The Silverbacks and MLS

[BigKahuna]

I just got a pleasantly surprising phone call from the secretary of Silverbacks President, Stephen Pratten. I had written him an email, about a week and a half ago I guess, asking him specifically about the Silverbacks response to MLS interest in the city as well as the club's MLS ambitions. I also mentioned that there is a small, but dedicated group of fans (us) willing to help bring MLS to Atlanta. He has responding by requesting to meet with me personally at Silverbacks Park next week. Obviously he is taking my questions very seriously.

In light of this, please help me by posing some pertainent questions that you have regarding the Silverbacks and MLS. I don't know how long he is willing to meet, but I'd like to be prepared with some good questions that will give us a better idea of what may be in store for the future.

[Michael CM1]

I just got a pleasantly surprising phone call from the secretary of Silverbacks President, Stephen Pratten. I had written him an email, about a week and a half ago I guess, asking him specifically about the Silverbacks response to MLS interest in the city as well as the club's MLS ambitions. I also mentioned that there is a small, but dedicated group of fans (us) willing to help bring MLS to Atlanta. He has responding by requesting to meet with me personally at Silverbacks Park next week. Obviously he is taking my questions very seriously.

In light of this, please help me by posing some pertainent questions that you have regarding the Silverbacks and MLS. I don't know how long he is willing to meet, but I'd like to be prepared with some good questions that will give us a better idea of what may be in store for the future.

No problem and great work! I'll work on some stuff this weekend and post it back in this thread. You could also join us at the Silverbacks PDL game tomorrow. The Supporters Group will be meeting there discussing things and I'm sure some people who have been with it longer than me could give you some questions.

I still plan on throwing a web site up. I'll see if I can get something ready before you meet with the man.

[jbeall]

Great news, bigkahuna! Repped.


Here are pretty obvious questions, but what the hey:

What are the obstacles to the Silverbacks directly joining MLS? Do you have to give up ownership? Is the expansion fee exorbitant? Does MLS want the stadium in place first?

Is it that the S'Backs don't want to share the financial burden of MLS clubs that lose money?

Would MLS be willing to abandon the single-entity structure if the Silverbacks entered the league under current ownership?

Also:

Have you spoken with potential sponsors? Would Earthlink be willing to pay a larger sponsorship fee in exchange for MLS-level exposure?

Have you made efforts to reach out to the hispanic market? Could the S'Backs play an exhibition against a Mexican league club in order to gauge possible interest? (Just an idea, folks--don't get worked up!)

And finally:

In terms of concrete action (email, letter-writing, petitions, etc.), what can we do to help? :)

[Michael CM1]

Great news, bigkahuna! Repped.


Here are pretty obvious questions, but what the hey:

What are the obstacles to the Silverbacks directly joining MLS? Do you have to give up ownership? Is the expansion fee exorbitant? Does MLS want the stadium in place first?

Is it that the S'Backs don't want to share the financial burden of MLS clubs that lose money?

Would MLS be willing to abandon the single-entity structure if the Silverbacks entered the league under current ownership?

Also:

Have you spoken with potential sponsors? Would Earthlink be willing to pay a larger sponsorship fee in exchange for MLS-level exposure?

Have you made efforts to reach out to the hispanic market? Could the S'Backs play an exhibition against a Mexican league club in order to gauge possible interest? (Just an idea, folks--don't get worked up!)

And finally:

In terms of concrete action (email, letter-writing, petitions, etc.), what can we do to help? :)

I can tell you myself the expansion fee is $15 million.

I can also probably say that single-entity seems to be misunderstood. The owners still own teams but the league manages all contracts. It's a socialist system designed to keep salaries in check and to keep one team from starting a cold war style arms race that would bankrupt half the teams. But you hear things like "the Galaxy and FCD expect to turn a profit this year" which shows that each team does have their own finances. When MLS will relinquish this control, that is a question to ask someone somewhere.

I also know the stadium location was selected partially to move closer to the heart of the Hispanic population. They also had some Spanish language radio station at a game last year. They may or may not have been doing play-by-play. But finding out the extent of their plans is good. That Mexican League question is a really good one!

