Saturday, April 21 • Kickoff: 7:30 PM EST • Heroes Stadium Still unbeaten in 2012, with 180+ minutes of shutout soccer at home, the boys hit the road to take on the Scorpions for the very first time. Fake grass, a narrow pitch and throwball lines await at Heroes Stadium, and so does a very likely big crowd. The team is hosting a watch party at Duffy's in Fort Lauderdale, 1804 Harbor Shops Road(just off 17th St., same place as the uniform unveiling). Hope to see everyone there!
The Scorpions lost 4-0 to the Islanders in their home opener, but this will by no means be an easy match. Not to mention the incredible sell out crowd of 13,151 for their home opener. The Strikers FO could learn a thing or two from them!
San Antonio and PMI have done everything right. They've built the club from the ground up and the fans have had a say in every step of the process. The club listens to its fans, promotes their supporters groups, and does an incredible job getting sponsorships and partnering with local businesses. They pride themselves on being a 'social' organization and communicate with their fans and listen to their ideas. Just compare their Facebook page to the Strikers'. Pathetic, really. The "Soccer for a Cause" concept is truly one-of-a-kind, and the marketing team are always coming up with clever strategies to make sure they are known in the San Antonio area. What kind of marketing do you see for the Strikers? Does the media even pay the slightest attention to us? We can't do the exactly same thing here because we aren't a brand new team like the Scorpions. The old Strikers have a legacy (which the club hasn't embraced AT ALL), while the new incarnation has to shake off all the negatives from being associated with Miami FC. The franchise actually has to win back people that have had negative experiences at our games. The Strikers are (were?) a client of PMI and when their guy Evan was in the Strikers FO there was a huge buzz around the Strikers, 1,000 season ticket holders, and a record attendance of 6,402 at the home opener. There has been a steady decline in attendance and ticket sales here in Fort Lauderdale since he was reassigned to San Antonio. There was a 26% drop in home opener attendances after just one season. Compare last season's opener to this season's.... Heck, there was a 40% decrease in attendance here after just ONE game this season, WHICH WE WON by the way! Our FO is content with mediocrity and somehow accepts the decline in attendance, and is doing nothing to correct this. What is preventing this team from seeing Miami FC attendances, honestly? Sorry if this is a bit of a rant, but to see how other teams in the NASL, or in USL (Orlando City, specifically) are showing ambition and improving their fan bases, one can't help but look at the Strikers and notice that we are moving backwards and nothing is being done to address this. I'm not trying to bash our organization by any means, but I can't help but sing praises for what they are doing in San Antonio and wonder why our organization isn't at least trying to do new things here to improve things.
Maybe they should target their advertising money on the proper audience. A banner scrolling under "The Simpson" cartoon on local cable is not going to cut it. Not many 12 -18 year olds will be buying season tickets
Maybe you should direct this at the Strikers FO instead of here. Or to Traffic Sports. They are the ones that call the financial shots that the FO has to work around. Or, possibly, both.
Attendance concerns aside, another semi-related bit of info regard Saturday the 21st: By virtue of the Cats win last night, there will be a game 5 in Sunrise on Saturday at 6:30 PM. That may hurt attendance at the watch party if anyone is going out to the Panthers game, but on the other hand that should mean some more sports fans at the watch party we can expose to the Strikers. So for you hockey fans get to Duffy's early to watch the Panthers before the Strikers! I'll be there!
FOOTY FANS OF SOUTH FLORIDA! Big and exciting happenings in Our Football/Soccer World these next few weeks. Today we start off with a classic match-up of the flair and drama of the Spanish REAL MADRID versus the methodical, machine-like approach of the German BAYERN MUNICH. This one should be a classic home and away draw. Tomorrow, we get to watch BARCELONA totally confuse and baffle the completely underwhelming and underachieving (in the Prem) English side, CHELSEA. The rest of the world just sits and takes notes, but we continue to be amazed with Messi & Company. THIS SATURDAY WILL BE A SATURDAY SOCCER SPECTACULAR!! AT 10:00AM, Indoor Soccer Central will open its doors early to host a FREE "STRIKER'S SOCCER SATURDAY" themed pick-up, 5-a-side competition. LET ME KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE IF YOU WILL BE COMING, because whether two teams or more battling it out to claim a Championship & Prize, this is a great opportunity to get some exercise, work on your skills, have fun, and work up an appetite and get ready for the afternoon festivities, which include.... AT 2:00PM, we have "El Clasico" at the Bernebeau, as BARCELONA, 4 points back, head to Madrid to take on REAL, in what is arguably a match-up of the two best clubs in the world right now. The LA LIGA TITLE hangs in the balance, and the match should be dripping with excitement and of course, as always, a dramatic twist or two. Let's rendez-vous at DUFFY'S IN FORT LAUDERDALE FOR BEER, WINGS, ATTRACTIVE FOOTBALL AND OTHERS!!! See you there at 1:00PM for pre-match activities and entertainment! AND FINALLY, hang out and support Our Local Professional Club, the FORT LAUDERDALE STRIKERS, as Duffy's rolls out its "Watch Party", where you get a free drink if you are sporting your STRIKERS gear! Don't be the schmuck who shows up for Sunday Morning Pick-Up wondering why you didn't join in all of the fun and festivities this Saturday! Get up and off your ass, get out, and JOIN THE FUN! (And please forward and tweet this to all of your Footy Friends!) Cheers & See You Out On The Pitch! Route 1 Soccer www.route1soccer.com "Success is doing what you love and having a positive impact on people's lives, without starving to death." - Anonymous
