3 Keys to MLS Success in Houston

[On the Pitch]

I've attend NFL, MLS, NBA, MLB, College, and Olympic events in several stadiums in the States and I have also been to a few Premier League matches. I believe Houston could be the first MLS team to truly fill every seat with fans that would resemble a true "football" stadium environment. Listed below are a few keys that would go a long way to getting us there.

1) Play in a venue that seats 25,000 with wrap-around seating, making sure the first row of seats around the pitch is field level and no more than 10 feet from the touch and end lines. In this set-up every seat would be GREAT. The best example of exactly what Houston needs is Reading FC's Madejski Stadium, you can check it our at

http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/javaImages/e3/73/0,,10306~422883,00.jpg

2) Create a team that markets well to the two largest ethnic population bases in Houston, white and hispanic. A culturally diverse team with some english speaking players and other spanish speakers will draw fans from both communities. Local Radio and TV broadcasts should be in both languages. Match day should have a perfect blend of the European and Latin American stadium experience. I was once at a Premiership match in which the Portsmouth fans sang their chants throughout the entire match, it was great.

3) Keep the ticket prices low so the "Regular Joe", the one who truly loves the sport, can get a seat close to the field. The Houston Rockets and Texans have priced their lower level tickets out of the range of the average Houstonian. Rockets lower level seats are often empty because corporations & brokers buy them up, then don't attend. The end result is no home court advantage because all the loud fans are in the upper level.

CONCLUSION - If some of the big money players in Houston would attend a few matches in the Premiership and in the Americas, a light bulb would go on in their head, and they would start to see the financial upside of an MLS team in Houston.

[Solid444]

1) Can be done

2) Very hard to do. The hispanic who would pay money to attend a soccer match on a regular basis, already has a team that they follow closely in Latin America (primarily Mexico). Why would they pay money for a lower quality product? If you think that by just including hispanic players, then they are set, then this is not the case. In order to draw the Hispanic population, you not only need a hispanic (mexican) affiliated team (ala Chivas USA), but you also need quality Hispanic Players. The main problem is that, since the MLS has no competitive reserve type system, it is very hard that they create players that would put people in seats. There are only handful of players like these, especially considering hispanic players.

As a Mexican fan (especially a Chivas fan), wouldn't you pay to see Ramon Ramirez (late Mex National Team star), Paco Palencia (same, household name) and Loquito Garcia (very promising talent that is making a name for himself) playing in a game for Chivas USA next season? Absolutley,this is made possible because of the affiliation with a Mexican team that Chivas USA has. Coming into their second year, they are going to have a competitive team with well known players. It is foolish to believe that just because you put a Perez, Gonzalez and Rodriquez on a team, then the hispanic crowd will come. Chivas USA right now is a prime example of this, they have many hispanic players in the biggest hispanic city in the US, and yet their attendence has dropped a lot since their first game. Just becuase you put hispanic players, does not mean you will draw the hispanic crowd.

3) Agree

[Calexico77]

Welcome to the Boards.


My responses to each of your points are Kinda, Sorta, and Duh.

Houston will definately need an SSS, but it doesn't need to be a total rap-around, etc, and anywhere between 20 and 30K would be fine. I'd actually love to see a more vertical stadium.

About the "ethnic market", that's a tricky thing. I mean, a huge percentage of the Galaxy's fanbase is Hispanic, but most would say it wasn't because they felt included in the marketing plan. It's just because they like soccer. Regardless, I'm sure that any ownership group will take that into account.

And ticket prices absolutely need to be in a range to compete with the Astros, Rockets, etc. As long as they're 20-30% lower than the Galaxy, you should be okay.



But that isn't enough for success. You need a visible, popular, and deep-pocketed owner who is willing to become the face and voice of the team in the first few months of its existance (heLLO Dave Checketts). He has to make the regular folk want to come see the new team, and the footy-mad fans feel like they're passion is recipricated (sp?).

[anderson]

Welcome.

