I've argued that given enough time, a second division soccer team playing in St. Pete could do well enough for 2nd division standards in this country. Lots of teams have been around for a long time without wowzer attendance. But how much time would it take? Does this ownership group have that kind of time? What would cause them to settle for St. Pete when being in Tampa is clearly the optimum choice? Clearly the lack of stadium options is a major problem. And yeah, if they hadn't been shot down back when they tried to get approval for a stadium in Tampa we most likely would not be having this depressing discussion. Agreed. It is still only year three, and only year one for a team that actual reads "Rowdies" on the chest. But they've gotta figure some things out quickly.
If the owners are okay with the losses that go with it. If we're trying to upgrade the state of D2 soccer in this country, getting 3k a game isn't going to be good enough at some point. But, yeah, you could continue to have a team. I would think - and you would hope - that they'd aspire to more than just being one of "those teams" that just hangs around.
Precisely. The faithful here in Tampa Bay know that we can achieve something bigger and better than the same ol' same ol' of lower division soccer. But we are being put to the test by continuing to be in St. Pete and even if the team manages to "get by" over time, why settle for just that? Really worries me when I see comments from ownership regarding Al Lang and mentioning situations like the Timbers, etc. The two situations couldn't be more different and St. Pete is no Portland, by a long long shot.
When perception becomes reality, you're kinda stuck. I said last year, it's time to stop kvetching about why people won't go from Tampa to St. Pete, it's time to stop wondering if there's a way to make people go from Tampa to St. Pete and it's time to just accept that people won't go from Tampa to St. Pete in any great numbers for this product to sit in that stadium and watch a team whose brand's effectiveness died thirty years ago.
Yup. Just accept the reality. Is it mildly stupid? Sure. People drive all over the place in this area for all kinds of things, work, the beach, to get a haircut. But crossing the bridges (and this goes both ways) is a huge wart of a problem, for any events on either side of the bay. The team just needs to deal with it, get over it, and be sure they are playing where the largest % of potential fans can easily reach. And that isn't downtown St. Pete.
There's a psychic divide, stupid or not. I mean, location-wise, Steinbrenner was pretty ideal, no? Just all the stuff that went along with it made it hard to be an ongoing business concern and hard to be a fan. Redsland is a parking lot now, right? Too bad a waterfront stadium by the Forum would be unlikely as all hell. That would be the jewel of the second division, you'd think.
GSF would have been fine if not for the terrible field condition and whole problem that it was heavily NY Yankees territory and the fact that the Rowdies have to work around the Tampa yankees schedule, meaning we aren't likely to have the nice weekend heavy schedule that we do now and all night games. Otherwise, yeah I'd take it back in a heart beat We would love a downtown stadium, but it doesn't HAVE to be downtown obviously.
The lowest attendance in Tampa was 1,698. BTW 2,288 in St. Pete tonight http://nasl.ezitsolutions.com/game_files/1334801090.pdf I'm sick of all this what's going to happen we need to move to Tampa... Wait til end of this season. I mean we played in Tampa and were was the breakthru with more population, supposedly more sports fans and they didn't have to cross the bridge and they still didn't show. Also if you don't count the "anomaly" of 8k for franchise opener were people were curious and about 4k never came back. Tampa had a lower average attendance than St. Pete.
There was absolutely not 2200 people at the game tonight. Might have been 1200 ish. The Rowdies must be announcing tickets sold, not actual butts in seats.
Perhaps the real problem is that your front office couldn't sell Bobby Petrino a time machine. Nice sig, by the way. Well done, not to recognize you're making your signature something that mocks you.
Not sure where tonight's attendance figure came from. I was there and the crowd seemed not quite 2K. Too bad really. It was a gorgeous night. I am frankly tired of talking about attendance. Hopefully the ownership can get their act together and sell tickets this season. ALF is a great place to watch a game and frankly the team doesn't have any other options.
I was at tonight's game and I will say that I saw more people tonight than I did that one Wednesday match, last season, where we had our lowest attendance of the year.
