Well, I am an original NY fan, and still support them, but Red Bull would disagree. That gimmick has had some real legs and made a lot of cash. There are finally signs now that they have plateaued, and are weakening in areas, but that is one hell of a successfull gimmick. Hell, it got a stadium built when no one else could in that area. Gimmicks can work to boost interest to a certain extent, but yes, they rarely work for the long term. Gimmicks can also allow you to gauge interest in a philosophy/idea. I think NASL now realizes that there isn't much to what they trotted out for a while. The interest in those ideas/gimmicks is negligble.
1 - only four teams get in so you are fighting to do well all season - as opposed to having most of the league make the play-0ffs 2 - reward for strong start 3 - reward for strong finish 4 - reward for strong season - best overall record That's off the top of my head. What I don't like is the gap in the middle, giving players a rest is good, you see in every sport players fatigue/burn out and get injured by the end of the season. But you need something else here, maybe a regular round of international friendlies, I don't know honestly, but something should be done with this time - maybe something to promote the league in some manner. Anyway, everyone tinkers with their product, even if it is only to differentiate with your competition, nothing wrong with that. Somethings work somethings don't, let's see how it proceeds, could go either way.
A crappy unhealthy drink mass marketed as a hip, extreme sport, sport related product. I am forever grateful they pushed that stadium through. Never would have happened without them, but for me, it's an incredibly successful gimmicky type drink. I can see it running into real problems in the near future.
Yeah, I agree, the name was more to expand their brand than an attempt to expand the fan base. Having said that, you can't knock them/RedBull b/c they put money into the team like no other.
No worries. I'm sure we'll have news of an upcoming blockbuster announcement from Zombie OKCFC soon... and boy, will you guys ever be sorry.