[BigKahuna]

Unfortunately I won't make it to the PDL game as I have prior commitments. But definately mention this to some of the guys and let me know what they say. I guess you saw that I posted this at USL as well, so hopefully they'll see it there too.

Thanks for the help...questions are appreciated and I'll compile them all together and see how many I can get Pratten to address.

[Michael CM1]

Unfortunately I won't make it to the PDL game as I have prior commitments. But definately mention this to some of the guys and let me know what they say. I guess you saw that I posted this at USL as well, so hopefully they'll see it there too.

Thanks for the help...questions are appreciated and I'll compile them all together and see how many I can get Pratten to address.

I was at a high school band banquet tonight and one issue came up which would affect the S-backs on either level. A lot of bands in Gwinnett (plus other organizations) have parents or others work at concession stands at the Georgia Dome and the Gwinnett Arena. You might bring up something like that with the guy. It's a good way for the community to get involved and for good exposure. I'm sure some of the big soccer booster clubs wouldn't mind doing it at The Max.

[Eleven Bravo]

1) Is it possible for the stadium to expand the REMAX to 20,000 if needed?
2) Is there a way that games can be broadcasted on the website? because of the non-local fans such as myself would be willing to pay a small fee to at least help contribute even if we can't make all the games. Also, kind of like ussoccer.com could there be any type of behind the scenes in depth coverage shown?
3) What does the Silverbacks need to do to get more publicity? Also, what does the Silverbacks need to do to get a section in the AJC?
4) When will the final stadium be complete? and will there be ample parking?
5) Will ticket prices ever decrease to say $5 a game because i'm afraid that's the most that the average person will pay.
6) Does any future USMNT(or youth mens) games plan on being played at REMAX? Also, does REMAX have any plans to try host concerts or other events to try and bring publicity to it.
7) With all the different possible sponsors has anyone showed any kind of interest? if so, who the most and what has been done?
8) Will there be flares, smoke, fireworks, etc... allowed at the REMAX?
9) Obviously, what are the Silverbacks intentions on joining MLS?
10) Will the MARTA be available to get to the Silverbacks stadium?
11) Does the Atlanta Silverbacks have any plans on having Training Camps? because i know a lot of schools make a lot of money that way. plus, it'll help with the publicity.
12) Does the Silverbacks have any plans to try and bring in fans from other major cities outside of Atlanta.(Birmingham, Nashville, Augusta, Savannah, etc...)
13) Will the Silverbacks start recruiting more home-grown talent? like Jarun and Ukah? Because i know how a lot of people want to see Georgia players or at least more southern players.
14) Does the Silverbacks plan on adding any more stuff to the pro-store? such as bumperstickers, posters, key-chains, scarfs, jerseys, shorts, etc...
15) Could there be a Atlanta Silverbacks personal writer? kind of like the people on MLSnet.com write about MLS teams i would like to see in-depth personal stuff about the Silverbacks team. Basically i would like to more about the players and also the youth teams.
16) What do you want to see more out of the fans in order of support?

*and that's all i could think of for now. some of them are kind of silly but hey what the hell!

[BigKahuna]

I'll be going off to the meeting in a few hours and let yas know what happens. I'll be primarily focusing on MLS talk but will also ask pleny of question about the new stadium, its future, as well as logostical issues involving public transportation, parking, etc.

[BigKahuna]

Ok, I just got back from my little meeting with Stephan Pratten. Overall, I have to say that he seems to be a great guy with very serious and optimistic goals for the Silverbacks. We spoke for about an hour and a half and he showed me around the stadium as it is now.

I guess there is quite a bit to go over. He loves to talk about soccer and about the Silverbacks so it was a little difficult to get in all the questions I had, but he did help a lot as far as knowing the direction that the Silverbacks are taking and what implications that has on MLS. I'll try to summarize the main points related to this subject, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Pratten made it very clear that the Silverbacks' ultimate goal is to bring he highest possible level of pro soccer to Atlanta. While he never directly said it, it was prety clear to me that they definately have long term ambitions of entering MLS. But they are trying to take a very deliberate, step-by-step approach to making that happen.

