You do realize that most of the folks you are talking to on this thread gave up their tickets around the same time as you don't you. There's only a couple of us idiots who actually paid full freight remaining. As for the shit aspect of of customer service and employee relations, do you have an alternative? And didn't you actually benefit from that system for 10 years in your acceptance of tickets that received a heavy subsidy from the other people in the stadium who paid far more than you did for the same games? Life isn't fair, you just gotta make the best of it and lose all that anger, you'll feel much better. It's only a game.
Back on the topicof Cabrera moving on and now a Texas native and MLS veteran in Davy Arnaud stepping in as care taker manager of our club, I found this from his press meeting yesterday. Looking forward to him ingraining his East Texas way of being into our East Texas pro soccer club. His quote that stood out, for its simplicity if anything. "We must do the right things consistently" And Web, amigo mio, things will get better here in Houston. I promise.
Wade Barrett did the same thing and got canned. Team actually improved under Barrett defensively but had little talent and then Jordan rolled him under the bus.
The firing of Cabrera is a gut reaction by ownership to the performance of the team. In the end, it's not Cabrera's fault - you play the cards you're dealt. The big problem the organization faces is how to stem the bleeding of season tickets. The deadline for renewals without penalty (dropping you back to tier 1) is the end of the month. But I doubt that people who made a decision not to renew before Cabrera's firing will be swayed, unless ownership steps up and provides a reason for people to remain. There needs to be a statement about whether or not the ownership group intends to continue with their current financial strategy. The FO has provided its "vision" which involves a supporters alliance of many different groups all occupying the end zone for $15 a game plus a $35 membership fee. But they have not extended the vision to those who have been full time season ticket holders for years in other sections. They've actually raised prices for some while claiming there is an average 35% savings for tier 3 folks. There are implied other benefits of "membership" to include extra-curricular activities but nothing in actual substance. Without significant investment in the team by bringing the salary level into at least the MLS median, I don't think Davy or any other coach can compete next year. At the presser for Davy, Jordan mentioned consultations with "the board" and ownership. I'm wondering who is on this "board".
no. sorry. i have been me since right around when we got a team. when i got sick of around here I went to SBI. i say what i want to say. i don't need a sock puppet and am quite happy to go it alone.
c'mon, be real, cabrera did the same thing twice in a row. we did 1.12 ppg last season and are at 1.2 now and falling. the only difference is one year he won the off market second chance cup. that year we gave him an effing medal and a contract extension. this is about appearances and spin. "the board" got their superficial thrill out of last season and acted like he did something. i assume he told them it would be a ticket boon for this year. the deal is without USOC there is no way to dress this up, not to the fans, not to the board. this does not work for the savvy fan. they were happy to see us win USOC -- we all were temporarily -- but they see where the big picture points. you cannot bs us like a non-soccer "board." and we are paying the price this season. a telling fact to me is joe willis has 2 USOCs, one from DC. we need one of two things -- a soccer guy above jordan who can convey what is going on, or the owners giving enough of a crap to notice when a team misses the playoffs like every year since 2014 save one (mostly being jordan years). at a certain point of consistent shoddy performance and failure to make the playoffs across coaches even an owner not sure if the ball is round or pointy should be able to figure this out. a few minutes on the internet, or speaking to anyone with a soccer brain, would gather the coach sucks, the GM sucks, and we don't spend enough. i mean, at least one way to look at this, is this was done "when we had a board meeting." like they periodically gather and give a crap. you watch some of the hard knocks type shows and the owner and president have offices in the building, are out watching practices, and rarely miss a game. they live in the town the team is in, know what the media thinks, see how the fans are taking it. they probably feel it themselves. maybe they had to gather the owners because we had to buy him out, but to me i want an owner who is more in touch, immediate embarrassment, is with the team, and when he wants to fire someone he walks down the hallway or takes an elevator to the locker room. to me a "board" screams aloof and jordan making presentations and getting to intermediate and divert our upset. fwiw i don't get how someone with like 2 playoff seasons in 6 years for 2 teams -- and 1 won series -- gets to be an authority and gets immunity. the way his montreal team came in here that one time and got their butts kicked was not even funny. that was the least competitive i have ever seen a playoff series. it's not like we have bruce arena or bob bradley on the job. he and cabrera are low rent choices who should be treated like experiments on short leashes. this is one of my things about "cheap." is for "cheap" we are glacially slow to churn the team. even if i bought the concept, true moneyball is a faster, more accountable process. just like if we really want to be a selling team it needs to be faster, more ruthless, and less haggling.
