This would be an interesting post if it weren't a fact that Precourt and his business here in Columbus actively alienated, then neglected the Hispanic fan base. How do you explain that? I mean, it COULD be that he's the dumbest human being in existence and didn't think La Turbina and others were "real" Hispanic people.

 

I'm skeptical that this was their motivation.

Where do you stand on their decision to dispense with the annual attendance-boosting $1 Brats & Beer promotions?

In fairness to PSV though, they seem to have shaped up their act and moved to a more inclusive, equal-opportunity approach to non-marketing.

 

Yes, they had previously been on Fox Sports Ohio which was carried statewide and shown in HiDef. But they were a lower priority than the Reds, Blue Jackets, and Cavaliers. So sometimes games were shown on tape delay. FSO wanted to renew but the team wanted to be treated better so they signed a deal with TimeWarner's sports channel. It added pre and post game shows. But they only had about 50% market share. I'd subscribed to Insight, a competitor acquired by TWC and the former Insight people got TWC's sports channel in low def.

So it was something of a fiasco and the most recent 2 year deal was much better. It was an amalgam of the local ABC, Fox, and CW affiliates (all owned by Sinclair) but the games were available on all the cable systems in HD.

I doubt PSV went for a crappy tv deal intentionally. Cutting down the advertising budget and eliminating several popular promotions is better evidence of the Major League strategy.

 

Apparently you missed the primary point of the article, which is the hypocritical way they used Hispanics to drive down attendance in one area while promising to do all the things for Austin Hispanics that they just eliminated in Columbus. It's racial pandering in one area and racially targeted deconstruction in the other.

And who isn't tired of seeing this stupid SJW labeling? I usually train myself to ignore upon reading but seeing it invade this site has apparently gotten a rise out of me... as was likely intended because social justice is now evil or something... I don't know. At any rate see the following quote before throwing that tag-line around, #keepyourpoliticalshitoutofthisconversationunlessitpertainstothediscussioninquestion.

 

Apparently, Archer is an SJW.

This ought to go well...

 

OMG, run for the hills, he doesn't like racism. That scoundrel...

 

What are you on about? Does someone here like racism?

Everyone should probably stop with the assumptions.

 

If Smoga had stuck around for his beating, I figured his first response would be that most of the promotions aren't racial/ethnic. First responders or gays or girl scouts, etc.

 

This entire deal stinks to high heaven.

Another thing, in catering to a particular ethnic group, one is exercising racism.

 

With all due respect, Bill, appealing to an ethnic sector of society is astronomically more polarizing than Fan Appreciation Day. The subjects of race and sexual proclivities aren't the same as the other examples you provided. Our society isn't at loggerheads over Special Olympics issues, for example.

Perhaps I'm missing something here, but I'm in the camp where people feel ethnocentric promotions, coalitions and entities are fundamentally discriminatory. I understand their stated purpose is to give everyone an opportunity to "sit at the same table" (if you will). But shutting out other ethnicities (not just Caucasian) is racism, no matter how well intended their mission may be.

Dealing with racism with more racism is like trying to douse a fire with gasoline.

 

On the other hand, La Turbina was a self-created supporter group, and a group that chose to make ethnicity a part of the group's identity. Since one must tread this thread carefully, I will make the following observations, and maybe those more enlightened than me can tell me if I've gone astray from that which may be deemed reasonable:

1. From firsthand experience, I can say that La Turbina played a significant role in the supporters' culture, and in the atmosphere in that part of the stadium. This is true neither because of nor in spite of ethnic identity (m'kay?). But personally, I enjoyed the diversity of the supporter culture during those many years.

2. A fairly obvious effort was made by new ownership to alienate some of the hardcore supporters of this team. Perhaps they simply took this part of the fan base for granted, and didn't feel the need to spend, well, anything on marketing. But the more we learn, the more obvious it seems that there was a conscious effort to actually decrease attendance. All the better for this glorious and well-planned Austin fiasco.

3. I don't see any logical or legitimate reason for the decision to eliminate the Spanish announcements from the game day experience. I see that someone early in this thread made a broad, and perhaps intentionally boorish statement about specific promotions and then ran for the hills. I also see, and to some extent understand your notion that ethnic promotions can be perceived as discriminatory. Fine. That's a complex issue. But is it not bad business to drive away such an essential part of a fan base? Could it be racially motivated? (For the record, I think the motivation was simply alienation, which is bad enough, even without the racial component.) Is having Spanish PA announcements also discriminatory? Because I always thought that made sense.

4. I don't think it is at all unreasonable for Bill to point out that PSV's current - and rather overtly pandering and vapid - efforts in Austin seem especially hypocritical and disingenuous after what they have done in Columbus. In fact, I'm truly grateful that he has taken the time to do so. Anthony Precourt has proven himself to be one of the single worst team owners in the history of professional sports. Period.

 

They don’t have Caucasian day because we have it every day.

Thx,

Jay!

