Good morning, @LFR1881. News today, 9 a.m. PT. #USLPRO— Nicholas Murray (@NJEMurray) December 16, 2013
If it's what I've heard, it will not be exactly the white knight that has been expected, but a sign of life nonetheless.
Yep, there you go: http://uslpro.uslsoccer.com/scripts/runisa.dll?M2:gp::72013+L3/Display+E+NDX+NDX+775919 USL PRO Awards Phoenix Franchise Rights Tim Donald to lead Wolves in 2014 USL PRO News Release Monday, December 16, 2013 USL PRO is pleased to announce that it has awarded the franchise rights for Phoenix to American Soccer Marketing, LLC, an entity controlled by Tim Donald. As a result, the Phoenix FC Wolves will participate in the 2014 USL PRO season. More detailed information will be announced by the club in the coming weeks.
Beat me to it, Kenn. Pretty anti-climatic as it tells us nothing about the team, where they will play, etc. Tim Donald was part of the former ownership group for those that haven't been following this closely.
It is totally justified as far as I'm concerned. My experience as a Phoenix FC STH, condensed (sort of): - I put down a deposit with the promise that there would a pick your seat event at the venue. Event never happens. - I picked out some above average priced seats online. Shortly thereafter, the club contacts me to tell me that they are reconfiguring the stadium and have to move my seats to a different section. The reason for the reconfiguration is that they didn't account for the poles for the stadium lights. - While the new seats were fine, they were significantly cheaper than the ones I had picked out and paid for. I contact the ticketing company, who issue me a credit, but they said if I want my money refunded, I needed to contact Phoenix FC. I call Phoenix FC, the phone rings and rings (no voice mail), right as I'm about to hang up, someone answers the phone and seems to be annoyed by my call. I explained to him my situation and he agreed that I should have the difference refund to my credit card. To this day, that money has not been refunded and I'm not expecting it ever will. - As I attend games, I notice that people are buying cheaper tickets and sitting in my section. This didn't bother me much until a group of 30 family members/friends of an opposing player show up with a drum. I complained about this, but instead of making them sit in their proper seats and taking away their drum (instruments are only allowed in the supporters section), a guy in a Phoenix FC shirt has us move to a different section. - My seats are removed from the stadium when it was down-sized. I can't complain about my new seats as they were the most expensive seats in the stadium. However, I only get to sit in those seats for one game. - The final 3 (maybe 4) games were moved to GCU and Reach 11. At both places, there were supposed to be areas reserved for STH's, but people just sat wherever they pleased. There was no one to tell non-STH's that the areas were reserved for STH's. - I got my info about the games being moved from a reporter and didn't hear from the team until the day before the games. - To compensate me for the games being moved from a legitimate soccer stadium to Reach 11, I was given the choice of a) 30% off 2014 season tickets, b) 25% of at the team shop, or c) 3 free tickets to the last two Reach 11 games. b would have been nice if the team shop had a decent inventory and they didn't discount it to the general public at the last game. c was a total joke as I couldn't give those tickets away. a is what I picked, but I'm not sure I want to give anymore money to these guys (The 'new' owner was in charge of the team when the Reach 11 decision was made, although they were in bad place financially, which wasn't his fault). Don't take too much credit. The Phoenix FC FO didn't need much help.
Matt's experience was not atypical, unfortunately. And that's maybe 20% of all the nonsense they did in 2013.
Well, sort of, but not really. He apparently wasn't part of BDR, but apparently put money in when they ran aground midseason, or so the story goes. Apparently he is Canadian? In any case, if the home opener was the same time frame as last year, they're basically 100 days away and starting again from zero, with only a small bit of brand equity. The next two weeks are a wash, basically. But it will not be easy to ramp up and be successful in 2014. They have a long way to go and a shore time to get there.
Agreed... Is it possible to get things headed in the right direction? Anythings possible but the probability isn't in Phoenix FC's favor... I would say they are actually starting back up at less than zero.
That should read "short time to get there," obviously. I would not say less than zero. There IS an audience, and a certain number of people who came out despite the issues of last year. Many of them may, in fact, return. They ARE up against it, time wise and with the unfortunate truth that they still really don't have anyone whose experience doing this extends farther than last year's disaster. You can learn a lot when you crash and burn, but that can't be your only experience. They need somebody, at least one person in charge, with the proven ability to run a soccer team. Or, at the very least, a pro sports team that needs to sell tickets to be successful.
I do hope they can turn it around... I think Arizona has potential to have a major league club. There seems to be desire at the grass roots. I really like what they have been doing in Tucson. I don't know if I'll be back there anytime soon but if I were that would definitely be a place I would go to see a game or two.
Anyone want to bet on the date that Phoenix FC makes some sort of public statement about the 2014 season? They've been silent on all fronts (press releases, facebook, twitter, etc.) since before the USL terminated their franchise agreement. I know its the holiday season, but it wouldn't hurt if they started selling tickets or at least tried to get people excited about the season.
Hopefully with new ownership come better marketing with an emphasis on Wolves FC rather than just FC.
Unless they recognize what actually sells tickets, it doesn't matter what part of the name they emphasize.
Making an effort to actually sell tickets, for starters. Not just putting tickets on sale and hoping that people find them and come and buy them. Group sales. Actual, paid humans working the phones and selling tickets. Marketing. Advertising. All of those things, for starters. Phoenix FC has done none of that, to my knowledge. They have made tickets available online, and a fair number of people actually started out purchasing them. But their customer service in that regard was terrible, they appeared to make no actual effort to cultivate the relationships necessary for group sales (other than leaning on a local youth club to have its players come), instead just saying "contact us for group sales" (which is not the way it works). They had no one doing any followup - I recounted the story of how I purchased tickets for three different games and never once was reached out to. Hell, I don't even know if they put me in their database, if they have such a thing. The basics of ticket sales escape them, largely because they had no one with any experience in a pro sports environment. You have to work at it every single day. Telling someone there is a game is not the same thing as selling them a ticket to that game. It takes work and it takes devoting resources to that work. But a lot of teams that are unsuccessful at the lower levels are unsuccessful, in part, because they think people are so thrilled to have a pro soccer team in their town that they can just count on them to gobble up tickets as long as the team wins. Doesn't work that way. And with only 90 days or so until the season starts and no venue announced, no apparent front office, no apparent executive with experience or vision, I would not be optimistic about their chances to sell a lot of tickets in 2014.