The bellyaching about being on the wrong side of the bay is getting old. If they had a place to play in Tampa, then yes, that would be a lively debate to have, but they don't. Now, you can lobby for a SSS in Tampa. I can also hope that the toothfairy will bring me a million dollars. This team hasn't talked about building a stadium in nearly two years. It isn't in the cards I am afraid. If they called a press conference to announce a SSS project tomorrow, my first choice would be downtown Tampa of course. But I believe that is a fantasy. So, like it or not, I think this team is going to have to make it in St. Pete. And I believe they can, just not with their current methods. Perfect example of Rowdies failure. Who is one of their most prominent sponsors? United World Soccer. A soccer shop in mid Pinellas County. I work not too far from there and decided to shoot over there yesterday on game day on my lunch. I knew I would be disappointed, but wanted to confirm how inept this club is at marketing itself. I walked in looking for three things. Found none of them. First, I was looking for Rowdies merch. Thought I would patronize a sponsor, pick up a Tshirt for my son to wear at the game, etc. No Rowdies gear in the whole shop. AND THEY ARE A FREAKING MAJOR SPONSOR! Now, granted, I was so annoyed, that I didn't ask if they had sold out (ha ha). Guess what merchandise they did have? NY Cosmos. ???? Seriously? Second, I was looking for any kind of Rowdies promo material. Game schedules, flyers, posters. Nothing at all. Thirdly, would the staff mention the game that was that night? Possibly try to sell me a ticket (not even sure if they do that) or encourage me to go to the team they sponsor. Nope. Add this to the accounts of fans being treated rudely at bar sponsors and you wonder why the Rowdies even have sponsors.
Exactly. The things you talk about are way more frustrating for me than the stadium issue or lack of TV/radio advertising. Unlike the stadium and TV/radio advertising, the things you mention are much more within their control and budget. Any soccer shop that is a major team sponsor should have Rowdies merch, and they should send staff to all soccer friendly pubs, bars, etc. in the Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater, Bradenton, Brandon, and Sarasota areas to distribute posters with the schedule on them on scarves and other items to hang on the walls.
I agree with you guys! However, we do have "THE SOCCER SHOP" in South Tampa, though not a major sponsor for the Rowdies, they are for Ralph's Mob. They sell both Rowdies' Jerseys & Tickets, plus the owners attend Rowdies' matches & events. UNITED WORLD SOCCER should learn a thing or two from them! http://www.soccershoptampa.com/
I don't know exactly how involved the Clearwater UWS is with the Rowdies, but the Orlando UWS (Florida Mall) pretty much builds the uniforms for Orlando City. They have a full range of OC merchandise (even complete kits, down to Umbro socks), and they do the official personalization of the team's uniforms. They even did custom shirts for all three main supporters' groups for the first game of the Disney tournament this year. All for free.
I wanted to get a authentic personalized rowdies home and away jersey from UWS and they just looked at me. They are horrible. I cannot believe they are a major sponsor.
Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. I think there was no more than 1000 people there, and it was a gorgeous night. ALF is the only option for me. I have no problem driving to Tampa if the rowdies move back, but I will not go through a GSF type experience again. Funk that. We are always talking about people in Tampa driving over to Pinellas. What about the Pinellas people driving to Tampa? Or Sarasota? Or Lakeland? Lol. The team should buy ALF, build a stadium similar to Silverbacks Park that can be expandable (if and when we get more fans) on that property. I believe the baseball ship has passed st Pete and ALF by. ALF needs a new field. New seats. More bathrooms. Better concessions. Overall, it just needs to be replaced. St Pete needs to stop living in the past and embrace the future. That future could be the rowdies.
(I should have mentioned that's the personal opinion of someone who grew up on the Hillsborough County side.) I suppose you could tear ALF down and build a shiny new SSS on the plot of land. I'm not 100% convinced that would get people streaming across the bridge, but you apparently have to give people enough of a reason to cross the water. Is this product it? Hasn't proven to be yet. Maybe it would be, given time, more investment in sales and marketing resources and a new building. But I don't know, man. I just don't know.
Regarding United World Soccer, I couldn't agree more. They are terrible as a sponsor. They don't mention the Rowdies on their Facebook page. They don't sell the gear in their Clearwater shop, etc. The Soccer Shop of Tampa Bay over in S. Tampa has Rowdies gear, promotes the team, sells tickets, supports the Mob and all in all are far, far more enthusiastic about the whole business than UWS seems to be. Would love to see them become the primary "soccer shop" sponsor of the team in the future. UWS loves Orlando City and that's it. Which is fine, but its doing the Rowdies no favors. Yet those butts are on our shirt. Get them OFF our shirt unless they actually start supporting the team in a meaningful way, other than just cutting a tiny check. If they even do that much. Yes I'm aware that part of this relationship is likely due to the Rowdies failing to insist on having more of their support, etc. It usually goes both ways.
Of course, that also depends on what Andrew Nestor allows them to do. Maybe the team hasn't given them the materials to personalize their jerseys. Then again, does UWS in Clearwater personalize any jerseys? I know ours can also do Premier League jerseys. They might be able to do MLS jerseys, too.