Despite the fact that Orlando's soccer team is still more than a year away from playing in the MLS and the fact that Miami's MLS team doesn't even exist yet (to the point that it doesn't even have a name), the two future franchises are already bickering.
Orlando City SC took the first shot with a pointed message to David Beckham.
Welcome, David! #BuiltNotBought pic.twitter.com/an2VvWDe5b
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) February 5, 2014Notice the not-quite-subtle underlining of "our," and the hashtag #BuiltNotBought.
Yes, a team that has existed for just three season playing in USL Pro, getting $20 million in public funds for a shiny new stadium and owned by a Brazilian billionaire is totally "#BuiltNotBought."
A Redditor in the MLS subreddit then replied with this:
Major League Soccer Commission Don Garber certainly seems hopeful about stoking the Florida rivalry.
"We hope to have a couple rivals for you that might be across the state and perhaps a couple hundred miles down state," he said back in November at the official announcement of OCSC's addition to MLS to boos from the crowd.
Of course, this forgets the fact that Miami sports fans really don't like bothering with rivalries with other Southern teams.
I mean, the Orlando Magic-Miami Heat rivalry is barely a thing.
Miami fans traditionally get more excited about rivalries with New York and Boston given the Dolphins placement in the AFC East (not to mention Heat vs. Knicks and Heat vs. Celtics history). If I were Garber and Beckham, I'd try to at least to be stoking a rivalry between Miami and the league's other soon-to-debut team New York City FC as well.
Unfortunately, though, MLS has this weird forced rivalry system based only on geography with its Rivalry Cup system.
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