MLS Buying Out of Bridgeview Lease

Now we get to hear Chicago City FC FC FC-ee-ee City FC City FC City FC-ee-ee-ee.

 

You'd think if those numb-nutses' vocabulary consisted of only one word, they might have co-opted the Springsteen/Pointer Sisters song "Fi-yuuh! Daaa--da-da-da-dah!"

 

Or better....

 

This

Kraft, Kroenke, etc. don't need to be pushed to "spend more money" by buying high-priced players with no business ROI or be forced to build/move stadiums to appease the "downtown" types. They need to be pushed to treat their MLS teams like true D1 pro sports franchises and not minor-league jokes. That is the biggest return they could get, and at the lowest cost. Once they start having gameday experiences that match Seattle/Atlanta/Toronto in quality (not size, obviously) and a team that doesn't constantly shoot itself in the foot on and off the field, then worry about how you get them to invest big money.

 

Sadly, even that would be an improvement.

 

Other than on the field, can you go into what the Rapids are doing that makes the team feel minor league? What is Toronto doing that is different?

 

If they rebrand, I think the name has to start with a B so it can be said with "Daaaa" in front of it. This should be a Chicago rule.
Da Bulls
Da Bears
Da Blackhawks
Da Cu....nevermid

 

Chicago City Shooters !

 

Crappy gameday experience for one. Security is ill-trained and changes the rules on a game to game basis. The food options in the stadium are questionable, outside of the contract they signed with the local fish n' chip chain (which is great but there's only one window for them in the stadium) with most of the concessions being run by Aramark. Pre-game/halftime events are decidedly minor league with kiddie soccer being the highlight. I have no issues with the location but the Rapids do nothing to encourage people to come out or make it easier. In the cities I've lived in (Seattle, Phoenix, Denver) its been common for the local sports teams to contract/subsidize with the local transit agency to run game-specific buses to the stadiums but the Rapids have never done that, leaving C38 to do the heavy lifting of running a bus service from downtown bars out to the stadium.

Add to that crappy to non-existent marketing. Just this past wee C38 essentially had to tell the FO to stop using pictures of the group in promotions that undercut what the group is doing. The team was offering a tailgate experience for $20 that included a ticket, hot dog, and beer, which is cheaper than what C38 offers, and using C38 images to do it. Obviously, legally, they have the right to use whatever in-stadium pictures they want but its a crappy FU to their biggest fans to claim to want to work with them and then undercut them on the 3rd home game. You see no advertising outside of social media, maybe a couple of billboards.

Part of this is not completely the Rapids FO's fault, being tied into KSE and how KSE does things means they're not fully in control. They're stuck with the security and concessions contracts KSE handed the,m because the contracts were bid for all Denver KSE facilities (DSG Park, Pepsi Center, 1st Bank Center, etc.) but its still a problem that Kroenke/KSE could solve if they cared.

 

I visited Toronto a few years ago (when the team was still terrible) but TFC were still treated as a "major" team, on par with the Jays, raptors and Argos. The Leafs are on a whole nother planet, so they don't count. I noticed TFC ads on streetcars and in a lot of other public places, so no one would not be aware that there was a soccer team in red in town who played down on the lakefront at the CNE. In short, they were positioned as a serious, adult team.

By contrast, the Revs have always been kid-centric since 1995. Nothing wrong with that to a point, but it shouldn't be your only focus. The last time Jonathan Kraft went on the radio to "talk soccer" his main points were that the 1994 World Cup was a success and that lots of yutes play soccer. For real! Many of the Revs current fanbase were in diapers in 1994. They do precious little advertising, and a lot of folks are only vaguely aware that we have a team here for the past 23 years. However, just this season, they started putting ads on Boston buses. The theme is "Soccer with a New England accent" and they cleverly use words like "SOCCAH!" and one with Matt Turner, calling him a "KEEPAH!" It must have been some ad agency in Texas or California that came up with that eye-dear. No matter who it was, it's re-TAAAAHHHH-did!

 

Dude's lucky his hair didn't catch on fire with that horn getup!

 

Well it doesn't sound like you described much that isn't the case with the so called flagship of the league, the Galaxy. Security is terrible, concessions are terrible, halftime is almost always a kids game, public transit barely exists (though they now run free busses from Long Beach, but that only serves the south side).

I guess the difference is that they market the hell out of the team with billboards everywhere and agressive telemarketing. Anyway, I think my point is that I am not sure that the successful teams actually do things all that differently from the less successful teams.

 

Ok, that does sound bad.

 

Cubs are just baby bears.

Speaking of B words, nobody is using Bullets anymore.

 

Some of it is probably just the feeling in-stadium too, which is hard to describe or compare unless you've been to multiple places. I was in Seattle at the end of the '17 season and their game day felt like a top tier sporting event while Colorado's doesn't.

 

This should have been done 5 years ago. Great news if true.

 

I can buy that. Galaxy games do range from feeling like a day in the park to an intense sporting experience, depending on the importance of the game.

 

The move downtown is basically to avoid doing nothing. Lincoln Yards would've duplicated the Cubs set up. A second downtown and younger demo's west of there in Bucktown & Wicker Park. The area was recently rezoned from manufacturing. Unfortunately the developer needed to push approval ASAP for current mayor leaves office. The developer is getting 800 million in Tiff money and people were already assuming it was going to build the SSS. Chicago incubant alderman are running scared. The timing was too late.

 

Chiraq Gunners... If they keep the red colors they'll sell a ton of baseball caps. Just kidding folks.

 

This is where I feel like single entity should be solving these issues. Why doesn't the league have any shared resources to help with this sort of thing? At the very least, have a game day committee that would have this under its umbrella.

 

Anybody using the Cosmos name at the moment?

Chicago Cosmos.

A nice alliterative name if I say so myself.

 

Transit to Lincoln Yards was kinda iffy for a stadium level project, if we're honest. The best way to get there from my house would actually be water taxi.

 

They're launching a NPSL "Founders Cup" team.

 

Isn't that part of Chicago's transit, tho? Perhaps unofficial, but it seems like more than just tourists use it.