I think we'd all agree with the size of the stadium around 20-25,000, but I'm not so sure about wrap-around seating. Many of the outdoor venues in Houston were designed to have some channels for breezes - we're not on the coast, but we do get some breeze. For example, Rice Stadium and Robertson Stadium both have openings that allow some breeze through (not suggesting those venues for MLS, just pointing out the design to allow air flow). OTOH, my only gripe with Reckling Park (nice baseball park at Rice) is that the seats behind home plate are too enclosed so that you don't get much of a breeze very often. While wrap-around looks cool, we really need to design an outdoor venue to allow for some air flow.

[Blu N Houston]

So true Anderson... It can get killer hot down here.

Let's move beyond the what if's and whens, the time is now. I think where a shoe in. So when do we start making chants and support groups in and around Houston. LEt's go ahead a put the cart before the horse! lol

[Stan Collins]

2) Very hard to do. The hispanic who would pay money to attend a soccer match on a regular basis, already has a team that they follow closely in Latin America (primarily Mexico). Why would they pay money for a lower quality product? Because it's live. You can't attend the better product in Houston (except for one-offs, some of which are just friendlies and thus not really better products).

I know the fans will only tolerate so much difference, and I agree that the players can't just be any old Hispanics, but at bottom, a lot of the experience of soccer is going to the game. They may not sacrifice their original club (who would ask them to?), but fans will come out to the stadium if the rest of the experience is anywhere close.

The main problem is that, since the MLS has no competitive reserve type system, it is very hard that they create players that would put people in seats. Actually, MLS has started a reserve system this year. Ivan Gazidis has said they will announce the next step of a youth system at the All-Star Game.

[ElJefe]

2) Very hard to do. The hispanic who would pay money to attend a soccer match on a regular basis, already has a team that they follow closely in Latin America (primarily Mexico). Why would they pay money for a lower quality product? If you think that by just including hispanic players, then they are set, then this is not the case. In order to draw the Hispanic population, you not only need a hispanic (mexican) affiliated team (ala Chivas USA), but you also need quality Hispanic Players. The main problem is that, since the MLS has no competitive reserve type system, it is very hard that they create players that would put people in seats. There are only handful of players like these, especially considering hispanic players.

As a Mexican fan (especially a Chivas fan), wouldn't you pay to see Ramon Ramirez (late Mex National Team star), Paco Palencia (same, household name) and Loquito Garcia (very promising talent that is making a name for himself) playing in a game for Chivas USA next season? Absolutley,this is made possible because of the affiliation with a Mexican team that Chivas USA has. Coming into their second year, they are going to have a competitive team with well known players. It is foolish to believe that just because you put a Perez, Gonzalez and Rodriquez on a team, then the hispanic crowd will come. Chivas USA right now is a prime example of this, they have many hispanic players in the biggest hispanic city in the US, and yet their attendence has dropped a lot since their first game. Just becuase you put hispanic players, does not mean you will draw the hispanic crowd.
You should go back and redo those two paragraphs accounting for the difference between Mexicans and Central Americans.

While MLS hasn't had the greatest amount of success with Mexicans because they feel that the futbol back home is better (and you can watch it on over-the-air TV), it's been a different story with Central Americans, particularly Salvadorans and Guatemalans. For the most part, they know that MLS is higher quality that what they got back home and until Gol TV came along a couple of years ago, they couldn't see it much, if at all.

As a result, the front offices that have done well drawing the Hispanic fan --Galaxy, DC United, and Burn (before HSG screwed this up in 2003) -- will tell you that they get far better support from Central American fans. It's half the reason why the Galaxy stopped going after token Mexicans after Luis Hernandez's departure.

Part of the reason for Chivas USA was because so many MLS teams, specifically the Galaxy, had abandoned the Mexican fans in favor of Central Americans. And now, Chivas USA is encountering many of the same problems that other MLS teams have encountered in attracting and keeping Mexican fans.

Frankly, if I were to put a team in Houston, I'd probably be more inclined to go with quality Central and South American players, rather than Mexican players, since they've returned better bang-for-the-buck.

[Stan Collins]

And CA is much better positioned than the nationalistic Chivas to think about those things.

[CeltTexan]

Frankly, if I were to put a team in Houston, I'd probably be more inclined to go with quality Central and South American players, rather than Mexican players, since they've returned better bang-for-the-buck.

