From the article. The Dayton Dutch Lions have a new coach following the departure of Patrick Bal to Thailand
Columbus Crew partnership... http://www.socceramerica.com/article/55478/crew-links-up-with-dutch-lions.html?edition=11007
more about the partnership... http://www.recklesschallenge.net/a-dayton-perspective-on-crew-affiliation/
This is an interesting article. As a long time Crew fan, I would love to see someone examine the another angle - will the affiliation with the Crew force DDL to step up their efforts in the FO. As the article states, they have struggled with attendance but that really just masks a general ineptitude by the DDL FO. Their marketing has been terrible or non-existent - pick whatever is worse. Their stadium options have been equally bad and constantly changing (maybe not last year, but previously). Will the FO find a better stadium to play in - the high school stadiums have been awful. They have options - University of Dayton just updated their locker rooms and have a small stadium in Baujan Field which seats 2,000. Yes, the beer issue will be raised - but how about getting a better game day experience for your 500 fans first. Don't worry about the beer sales!
I don't see Baujan Field being an option due to it being grass and the potential overlap of the USL Pro season and the college season. While there aren't many "good" options in Dayton, the stadiums are not "awful." Yes, it is less than ideal to play at high school football fields, but...Bellbrook and Springboro have amazing facilities. The plan is to build. I'm not sure how far off that is. But, it will come when more people take DDL seriously. Hopefully the partnership allows more investors to come on board.
I don't really see UD as an option either. I was not clear in my earlier post. My imprecise language was unfortunate. I would like to clarify that I was only using it as an example to illustrate a point. They need better facilities. In my opinion - if you are ok with high school facilities then that's ok with me. I am not ok with either of those facilities. They are nice maybe for a high school in Dayton. I have been to both and was not impressed. IMO the high schools they've used says we're not professional when taken in conjunction with how the FO has operated. That is just my opinion. I hope you're ok with that. Build? We'll maybe that would work. Of course the Riverbounds showed how a better facility could increase attendance. That was exactly my point. Get a better experience & maybe more fans will come than an average of 718. I really would like to see DDL do better. I would even go to a game or 2 if they did something about the facilities.
Without support, they can't build facilities. Not saying you are this, but the wishy-washy fan needs to go away. A solid product can still be supported regardless of football lines at a high school stadium. DDL aren't happy playing at these numerous high schools either. They'd rather play at their own facility. But, that's not there yet. I know there are goals to do that. They do have a "complex" by I-75 where they now operate out of for their youth -- I cannot remember the 'burb of Dayton it's in, north of town.