I got to help on a secret project that will be debuted at the Austin opener. It’s going to ****ing rock.
Not sure how I feel about that. Clearly the Dynamo need to do something to generate ANY interest in the team. The entire marketing department should've been canned years ago. But he's also coming from an organization that was so poorly run, a pastor now heads it up and they've become a joke in the league and in the city. Yes, he ran the business side of the organization that was by all accounts highly profitable. But did they really do a good job or was it just that easy in a football mad city? Getting the Dynamo to a level where people even realize there's an MLS team outside of the soccer community will be a challenge. This isn't (that) football and merely existing isn't enough to sell out the stadium every game. You can't keep bargain bin shopping and expect to draw in the casual fans. Sadly, that's much of what the Texans' existence has been, too. They drafted well at some points, enough to make the team competitive at times. But you can't do that with the worthless MLS draft. I'll give the new ownership some time to see what they can do. If it doesn't start with the firing of Matt Jordan, they're already doing it wrong.
It was a great game time and the breweries around McKalla felt like a street festival. The stadium is beautiful and the supporters' section was insane. I got tickets in the Lexus Club area and did think there was a big "see and be seen" vibe in there, so hopefully some more... interested... fans can start getting seats in other parts of the stadium after the initial hype dies down.
Rootes does have prior MLS experience; he ran the Crew for the first few years of their existence in the mid to late 90s. That experience parallels more closely to what he will be doing with the Dynamo than his work with the Texans, but MLS has changed a lot since then. I do think someone with his connections will be helpful to Segal if Segal is truly interested in investing in the team and getting the business leaders in the city on board. Rootes also seems capable of executing a business/marketing strategy, which would be an improvement over the current front office. However, it's not a guarantee that said marketing strategy will actually be interesting or relevant to fans.
I wasn’t aware of his experience with the Crew. Still, the last 20 years with the Texans doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence. We’ll just have to wait and see what kind of owner this guy is going to be…because if it’s going to be just version 3.0 of the last 2 owners, they’ll have a very hard time recovering any fan base.
I'll say that I'm a little optimistic only because previous ownership barely tried. Oliver Luck did some great stuff in the inaugural seasons on the fan side with just Robertson and organic outreach. On the player side, we need to start from the ground up, building new academy facilities and putting some real money into the academy. We need to get a decent transfer or two each season. I don't think a lot will need to be done on the fan side if they can get the team winning, but I wouldn't mind seeing some developments around the stadium in EaDo to build the atmosphere.
There should be money for the academy because what they're charging for youth is insane. $400 for an 8-game rec season AND THAT DOESN'T GET YOU THE KITS which are heavily sponsored by multi-billion dollar companies and that you have to purchase separately. So my son's U-13 fall season is going to cost over $500 for 8 games. Ridiculous.
I'm yet to watch a dynamo game since David Beckham was playing in the mls. I love this simply because that means we're going to continue to get international soccer games in Houston because Rootes was solely responsible for every international soccer match-up that took place at nrg
Austin match last night was just insane. I don't even care that I have to watch an expansion team dick around for an hour.
I'm looking forward to scooping up some cheaper tickets once people get aggravated at 0-0 draws. I love soccer and I'm annoyed by them, so let's get some of the secondary tickets down to face value baby!
Do you know whether that's the case with other MLS teams such as FC Dallas or on the youth development low end- Colorado Rapids? Do all their youth programs have to pay that high amount or even any amount for the games?
Been wondering about this since the Ted Segal news. It's odd to me that he decided to buy the Dynamo when we have in Houston, a billionaire that played and likes Soccer. Someone on the Houston World Cup bid committee. John Arnold. I've been wondering if he would ever purchase a team and had been hoping it'd be the Dynamo so it's just weird to me he hasn't gotten involved-especially since he seems to have a friendship or at least a professional relationship with Canetti. Hopefully Segal's ownership of the team will work out. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sp...d-Cup-bid-adds-a-power-player-in-13524972.php
No idea but I'd imagine so. I don't know if other MLS team's youth programs have monopolized the area they're in. Dynamo/Dash Youth are everywhere and have taken over most of the traditional regional youth clubs like Montgomery County Youth Soccer Club that I grew up in, Kingwood Youth Soccer Club, etc.., etc.
That's pretty messed up because the Dynamo youth are on lists of free academy programs that i've seen. Either they changed that or they've been misleading folks.
That's only if you get into the Dynamo Academy. I'm talking about what they charge for recreational and the youth competitive level setup. My son likes to play but he just isn't there yet to move up. Nearly $500 (including the uniformS) is ridiculous for an 8 game schedule with volunteer coaches.
