Sarasota Metropolis FC (Football Club) is the region’s first minor league soccer franchise—one of the 72 teams currently competing in the USL League Two (USL2). The USL2 is unofficially considered to be the fourth tier of professional soccer, behind Major League Soccer, USL Championship and USL League One. Upon being founded January 2019, Metropolis FC conducted extensive research before selecting the Sarasota-Bradenton area. Factors included a strong soccer community of youth clubs, supporter groups and proficient facilities, contributing to a new home at the IMG Academy in Bradenton.

“Once we discovered the soccer community in the area, we decided to include Metropolis in our name because of our commitment to embrace and unify soccer fans in Sarasota and Manatee Counties,” says Victor Young, Club Founder and President. “A ‘metropolis’ was considered the mother city of a vast region in ancient Greece, so we thought it was fitting.” The Blue Dragon mascot was incorporated from legendary myths regarding fire-breathing protectors of said Grecian metropolis. Young has been a business leader in the area for over a decade, and is the co-owner of Lamborghini Sarasota. Determined to find a fun way to give back to the community and “leave a legacy of opportunity and unity, while promoting the sport of soccer in the Sarasota-Manatee Metro,” he used his own money, got a team together and convinced the United Soccer League to franchise Sarasota in League 2.

Tryouts were held through March, after which the team comprised a mix of top local talent and college recruits from around the world who play at D1 university programs. Nearly all have professional ambitions to work in the soccer industry. An individual who knows a little something about playing professionally is Massimo Marazzina, a retired footballer who played as a striker for Italy’s national team. “We felt like we won the lottery when we were able to land Massimo Marazzina, Italian soccer legend, as our Head Coach and Director of Soccer,” Assistant General Manager Jordyn Young says.

The USL2 has been dubbed the “path to pro” in the North American soccer industry, and important stepping-stone for 80% of Major League Soccer players throughout the world. “I’m delighted with how Sarasota Metropolis FC brings together passion for the community as well as sporting ambition," says USL2 Vice President Joel Nash. "We know that this team will give incredible opportunities for the local and regional player, since there is a real talent pool in the area.”

Metropolis’ inaugural game on May 8, had nearly 200 people show up to watch as they defeated the visiting Florida team Weston FC. They will continue to play their 2019 season home games at both Robert Taylor Sports Complex and IMG Academy, in order to serve fans in both counties. Root the Blue Dragons on at the next home game—this Wednesday, June 5 at 7pm, against the Treasure Coast Tritons. 

Photo courtesy of Sarasota Metropolis FC

In lieu of Father’s Day this month, any patriarch who heads in to any Oak & Stone location from now until Saturday, June 15, will receive a “FREEdom Card” upon purchase of any food item. And there is no discrimminating either; the New American tavern is happy to honor all kinds of fatherly founders, including birth dads, stepdads, doggie dads, foster dads and granddads. When they bring the card back on Sunday June 16 (Father’s Day), they will be able to tap up to 40-ounces of beer (just about three pint glasses worth) for free from the self-pouring wall of 50 rotating craft beers, just for their paternal existence.

The offer is available at all Oak & Stones, including its first location at University Town Center, the second in Downtown St. Petersburg and its newest edition, on Clark Road in Sarasota. Taking over the previous Buffalo Wild Wings space, Oak & Stone on Clark opened its doors last week with a celebratory “Tap Pull” and is thirsty for patrons to head in and check out why third time’s a charm.

Photo from the May 30 "Tap Pull", courtesy of Oak & Stone. Local craft breweries from left to right: Justin Poppa- Big Storm Brewery, Matt Cornelius- Darwin Brewing, Mike Bisaha- Big Top Brewery, Brett Decklever- co-founder Oak & Stone, Ed Paulsen- Calusa Brewing 

City of Sarasota residents and business owners need to pay attention to a trend in the city. What attracted us, and continues to lure many tourists, to Sarasota is that it possesses many big city amenities (e.g., a museum, performing arts, an aquarium, a botanical garden) without the big city drive. Depending on where we live, we have the privilege of walking or biking to many of these attractions, and we rarely spend more than 20 minutes in the car, never on an interstate, when we have to drive to them.

Recently we have lost The Players Theatre and Mote Marine Aquarium; we may, and certainly deserve, to lose the Sarasota Orchestra; and, if Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ beauty was not so intrinsically linked to its location on the bayfront, based on lack of support from its neighbors, it would probably be in negotiations to sell to high-rise developers and to buy greater acreage in a more supportive community by now.

