Re: Luchi Gonzalez named head coach of FC Dallas
Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2018 12:15 pm
Mustangsabu wrote:Do you go to games? I always thought of you as all-football but it's nice to see another SMU fan with at least a passing interest in soccer. I think it is possible that bringing in a star would boost attendance, and the Hunt's are not as wholly opposed to that as people think. But it has to be the right star, and that is hard to find. I think they have been caught between a rock and a hard place for a while but the Luchi hire is all about youth, and it is nice to see commitment in one direction. When they are developing sellable players there will be money to further invest in the squad, and they will. They have actually made some really great off-season signings this year. They are understandably gun-shy because the city has never gotten behind them. My personal belief is that if the City of Dallas had ponied up in the early 2000's and had some vision for soccer in the city, we might be in a better place, but the reality is that we are saddled with an early MLS type stadium in an unfavorable location where other teams are now building state-of-the-art facilities that attract fans. It is what it is.
Your comment on coaches is interesting too. I don't see Dominic Kinnear as a coach with any future outside MLS (he failed in Scotland - albeit with a very small budget), and Frank DeBoer at Atlanta is a real risk. Huge success at Ajax but has failed miserably at his last two stops. Personally I like the hire, and I hope he does well, but he certainly wasn't showing up on many coaching searches in the major European leagues. I look forward to seeing how next season shakes out.
Hopefully we will see you at some games!
I've played soccer my entire life... I was a season ticket holder in MLS from season one until 2 years ago. Traveled to the first ten MLS cups with a group of friends. So yes, I've been to a few games .
The location isn't great, but it isn't the worst either. Fans manage to find their way to Arlington. If MLS 4.0 had come around when the team was still at the cotton bowl, and the ownership had been willing to invest in it, the Dallas support base would be just as passionate as Atlanta or Seattle. Instead, the Southlake seasons killed off the hispanic fan base, and a lack of investment in the team never allowed them to capitalize on the new stadium in Frisco. The city never got behind Dallas, but Dallas bailed on the city before the evolution of the league.
It is one of the few teams in MLS that is still a team for kids that advertises to kids, sticking with the failed MLS 1.0 experiment.
What do I think they should do?
1) Build a small 5-10K seat stadium in fair park for the new USL team to play in. Have the USL team play there as well as the FCD youth teams, and give that community a local team to come out and cheer for. Get them to build relationships with the players and follow them up to the first team.
2) Add a dynamic, attacking talent that fans will want to come out and watch. Chicharito has been available. Sure, he would cost a lot of money, but you would sell a billion jerseys and be forced to move games to the cotton bowl or Death Star to handle the interest. Sure, that is the easy answer. But you need players that are fun to watch, whether it is a forward or a winger. That draws crowds of actual soccer fans. And having a big name target like that actually takes the pressure off the rest of the roster. It gives space on the field for a young player like Ferriera or Paxton to actually pay. When you have a "plus plus" player in the lineup, it is like having a great center in basketball. The other teams sag in to protect, and it gives more time and space to the other players who might not be ready yet to face a 1v1 challenge in tight space. You are able to move on from an aging Barrios or Badji who will never be worth a transfer, and let the kids fight for their spaces.
While you are at it, stop investing in Brazillians. The rest of MLS has. The good ones stay home or go to Europe. You are getting the leftovers of the leftovers and they are overpriced. There is other talent in south america that is younger, less expensive, and has more upside for a future transfer. Argentinans, Venezualens, and Ecuadorians in particular handle the physicality of the league much better and tend to be better investments. Columbians are a better fit than Brazilians as well. Stay out of Brazil.
3) Start promoting the team to soccer fans, not to little kids. MLS 1.0 was a failure for a reason. When kids get to be 14, they don't want to be around 8 year olds anymore. So you lose those fans to the EPL. 18-28 want absolutely nothing to do with anything considered a kid's team. Look at the EPL and soccer numbers in Dallas. There is a reason The Kickaround exists - because there is a demand. You just aren't fulfilling it. Own that. Just like SMU football needs to own up to not having a good enough team to pull fans off the boulevard and into the stadium. There have always been a shared sales and marketing organization between FCD and SMU. You can see it in the types of promotions they each run. It was like clockwork every year when I was a season ticket holder for FCD. And they each do a similarly poor job. But at the end of the day, the product on the field has to be good enough to appeal to you average college football fan or your average soccer fan. And in neither case is it there yet. I've dropped my season tickets to FCD and kept them for SMU because at least SMU is trying with the investment they have made over the last 3 football coaches, the facilities improvements, and basketball. I can't say the same for FCD.
The challenge is that option 1 requires investment that won't happen. Option 3 requires option 2. Don't give the Hunts an out by claiming that they would do it if the right players are available. The right players are available every single year, because the world is a big place and there are plenty of former youth stars with great talent who originally transferred to huge clubs and just want a shot to get back. Portland, Seattle, Atlanta, NYCFC, NYRB, KC, Toronto, now DC and the list goes on now manage to find them. The Hunts just choose to not make the investment. Look at how the Columbus and KC franchises did with the Hunts in charge compared to after the Hunts let them go, and how much more ambitious those teams have become.