Barcelona's plans to launch a Major League Soccer franchise in Miami are dead, MLS confirmed last night.
Barcelona had joined with local entrepreneur Marcelo Claure to launch an application for one of two expansion franchises MLS plans to add in the coming seasons.
Despite strong competition for the franchises, Barcelona's involvement catapulted Miami to the front of the queue, ahead of cities like St Louis and Vancouver that have been in the running for several years.
However, the move lost momentum in recent days after Claure flew to Barcelona for emergency talks, which were declared dead last night.
'After extensive discussions and collaborative evaluation, a decision was made at this time because it was determined that it was not feasible to launch a Major League Soccer team in South Florida in 2010 due to adverse market conditions,' said a statement issued through MLS.
The news came on the same day that Miami FC, who play in the United Soccer League, moved to the verge of dissolution after selling only 750 season tickets, well short of a 5,000 target.
However, the statement added that Barcelona remain interested in entering the North American market in the near future.
'Notwithstanding, FC Barcelona remains committed to Major League Soccer and the US market and will continue to work with MLS and Marcelo Claure on other soccer-related projects,' the statement added.
Barcelona already have a marketing agreement in place with MLS division Soccer United Marketing.
While there is no shortage of candidate cities ready to step in, the news will come as a blow to MLS, which would have loved to have had Barcelona's global branding power to help the expansion of the league.
'I want to thank both FC Barcelona and Marcelo Claure for the tremendous effort to bring an MLS expansion team to Miami,' said MLS Commissioner Don Garber.
'FC Barcelona is one of the best managed and strategically operated sporting clubs in any sport in the world and I appreciate the opportunity that we have had to work with them and Marcelo Claure over the last few months.'
The Seattle Sounders will join as the 15th MLS club when the new season starts later this month. A Philadelphia team will join in 2010.
