Strikers Rebrand: Name Poll

Discussion in 'Fort Lauderdale Strikers' started by drSoFlaFan, Aug 29, 2010.

  1. Smoke & Mirrors

    Jul 18, 2010
    Club:
    Ft Lauderdale Strikers
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Obviously I wasn't a big reader of the paper back in the original Strikers days, being only in elementary school LOL, but I'm pretty sure I recall seeing pictures of them in the sports page fairly regularly back then. It would sure be nice if the Sun-Sentinel covered the team a bit more then a couple of lines in a "soccer section" in the bottom corner of page 10, that was usually more about international clubs then anything local, or even domestic.
     
  2. Titanole

    Titanole Member

    Nashville SC
    United States
    Feb 15, 2005
    Nashville, TN
    Club:
    Nashville Metros
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well at least I was in middle and high school at the time and yes they were in the Sun-Sentinel. Of course back then there were a lot fewer other things going on in the area. Locally it was just the Dolphins and Strikers. The NBA, MLB and NHL were nowhere near South Florida and UM football hadn't yet become a powerhouse.

    I would expect print coverage to be more like the ASL/APSL Strikers than the NASL Strikers. But now that newpapers have electronic editions and their reporters and columnists have blogs, there should still be a place to find Strikers news.
     
  3. Smoke & Mirrors

    Jul 18, 2010
    Club:
    Ft Lauderdale Strikers
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Something noticable and consistent would be a start. Growing would depend on the team's popularity locally of course. I notice that we are now one day away from the name announcement, but your pages are still up on the fortlauderdalestrikers.com and ftlauderdalestrikers.com sites Titanole. I would think that come tomorrow at 5:00, the team would want to start implementing use of their acquired domains. I don't know how those kinds of things work, but I'm hoping they'll put something in place come tomorrow evening.
     
  4. Titanole

    Titanole Member

    Nashville SC
    United States
    Feb 15, 2005
    Nashville, TN
    Club:
    Nashville Metros
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Which is why I've questioned the name all along. Sure they inquired about the domains, I agreed to sell them to the club and they even sent me a check for them. But I have yet to receive a request through the registrar for transfer. I don't know what the delay would be. I guess there are two explanations. Either they are not going with Fort Lauderdale Strikers and just did so to throw people off the trail or they are not very competent in that area, understaffed or something like that. I decided I'm not going to chase them down about it. I've asked them about it once before and was told they'd check on it. They know what they need to do and if they are having trouble with something I would think they would contact me.

    I could simply point my domains to the Miami FC site. I hesitate doing that because then the domains would still be mine and when they expire they would run the risk of being bought by someone else. They should be transferred.

    I hope they go with Fort Lauderdale Strikers, but for some reason I just have this nagging doubt in the back of my mind.
     
  5. Smoke & Mirrors

    Jul 18, 2010
    Club:
    Ft Lauderdale Strikers
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    I think, based on everything I've seen and heard over the last few months, that it is surely going to be the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. The domain name purchases, the heavy favor of fans for it, the numerous slip ups by Davidson in interviews, one he actually even quips that it's the worst kept secret, other Strikers personnel referring to the team as the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers, and now the announcement as part of the Ft. Lauderdale 100 year anniversarry celebration. To me it all HAS to add up to Ft. Lauderdale Strikers.

    So I would look for a much more mundane explanation for the site being in its current state. Anyone one of these three is very plausible to me:
    • Very little rebrand work has been accompolished so far this year. I think the fact that Davidson and Traffic personnel are basically doing "double duty" as both Strikers personnel and NASL personnel is part of the problem at least. Obviously EVERYONE, outside of ticket sales, was working on the NASL sanctioning, and probably only now has been able to turn their attention back to the Strikers.
    • As you suggested, perhaps they don't at this point have a "web savvy" individual on staff to handle this type of transfer. Perhaps they are getting around to hiring someone, and it'll just be a little later in coming then us fans would like.
    • Or maybe they've got a web page all ready to go, and have purposely waited for the name announcement to "flip the switch" on it. There is no reason for them to have cut you a check if they don't intend to use the domains. Wasted time and money, no matter how little, can't be shrugged off at this point.
    Anyway, I'm confident about what we'll see announced tomorrow on the beach. Here in 2011 a strong web presence is essential in any type of business model. Traffic surely realizes this, so whatever the reason for the delay, I'm certain we'll see them put something in place in time for the start of the season.
     
  6. Titanole

    Titanole Member

    Nashville SC
    United States
    Feb 15, 2005
    Nashville, TN
    Club:
    Nashville Metros
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'd say that's plausible, but if I was to make an announcement on a certain date and I had a new website already designed (which I kind of doubt) I would be damn sure that the correct domain name was ready to go on said announcement date. "Here's our new name! Go find information and buy tickets at www.fortlauderdalestrikers.com!" Unless they are planning to use their strikers2011.com domain as a stop gap after they 'flip the switch'.

    I have a little bit of experience with this sort of thing after working with the Nashville Metros as their webmaster (award-winning, I might add) for eight years. I think they have clearly let this slip. With soccer in the U.S., particularly at the lower divisions, it is imperative that a club have a presence on the web and that it should be as clear as possible. They are not a new club, so they already have that in the Miami FC webpage. But to make such a change in identity but not change the address of the page leads to confusion and a poor image.
     
  7. Smoke & Mirrors

    Jul 18, 2010
    Club:
    Ft Lauderdale Strikers
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Definitely agree with needing to have a web presence and be clear with it. I'm guessing why they bought up both the ftlauderdalestrikers.com and the fortlauderdalestrikers.com domains from you. Maybe there plan short term is to have them both point to MiamiFC.com until they get the new site up and running. Probably a lot easier to make some changes to the MiamiFC page reflecting the change in the short term then designing a whole new web page. Guess we'll find out soon!
     
  8. Smoke & Mirrors

    Jul 18, 2010
    Club:
    Ft Lauderdale Strikers
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Well, we may find out shortly, as both the fortlauderdalestrikers.com and ftlauderdalestrikers.com sites seem to be down now......
     
  9. Titanole

    Titanole Member

    Nashville SC
    United States
    Feb 15, 2005
    Nashville, TN
    Club:
    Nashville Metros
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    No, there's just something wrong with Comcast at the moment. All of my web pages are down. It has nothing to do with the domains.
     

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