite to earn an expansion slot. The new funding hurdle has raised some doubts.

The organizational build-out

Stadiums top the list of must-haves for all would-be MLS expansion teams, but there's far more to it than a stadium. Youth programming, training facilities and committed ownership are necessary considerations for the 10 clubs applying for MLS.

• Just as former Columbus Crew SC President Mark McCullers works with FC Cincinnati as a consultant, the Rowdies recently enlisted the help of Brett Lashbrook and Forrest Eber, both formerly of Orlando City SC's front office staff. They've helped steer and enhance the Rowdies in their application process, Edwards said.

• Edwards is working to build a coalition of high-net-worth individuals from the Tampa-St. Petersburg metro area to comprise his would-be ownership group. That's important because the Rowdies will need about $230 million in funding to make MLS happen ($150 million for the MLS expansion fee, plus the $80 million to expand Al Lang Stadium).

It''s also noteworthy because part of the reason Mutiny were undone was because MLS couldn't secure local ownership, so a locally-owned organization would be a major bullet point on the Rowdies' pitch to MLS.

"We have a lot of people in this town that are very wealthy of their own right and I'm working on putting together a local group of people rather than going to Wall Street. Rather than going to other institutional people," Edwards told The Enquirer. "Now, I'm not waving them off. I'll take their money, but in the same instance, if we can put together all the money here, we will.

"The people we pick will be the best people we want to be in our league and in our team. You know, I'm not going to bring people in that I'm not going to get along with... I'm a shoot-from-the-hip kind of guy that gets things done."

• TV money is a big part of the equation for longterm MLS success, and there's no shortage of TV money in Tampa-St. Petersburg. During his Enquirer interview, Edwards correctly pointed out that Tampa-St. Petersburg remains the largest U.S. TV market (No. 11) without an MLS team. By contrast, Cincinnati would be the smallest market in the league as the No. 36 TV market.

Each of the top 10-ranked TV markets has at least one MLS club.

• The Rowdies have a standalone training ground just blocks from Al Lang Stadium. FC Cincinnati President and General Manager Jeff Berding said in December he hoped to break ground on a training facility early in 2017.

• The Rowdies are awaiting authorization for its USL PDL team, Edwards said. The Rowdies previously fielded a developmental team in the fourth-tier National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) and plans to transition out of NPSL and into USL PDL. The purpose being to continue to provide a development structure while playing in USL.

• "A development academy seems like a no-brainer for us," Edwards told The Enquirer. He noted the club already has the facilities to accommodate an academy.

Edwards on Rowdies' jump to USL

The Rowdies, along with Ottawa Fury FC, announced in October they would leave the North American Soccer League (NASL) to join USL. Since then, the NASL's future has come into doubt. Many questions remain about the league following weeks of speculation about its possible folding.

The Rowdies announced their intent to leave long before any widespread public discussion of the NASL's current difficulties. Suffice it to say Edwards is happy with his team's new situation in the USL.

"They're doing the job to get you where you want to be," Edwards said of USL. "They're out there doing things to make sure your franchise has got what it takes and what it needs, and they do it welcomingly. They don't beat you down for now having it done.

"They help you get it done," Edwards added when asked about the USL's plan to launch a streamlined broadcast initiative for the 2017 season. "So, their organization is superior to any other league I've been in."

Edwards on FC Cincinnati

While focused on Tampa Bay's pitch, Edwards, like others in his position, is aware of trends in this fierce, new American soccer marketplace – especially when it comes to MLS expansion.

"You can't live in a vacuum," he said. "I admire a lot of the things people have done. I go to their stadiums. I go to their games."

Edwards, who said he used to live in Blue Ash, hasn't been to see an FC Cincinnati match yet, but he still appears to hold the upstart, Queen City club in high regard.

"The best team wins the deal. The best team get the franchise. I know there are other people out there that have done a lot of work and spent a lot of time and energy doing what we're doing... Look what they're doing out there," Edwards said of FC Cincinnati. "I'm very proud to see what they're doing. The fans are coming and they're enjoying the games. I give them a lot of credit for what they're doing."

Asked to weigh the viability of Cincinnati as a potential MLS city, Edwards playfully said, "is it better than mine? I don't know."

"But then again, this is a competition, isn't it? There's great people in Ohio... but you can't beat Florida – it doesn't snow in Florida."