Jefecito, I 've read your posts for many years now and I must say that you are a true futbol man. The lines above are some of the most God honest truth I've seen in BS land. I've been saying this for years...Mexicans don't care about MLS! However, for the Guanacos and Chapines MLS is a step up from their domestic culture. They care..and that's a base to start with Mr. Garber !!!
When I coached in inner city Houston, my Mexican boys already had their clubs from their dads or older brothers. They loved the MFL and el Tri and naturally they hated the U.S.A. and loved to knock MLS and its teams. Of course they couldn't stand the 2-0 loss in the Mundial.
Yet for my players from El Salvador, they asked me each week if there was any news on an MLS franchsie coming to Houston. They loved Cienfuegos and his success with LAG and other Sallies that have done well for themselves in MLS. They enjoyed watching Landon, Claudio and DMB play and they certainly sided for the U.S.A. against Mexico. If anything the biggest surprise was the complete inability of Guanacos and Panchos to play together in a cohesive XI. If their teammate was about to be tackeled a Mexican wouldn't even yell lobo to help each other out. In the mold of Agries and Brazilians not wanting a shared futbol culture, my Mexican and Guanaco boys looked at the game differently and as El Jefe has easily stated...the Central Americans are where MLS ought to be in going after the valuable Latino market. As a native Texan, it is beyond obvious that Mexicans already have their league and have pledged their allegance!

[CeltTexan]

Frankly, if I were to put a team in Houston, I'd probably be more inclined to go with quality Central and South American players, rather than Mexican players, since they've returned better bang-for-the-buck.

Jefecito, I 've read your posts for many years now and I must say that you are a true futbol man. The lines above are some of the most God honest truth I've seen in BS land. I've been saying this for years...Mexicans don't care about MLS! However, for the Guanacos and Chapines MLS is a step up from their domestic culture. They care..and that's a base to start with Mr. Garber !!!
When I coached in inner city Houston, my Mexican boys already had their clubs from their dads or older brothers. They loved the MFL and el Tri and naturally they hated the U.S.A. and loved to knock MLS and its teams. Of course they couldn't stand the 2-0 loss in the Mundial.
Yet for my players from El Salvador, they asked me each week if there was any news on an MLS franchsie coming to Houston. They loved Cienfuegos and his success with LAG and other Sallies that have done well for themselves in MLS. They enjoyed watching Landon, Claudio and DMB play and they certainly sided for the U.S.A. against Mexico. If anything the biggest surprise was the complete inability of Guanacos and Panchos to play together in a cohesive XI. If their teammate was about to be tackeled a Mexican wouldn't even yell lobo to his Guanaco teammate to help each other out. In the mold of Agries and Brazilians not wanting a shared futbol culture, my Mexican and Guanaco boys looked at the game differently and as El Jefe has easily stated...the Central Americans, with their talent and comitment in the first 10 years of our league is where MLS ought to be in going after the valuable Latino market. As a native Texan, it is beyond obvious that Mexicans already have their league and have pledged their allegance!
Where Club America will fail is IF they are planning on the exsisting Auguila inchas to be the base for all other cultures in Houston to spring from and build around in love fora MLS team in Houston. The Mexican market cannot be ignored in Houston but Team Houston must be packaged with Texas futbol culture at heart. IMHO, basically this....all cultures welcome that love this game, all languages welcome that speak soccer collectively and most important is that Team Houston bleeds Texas blood and why Texas is so inviting for immigrants to come and raise a family here!
The trick is getting a bit of the Nigerians, El Salvadorenyos, Iranians, Colombians, Guatemalans that have immigrated here but still desire live footie and set a fire under the local natives, regardless of culture, as to the importance of goals in soccer and the collective unity felt in La Alegria. IMHO the Mexican owners won't have enough local wisdom to get it right off the bat. My biggest fear is that they will pull the plug in the future and not think twice cuz they DO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL team in Mexico City.

[P1brit]

I think that the key to being sucessful isn't to tap into any ethnic group but make everyone in the comunity feel welcome. If an iranian, korean, nigerian, or mexican player is on the team then great, but I can't help but think that its a little patrinizing just to have them fill up a roster spot.

[anderson]

And CA is much better positioned than the nationalistic Chivas to think about those things.And even better positioned if they start out with the likes of Ronald Cerritos on the roster. :D