The Official David Kaval thread

just want to give props to David...I emailed him last night and he replied almost immediately.

he welcomes feedback, so hit him up!

 

Where's Beerking when we need him to post the giant manatee picture?

 

IMO it's not the right forum to bring up the ultras thing, at least not now. It would probably only make things worse. I would hope that the issue would be discussed in private meeting(s) with the ultras.

 

I disagree. I think the fact that Kaval didn't discuss it in his blog is trying to pretend there's no problem. It makes everything he does say seem trivial and deflecting.

The discussion of the situation should stay in it's existing thread. But it's valid to keep an eye on what the FO's behavior is regarding this very toxic problem.

 

Well, I disagree and we'll have to leave it at that. It's just not the right time to go public with it.

 

quite the leap onto the jump to conclusions mat, IMO. that's the second one in a week.

 

Pot. Kettle. Black. ...since you know nothing of what I know and don't know.

 

so you're saying you know, for a fact, that Kaval is trying to pretend like there's no problem, and that's the exact reason it wasn't brought up in his blog. got it.

 

Kaval is trying to distract fans so they won't realize the Quakes moved the USOC game to portland so they can throw the game out of view. His big plan is to not mention a controvercy that a vast majority of fans don't even know is happening. Maybe he is an AEG mole. We've found you out Mr. Kaval.

 

That is what I find so astounding about this situation. So many strides forward had been made, and then this all happens. I like the word that was used to describe this feud: 'toxic'. It makes me physically ill.

 

Setting aside the question of how this tifo issue was handled or even how similar incidents have been handled...

Does anyone not agree that the FO has a precariously fine line to walk if they want to avoid alienating either of two important groups of customers: supporter's groups and "family-oriented" fans? Sure it would be easier if supporter's groups didn't sometimes push the envelope a bit, but I think that it should be taken as a given that they will.

So again, there may be issues with execution. I don't know the details. But I would guess that this is a very difficult line to walk, and alienating either of these groups is bad for business. If Kaval could have executed better on this one, then hopefully he'll get better at it over time. He's still in his first few months, or even weeks, of dealing with gameday issues.

 

are you trying to tell us that Alioto did not explain this to him before he left!?

all together everyone ... "Oh No Mr Bill!"

 

Well, not necessarily. Just saying that he's another guy who's trying to walk the fine line. He may have a little different way of doing it than Alioto, who had a different way to do it than Lalas, etc.

The point was just that it's not necessarily an easy thing to do, not so much about who does it better. And since Kaval is new to the job, he may learn ways to do it better as time goes on.

 

you are REALLY good at positive spin

 

I hope the architects have it as part of their brief in the stadium design. I don't know that it's an easy issue for stadium design either. But they will need to have a smart way to keep away support traffic flows separate from home support. They need to have a way to have "family sections" away from the supporters and perhaps where the noise is a bit less so it's not as loud and clear when the supporters songs, home or away, have foul language.
And they need a way to make it easy to have lots of banners and tifos that don't interfere with the advertising signage.

 

I agree that it's a very difficult balancing act. I wonder however, if it has more to do with placating the university and perhaps corporate sponsors, though. Perhaps when we have our own stadium (and more hip sponsors) we can be freer with our tongues.

As for the family demographic, well, while they definitely must be attended to, it would appear to my untrained eye that Seattle has proven that the single 18-35 year old with disposable income that can be spent on season tickets would seem to be a better demographic group to target.

This is a great test for Kaval, to see if he can diffuse this situation. The team needs its supporters, and the supporters are nothing without the team.

 

Agreed. The sponsorship thing in particular, and the Jesuit university thing make the balancing act even more critical. As for 18-35 year old demographic, definitely another important customer segment, along with supporters groups and youth soccer crowd. I think we need them all at this point. Frankly I'm a bit concerned about attendance at the games. The Seatle game was good, but there were large groups of youth soccer players as well as pretty good number of Seattle fans at that game.

 

I think David's been stealing my work.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

We may need to have a talk about where "the line" is when one is "pushing the envelope" in terms of stealing someone else's work. A probationary period may be in order for Kaval's Kickoff.

 

Sue him for copyright violation!

 

Jazzy, I knew you would make a great FO Apologists
Kaval obviously thinks so too!!