This was announced last week, June 19th: there is a new ownership group which has acquired the rights to the Rowdies name from the former owners, they will play in USL Division 1 in 2010, and plan to build a 7,000 seat SSS (soccer specific stadium) and create a youth academy between now and when they kick off in April, 2010.
Anyone interested in supporting the Rowdies should sign up here:
http://www.tbrowdies.com/
See my Twitter posts for other links, or do a Google search.
This is fantastic news for a lot of reasons. If you don't know why, you may have a gap in your knowledge about the history of North American soccer, and/or you didn't grow up in the Tampa Bay area in the late 1970's.
The Rowdies might be one of those very rare North American soccer clubs (along with the Cosmos and Galaxy) that is just as well known worldwide (at least amongst older fans) as it is here in the USA. Some anti-Glazer Manchester United fans have started to refer to their club as the MU Rowdies.
That's unfair to the Tampa Bay Rowdies since the Glazers never had anything to do with the Rowdies, old or new, and the Glazers are a big reason why there is no MLS club in Tampa Bay currently. But that's a story for another day.
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You might also note that the Guardian Football Fiver (www.co.guardian.uk/football/fiver) has derisively begun referring to ManU as "MU Rowdies" in the Glazer's (dis)honor. [Curiously enough, the Glazers haven't done anything "wrong" during their ownership of MU, aside from being American.]
(www.twitter.com/marco235)
very cool. i wonder if they have a longterm shot at the mls or is going to be a mutiny revival. always dugg the mutiny branding, not so much their soccer. but my select team back in the day were the rowdies so i knew a little about the old squad. glad they are coming back.
now someone needs to buy the rights to the cosmos and start ny2
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