WHEN WILL MLS ADMIT CHIVAS USA IS A FAILED EXPERMENT.

MLS quietly added a young DP (go ahead and Google that!) and will probably announce a domestic DP slot when NY2 comes into the league, which will allow for five DPs.

But none of that matters if you're not willing to use those slots, and I don't see why Chivas would. Their MO is to putter along as cheap as possible. As far as a "franchise", yes, their value will increase as the league loosens salary rules. Which is just what they're counting on.

 

Chivas USA is a failed idea because its a stupid idea. Having a club in our league that is a colony of another league's club is a joke. Let's fill the league with similar teams, eh? Santos USA, Newcastle USA, Benfica USA, Atletico Madrid USA, Hanover 96 Canada, AC Milan America.. The idea is ludicrous, but people who support Chivas USA's concept and existence are condoning this very thing. It is a joke, and makes our league look pathetic. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention the part about it being a strategically stupid marketing tactic to extremely limit potential fan base. But everyone already knew that.

Chivas USA needs to rebrand, period.

 

I do believe there were rumors of Boca Juniors trying to do something like that in MLS as well. How f***ed up would that be?

 

Nobody in LA is getting down to the southern tip of SD and through the border and to Tijuana in 90 minutes. OC and Inland Empire, maybe, depends on what time of day. And then getting back means navigating the Mexico-US border from the Mexican end, which if you havent noticed is sort of heavily guarded. Realistically your looking at an all day trip to catch a game and get back, plus dealing with any potential hassles with border security. If Chivas USA could offer a decent product there is a lot to be said for it being closer to home.

The problem is that Chivas USA is a knockoff of a stronger brand, and as a result its struggled to maintain interest. Rebranding and then establishing that as the Spanish language team of LA would seem to be a better move to me, but then again its not my team. MLS will let Chivas USA still be Chivas USA as long as the owners want to keep it as Chivas USA.

 

Big asterisk here, since this includes a 90K gate at the Coliseum against the New England Revolution. We all know how crazy people get when New England comes to town. (Oh, and the nightcap was Guadalajara against Barcelona)

 

They are doing well with El Batalon, but they're just about the only one that's truly crossed-over. Chicago to some extent. Although, to be fair, Chivas USA's total Mexican fanbase probably outstrips those two in sheer numbers being that they have a greater ratio of their existing fanbase.
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I've said for awhile here, I don't get the Chivas hate. It's as "played out" (for lack of a better word) as people saying "YOLO", and nearly as played out as people who overly-dramatically rant about people who say "YOLO".

 

I'd rather the team be called Los Angeles Chicanos and cater to all Mexican-Americans in the area. That said, I would rather a MLS club branch out to an area of the country instead of a certain race.

 

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Honestly, the Galaxy Mexican fanbase may be bigger than CUSA's. We even claim some Guadalajara fans.

 

Lol yeah right....Zzzzzz

 

I find that doubtful. At least in terms of game-day attendance. Unless over 50%of the Galaxy's fans are Mexican.

 

I'm not saying you have to agree with the hate for Chivas USA, but I don't see what there is about it not to "get". MLS fans can be protective of their league, and they don't want another country's league setting up shop in MLS. It's as simple as that. It's not a racist thing. When it appeared that the Rapids were going to rebrand to Arsenal Colorado, I heard many of the same complaints.

Myself, I'm over the hate. I don't hate Chivas USA anymore. I just feel sorry for the team and its fans, both of whom deserve their own identity, not just "Guadalajara del Norte".

------RM

 

50% of Galaxy fans would be 13,500 people. The non-Galaxy CUSA games I've been to have MAYBE 10,000 people there.

About 50-60% of Galaxy fans are Hispanic, and I would say maybe 50% of those are Mexican. So at a typical Galaxy game there are around 7,000 or so people of Mexican decent.

 

That's my point. I'd assume that a much higher percentage of Chivas fans are Mexican which would be a bit more than 7000 per game. Unless I'm wrong to assume that.

Alot of places where the arguments go tend to be irrational. Like the assumption that MLS will somehow unilaterally take a team that still has an owner. It usually starts at that point and proceeds downhill from there. You're welcome to owning an opinion on Chivas, but it gets annoying and over proselytizing when Every.Single.Time. you see the name Chivas USA you have the same boring "move Chivas", "MLS needs to give the team to..." because first off, it's a non-starter if Vergara still wants the team. It's a non-starter if Vergara still wants the team to be in LA. And it's especially a non-starter if he's really serious about building a stadium. All I know is that, at this point, he's already spent his own money to purchase the team from the co-owner who wanted to re-brand it, so that sounds like a non-starter to me. It comes off as trolling, which it is, since it doesn't offer practical solutions but rather pipe-dreams.

Then you get the arguments that put Chivas in a realm of futility that it doesn't exactly occupy on it's own. Solving the league's problems goes alot further than just Chivas USA, so that's not exactly practical either. There are times when there is genuine topical conversation about how best to improve the fate of various teams around the league and then there is pandering.

At this point it's hard to have a straight conversation about Chivas USA without blurring those lines. Alot of ppl were also dead wrong about Sporting KC. Before it was of the chances that that city had to be successful and then it was about the name. It might be different if I could see a difference between a real conversation regarding the team and MLS Rivalries being carried over to Youtube and every other medium on the net. Fredy Montero had a classic game-but oh everyone still wants to troll about Chivas-What the shit!!! In the end, the arguments are more of a caricature of actual debate with little to no rational solutions. I'm tired of hearing about it. If you have something real to say about the topic, fine, but constantly beating the same. dead. horse. got old a long time ago.