As a Strikers 1.0 fan, and of course current season ticket holder, it genuinely pains me to have to say this....but I agree with a lot of what you said. Let's put San Antonio aside for a moment. Every market and every team has it's own unique set of challenges and strong points. Let's focus on our team. I think a lot of us really saw last season as a turning point for this market. Were the crowds quite as good as we would have liked? No, but there were positive signs that we were headed in the right direction. So I think the lack of marketing and advertising leading up to this season, with a full offseason to work with, was befuddling (heh). The explanation that has gone around seems to be budget. Money. The cross all lower division soccer franchises must bear to some degree. Traffic seems to want out of South Florida. For quite some time now I've been saying it looks like they're already gone. It's very easy to make this excuse, because it certainly is a valid point. That said, I think the Strikers have missed one solid marketing opportunity already this year, and are about to miss an even bigger one unless they'er working on it behind the scenes and just haven't said anything. First was the preseason game at FAU. I keep reading how pro soccer has become the second most popular sport behind football with the young demographic, and yet no effort I'm aware of was made to market the Strikers to the student body of the closest University, one they were playing a preseason game on the campus of. Can't anyone but me envision the Ultras and F19 having to expand into the neighboring sections to 115 to accomodate an influx of young adults who, according to statistics, A) love soccer and you KNOW B) love beer?!? To me it was a perfect opportunity to try and get their brand all over that campus and get kids to come try out an inexpensive, close by way to kick off their Saturday evenings. And then we come to this coming Saturday night. Didn't the Strikers have some sort of partnership with the Panthers in place already? If they don't find a way to get in front of the horde of rabid South Florida sports fans that will be in Sunrise for the game Saturday night, then it'll tell me they really aren't interested/able/capable of marketing this team properly. There can't possibly be a better opportunity during this season to get the Strikers brand in front of more sports fans then during the Panthers playoff run. Every game, every time, they need to have people there.
I don't believe there is any formal partnership between the Panthers & Strikers like there was that year. That being said, the team is hosting the watch party Saturday at Duffy's, and there will be a solid crowd there watching the Panthers game. I did my part promoting at the BAC, I went to game one and we got F19 & Strikers scarves on the jumbotron!
DR, I have nothing but respect for you guys in F19 and the Ultras. You guys do one hell of a job repping the team and soccer in general for our market. The problem is the team. Last year it felt like they were turning a corner Miami FC never got anywhere near approaching. They were out in the community, they were at events around town, they were getting the brand out in a bigger way than any supporters group ever can. But this year...crickets. And I will 100% contend THAT is the reason for the big drop in attendance for the first two games this year from last year. We played the same two teams, hell, Game 2 last year even had to be moved to Friday night at the last minute to accomodate the Hurricanes. If memory serves the crowd for that moved Friday night game even beat or at least matched our home opener this year. I know you guys are doing whatever you can wherever you can to promote the Strikers. It's what supporters groups do. From an outside view, I'm a season ticket holder who brings his family to every game in section 122, I can certainly see that your section is fuller and louder this year over last. You guys are doing your job as supporters very well. What we are missing, and what is more vital overall, is the club doing their job. We can pick up some of the casuals once the Panthers and Heat are done with their seasons. I think in the long run we're going to have more casuals in Broward looking for an alternative for their sports dollars to the prospect of driving to downtown Miami, with all the challenges that presents, to watch the Miami Marlins. But we also seem to lose most of the youth crowd once summer hits as well. The Strikers need to start getting real creative with their marketing and advertising if they want to survive. This Saturday at the Panthers game is the perfect place to start.
Ok, on to the game itself. For some reason I'm expecting the Strikers offense to break out this game with a crooked number on the board. I assume Hassan will be back in up front. I still can't figure out why Orozco, who looked good in preseason, is sitting and Blake is playing. Blake hasn't been bad, but I'm not seeing anything that leads me to believe he should be starting over Orozco. You all know how I feel about what value (ie. lack there of) Morales adds to the team, and I'm still waiting to see something that changes my mind. Still waiting. Here is my prediction for this week's lineup: Glaeser Blake - Stewart - Stahl -Laing Morales - Restrepo - Shanosky - Lorenz Hassan - Herron
threw the game away. 2-2 draw via 2nd crap goal in extra time. Then....the fights broke out. Reds everywhere. Refs quit. Herron with a brace (I think-coverage was terrible). Astro-turf bit Matt on Campos' tap in.... Restrepo misses a break away...... Shore fails to park the bus....... Draw courtesy of Deniessen's empty netter. Highlight of the night had to be the 2 guys in the la-z-boys behind the net. Awaiting the suspensions.......
Ustream feed was bad but the striker D was worse in the waning moments. Glaeser was making some great saves, but he could only do so much. It seemed like the more the announcers mentioned how great he was, the harder he had to work! Who actually got the red? I saw Walter walking off the pitch but the write up said Stahl (double yellows?) and Abe got Reds...... Wednesday will be tough