Qatari Group (PSG owners) in Push to Buyout AEG

Discussion in 'Houston Dynamo' started by ImaPuppy, Mar 7, 2013.

  1. ImaPuppy

    ImaPuppy Member+

    Aug 10, 2009
    Using too many parentheses
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    American Samoa
    I also posted this in the MLS N&A forum, but for those who don't venture over there often...I thought this was quite relevant. Here's the gist of it:

    http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1365822/psg-owners-eye-la-galaxy-group-takeover?cc=5901

    Discuss. Good thing? Bad thing?
     
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  2. Heft

    Heft BigSoccer Supporter

    Mar 20, 2011
    Houston
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    I don't know what to think at this point. The Dynamo have been doing great with AEG.
     
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  3. ImaPuppy

    ImaPuppy Member+

    Aug 10, 2009
    Using too many parentheses
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    American Samoa
    I feel the same way. I'm not really sure what to think. The obvious financial backing would be noticeable and nice from a DP standpoint, and I'd assume that if this happened, MLS would have to seriously reconsider some of the cap rules if the Qataris wanted to just flood money into the clubs (not sure this would happen). I love our current guys and honestly I'm not a big fan of just having a bunch of bought mercenaries in our ranks.
     
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  4. anderson

    anderson Member+

    Feb 28, 2002
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That's an interesting development. I had been thinking that whoever buys out AEG would at some point probably sell the Dynamo and keep LAG. But the Qataris are certainly familiar with Houston. They may have some interest in keeping a club here. But who knows.

    My understanding is that one of the groups interested in NY2 is also from that part of the world. I don't recall if they were also Qataris -- or even if they're still in the running. If we see more groups like that come into the MLS ownership ranks, it has to have some impact on the league's approach to spending. We'll see.
     
  5. CeltTexan

    CeltTexan Member+

    Sep 21, 2000
    Houston, TX USA
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I found out last week that between FO staff and BBVA staff, 21 people since this time last year have walked away from their job with a handful of that 21 getting fired. That is some turnover folks.
    I don't have to many details but many were frustrated as hell with who they have to work for and as well get paid peanuts even after years of loyal dedication to their job at Houston AEG.
    Still, I am left wondering, when going into the new stadium and hellava good team to be working on selling the sport, what would drive so many from our club to seek employment elsewhere?
    It couldn't be working for AEG could it? They are always honest and forthcoming in how they treat folks.
    Oh that's right, we are talking about the type of people that lied all the way through the 2005 season to anybody listening, players and coaches alike that moving plans were not already signed and done.

    Yes to new owners but a local person/group is preferable.
     
  6. ImaPuppy

    ImaPuppy Member+

    Aug 10, 2009
    Using too many parentheses
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    American Samoa
    AEG requires bachelor degrees for very arbitrary/menial/low paying jobs...as in, almost all of them from top to bottom. I think what happens is, people with degrees in various fields take jobs in ticket sales/customer service until they get a legitimate offer in their industry, and upon receiving their offer they leave.

    This is what it seems like to me anyway just browsing through their job openings waiting to submit my resume for President of the Houston Dynamo :D

    But seriously, I think that's a lot of it.
     
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  7. MLSNHTOWN

    MLSNHTOWN Member+

    Oct 27, 1999
    Houston, TX
    OR

    They are trying to sell their business and like just about every business ever the best way to maximize what appears on the profit/loss statements is to terminate/lay off a bunch of folks prior to a sale so the accounting looks better on paper than it is in real life.
     
  8. ImaPuppy

    ImaPuppy Member+

    Aug 10, 2009
    Using too many parentheses
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    American Samoa
    I am talking about their turnover in general, not just since AEG has been looking to sell. Certainly what you've stated could be part of it...but these ticket people don't make much and sure as hell aren't able to pay their student loans off at a rapid pace with their wages.

    It is definitely a temporary filler job...and it seems that ticket sales is where a lot of the turnover happens.
     
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  9. Heft

    Heft BigSoccer Supporter

    Mar 20, 2011
    Houston
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    You are probably right....


    language NSFW

     
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  10. ImaPuppy

    ImaPuppy Member+

    Aug 10, 2009
    Using too many parentheses
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    American Samoa
    ******** YOU! THAT'S my name!
     
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  11. txsn

    txsn Member+

    Jan 22, 2008
    Texas
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This is not uncommon to have high turnover in ticket sales/reps. Texans aren’t much different. It is a filler job, plus they play off ‘professional sports team coolness’ which quickly becomes less significant when compared to the Benjamins.
     
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  12. troutseth

    troutseth Member+

    Feb 1, 2006
    Houston, TX
    exactly. The turn over in those entry positions is ridiculously high for all teams across all sports. Not sure we are any different. Hell sales in general has nearly a 30% turnover rate.
     
  13. jvilla07

    jvilla07 Member

    Oct 30, 2006
    Houston + NOLA
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    This is the same point I would hope for and that they would know, or more sense, to expand in Houston.
     
