I don't want to beat a dead horse, but has there been any news or anything from the rumor mill concerning the Front Office's "quest" in winning back the ROWDIES name??? Just curious.
This is just my two cents, but I don't really care if they "officially" get to use Rowdies or not. I think if everybody just uses the moniker as if it were common knowledge it will eventually stick, regardless of legality. It's like facial tissue...nobody says "facial tissue." Everybody just says Kleenex. Or Crock Pot for "slow cookers," etc. It's similar to how foreign teams may not have an official nickname, but eventually everybody adopts the most commonly referred nickname as the (un)official nickname/mascot. But I guess it would be nice to make it official, for various practical reasons.
I get what you're saying & I agree with it to some degree. However, clubs like Arsenal & Man United can probably market the "Gunners" & "Red Devils" nicknames openly if they like, but FC Tampa Bay doesn't have that luxury. The name "Rowdies" can't be mentioned on the Stadium P.A. system, on any of the club's press releases, or on any billboard/Radio/TV ad due to potential legal trouble they'd face. Because of this, the local press doesn't openly acknowledge that our nickname is the 'Rowdies' & so we've lost a valuable marketing tool that was ours to begin with!...Hell! The club won't even play the Rowdies official song on the P.A. during home games for fear of legal retaliation! We, the fans, can & have used the name in an unofficial way, but we have no real good way of spreading it to the Masses within the Bay Area without having the legal ax hang over the club's head.
Ya the "Rowdies" issue is a bigger deal than some know or are willing to admit. I still believe that a team not named the Rowdies can be successful given enough time, but if tomorrow FC Tampa Bay were able to change their brand to Tampa Bay Rowdies you'd see an immediate uptick in interest and buzz. Just look at the Strikers for proof of how it would work. Just look at our home opener last year when everyone thought the team was going to be called The Rowdies officially.
I just don't understand that kind of attitude. Why would someone not support their local team if they're a fan of the game just because they're not called the Rowdies or the Strikers.
That is a good point, but it's just the way it is. Down here it was more than just the "Strikers" name though. It was two teams, the Fusion and MFC, basically spitting in the face of Fort Lauderdale and it's soccer fans, calling themselves Miami. It was like them saying "Yeah Fort Lauderdale isn't good enough nor is it capable of supporting a team on it's own so we'll piggyback on the Miami name just to be safe." And it backfired big time. It's less of an issue up there cause all your teams are named after the bay area, not one city or the other, but I still think getting the Rowdies name back would help boost the interest in the team.
It's about marketing Enriquez. Brand power is a real thing. Why do you think we sit through endless commercials on tv, look at billboards on highways, hear ads on the radio? Why do athletes and stars make MILLIONS simply to endorse products? Brands have power and recognition. People like to feel connected to a brand, to something that is popular, or even if it is just perceived to be so. You really need to do nothing more than look at South Florida. Miami FC? A steaming pile of dung. Fort Lauderdale Strikers reborn, a brand that the community still connects with, still has value after all these years? 10,800+ for the first two games, and the thinking of many is that we might actually be able to match that for the "kinda sorta Rowdies" this week. Just look what the Rowdies brand means to their biggest rival, and legally the team can't even use the Rowdies name to promote the game! Just think what could be if Tampa itself were able to use the name. Even if they only saw a fraction of the benefit the Strikers have seen from it, it'd be well worth it in the long run. I've said it before, this isn't an issue just for Tampon, err, Tampa FC anymore. This should be a league matter now. The Strikers are back, and will in fact become the flagship franchise of this league once Montreal is gone. I'd even go so far as to say it is now. Montreal will have bigger crowds at the end of the season, but you just can't touch the accomplishment of what this club has seen in the way of a turn around. The NASL NEEDS the Rowdies to be able to officially be marketed and touted as the Rowdies. It can only help.
