TAMPA, Fla. – Leadership from the Tampa Bay Rowdies, including owner Bill Edwards, praised the USL’s organization and business model during a presentation at the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Business of Sports event last week at One Buc Place, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“I felt we belonged somewhere that was organized and together, because we’re an organized team and we do things that a lot of people don’t do,” said Edwards. “I needed to surround myself with people I could count on at the league level. USL is like night and day between the two of them. … It cost money to do that, but it was the best money we spent at that particular moment because we’re very happy with where we’ve landed.”

The Rowdies and Ottawa Fury FC elected to join the USL this offseason and are now moving full steam ahead toward their first seasons in the league. For Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Lee Cohen, the move was a necessary step to pushing the Rowdies and soccer forward in the Tampa Bay market.

“We felt like from a business model, and a business decision, this was the path we needed to go down,” said Cohen. “I won’t say it didn’t hurt that the league office is right here in our back yard, so we see them once a week. They’re constantly bringing over prospective franchise owners and current franchises to say, ‘look, this is a flagship team.’

“The top of our stadium says ‘We Stand For Soccer,’ and that doesn’t mean just for this area. It means whatever we can do to help the game, and it’s nice to be in the back yard of the USL office and constantly be helping them develop the game.”