  14. redinthemorning

    redinthemorning Member+

    Apr 26, 2011
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    "[Sports is] the worst possible business for a college graduate to get into[...] I get 20 resumes a week saying 'I'll work for free, I just want a chance.'" - Mark Cuban

    Reality is, if I'm AEG and can fire someone every 1-2 years before having to give them a raise/ improve their benefits/ give them more responsibility, I will.
     
  15. CeltTexan

    CeltTexan Member+

    Sep 21, 2000
    Houston, TX USA
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Turnover is expected.
    Filler jobs for entry level workers.
    Cost effectiveness.

    You are all spot on. What I was talking about is your quote Red, are these the actions of a football club or are we now some asshole Enterprise-Rent-A-Car branch?
    Look, knowing our team is consistently good, something borderline unimaginable to most Houstonians. That is until pro D-1 soccer returned, and being it has been our first year in the new downtown stadium it is hard to imagine WHY leave when it is the best ticket in town. Let us say 5 BBVA staff got axed, then half of the 16 FO staff that wanted out were ticket sales reps and wanted more money. That means 8 men and or women with a kick ass job at our club decided they had had enough of working for AEG. Tired of getting told exactly as your quote reads amigo.
     
  16. troutseth

    troutseth Member+

    Feb 1, 2006
    Houston, TX
    I can shed some light if you really want to hear it. :) For sales and account reps; last year was a banner year. Remember we aren't talking about the fun but about the job. 12k new season ticket holders, sell-outs - easy to hit your numbers. Now, as the year wore on and they started looking for new clients; sorta dried up. Those that wanted season tickets had them. Those that wanted to go to games, have their reps. Professionally, the year AFTER a new stadium opening is a terrible time for sales reps and account managers.

    AEG may very well be terrible. But my point is, in this particular example, it would not have mattered who was owner. If the sales numbers aren't there, people either get fired OR are not getting paid like last year. Hell, most of them likely took a pay cut this year not from AEG but on their commission. Almost everyone in the FO is on some sort of commission/bonus structure for a large part of their compensation. As for the BBVA folks - I know nothing about running a stadium so I have nothing there.
     
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  17. CeltTexan

    CeltTexan Member+

    Sep 21, 2000
    Houston, TX USA
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Good stuff.​
    I saw your post last night but I wasn't about to latch onto it from my phone as I was out at my local pub watching LAG suffer but I saw there are several terrific talking points here.​
    Thus...​
    Indeed.​
    I am a permanent resident of the business world. I am as serious as a heart attack when you approach me about making money.​
    I like to have beers and cut up, yet talk about making more money and I get in lockdown mindset.
    I mean I still have my money from my paper route days when I was 10!​
    How do you know this???​
    Which apparently was a new rep just 11 months later.​
    Ah, see this is where the rubber meets the road on my beliefs in how AEG handles us compared to LAG. The new care smell wears off. This is a fact. So we are never having a "brand new stadium" year ever again. It is all about the selling of the sport now, our team.​
    So combined with your comment above and what my major point is here is that with us soccer junkies already understanding all to well the difficulties in selling outdoor men's soccer in our nation, it would appear the best concept for a U.S. pro soccer club is to find the men and women that really are terrific sales people when it comes to soccer, and KEEP them. Not let them loose to then have to hire some new person and wait and see how he or she performs in the same role...to then fire or replace that person and interview even more unknown commodeties for the job.​
    Well that's the Dynamo spirit we all know and love! That's what I want outta my club!!! You didn't reach your quota, you are now going to hear about it from upper management! Where have I heard this before, oh right, "You 4 groups must hit the season tickets numbers for the lower bowl or else!" Or else what AEG, your are going to place all of us Dynamo junkies and our drums of passion out in the parking lot?​
    See, I come from the school of "you get what you pay for" and if I want the best sales staff for my company then I should have the foresight to know that if I plant apple seeds I shouldn't expect corn to grow from the Earth. Our management should know that by offering peanuts as a base pay and this strict quota numbers or else structure on the majority of our club's people so they can look forward to realistically paying their light bill each month then they are going to get low rent staff. This mindset lays the culture at our club as a pack of mercenaries with little care or loyalty to the club. I demand our owners to be leaders in the U.S. sports scene. Be different. If they are going to market the team as a club over say just another franchise then live it. Talk is cheap. They should demand from themselves to hire high quality staff that want to stay cuz they are in this for the long haul and as well are actually dedicated to doing their job very well which in turn makes Houston Dynamo be the best. I don't want average. Our coaches and our players sure as hell don't tolerate that mindset. Same goes for our professionals behind desks.​
    Can you be more specific please. I have a difficult time seeing that dude Travis, the events guy at Hooters or the park, being on a commission payout. So where is the line? Management, upper manangement and peasant class, what gives seth?​
    I demand our owner cultivate an atmosphere of positive drive, paying a better base wage to attract the best possible club personel. If AEG is really doing a 180 and not looking to sell us but instead keeping us and really going to stay in our awesome city for the next 10 decades than AEG please own up on the high turnover just one season into our badass stadium and even better team! Perhaps throttle down with treating our club's worker bees by being so damn "hit these numbers and Yeah Houston Dynamo!...", to then the same person walks up to you a month later "...your numbers are shitty, fix it pronto or fuk off to another franchise if you like!"​
    Simply put I often shake my head at how wierd our owners are. I mean Christ we know AEG's MO, get the money soN! Check. Got it.​
    So why does our FO not sell a Stuart Holden for a million dollars??? Nope, AEG lets the man see out his contract (which had to be peanuts so the ROI woulda been epic!) and he moves to Bolton as a free agent. His transfer fee alone covers alot of ticket reps base salaries for an entire year or covers rent at Robertson for a year. I remember thinking Jebus! make a deal, get the money to be had for our boy Stu! Don't let that slip through our club's money loving fingers. And then it happens. But if we don't sell season tickets for our FO there is a incurred punishment in the mail. It's a for profit business our MLS club, no illusions there, so let's get on our owner to go all in for the best staff and players and image or sell to someone that desires it.​
     