I think people who didn't live in the Tampa Bay area during the Rowdies glory years in the original NASL, or who are too young to remember it or weren't even born yet back then, have a hard time grasping the historical significance of the name and the legacy. Being able to use the Tampa Bay Rowdies name officially in marketing the team would be a huge advantage. There are millions of people out there (all over the USA and overseas as well) who remember the Rowdies and more than a few thousand people (who currently don't even know that FCTB exists) in the Tampa Bay area who would turn up for games regularly if the Rowdies name were used and publicized. The lawsuit pretty much killed the use of the Rowdies name last year even before the owners officially changed the name to FC Tampa Bay; it really has put a huge crimp in the owners plans (that, and the failure of the Tomato Patch SSS). Supposedly the Cosmos name sold for two million dollars - though that figure has been bandied about for years, I don't know if anyone has officially nailed down what Pepe Pinton sold the rights for. Pepe Pinton at least has a real connection with the original Cosmos legacy and preserved the trademark over the years; I'm very disappointed that the Corbetts didn't do this or give the rights to someone who would have done this. It would have cost maybe giving a Rowdies soccer camp every summer to local kids and hiring a lawyer to go after unauthorized merchandisers to keep the trademark claim alive. This wasn't done and that allowed the trademark squatters in Texas to file their papers claiming the rights out of thin air (that's the way the law works, unfortunately). No use crying over spilt milk. The Rowdies brand is not on the same level as that of the Cosmos; but it is worth something. So, one million dollars? Who knows; unlike Pepe Pinton the trademark squatters in Texas don't have any emotional or other ties to the Rowdies name or legacy. They just want a payday (and selling old NASL jerseys is not a very lucrative trade). Smoke & Mirrors is correct: This should be a league matter now. Have the NASL negotiate with the trademark squatters in Texas for the rights to all of the old NASL names that the squatters currently hold the rights to. It's unlikely that these old names will be revived, but they could be, in future, so let's not have to go through this mess all over again when some other group of owners wants to revive an old NASL team name. Obviously the Rowdies name is the most valuable so the FCTB(R) owners should pay NASL their fair share; and I hope they aren't being penny wise and pound foolish by refusing to pay a reasonable price to the trademark squatters in Texas. By now they should have realized that the Rowdies name is actually worth something. Pay it. If you have to take on bigger, deeper pocketed co-owners to afford to pay the rights, do it. We need them anyway (where are you, Steinbrenners, Glazers, others - there must be some well heeled billionaires with Tampa connections who remember the Rowdies fondly?) to finance a SSS and MLS eventually (and do you really want to see Orlando City in MLS before the Tampa Bay Rowdies? do you think Tampa will ever get back in MLS, ever, if Orlando gets in MLS first?). Anyway, listen to Dr. Evil. One millions dollars ain't that much (and I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't even that much). If you throw the other NASL team names into the deal, even better. Do it!
Aaron "Charisma" Davidson is the perfect man to get this done. I bet if he went to those Texas guys and schmoozed them, brought a league check for somwhere in the neighborhood of $500,000 - $750,000 (a decent portion of which would need to have been fronted by Nestor), it would be a done deal. Maybe it would take 7 figures to get all the old NASL names this company owns, maybe not. They are certainly never going to see even 10% of that in sales, not even in 50 years unless the entire original NASL resurrected and joined MLS, so they'd be idiots not to take it. Throw in a deal to allow them to sell the officially licensed merchandise and they'd have to be total lunatics to turn it down. Then this league would have even more staying power. They'd have the official renewal of one of the oldest and greatest rivalries in American pro soccer history. The league would carry the rights to all the other old names, and judging by how successful the rebirth of the Strikers has been, that could be a blueprint for possible future expansion names. The NASL needs every advantage it can get. If having the Rowdies name would make even a modest improvement in marketing the team and increasing ticket sales, you have got to do it. We haven't heard anything about this issue in quite some time. It's been allowed to sit, tensions and tempers over it have been allowed to cool. Now is the time for a third party (the league, and Downs or Davidson imparticular) to step in and get this deal done quickly. By the by, hopefully you Mobsters have drowned your FO in requests to wear the green and yellow kits this Saturday. Even if you don't have the official name, at least it can look like Rowdies vs. Strikers on the Lockhart pitch once again after nearly 30 years.
