The Women’s World Cup soccer tournament is underway in Canada, and it’s attracting a lot of attention in the United States with the U.S. team a perennial favorite. Soccer is booming in general around the United States both in participation and as a spectator sport.
An international friendly match drew thousands of people to Miller Park last year – and proved popular enough that another match was announced for this summer.
Later this week, soccer supporters in Wisconsin will rally in support of the idea of bringing a pro franchise to Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Barons group is leading the advocacy effort to bring players and enthusiasts together to show the greater community that soccer has a future here.
"There are so many kids playing in this area and so many adults, too," says James Moran of the Milwaukee Soccer Development Group and one of the architects of the Milwaukee Barons. "Having the role models and those figures in the community playing soccer at a high level, it would bring a huge amount of excitement to the area."
At this point in time, Milwaukee Baron merchandise and grassroots movement support the efforts to bring a professional soccer team to Milwaukee. The goal of the Barons is to progress the team from the United Soccer League (USL) or North American Soccer League (NASL) level to a Major League Soccer (MLS) team over the next few years. Moran is hopeful that the movement will truly solidify over the next six months and ideally move towards having a professional team by the spring of 2017.
"This is an independent supporters group that is going to work together, unite the community, and make this happen. We're going to prove to investors that Wisconsin is serious about wanting a team...It really comes down to the people in the community. We're all talking about it...we just need to come together and it will happen," says Moran.
The Milwaukee Barons will host their first official meetingthis Wednesday, June 10 at 7:00 pm at the Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery.
