Friday flashback: Miami Fusion, Magic City's first Major League Soccer team failure
The Fusion are a soccer club most modern MLS, Inter Miami CF, and Lionel Messi fans probably don't know existed. Miami residents may not even remember the short-lived team.
Here is a piece of MLS trivia:
Question: Who scored the Miami Fusion’s last MLS goal before they were contracted?
Answer: Preki
The enthusiasm around Inter Miami CF and Lionel Messi has been crazy. Since Messi signed with the club in mid-July, the fanfare has been off the charts, and the Argentine hasn’t even played an official Major League Soccer game.
Inter Miami were near the bottom of MLS average home attendance with 16,483 fans per match before Messi’s arrival. When the team returns to MLS play following the Leagues Cup in-season tournament, the average should increase despite the ridiculous price of match tickets – although the club has already seen some Leagues Cup match attendances drop due to the costs of tickets.
Inter Miami are handicapped by DRV PNK Stadium’s capacity of 21,000. The stadium is only temporary while their new venue is built. Still, it may be difficult to fill the venue based on the price of tickets on the secondary market.
New fans and casual American soccer supporters may be surprised to learn Inter Miami is not the city’s first MLS team. The Miami Fusion were the South Florida city’s original MLS club and played from 1998 to 2001.
Cellular One CEO Ken Horowitz founded the team, paying a $20 million franchise fee to MLS. San Diego is expected to get the next MLS franchise and the fee to enter the league will be $500m. Ponzi Scheme?
The Fusion lived for just four seasons before being killed off by MLS to Horowitz’s delight. Along with the Tampa Bay Mutiny, the Miami Fusion were struggling to attract fans and make money. The same things could be said about the rest of MLS. But in South Florida, things were really bad.
According to a Miami Herald article from 2001, “Fusion Owner Ken Horowitz, whose team is "rumored to be among four teams targeted' for contraction, "has lost almost $40 million and is 'tired of bleeding' and wants to leave the league.”
Wanting to leave MLS wasn’t uncommon at the turn of the century. The league only existed due to its creation being a part of the 1994 FIFA World Cup legacy. The United States Soccer Federation had promised to establish a new professional soccer league if the U.S. was granted the 1994 tournament by FIFA.
After the World Cup ended, FIFA held the USSF to its promise and the league was haphazardly constructed. MLS season No 1 kicked off less than 18 months later. The league would have started in 1995 had it not been for various issues with setting up the league, clubs, stadiums, and players.
Despite the excitement of the 1994 FIFA World Cup, MLS could not repackage the thrill of soccer for fans. Although some fans came along for the ride, the majority of sports fans turned their noses up at the league.
MLS and its stakeholders began to experience the same problems every other start-up league, whether soccer or basketball, had experienced before it. The league began to bleed money and no bandage could stop it.
The 2001 MLS season featured 12 clubs. If fans think there are too many teams today, with 29, then just consider that 22 years ago, there were a dozen. But that dozen was about to be cut down to a mere 10 clubs. It was thought MLS could even be reduced to eight, with four teams being contracted.
At the time there were few places to learn about MLS or soccer in the States. Perhaps Sports Illustrated would publish an article or ESPN would show a random game. MLS’s website was one of the few places to read about the clubs. The news posts were sporadic, and there was no content to drive fans to the websites. The league lacked everything at the time, especially fans.
The teams for the 2001 MLS season included:
Chicago Fire
Colorado Rapids
Columbus Crew
DC United
Dallas Burn
Kansas City Wizards
LA Galaxy
Miami Fusion
New England Revolution
NY/NJ MetroStars
San Jose Earthquakes
Tampa Bay Mutiny
Only one team played in a soccer-specific stadium, the Columbus Crew, and the rest of the league's teams rented large NFL and college football stadiums. The Dallas Burn played home matches in the 92,100-capacity Cotton Bowl. The Galaxy were housed in the 92,542-seat Rose Bowl. Other stadiums to be used were Denver’s Mile High Stadium, Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, New York’s Giants Stadium, and Chicago’s Soldier Field.
The Miami Fusion, who entered the league two years after it had started as an expansion franchise, played home games at Lockhart Stadium. That name may sound familiar to modern MLS fans. It was redeveloped in 2019 and given the name DRV PNK Stadium.
The Fusion weren’t great out of the gates in 1998, posting a record of 15 wins and 17 losses in 32 fixtures. Behind the goalscoring of Diego Serna, 11 goals, the team still qualified for the playoffs and reached the quarterfinals.
