How about getting a few more characters like Q? These characters in the old NASL were great for kids....
So based on the atmosphere at last nights game, the answer to the post is: hire a super cool coach and win a bunch of games. Everything else is overthinking it.
"Win a bunch of games" isn't a permanent solution (unless you're Juventus/Bayern/PSG/Man City/Real Madrid), MLS has rules in place that practically enforce parity. For example I'm pretty sure the Quakes received extra allocation money for finishing in last place.
The lines were the longest I've seen at the ticket windows in quite some time. It was a great atmosphere at Avaya last night, and I expect it will even get better as the season goes on. https://t.co/uqezGajqZL— Robert Jonas (@robertjonas) July 28, 2019
A traditional paper-ticketing system doesn't "go down." It improves stadium atmosphere. And it cannot be "hacked" by the Russians.
Like Don, I order the paper tickets to have so I am not at the mercy of any technological malfunction, plus I just like having old fashioned tickets. Funny thing though, for the Real Valladolid game my paper tickets wouldn't scan! The ticket guy asked if I had been online doing anything in my account or used the ticket app. I said, "No, I use these paper tickets so I don't have to mess with that crap". He thought about it for a second and just waved me in, saying, "it's not like there won't be plenty of seats tonight".After I entered I went over and found my ticket rep and mentioned the issue, and he just shrugged, and said they did the right thing by just letting me in.
Paralegal in my office said they took her three-year-old nephew to the game against Colorado on Saturday. They were in the corner, and the tot enjoyed watching the players warm up nearby and the flags waving from the Ultras more than the game.
A glaring problem from Saturday night's game is that the team has no idea how to promote itself or the sport. And that is probably one of the best reasons to explain why the atmosphere can seem so tepid. Case in point, they market this game as Women's Soccer Appreciation night. Then, during the Mickey Mouse halftime "presentation", they have a pee-wee game (to their credit they were girls), but they don't mute the DJ next to the LOBINA, so no one can even hear who it is in this line of women players (and contributors to the women's game) that they are supposed to be honoring. On top of this, perhaps they are too cheap to fly in any members from the USWNT, but why couldn't they show highlights of the World Cup and run some sort of video montage of the women's march to the championship. It just doesn't appear that anyone puts any thought into these. I've seen minor league teams, like the SJ Giants, come up with better promotions.
Agree totally. I thought it was pretty weird they gave out sheets of tattooes with the Cyberrays and FC Gold Pride logos. Maybe they should have asked to use NWSL or USWNT or BAWSI logos? Also, I went and got a root beer float, which were being served by girls from the Academy. I thought it strange on the part of the Quakes to switch over from Quakes players to Academy kids, or did they do that in prior years? I’m not sure where my $5 ended up going to, but it seemed like almost no visible promotion of women’s sports causes. Even the jerseys they gave to the honorees were weird — lifeless gray jerseys like what the DA girls were wearing, not the quakes replica jersey.
I was happy to see Marlene Bjornsrud, who flew in from Colorado to be honored, and Ilisa Kessler, who I had not seen in years.
Wait, are we talking about the giant "suburb" that somehow, with 96% detached single family home zoning, has a higher residential density than cities such as ...drum rolls...Portland, Kansas City, and Atlanta--these bastions of "urbanity" that you speak so highly of? My god, I believe it is! How is that even possible, my goodness!!!! Wait wait, are we also talking about the giant "suburb" whose hockey team plays in what many regards as one of the loudest, most intimidating barns in the NHL? Those pre-posterous "suburbanites", how dare they cheer so loud and for so long? Wait wait wait! I wonder if the Quakes' meh-level of attendance and crowd participation is due to them playing in a high-school stadium with porta-potties for 8 years, then sitting at the bottom of the league for most of their 5 years with a new stadium (that has holes in the roof and whose cost is in the bottom of the league in terms of SSS), and has ownership whose ambitions can be measure with the size of peanuts. I'm sure the reasons above would make more sense than some vague sense of "suburban vs urban" bullshit.
Lifeless gray...this entire bungled promotion perfectly summed up in one meaningless jersey. It'd be laughable, except if you are not the first one in line at the Bay Area Sports feeding trough, like, take your pick Giants, Niners, Warriors or Sharks, then your promotions department has to be that much better just to generate excitement and coverage. It's systemic. With a management group such as this, promotions are an afterthought, as is most of the in-game experience.
What do you think we need for the in-game experience? Foremost I just care about a competitive team on the field. That box is now checked. So, now we are reduced to complaining about the stadium music and the color of jerseys that were given to some honorees? Woop-de-f-ing-do.
Still - the reason I keep posting about Forward Madison FC is that this is a team in USL-1 (i.e. BELOW the USL "championship" division) with a horrible stadium that actually outdraws 20 teams in the USL Championship division (including, btw, Reno!) When I visited Madison in June, I saw FC Madision stuff EVERYWHERE. Advertising, posters, ads in the local paper, jerseys and shirts on people on the street. Their marketing folks (led by former Chicago Fire President/GM Peter Wilt) are doing an amazing job - in a city with 255,000 people - and it's not terribly difficult to imagine what someone like that might be able to accomplish for the Quakes in a city of 1 million (and I'm not even talking metro area, something that Madison doesn't have). Achtung: Tom Fox - you need to get Peter Wilt on the white phone and listen, learn, and do!
Lifeless grey? They look like the standard white jerseys the team wears. For what you’ve done, and continue to do, for women’s soccer in the Bay Area.Thank you. 🖤💙 #VamosSJ pic.twitter.com/weyzwJj34Q— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) July 28, 2019
Can’t you guys tell that the photo has been lightened a lot? I am positive the DA girls were wearing a gray jersey at the root beer float booths, and looking at the girls DA game videos, they appear to be wearing the same gray jersey. I could have sworn the honorees were wearing the same gray jersey for the ceremony. They didn’t look white at all from where I was sitting, and I already had my cataracts replaced.
When the U-15 girls won the national championship they wore the same white design that the MLS team wears. The only difference is they have the Sutter Health logo, since SH still sponsors the academy. There is light grey zigzag striping, but they are mostly white. http://www.ussoccerda.com/20190711-RECAP-DA-U15-Girls-Championship https://www.mlsstore.com/san-jose-e...rsey/t-47896938+p-471567387549+z-8-3776233695
The jerseys have the Navy Seals related logo below the collar in the back... I thought that was for the white away jersey and the related "replica" derivatives.
Not sure that's the best company to be in these days: https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/01/poli...-green-service-members-misbehavior/index.html
The honorees are not insignificant, but they couldn't bring in any player from the last two World Cup winning teams? Other MLS teams have brought in some of those players, post-tournament, so clearly they're available. For example, Megan Rapinoe is from Redding, and Tierna Davidson was born in Menlo Park and went to Stanford. But any player from the roster, even a non-local, would have been great to see.
In general, they're not available, since all of the USWNT players are on NWSL clubs. I'm guessing most of those MLS USWNT appearances were before the players reported back, or were from the local NWSL club.