Is Barcelona's MLS Miami bid a plan of genius? Or doomed to failure?

One rumor floating around is that Barcelona could bring Mexican national-team captain Rafael Márquez to Miami to finish his career. Lluis Gene/AFP/Getty Images Luis Bueno's Mailbag Submit a comment or question for Luis. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

On Saturday, Barcelona and Real Madrid will renew their bitter rivalry in a match that, as usual, has captivated the world's attention. Poor form, league standings or injuries can't take any interest away from the game.

As a member of the global footballing elite, it's something Barcelona is used to. If the storied club sets its feet in Major League Soccer, however, such unrivaled interest is also something the would-be Miami-based club likely would never enjoy.

Barcelona is backing a bid for an MLS expansion club. As one of six groups in hopes of securing one of two available expansion spots for the 2011 season, the Spanish super-club is hoping to get firmly entrenched in the U.S. The brand is already a popular one here, as Barcelona's summer tours are not only a tradition, but usually involve massive sell-out crowds.

Still, bringing the club once a year for a few meaningless games is quite different to setting down roots. Because of its deep financial resources and unmatched soccer pedigree, Barcelona is, at worst, a favorite, at best, a shoo-in to nab an expansion spot.

Just what is Barcelona getting itself into?

The Chivas USA effect

Barcelona wouldn't be the first popular and successful foreign club to invest in MLS. Club Deportivo Guadalajara, one of Mexico's most popular clubs, opened shop in MLS in 2005 and that brand has been quite noticeable in the league. Chivas USA wears roughly the same color scheme and design as its parent club, more popularly known as Chivas.

But to say the clubs share resources or that Chivas USA has a great advantage over its MLS brethren because of its relationship with the mother ship would be stretching the truth. Over the past couple seasons, the only thing Chivas USA and Chivas de Guadalajara share are red stripes. Since the middle of the '07 season, exactly zero players have emigrated from Guadalajara to MLS. Aside from a few visits by Guadalajara executives, their influence is largely unnoticed in the day-to-day operations of the American club.

Still, Chivas officials are behind their MLS-based entry and haven't soured on the league or club.

Miami: unwise choice of venue?

On the surface, investing in South Florida may seem like a wise choice. Barcelona has paired with Marcelo Claure who, aside from being CEO of telecom distributor BrightStar Communications, owns Bolivian club Bolívar. Not only is the team successful (a record 15 Bolivian league titles), but so is the company (one of the leading Hispanic-owned business in the country).

What's not to like? Well, South Florida, for starters. Barça suits may not know the ins and outs of MLS history, but they need only delve slightly back into the league's recent past to realize that it tried and failed there before.

The Miami Fusion were exciting in their short four-year stay in MLS. The club had one great season sandwiched among three mildly successful ones. But the Fusion's stay in MLS was marred by sagging attendance figures and a bad stadium situation that, in the end, forced the club to cease operations.

Barcelona's bid may not encounter similar stadium issues -- a soccer-specific stadium is a necessity now -- but even a miniature Camp Nou wouldn't necessarily bring out the fans in droves. After all, South Florida was lukewarm to MLS the first time around. Having lost a team should have banished the city of Miami into the never-again pile of MLS expansion possibilities.

Stockpiling the roster

Barcelona's potential MLS team may seem to be the perfect training ground for up-and-coming talent. With some American seasoning, young players can develop in a top-tier league and help a young club gain make a name for itself in the U.S. But that just isn't realistic. Barça's youth system has worked wonderfully for years; there's no reason to tinker with that sort of success.

Additionally, finances may further make such an arrangement an impossibility. In Chivas' case, part of the reason more players haven't gone from Guadalajara to Chivas USA is salary. A player would likely make as much, or more, riding the pine with Chivas than he would starting and playing 30 games a member of Chivas USA's senior roster.

One promise Chivas USA has stuck with has been its insistence of fielding a player with whom Chivas fans are familiar. In his old age, Claudio Suárez may not be the in-his-prime Chivas player fans may necessarily want to see, but he fits the description. Would Barcelona make a similar deal and promise to have at least one former Barça star on the roster?

An ideal fit, of course, would be Rafael Márquez. The Mexican international is wildly popular here among Mexican supporters and loathed by U.S. national-team fans -- possibly more than Cuauhtémoc Blanco was before he joined the Chicago Fire. Such a polarizing player would be nothing short of a coup for the Miami club.

But that seems to be just a dream. After all, moving from Barcelona to MLS would be like opting for the local fleabag motel over the five-star luxury hotel. Any candidate for a move across the pond would be a player who, at the end of his career, would have few enticing options and would be so loyal to Barcelona, he'd do what the club wanted just to stay within the family. A player such as Barça team captain Carles Puyol fits the bill, but it's highly unlikely the Spanish national-team player would want to leave his home.

Halfway into his second season with the club, Thierry Henry may not have a career's worth of loyalty to Barça, but he has talked about moving to MLS for years. There's one place where a partnership would pay off.