  18. Heft

    Heft BigSoccer Supporter

    Mar 20, 2011
    Houston
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    tl;dr

    Condensed version?
     
  19. troutseth

    troutseth Member+

    Feb 1, 2006
    Houston, TX
    So I won't quote the while thing to save space. I will say this, culture aside I don't know one sales organization that will keep junior sales folks around if they fail to meet their number after a year. It just doesn't happen. Unfortunately, for many of those kids hired in the last year to 18 months, their numbers looked great riding the wave of the new stadium but now that that gleam is wearing thin, they have to sell. Again, culture aside it is biznass! :) Listen I have no love for AEG in any shape or form, but I just wouldn't use turnover primarily on the customer rap and AM side to point to any nefarious deeds - it is par for the course particularly after an inflated year last year. And I know because one of the number you talk about is a younger family member. It has little to do with AEG and culture right now, but more of the dog eat dog world of sales - regardless of organization.
     
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  20. footyfool

    footyfool Member+

    May 8, 2008
    Houston
    I won't quote the whole thing either but I have to ask if you've been living in the United States for the past 20 years or so?!? Your ideas about paying top wages to get top people are just dandy if you're talking CEO types. But ticket sales reps?

    Hell, no corporation in America wants to pay a living wage to what are essentially entry level positions. You've gotta stop thinking of this as a "club" Celt. It's a corporation. Profit über alles, and in 21st century USA, profit mostly comes on the back of cheap labor.
     
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  21. El Naranja

    El Naranja Member+

    Sep 5, 2006
    Alief
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I believe Canada's most beloved blogger, Bill Archer, had a post about them a while back (before his temporary exile) stating that they are a group who is into some really shady stuff and was encouraging Donnie G and the BoG to not let them into MLS. Think Jack Warner, but worse.
     
  22. El Naranja

    El Naranja Member+

    Sep 5, 2006
    Alief
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I don't see MLS changing the roster rules out of the blue like that. I can see any ownership group pumping money into non-cap areas, such as Academies, Scouts, FOs, and, more pertinent to us, paying off stadium debt, and of course a DP or two.

    I'm still hoping that we get offloaded at some point. While I do enjoy the lack of attention by AEG, I also despise it.
     
  23. Westside Cosmo

    Westside Cosmo Member+

    Oct 4, 2007
    H-Town
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    With all of the money they are saving from underpaying employees and being understaffed, you'd think they'd have enough saved to commission the goddamn STH plaque!!!!
     
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  24. DonJuego

    DonJuego Member+

    Aug 19, 2005
    Austin, TX
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    My understanding is that the Dynamo FO includes something like 40 entry-level phone jockeys. The idea that those positions should be career positions makes no sense to me.

    The Dynamo have had little turnover in their key FO staff. Canetti still there, the Ops guy is still there, Travis came up through the ranks and has been there since year one.

    I understand what Celt is saying. He is calling for a different business model. But that model is not the MLS way. It is not just our owners or Canetti who are using it.

    You guys know I like traveling to games. I've met a number of sales reps around the league because I often seek premium tickets. They drop by the seats during the game to meet. We chat. The Dynamo probably have better stability in their FO than the vast majority of teams in MLS is my observation.
     
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  25. nbrooks503

    nbrooks503 Previously Held @Dynamo Hostage From 2008-2019

    Jun 1, 2008
    Disgruntled Former STH - Fairweather Bandwaggoner
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I don't think Holden was let out of his contract. It expired at the end of the 2009 season, by which time he was being scouted by Bolton (at the playoffs). There's no indication that there had been any interest in him prior by Euro teams prior to the end of his final year. If you recall, the Dynamo were desperately trying to convince him to agree to an extension, in fact I had heard that the reason we let DeRo go was because the plan was to build around Holden as DeRo MkII.
     
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