Like LatinWorks. I remember mentioning them to Phil or Kay waay back when as a group to talk to. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. The Aztex had that radio guy on board one year for Spanish language play-by-play. But like their marketing efforts in general, their marketing to the Hispanic population wasn't terribly aggressive or persistent.
There was zero Latin marketing in my opinion starting with the mascot. Let's be honest, the Aztex thought that by going after the Lonestat family they would recruit enough support for their club. The truth of the matter is that the Aztex aren't mcdonalds. A kid can nag a parent for a happy meal but not so for a soccer game, especially at $20 a pop for 4 people = $80. Add some food and you're looking at a $120 night out. I know a lot of my friends thought the Aztex were a mommy and daddy area with kids all over the place playing and not watching. He'll they even had a bouncy castle. Sergio
By the way, I just confirmed our guest next week on Futbol En Vivo, Alex Dresser, who did commentary for Univision Radio during the Aztex first season. I'm sure he'll be able to provide some good insight. He also worked at FIFA for a number of years.
I can't stay with you on that last issue. Nothing wrong with making it kid friendly. Have an ultras section, have a family section, fine. But making it little-kid friendly was a plus, not a minus.
So, the tally so far.. 9 people on this message board, by my count, have indicated that they would invest. I've received 8 responses via email from other individuals, so far, from my message to Founders Club members, who say that they are interested in participating at $290, each. Besides myself, I can also speak for one more, and I'd also probably buy a membership as a gift for someone else. So, from what I know, I think we are at 19, so far, after about 1 week; pretty good for just a week, but we definitely have a ways to go, yet. Some of you may know of others who have indicated that they are willing to participate, outside of this forum. If so, if you couple report on the numbers, that would be helpful. I think that once we get in the neighborhood of 100, that seems to me like the point where we can seriously start to think this is workable. Something interesting happened to me a few days ago: I casually mentioned to a friend at work that we were seriously discussing a supporter-owned team, and I was surprised that he seems to be very interested, and wants to help, even though he wasn't an Aztex fan (but he is a soccer fanatic). This makes me think that we might be able to attract interest from quite a number of people outside of the Aztex fan-base. So if you're one of the people who want to do this, and you have a friend like mine who loves soccer, but wasn't so interested in the Aztex, you might want to see if they'd have interest.
killermoth how about redirecting the stuff to this group http://groups.google.com/group/austin-soccer-future now so people can sign up on there and it a good way of keep up with numbers just an idea
Or maybe an online spreadsheet, where people could mark down their level of support? (minus email addresses, so people don't get spammed, of course) Doesn't matter to me, personally. If/when we've got 100-200 people onboard, I think it will be kinda obvious. I was reporting my count, since alot of them have come to me via email. (My email responses are up to 13, as of this morning. I'll continue to provide any updates on that list.) I think we need to continue to get the word out, though, if we're going to reach the kind of numbers we need. I've already contacted who I could, outside of this forum - I encourage everyone else to use their networks to do the same.
In this week's Austin Chronicle they have a (admittidly small mention) of this movement towards a co-op run soccer team in Soccer Watch. You can read it online here http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/column?oid=oid:1108050 At the same time FC United of Manchester proved that fan run teams can defy the odds as they defeated a club four tiers above them in the FA cup 1st round. Read about them (and maybe become inspired) here http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/07/fc-united-rochdale-afc-fa-cup Does anyone think more press and the success of DIY clubs will boost our chances of creating something? If these things don't help, what will?
I setup a database this weekend, and added a registration form at austinphoenixsoccer.com. I also added links to several supporter-owned soccer clubs (or information on them, if their site is not in English) around the world.
Killer, I think its time to start testing the waters and create a database of people, with contact info, who will verbally commit to this idea. Those "core" members then need to recruit others and we need to begin testing the waters in the media. Lets do this if we are serious. Sergio
There is a poll at www.ChanticosArmy.com asking folks for their interest in what comes next. As of tonight, we've gotten 26 votes, and a majority of those are wanting D2 back in Austin (I don't differentiate NASL or USL since neither is sanctioned). There is discussion that the interest so far is in the hundreds, however, I would be surprised if there's more than 50 who would actually come to a meeting. I've had some discussions with various folks in Austin as well as the wider soccer community in the US. There's a lot of "discussion" going on now. Some is real, some is less so. I would suggest we start looking at early December as an initial meeting for those who are interested. I've set up a new poll at the Army website asking for some dates for folks to meet. I would say that if you want to look foward to discuss some of our options, then you're welcome. This is for everyone, no matter whether you're Chantico's Army, Austin Phoenix, Aztex Nation, or totally new to this. If you're looking to come complain some more, best to find a different meeting, as this one is not for you.
Douchebag Wimbledon could play D I Y Wimbledon in the next round of the FA Cup (replays going the right way) If this happends it will cause a media tsunami as no old vs new clubs have ever faced each other in combat never mind meeting in the FA Cup.
Wouldn't it be awesome to play the ORLANDO FC in four or five years as Austin FC (or whatever) in the US Open Cup? Phil is still a Wanker.
Hi everyone, At present, I am aware of a little more than 30 people who have indicated that they would invest in the formation of a supporter-run club. This is counting those who have expressed a willingness to participate on this site, those who have emailed me, those who have registered on AustinPhoenixSoccer.com, and people who I know personally. For the formation of a supporter-owned team to succeed, we need to spread the word beyond this message board. If you are someone who wants this to happen, please talk to the people whom you know about this. You might be surprised to find out who would be interested in participating (which is the experience I have had, so far). If you find that they are interested, you can direct them to register their support via AustinPhoenixSoccer.com, or to this forum. I'm hoping that we can grow our numbers to 100+ in the next 2-3 weeks.
On Futbol En Vivo this week the talked about this movement to start a fan based team. I'm not sure how serious they were but they suggested that we hold any meeting to discuss this on the same day as the Barcelona vs Real Madrid game down at Takoba (east downtown I think?) in order to make sure the Hispanic fans of the game will be there to contribute. Sounds like a decent suggestion to me but what does everyone else think? They were joking that the show itself should spearhead helping this movement get going but I'm not sure if they were just throwing out suggestions or if there is something serious behind it.
We're been running a poll at www.ChanticosArmy.com, and so far we're even on votes for holding the meeting on December 4th either in the morning or the afternoon. Although I like the idea of getting a larger Hispanic population in the group, I personally would like to get the support we have now, and discuss a direction options that we have. So I'm thinking we do a Saturday, December 4th 11:00 a.m. meeting at Mister Tramps. They've got a large room that can sit us all, good AV, and most importantly, they actively support the American Outlaws, have supported Chantico's Army and the general soccer community in Austin. Thoughts?
YEAH let's do this thing. December 4th -- a day that will live in INFAMY!!!! (If you are one of our future opponents.)