having reviewed attendance figures, i would note that we have lost 25% of our attendance since 2015, the only other teams with a similar drop are the recently moved/ "sold" Crew team, and NYC playing "temporarily" in Yankee Stadium. Chicago is the only other team even halfway faltering like we are, with a more subtle drop, and they are changing stadia. there are teams like dallas and colorado that we also outdraw, but their attendance is flat or perhaps slightly up. also worth pointing out that of the leading attendance teams, many are NFL/CFL groundshares (LAG, TFC, ATL, SEA). FCC plays in a college football stadium. Portland refurbished a AAA park. the bottom of the attendance standings are almost uniformly older SSSs with the exception of NER. the appearance to me is that by 2009 the Seattle Model was coming in. we got on the other train at the urging of the MBAs and soccer snobs. they picked the wrong business model. arguably passe before the place went up. c. 2015-6 they burned the goodwill and the fans started to quit. and then on the field, the team is what it is. you would think at some point this would get held against the business end.
The smaller SSS is still the model (go look at the expansion teams and plans). Seattle and Atlanta really were borne out of the owners having common ownership with the NFL teams in their cities. Dynamo have just executed poorly.
Good. The stink is finally bad enough that outsiders are taking notice. This is the type of criticism that has been reserved for the likes of the Fire and Rapids until recently. The sooner we get off the narrative of being plucky underdogs with a savvy GM/Coach who can "compete" the better.
The reason is to sell tickets. "Look, we are making a push for the playoffs!" Jordan keeps saying the new coach has to be a fit with the system/strategy (paraphrasing)... because he will need to use those newly acquired (cheap) pieces, rather than bring his own system/strategy.
What so absurd and laughable about Jordan and his “we are only 6 points out of the playoffs” is that he said it knowing it was likely by Thursday AM that they would be much further from the playoffs or at least further out considering games in hand. Dynamo are effectively 9 points out of the playoffs with 9 to go and 6 points out of 8th. Dynamo probably have about a 1 in 10 chance of making playoffs.
Not necessarily. The board is distinct from the shareholders (although they can overlap or be identical). https://www.houstondynamo.com/post/...alkers-charge-fill-building-and-grow-business In this article you can see that Brener refers both to his "fellow co-owners" and the "board of directors" so presumably the board and owners aren't identical in this case. Edit: I do think it's a bit much to call these guys shadowy. I mean, we know who the owners are. They aren't shadowy. De La Hoya, Brener, Ben Guill, Jake Silverstein and Harden. So Brener, two private equity guys that Brener is probably friends with, everyone's favorite ex-boxer and an NBA player.
I was not suggesting it had to be. I was suggesting that it is. I don't find Brener's comments to be dispositive of that question. It is doubtful to me that he put that much thought into how those words. Having said that, I can see some members of the ownership group not included on the board. Like the pro-athletes. I seriously doubt (but do not claim to know for certain) that there are any board members who are not owners.
All I can tell you is what Jordan said. He referred to owners and to the board which I assumed were two separate entities. I’ve asked a couple of “media “ folks to inquire who is on the board
I'd guess the board is comprised solely of owners, but does not include all of the owners. It's not a publicly traded company, so it would be pretty stupid to have third party board members.
The “board” is likely comprised of holders of the membership interests in Forever Orange LLC or their appointees. Jordan may have slightly misspoke. Would not be surprised if it’s more of an operating committtee and may have a few folks from Brener International on it instead of Brener only. There is a Brener employee who has signed most of the financing documents as the authorized signatory on the Harris County records. My guess is it’s the 4 named owners + another Brener employee or 2
A corporation can have both "inside" and "outside" or "independent" directors. Inside directors have a direct connection to the corporation (i.e. an executive, an employee, a major shareholder) while independent directors do not have any connection other than been a director. Outside directors may receive up to $120,000 in compensation for US publicly traded corporations, which is not the case here. In the case of the Dynamo, I would think the Board is the major shareholders, and the some of the FO executives, at least Jordan and Walker. I doubt the Dynamo have any independent directors, that is something that usually large publicly traded companies do to bring an outside voice and transparency.
Texas Comptroller records show that Dynamo Soccer, Forever Orange LLC and other filings all come back to Brenner Sports Management LLC out of California. There are no board listings for the Texas entities.