Just like how they are building the stadium in phases, the Backs' ultimate goal of playing at the highest level is going to be done slowly. Immediate implications of this suggest that they will most likely not be a candidate for 2010 expansion. For the Backs, it is obviously as much a question about finances as it is about competition. The fact hat MLS's current structure forces teams to share profits and losses is of a small concern and I don't think that the FO is willing to enter into a business deal where annual losses are pretty much gauranteed to be in the millions for the first few years.

He did however acknowledge that MLS is starting to turn things around with the addition of new owners in NY, Chivas, and Salt Lake and MLS says itself that they are slowly progressing away from the single entity structure. So anything could happen.

It seems that the Backs are playing by a "wait and see" strategy at the moment. A lot of their resources are being focused on the stadium right now rather than on marketing advertising, etc. At this point they are hoping to sell as many season tickets as possible, fill the 3000 seats and then expand to 7500 by 2007 or 2008. Again, they would then like to fill the stadium and push for the 15000 expansion as soon, no earlier or later, as the demand is there.

Basically, I got the impression that the Backs are willing to go as far as the fans are willing to take them. They want to achieve slow, stable growth while building a true "club" in every sense of the word. They already have some youth and amatuer affiliations but would like to culivate that to the point that we will sart to see home grown players moving up the the senior squad. He mentioned the idea of developing players, selling them to bigger clubs for revenue and using the income to further the clubs development. Eventually, he also wants to see the Backs retaining talent and competing against the highest level competition.

From the stand point of an Atlana Silverbacks fan, I'd say that there is A LOT of exciting stuff going on. They obviously have a long term plan in effect and I personally feel like that plan is what is best for them and the team. From an MLS fan's stand point, the news is encouraging but reservedly so. I think that the Backs will consider MLS a very serious option when the time is right, but as of now, they don't see it that way. Once they are selling out the 3k stadium and then the 7.5k stadium, and then the 15k stadium after that, MLS will be a very probable next step. A timeline for that? He wouldn't say, but he said the A LOT can happen in 5 to 10 years.

But like I said, they are only willing to go as far as the fans will take them. The bottom line is that we have to show up to games. I am starting to feel that the Backs are our best option into the league. I don't have any realistic expectations that an Arthur Blank or some other mystery savior will magically appear out of nowhere with plans to make a many-multiples-of-millions-of dollars investment in an unproven soccer market. In the Backs we have a I/O and a SSS (which he did admit could be expanded to 20k+ if they wanted) and a FO eager to see the team succeed as much and as quickly as possible. I asked him what we can do, and he turned it around and asked ME what we can do. And he's right...I think we already know what we, the fans, can do. We have to buy season tickets, bring friends to games, get the word out, put pressure on newspapers and local media to cover soccer in Atlanta, etc. All that will help and is exactly what the Silverbacks need in order to feel secure in making the step up to MLS.

I hope this helps...a little long winded, and there was a lot more he talked about, but I think it all helped. I was very impressed with his willingness to meet with me for such a period of time. I think they are obviously trying to make fans happy and it very refreshing to see that.

I'll stop there...let me know if you have any specific questions and I'll try to let you know what he said about it.

[neasdengooner]

Nice work BigK and thanks for the report. Kind of surpised by some of the replies on the Silverback's board.
Cheers neasdengooner

[chlaga]

Kahuna,
Excellent post. Very interesting read. How rare is it to find a owner of a club that will take some time and meet with a fan individually.

[AAGunner3]

Thanks for the update BigKahuna! I'm glad that they are trying to build slowly. I want a club that'll be around for my lifetime. MLS is in no rush to expand in the South and we need to do things right.

Yes they need to spend their $ on the stadium/facility at the moment, but there's a lot they can do manpower wise, alternative media wise and such to promote the club in my opinion.

All in all, a very promising report. Just sucks that we have to be patient. :)