Sad that actually opening up the whole stadium seating for ticket sales is worthy of a press release (which confirms they were intentionally holding back sections for sale for appearance purposes) http://www.houstondynamo.com/post/2017/11/09/kickoff-dynamo-vs-sounders-leg-1-moved-additional-seats-released-sale
If the Dynamo were treated the same way the Texans, Rockets, and Astros are by the local TV stations, and media, then there would be more people at the games. The local media does not devote any meaningful time to the Dynamo besides Corey, and that makes them strangers in their own town despite the excellent central location.
Yet, half of the Astros starting lineup is Latin American and fans had no trouble relating to them. If you’re uncomfortable with a lot foreign players on your home team ran than soccer, hockey, tennis, boxing, baseball aren’t for you. I’m foreign born and I didn’t have trouble relating to Ching, Mullan, Waibel, Mulrooney (one of my favorite Dynamo players ever). Perhaps it’s you.
Other than Gurriel all the Astros speak English and do interviews in English. Seems like quite a few on the Dynamo don’t do interviews in English. I’m sorry, that’s a lazy Chris Canetti excuse. If that type of potential was there it would be reflected in TV ratings for the games which we have yet to see this year other than claims by Canetti that they are up 300% or whatever. Dynamo seem to think the media should sell for them. This team hasn’t been relevant in this market since 2013 or maybe 2014 - too many poor and short-sighted decisions have been made.
those Astros players have been in the system for some time learning English along the way. the fynamo players have been learning this year. Cabezas gave an interview in English recently and he did a pretty good job to boot. of all the missteps the language barrier aint one of them.
It’s not a misstep, it’s reality of the players that many of the high profile ones don’t do interviews in English or post social media in spanish
You don’t have to speak English if you make a Ching or Altuve like impact on the field. None of our current players have reached that point.
There’s not just one magic bullet here to solve the attendance problems, so you don’t need to pretend that there is. Low exposure by all the local and national media is just one of the barricades that the Dynamo faces. We’ve gone to length on several others as well. You should know by now that I hate the MLS, though I can see challenges that the Dynamo and many other soccer teams face.
I would love to go BUT I am not going to pay a lot of money for good seats and have them station a security guard directly in front of our front row seats because my spouse is excited about the game and yells foul language at the pitch. Every time I look at those empty seats when we are watching the games, I hope Canetti and the score table guy are happy that they took direct, insulting actions to drive off devoted soccer fans.
Reminds me of when the Dynamo tried to implement the below policy it’s own fans but do nothing when there is a Mexican league exhibition game. “Guest services representatives throughout BBVA Compass Stadium will be handing out yellow warning cards to individuals who are heard using vulgar or offensive cheers. Repeated warnings will result in removal from the stadium. Fans in the stadium may anonymously report offensive language by texting “BBVA” and the issue to 69050.”
Agreed, I guess I get triggered when I see them blame the media as a desperate excuse when the following list of things for success are all in place (also known as Canetti’s “checks all the boxes” list): - New Soccer-specific Stadium - Downtown urban location - growing market (Houston top growth metro area) - large corporate market - young “diverse” demographics - proven soccer market (at least in terms of Tv ratings on Mexican league and attendance at non-MLS games) - “diverse” and “progressive” roster
I'm not so sure that sports teams can rely upon the millenials at this point. Attendance for most teams and events is in sharp decline.
Camargo tried to speak Portanyol iirc. I would like to think that, like when players play all across Europe, with that region's vast number of languages, a footballer would look to learn his new nation's language asap. So here in the U.S. our Dynamo players should react the same. Not to mention, English is now vastly considered the language of business, air traffic and of course entertainment. I see what you did there.
Agreed. It’s all challenging, which is part of the reason the Dynamo have somewhat converted to being Boiler Room FC
I hear you on this. At least it is not as bad as how the U of H hired staff would look down on passionate Dynamo fans during our fun Rob seasons. They were sticks in the mud about soccer passion! It takes special talent to do what we have all witnessed.
I don’t have to worry about it - but that Dynamo don’t seem to make much inroads with the Spanish-speaking crowd so maybe attracting the “not-desired by the league and liberal soccer folk but actually reliable ticket-buying White crowd with disposable income” might be something of a game plan.
Are you saying that whites cannot accept that there’s foreigners in the league? I think that’s unfair to say.
No I’m saying they are so focused on going after the Millenial Hispanic Fan Yetti they’ve abandoned other forms of marketing or appeal. Astros don’t have a problem with their squad
I think you’re a bit oversensitive on this. The Hondurans are good business, and all the leagues look for good South American players because that is where the best players are from.