Over the last two years, Selby held over 15 meetings with its neighbors to solicit input regarding its master plan. In response to neighbors’ criticism of the original plan, it made numerous alterations to the plan, including maintaining an entrance and exit on U.S. 41 and reducing the size of the parking garage. These changes will result in $1.5 million in increased construction costs. Although $1.5 million is not a lot of money for many people in Sarasota, it is money that could have been spent funding science education programs and botanical research expeditions that would have benefited hundreds of people around the world as opposed to a few people down the block.

Despite these changes, some of Selby’s neighbors continue to oppose the master plan that is critical to Selby’s future. They want to deny Selby, a private landowner, the ability to provide sufficient parking on U.S. 41 for its visitors; adequately secure the second largest collection of preserved plant specimens in the world outside of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and a botany library with books dating back to the 1700s; and build a greenhouse complex strong enough to withstand a Category 5 hurricane and a restaurant that will provide an additional revenue stream making it less dependent on donations and grants.  

Selby does not aspire to become Disney World Sarasota; it simply wants to build infrastructure that will preserve Selby, both physically and financially, for generations of visitors. For the greater good, the City of Sarasota should ignore the protests of a selfish few. We cannot afford to lose another attraction.

J. Allison Archbold is a member of the Board of Trustees for Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. 

Graduating high school seniors from the School District of Manatee County earned more than $19 million in scholarships, not including Florida’s Bright Futures. Students from the Class of 2019 have been accepted into nearly 230 colleges and universities, along with all five branches of the armed forces, according to a survey conducted by the School District.

Colleges and universities across the U.S., which accepted Manatee District seniors include Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke University, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Rutgers, Stanford University, UNC-Chapel Hill, United States Military Academy at West Point, United States Naval Academy, Vanderbilt and Yale; as well as virtually every public and private college and university in the state of Florida including UCF, USF, UF, FSU, Ringling College, State College of Florida and Manatee Technical College. 

School District of Manatee County

Advantage Business Partners officially launched for business yesterday by Carlos Cardenas and Rebecca Woods, SPHR, two veteran HR Outsourcing Professional Employer Organization (PEO) Executives. Cardenas and Woods will serve as senior partners of the organization, which focuses on providing consulting services and brokerage of integrated human capital management solutions for technology, payroll, benefits, human resources, risk management and workers’ compensation to small and medium size businesses.

Cardenas has more than 30 years of combined sales, marketing, strategy and operations experience, most recently serving as regional vice president for Oasis Outsourcing, the largest privately held PEO. Woods has more than 30 years combined experience in the areas of general management, human resources, operations and large client sales, most recently serving as vice president for the same organization. 

Advantage Business Partners

Gurley & Associates—a Sarasota law firm specializing in construction law, surety law and commercial litigation—has changed its name to Gurley Herbert to reflect the new partnership of David E. Gurley, Esq. with Joseph M. Herbert, Esq.

Following a career in business management, Herbert obtained his Juris Doctorate with honors from Stetson University College of Law simultaneously with his Master of Business Administration with honors. He began practicing law in 2010 and focuses primarily in the areas of business, construction, real estate, and employment law. 

Gurley Herbert

Shutts & Bowen LLP has announced that 66 partners and attorneys have been honored as 2019 Florida Super Lawyers and Rising Stars. Super Lawyers, one of the country’s most widely distributed legal magazines, bestows these honors once a year. Candidates are screened through a multiphase process including nominations, independent research, peer evaluation and selection, with the final published list representing no more than 5 percent of the lawyers in the state.

Charla M. Burchett, a partner at Shutts & Bowen’s Sarasota office, is a member of the Private Client Services Practice Group and is a Florida Bar Board Certified Specialist in Wills, Trusts and Estates. The 2019 Super Lawyers ranking makes this Charla’s fourth consecutive year to be included on the list. 

Shutts & Bowen

Dignity Memorial providers of South Florida have announced the appointment of Cassandra Burns as area sales manager of prearranged funerals. Burns will guide families through the conversation of their final wishes and pre-planning process. She will oversee Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties, which include the Robert Toale & Sons Funeral Homes, Groover Funeral Home and Kays-Ponger & Uselton Funeral Homes.

In addition to her professional role, Burns is active in the community and is the current chairman for the Manatee Chamber Young Professionals; she also serves on the Board of Directors for the Manatee Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Governors for Leadership Manatee and the Board of Directors for Manatee Tiger Bay. 

Dignity Memorial