It’s time for a good ol’ kick in the grass

After a 17-Year Hiatus, the Re-Birth of the “Rowdies” Brings Renewed Interest in Tampa Bay’s Original Pro Sports Franchise

Thousands cheer as professional soccer players sporting gold
and green uniforms deftly execute another difficult play and take
the lead.

Hard to believe it was 1975 when that scenario first played out in Tampa. The Tampa Bay Rowdies, this market’s inaugural professional sports franchise, quickly gained fame not only for its winning ways - scoring a Soccer Bowl championship in the opening season – but also for its spirited “kick in the grass” sass and savvy marketing that made soccer fun for everyone.

Flash forward to 2008. Now boasting pro football, hockey and baseball franchises, sports fanatics throughout the area have more to cheer – and occasionally jeer about – than ever. That is, except for the soccer faithful who followed Major League Soccer’s Tampa Bay Mutiny until its Florida franchise folded in 2001.

Don Kendal, Hinds Howard, Andrew Nestor,
David Laxer, Jerry Trimble

That long wait finally ended in 2008 when a cadre of investors announced the return of pro soccer and the resurrection of another team bearing the Rowdies name and wearing the signature colors.

The four at the forefront of this return to rowdiness include Andrew Nestor, a transplanted New Englander who is a founding member of the Board of Governors of the North American Soccer League (NASL) and a member of the league’s finance committee. A soccer player with a management degree from Boston University, he serves as the president and governor/owner of the team.

Director and owner David Laxer is an avid soccer player, youth league soccer coach and fan who is best known as the president of Tampa’s iconic Bern’s Steak House.

Hinds Howard, CFO/owner, is another BU School of Management business graduate who co-founded Citrus Ventures with Nestor in 2005. The merchant bank and venture capital firm invests mainly in sports, media and natural resources industries.

International advisor/owner Jeffrey MacDonald hails from Scotland and played for Scottish and British soccer teams throughout his sports career. MacDonald helps negotiate and structure financial transactions for various sectors including the energy industry.

The new team in town seems to have started off on the right foot. More than 8,000 fans packed George M. Steinbrenner Field for FC Tampa Bay Rowdies’ opening home game.

One of the season’s highlights is sure to be the July 4 match-up against Miami that kicks off at 7 p.m. In addition to the intense rivalry, and in typical Rowdies tradition, there will be fireworks. Tickets are $12 - $30 in advance and $14 - $32 game day (fctampabay.com).

“From a business standpoint it is great to have sellout crowds like we did at the home opener,” said Nestor. “We feel like we will get a good response from the fan base in Tampa Bay and should do better than projected from an attendance standpoint. But it will also be important to go beyond the mainstream soccer fan and get the general sports fans to our games.”

Steinbrenner Field provides fans with excellent proximity to the field for exciting views of the action.

Re-building the hardcore soccer fan base while also recruiting new fans is being accomplished with a mix of traditional and not-so-typical marketing strategies. To build the brand and broaden the appeal, billboards, broadcast, print and electronic media ads supplement grassroots efforts that utilize player appearances at nightclubs, restaurants and community events.

“That’s a great way for people to get to know what the team is all about,” Nestor said.

Pricing tickets affordably and playing at an established venue are helping the team rekindle Tampa Bay’s love affair with soccer.

—Mary Lou Janson