Excellent points, Smoke & Mirrors! Well said. IMO, Striker Likers are stuck with the wrong team :-D but they ain't stupid! Cheers and I hope you fill Lockhart this weekend! Don't know why this posted twice, but whatever....
Excellent points, Smoke & Mirrors! Well said. IMO, Striker Likers are stuck with the wrong team but they ain't stupid! Cheers and I hope you fill Lockhart this weekend! Excellent set up (cross) Call me Ralph!
I think it's great that the fans are talking about their desire to have the Rowdies name back. I also hope you are flooding the FO with your desire to see the name back. The big question still exists - is the FO actually doing anything about it?
One word: NOSTALGIA......However, I do agree with you. Why wouldn't one support their local soccer club if they truly are soccer fans? I actually think it boils down to people in the Bay Area (Die-Hard Soccer Fans or Not) being able to respond to a name that meant so much to this region back then. It's almost as if a loved one has been brought back from the dead (albeit to a lesser degree). People ask "What's in a Name?"....Well, in this case, a whole lot! The club's ownership is always sitting at a press box at every home game just yards away from Ralph's Mob. In most of the songs that are sung, we always refer to the team as the 'Rowdies' and chant the name as well. So, I'm assuming they got the message &, yes, the big question is "Are they doing anything about it?".
Never assume anything in life. If the people it truly matters to - the fans - don't press the FO about the name, why should they be motivated to do anyting about it? Maybe they feel "it'll do" for this team if the fans just call it the Rowdies even if the club itself can't market themselves as such? Davidson made a point of telling everyone during the rebrand that as much as anything the desire expressed by the fans to see the true, 100% unmistakable identity of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers revived was a big factor. And anyone who thinks the ability to market this team as the rebirth of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers isn't what is responsible for the huge turnaround in attendance and buzz for this franchise is in serious need of a mental health checkup. I'll give Tampa fans credit for this - they are supporting Tampa Bay FC far better than South Florida supported Miami FC. But you now see what the revival of a brand that still has meaning in a market can do. If you want to see the return of the Rowdies name, or if you just want the team to swell its fanbase and thereby solidify itself, the course seems pretty clear. So my adivce is don't assume your chants at the games convey your desire to see the FO actively pursue the Rowdies name again. Tell them. Daily. Send e-mails. Tell them repeatedly when you see them at the games. Call the office and tell them. After tomorrow you'll have even more ammunition. Tell them it burns you that your most hated rival is enjoying this kind of success and you're not. Tell them about what you saw when you came to Lockhart, the huge crowd, the electric atmosphere, just like the days of old. Tell them you know it can happen in Tampa as well, and you want it to happen.
I'm just giving my side of what I'm seeing on the ground. I'm sure there have been fans from all over Tampa Bay who have contacted the Front Office about this issue. Plus, It's not like the Front Office doesn't realize how important the 'Rowdies' name is; If they didn't, then why would they attempt to name Tampa Bay's New Pro Soccer team the 'Rowdies' to begin with & not some other name.
Midfielder, Tony McManus, has been released today by the club. http://fctampabay.com/index.php?id=31&newsid=561 He must have pissed someone off 'cause I'm sure his on-field performance wasn't the issue. Weird.
I forget, did he play in the drubbing of Montreal last week? Seems like you should ride that train to the end.
He did not play against Montreal, but he did play against Edmonton (T1-1), Carolina (L1-1), and Atlanta (T1-1). I went back and looked, he played in every regular season game until this big win against Montreal!
Yup, lots of weirdness. Hopefully we get a better explanation from the front office soon. I think the fans deserve it, especially considering Tony seemingly was a key guy for Coach Hill.
http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1746951 http://www.chicago-fire.com/news/2011/06/fire-loan-watson-siriboe I guess that I now have a favority NASL team. Good luck KWS! http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/kwame-watson-siriboe/profil/spieler_144954.html
sweet, always nice to pick up new fans. And I hope this dude provides cause we are in need, for sure.
