The phenomenon of soccer in Miami grows from the hand of investors

If ten years ago someone thought that USA could be competitive in soccer (or soccer as they call it here), would have been teased. However today the MLS (the professional soccer league) becomes more relevant every day, attracting international figures. In the city of Miami Inter (the local team) matches fill up on weekends, and construction of an international-level stadium in the heart of the city of the sun could soon begin. What’s more, the city is preparing to become a World Cup in five years and aspires to host the World Final.

But as has happened in many parts of the world, The origins of this passion are not in professionalism but in the friends who get together to play every week, and the children who make football a lifestyle.

Mariano Pastor is a pioneer in the soccer business in Miami and has witnessed first-hand the growth that the sport has seen in South Florida. As founder and CEO of Soccerland park, Shepherd has created the best courts in Miami: six in Homestead, south of the county, as many in the Doral, next to the airport and its new venture, the football center of Opa Locka.

“The passionate about soccer goes where there are good fields. Our first venture was in Homestead eight years ago. In an agreement with the county, we took a public park and built a world-class soccer center there. Then came the other two locations that are behind closed doors, with air conditioning, the best synthetic grass brought from Europe and cameras that broadcast the matches live through Instagram ”, Pastor tells Infobae, confirming that people come to their courts when they meet them through social networks (@homesteadsoccerlandpark, @opalockasoccerlandpark and @doralsoccerlandpark).

It is understandable that many Latin Americans who live in this city have brought their passion for soccer with them, but the curious thing is that today the phenomenon of the taste for the game is seen in people of all nationalities who come to have fun with friends, or for their children to be part of the the only soccer academy that takes students from 18 months to 14 years old, which attracts men and women alike.

“There has been a cultural change, especially between parents and children. Parents of all nationalities, who don’t understand anything about soccer out there, who take them to games, support them while they learn the rules of soccer. Venezuelans, Puerto Ricans, Americans. It has grown a lot, in the Latin market but especially in the American”, Clarified this Argentine who arrived 20 years ago to the United States. Graduated in economics from the University of Buenos Aires, with a master’s degree in administration from New York, Pastor made a name for himself in the United States, attracting investors to the country and guiding them, and now as a pioneer in the world of soccer.

As in South America, friends who come to the fields stay for a “third time”. Between 5 in the afternoon and 1 in the morning it is difficult to find a free space to rent a court.

This porteño, assures that the phenomenon of soccer has had a exponential growth but that there is still a lot of room for it to continue growing.

For those who are just arriving to settle in Miami, Mariano has several tips.

“In the last 10, 12 years, but especially in the last 2 years, many Argentines investing, desperate for an investment visa. At first they are afraid, but when they begin to advise, to know, they feel more confident. Especially in Miami, a city that has grown so much in recent times. There is almost no difference with making an investment in New York. Actually, if there is a difference: the tax. In New York there are state, municipal and federal taxes. In Miami only federal taxes “, said this resident of the city of the sun.

But beyond the tax benefits, the city of the sun has another benefit: places like SoccerLand, where you can replicate the famous game with friends so popular for Latin Americans that in the United States it is a novelty that is here to stay.