To go back to my last argument, there may have been a time when I might have been able to be pursuaded on the Chivas argument. Just like there may have once been a valid reason to hate the phrase "You Only Live Once." But I stopped caring to hear about it when everyone decided that it was "cool" to hold both of those povs and say so at every fvcking opportunity.

 

2 Teams that have failed the MLS Experiment..!
One at least has an owner dedicated to the game. The other needs to be reminded once in a while that the Revs actually exist and play games at his man mall stadium..!

 

I think everyone understands just how futile complaining about Chivas USA is. But it's an ironic aspect of human nature that the more futile it is to complain, the louder and angrier we do it. Essentially, it's no longer about offering solutions -- it's just venting.

I can only speak from experience. From the moment Chivas USA entered the league, their existence irritated me like a rock in your shoe you just can't shake loose. They were a redundant team, with a borrowed identity that seemed like it was meant to remind everyone just how much better everything was south of the border. I don't know what I hated more: the idea of an MLS team being set up as a "little sister" to a Mexican club, or the arrogance demonstrated by the "USA" in the name, which implied that every game would be a home game as crazed Chivas fans packed the stadium to cheer on this one-off version of their favorite team. (Early marketing from the team actually predicted this would happen.)

But as time passed, that rock in my shoes bugged me less and less. There were two reasons I got over it. The biggest one was how successful MLS had become. In 2005, I felt the last thing the fragile league needed was a something that looked like a farm team from another league. These days, MLS is so stable and successful that no single silly team can make the entire league look bad.

The other reason was being introduced to fans of Chivas USA on BigSoccer. I saw there were real fans of the team, not just Guadalajara fans who were slumming, not just contrarian Angelinos who refused to root for the popular club. They really loved the club, for itself, not for any connections to a Mexican club.

So like I said, the hate is yesterday for me. But I haven't changed my views. Although I know it's not going to happen, I still think Chivas USA should rebrand to something reflecting Los Angeles. Not because MLS "needs" them to. They don't. But because this club and the fans who love it for itself deserve their own identity.

------RM

 

The more successful the league gets as a whole, makes CUSA & NE fall behind more. If the league is single entity, don't all owners then have in interest in making the 'weaker' teams better?

 

Really< Why that's insane. most Hispanic fans of the galaxy are central Americans. Fact. 50% or more of galaxy fans are white. You must be delusional.....

 

Exactly..!!

And I'm NOT going to start a discussion about pro/rel here..LOLOL

In the perfect world, that system weeds out problem teams and rewards teams on way up! Granted, blah blah blah I know why it can't work yet in the USA...but boy, I wish we had 100 cities that had 10k in attendance and up...but we don't.

So getting back to your point about single entity...YES! It's truly up to the owners to tell Kraft and whoever else falls to the wayside,..Shit or get off the pot!!
The problem I've seen for the last 18 years..Krafty was an original investor. None of us know what the initial corporate papers say..Who owns what? and how much?

Without Phil Anschutz, the league would have folded..and to a lesser extent the involvement of Lamar Hunt..and to an even lesser extent Bob A-Hole Kraft...! We just don't know the specifics about how the ownership groups come in and take part in the Single Entity...

As in Chivas' case.. take racism out of the equation and for the most part you've got an owner that at the VERY LEAST, Loves the game...may even passionate about it..he's just made serious errors in running the Football club. I must lean on the side of Vergara..just for those reasons. He's got money and he loves the game...

On our home front..Kraft has NEVER proved his love for the game. On the contrary, Revs in 2006 go to MLS Cup final..he decides to go to his patriots regular season game. His lame excuse? having lost the 2 previous MLS cups, he felt that he might be jinxing the team and thus opts out! Are you F-ing Kidding me!?? Enough of my rant about Bob Kraft...

But, if anyone finds a more apathetic owner who's truly undermined a team, league and SPORT..please let me know. In 18years of MLS in Boston...We are completely and utterly irrelevant..and I rest that solely on the shoulders of Kraft.

 

Ah, OK. I think I see where the confusion is coming from.

You know those big Chivas banners in the HDC? Well, there are seats under there and a lot of people sit there. Some of them are Mexican.

Seriously though, AT LEAST half of the Galaxy's Hispanic fans are of Mexican decent. Yes, there are a lot of Salvadorean fans too, but in my experience not as many as Mexican. Fact. Maybe.

It's a myth that the Galaxy are a "white" team. The Galaxy are a Los Angeles team and their fans base reflects the city.

 

I would venture a guess that Houston has as many, if not more, Mexican fans than the Galaxy. Maybe I'm wrong, but there is definitely a more Latino element to their supporters activities, songs etc.

 

Because the Galaxy SG's don't do "barra" style supporting doesn't mean that they aren't primarily latino. Both LARS and ACB have Mexican-American capos and ACB has Mexican-American drummers. Houston has one group that is expressly barra.

 

Rebranding won't stop the losing. No team will ever have a real identity until they make a deep run into the playoffs.

 

Well, they have been to the semis. That's plenty further than some teams.

 

I'm personally not a fan of Chivas USA's branding (not a huge fan of the idea of a little brother club to a team in a separate league in general), but then again I'm not the target audience so who am I to judge. I still think they could re-brand themselves to something unique that would still cater to the Latino audience in Southern Cal (if they still wished to go in that direction).

Not that it would change their fortunes on the win column, but for the image of the league I'd imagine it would have some marginal benefits.

 

I dvr'ed the game from last night and skimmed through it this morning. The turnout was terrible. Something has to be done with this team. Anyone have the numbers from last night? Wouldn't be shocked if a team like Orlando or Tampa have a bigger turnout for their season openers.