There, the Fusion were eliminated by DC United. Miami’s big draw in the first year was Colombian midfielder Carlos Valderrama. His look and artistry in midfield were enough to attract plenty of attention from fans.
“El Pibe” joined the club from Florida rivals, the Tampa Bay Mutiny, after his contract expired at the age of 36. He played just 22 matches for Miami before being sent back to Tampa Bay in 1999.
Valderrama left Miami due to a “strained relationship with Fusion coach Ivo Wortmann.” Rather than trade him, MLS, who controls all player contracts, simply “reassigned” him to the Mutiny, according to reports from the time. Miami were given zero compensation for Valderrama.
The following campaign saw an even worse record of 13 wins and 19 defeats. But once again, Miami made the playoffs and DC United knocked them out. In season No 3, Miami had a record of 12W-15D-5L, missing the playoffs.
Diego Serna again carried the team in goals, bagging 16 in all competitions. Serna led the team to the US Open Cup final, where Miami were beaten by the Chicago Fire 2-1. It was the closest the Fusion would ever get to silverware.
In 2001, Miami had the best record in MLS and won the Supporters’ Shield. The club also had the two best goalscorers in the league, with Honduran Alex Pineda Chacon and Colombian Serna scoring 19 and 15 goals respectively.
The season was shortened from 32 games to 26 due to the September 11 attacks. The final weeks of the season were cancelled and a points per game figure was used to determine the final table standings. The Fusion had a 2.04 points-per-game figure and the second-best team, the Chicago Fire, had a points-per-game figure of 1.96. Miami were hands down the best team.
Miami were the No 1 seed in the eight-team playoffs and played the No 8 seed Wizards. MLS used a best-of-three-match series at the time, and Miami won two games to one.
The semifinals saw Miami play San Jose. The Fusion won Game 1 but lost Game No 2. After a 90-minute draw in Game 3, San Jose won thanks to an extra-time goal. Troy Dayak’s 94th-minute goal sent Miami home from the playoffs and hurtling out of MLS.
Throughout the Miami Fusion’s four seasons, fans in Miami stayed away in droves. The Fusion’s poor attendance and inability to make a profit are two of the surprising reasons MLS was hellbent on bringing a team back to the city.
In 2000, Miami had the worst league average attendance, with 7,460 fans per match. Of course, winning makes fans care, and in 2001, the club had over 11,000 supporters per game.
Although the attendance increased in season No 4, Miami weren’t making any money, only losing it. It wasn’t just Miami who were losing money, however. The entire league was being bled dry, and multiple owners wanted out of the league.
In December 2001, contraction was starting to become a constant word used concerning MLS. It was claimed that the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Dallas Burn, both run by MLS, were using up $3m a year. The MetroStars, Galaxy, and Fire were losing “huge” amounts of money, too.
In late 2001 most onlookers expected Tampa Bay and Dallas would be contracted, and Colorado and Kansas City were classed as “vulnerable”. In the end, Horowitz was able to get out from under the burden of the Fusion.
In January 2002, MLS announced the closures of both Florida clubs. The BBC stated it was a move to “cut its [MLS} rising losses.” The BBC article went on to say, “MLS cited poor support for the Fusion and the lack of an owner for the Mutiny as reasons for dropping the clubs.”
“The decision to leave both cities for the 2002 MLS season was extremely difficult,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber MLS, said.
“I can assure all of our fans that we worked tirelessly to find a plan that would have allowed us to remain in both markets.
“We simply could not find a solution that was economically feasible at this time, and we hope to return to the state of Florida when the league expands in future years.”
By the time Tampa Bay and Miami were contracted, MLS had spent over $250m. The league saw no profit despite the spending. The Glazer family even had the chance to buy the Mutiny but turned it down.
“South Florida is a very difficult sports market,” Horowitz said. “Even the established teams - the Marlins, the Heat, the Panthers - are suffering.
“The fan base is very diverse. Many people simply don't have local ties to the area and have trouble identifying with the local sports team.”
Horowitz’s statement is important to note. Miami has always been known as a transient town. People come from all over the world and don’t plant roots. There are no ties to the local sports teams.
Messi’s arrival in Miami could change the outlook for Inter Miami. The Herons had the MLS’s worst attendance in 2022, with 12,637 per match.
Messi and friends are being used to make Miami viable. It would be a shame if MLS and Garber had made the mistake of putting a team in a city that very few sports fans cared about a second time.