 

I always wondered (seriously) if it would have been good outreach to have PA announcements in Somali as well, but that seems to have been a community the team NEVER reached out to.

 

Metrics?? (*ducks*)

 

LOL, because “all lives matter”, amirite?

 

If this were true, how do you rationalize Soldana being hired for Hispanic outreach in Austin by the same group?

 

You might need to recalibrate your sarcasm detector.

 

Bill's post is pointing out PSV's hypocrisy. As in, PSV stopped Hispanic-themed promotions in Columbus but is now pandering to Hispanic groups in Austin.

Arguing about whether the Hispanic-themed promotions are right or wrong is missing the point.

 

"Missing the Point" could be the title of an encyclopedic history of the last couple years or so.

 

And the hypocrisy is the real issue, not racism.

If racism is the real issue, Crew fans should have been up in arms when the Latino supporters group was denied tickets in Nordecke.

We are now just hearing about this once it is ammunition in the fight to save the Crew. So the timing of who is bringing this up (Archer) makes clear that concerns about racism are secondary to him as compared to his desires to Save the Crew.

Whether a team chooses to make spanish-language announcements at the games is also just a business decision. Do all teams in MLS make english and spanish-language announcements at the games?

 

That's weird, because I remember there being quite a to-do about it back when it happened, and that was when I was particularly tuned-out due to circumstances.

Well, you maybe. But you, AFAIK, aren't a Crew fan, so you wouldn't necessarily be expected to know about it. But don't misinterpret that as "only being a concern now".

 

"We" aren't on the ground in Columbus. Every MLS team's fans have things that are specific to them that aren't necessarily known by other MLS fans. At the time they happened, these issues were specific to Columbus. Bill Archer wrote this post now that a national context for these events has emerged.

 

I'd rather have something more specific than a blanket "Hispanic Heritage Night" in a city like Columbus. Meaningful cultural identities tend to be more specific than that. Given the demographics of the area, specific annual recognition of Mexican-Americans, German-Americans (a good fit for Buck-a-brat night), Black Americans (those who have an ethnic identity formed in America, rather than another nation), Irish-Americans, Puerto Ricans, and so on would be great, with bi- or tri-ennial recognition and celebration for smaller groups which also reside in the area, like American Indians, Somalis, Japanese, etc. Handling religious or sexual identity is obviously more delicate, but is possible in most places, and I think Columbus is such a place.

Locals should know best how to do this, but this outreach does matter. If done sincerely and skillfully, it isn't cynical politically correct public relations pandering; it's acknowledging, respecting, and welcoming all the peoples of central Ohio. It's easy for people of many backgrounds to have the default sense soccer isn't for people like them, that it's for "millennials and Mexicans," to use a turn of phrase I've seen before. And if a lot of residents are not great at English, have announcements in Spanish as well. And signage and basic programs in Somali, too.

PSV choosing to abandon any such effort, even superficially, is a sign of their intentional neglect of Columbus's fans of all backgrounds. Their antagonism toward La Turbina Amarilla was an insult to all supporters' groups, regardless of what they look like, what language they speak, or how they speak it. By intent, this probably wasn't racist. But by impact, it was. Alienating minority fans is usually easier to do without drawing as much attention. Business and political leaders in Austin (especially Mexican-Americans and other Hispanics) should keep in mind how Precourt feels about those whom he no longer sees as useful.

 

I think the angle that PSV intentionally sabotaged the team is overblown. He certainly didn't cut corners on the pitch. He hired a great manager and improved the roster, leading to 3 playoff appearances in 4 years including a MLS Cup final and a conference final. Also, aside from 2017 where he already had one foot out the door, attendance actually increased a bit. He had conducted a season ticket campaign and managed to sell abut 1,000 more. He also pursued new jersey sponsorship, naming rights for the stadium and training facility, and new local media rights deals to increase revenue; the kind of stuff you'd see from any other owner. However....

It seems pretty obvious he wanted to move to Austin from the day he bought the team, thus the escape clause. He's not interested in efforts to "save" the Crew and therefore has rebuffed any proposals from the city. At this point, his mind is set on leaving and the only way that will change is if various aspects of the move begin to unravel (i.e. stadium location, public financing of infrastructure, timeline, temporary venue, local support or opposition, cost escalations, etc.). If things fall apart in Austin, he just might soften his stance and agree to sell. So, it may not be over yet.

 

There might be some disagreement on the first point. it wasn't until recently that they had the full complement of DPs. Some of the players here were developed (Meram for one) by the previous regime. That said, a small market team--no matter where the Crew ends up, it will remain a small market team--isn't going to spend like LA, NY, or Atlanta teams, and you cannot expect that they will.

Personally, I'll agree with you that Berhalter has done a good job here given some of those financial limitations--but there are a number of Crew fans who disagree, some rather vocally.

As far as the sponsorships go, there are rumors that he didn't actually go out and get them but at least one was dumped in his lap by business folks here (I'd guess Acura, as Honda is a major player in Central Ohio--but I don't know).