Southwest Florida Soccer Club Set to Join Amateur League
The moment word got out that the Southwest Florida Soccer Club will be members of the United Soccer League/Premier Development League, president Jeff Butzke and coach Mick Whitewood said calls have come in from around the world.
“We’ve had calls from Bosnia, England, Ireland, Jamaica, two from Trinidad,” Whitewood said.
“College players have called from Missouri, Rochester, N.Y.”
After two months of negotiating this summer with USL/PDL officials, Butzke said the invitation came. USL/PDL senior director Jeff McRaney had no comment on the Southwest Florida Soccer Club being invited, but a 1 p.m. Tuesday news conference at the Crowne Plaza also will feature USL/PDL president Tim Holt.
Besides a franchise fee of $50,000, Butzke said he estimates his yearly budget will be $80,000, which he plans to have covered through ticket sales, camps and corporate sponsorships.
“This is the best league in the country,” Butzke said. “We’ve been trying to get this going for a long time in Southwest Florida. There’s 90,000 households in Lee and Collier County who have children between the ages of 4 and 18 and we want to reach them.”
Plans call for the Southwest Florida Soccer Club to start play in the two-month league, starting in May of 2013. While the league has approximately 75 teams, the majority of the team’s competition will be against Ocala, Orlando, Bradenton, Tampa, Panama City, Fort Lauderdale and Jacksonville.
In exhibition play, Southwest Florida has beaten Bradenton once and Orlando twice.
Whitewood, who keeps in touch with coaches from FGCU, South Florida and Barry, said he’d like to have a blend of local and state as well as overseas players. Teams are allowed as many as eight international players on the 26-player roster.
“Before, players had to go to places like Des Moines,” Whitewood said. “Now, we can get local players who can stay at home. We also can have other players who can showcase their talents in our backyard. We’re lucky to be in this position.”
Butzke said he’s still looking at a 2,000- to 3,000-seat venue for the team to play its games. The club has been practicing at Gateway.
At every game, a $1,000 college scholarship will be given. Butzke said the first two winners were age 12. Butzke also wants to develop an internship-type program for college players who are interested in learning more about the soccer business.
“This is going to be grass roots,” Butzke said. “We want a lot of people involved.”
Reference:
http://www.news-press.com/article/20120818/SPORTS/308180019/Southwest-Florida-Soccer-Club-set-join-amateur-league?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Sports
Our first Friday was interesting to say the least. We got there early to set up and within the first twenty minutes, we had just enough rain to cool us off. Once the afternoon shower passed, we set up our space, enjoyed some live music, and had some great conversation amongst the crowd. 
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