Good article and I'm sure the updates will help the stadium. However, I just saw the computer animated Mercedes-Benz stadium planned in Atlanta and FCD's home will be outdated at best compared to that.
Well, Mercedes-Benz Stadium cost $1.5 billion, so I hope that it's a little snazzier than our yard, even if it doesn't have grass.
yeah, when I heard him state, "Mecca of soccer", i cringed. i continue to really, really worry the Hunts are heavily leaning on this new stadium upgrade and HoF as some sort of next level "build it and they will come" event. When in reality the market largely does not care.
I don't care and I use to drive hours from Waco to see FCD games. I can only imagine Joe the plumber. Having a "Mecca of Soccer" would be creating an atmosphere like Portland/Orlando/Kansas City/Atlanta/Seattle game after game.
Wait... they think this is going to appreciably increase attendance? Oh my. I kind of thought this was just a rich-guy pissing match with Baby Jerry World down the street, and maybe to attact a few more national team games. Nobody gave a damn about Bethlehem Steel jerseys when they were in upstate New York, and no one is going to give a damn about Landon Donovan's stinky boots in 2018. I will never understand the Hunt brothers. They (Dan especially) seem very fond of FCD, but I think they don't believe in soccer like their dad did. Of course, their dad also believed in team tennis...
I think they do but are still growing into it. I just think their background is very different than most of their fans and that colors their actions. Mark Cuban was poor and had four or five roommates and created streaming for sports and became rich. The Hunts are third generation rich. I'm pretty happy about how much they spend on the Academy and how they build the team. If they were as successful on the business side I may be priced out of tickets. Maybe we should be grateful they are keeping it easy for us to attend.
maybe it's nitpicking, but let's all be very clear about "all this money the Hunts are spending" on the Academy. The VAST majority of that money is generated from the non-academy clubs. So, it's not like they're pulling money out of their wallets. It's all part of a business model that starts with having as many youth clubs as possible to generate the funds to power the academy teams they most care about because those are what will end up creating players they can sign and sell down the road.
Also, as much as I appreciate Dan Hunt's new found love for the club these last few years, let's not paint HSG as these academy pioneers. I feel like they stumbled on this nut as blind squirrels simply because they got a man who is very talented and loves this club (Pareja) to run the show. Without Pareja (and Clavijo to an extent), we'd be banging our heads into another Schellas wall for the last 3 years and be trophyless.
Agree with both of you but Hunts did go after and bring Pareja back when it looked impossible. They've also hired and kept other good directors and coaches when other clubs spend similar money and don't get similar results. Most clubs results aren't even close. I guess I am choosing to look at what they do good and not worry about the rest as much. Would it be fun to have a packed place every game? Sure but if the team is mediocre like Orlando then I'd be happier with what we have here.