2015 Boston Breakers

Discussion in 'Boston Breakers' started by socfandan, Dec 1, 2014.

  1. RWBreakers

    RWBreakers New Member

    Dec 11, 2014
    Club:
    Boston Breakers
    Socfan, thanks for the input and feedback. We've gone through the site and can't seem to find any broken links. I'm unclear what you mean about me not knowing if the league has a website? On our NWSL page, there is a link to the league's website. The Houston Dash are on our page with the other teams. If you do come upon broken links or links that lead to wrong or outdated information, please let me know. The last thing I want I want is people getting directed to pages that do not work. If you do come across a broken link or a page that has no content, first re-load it, and if that doesn't work, send me the link and I'll look into the matter.

    Our online store has a few items on it. All other Breakers gear is sold on the NWSL website.

    During the offseason on social media, we provide fans with a number of updates per day, some info on ticket promotions and some on what our players (on loan or with their national teams) are doing. Other teams may seem more active because: A) they have more players on loan overseas and/or B) they have more national team players called into camps at a given time. Take Portland for example, who have several players between the U.S., Canada, Spain, and Germany.

    Yesterday, we posted on all social media that the U.S. w/Alyssa and Brazil w/Andressa Alves were playing, what time they were playing, etc. There were no approved streams we could provide to fans. When there are, we do. We updated final scores of both teams either last night or first thing this morning.

    Thanks for the input. I'll be sure to check this forum daily.

    Ryan
     
  2. socfandan

    socfandan Member

    Jul 30, 2000
    Eastern Mass
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Here is one, this what comes up clicking on the home page link (under the "Related Links" header on the left) from the online store page:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG][​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    Uh Oh! Page Not Found!
    This page you were trying to reach at this address doesn't seem to exist. This is usually the result of a bad or outdated link. We apologize for any inconvenience.
    Please return to the home page or search our website.

    On 12/1/2014, the online store was a header only, the page didn't load, just blank blue. A link to the NWSL store still wouldn't hurt.
    Also on 12/1, the NWSL page had an email link for more info where the web address is currently positioned. The Houston Dash was not on the page but has now been added. Only 8 logos/links, preceded by this sentence (which is still there):
    The eight teams in the league are: Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, FC Kansas City, Portland Thorns FC, Sky Blue FC, Washington Spirit, Western New York Flash and Seattle, which has yet to announce its team name.

    Some of the other teams were simply posting USWNT updates yesterday, and have posted US Soccer and USWNT news on an ongoing basis, not solely to promote their own rostered players.

    And Ocean Spray still hasn't been the jersey sponsor for a while.
     
  3. RWBreakers

    RWBreakers New Member

    Dec 11, 2014
    Club:
    Boston Breakers
    Thanks. The Page Not Found has now been fixed.

    Over the last two weeks, I've been going through the entire site, updating the website links and info, so when anyone went to the online store from Nov.28-Dec. 1, it probably did not appear. It was de-activated for a couple days while we looked over inventory and then made live again when we had content for the page. Apologies for the inconvenience. Some of the pages are still in the process of being updated. All player bios are up-to-date with their 2014 NWSL stats. The last few things that need to be updated will be by the end of the year. My priority was to take care of the most timely things first, in addition to keeping the news content fresh with player signings and stories on our players abroad.

    Regarding National Team games, it's a team-by-team choice how/what to update via social media (either their own tweets or RTs from US Soccer, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, etc.). In our case, I like to make fans aware when the games are, what the final score is, and update them about when our players get into games, rather than flooding people's timelines with a number of updates during the game. I'm not saying all teams do that. It's just that we all do things differently. Not just us, look at the Premier League. Man City seemingly does a play-by-play of international matches when their players are with their respective national teams. Other Premier League teams do not.

    Thanks for the input. Keep it coming. If you ever come across something on the website, you can let me know right here or by email.

    Thanks,

    Ryan
     
  4. holden

    holden Member+

    Dundee FC, Yeovil Town LFC, Girondins de Bordeaux
    Oct 20, 2009
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    Dundee FC
    @RWBreakers @Lee Billiard

    While we have your attention, how about answering my question from last January:
    If you go to buy Red Stars tickets, for example, it takes you here: http://www.redstarsgear.com/tickets.html
    Scroll down and you can easily find the "2015 Charitable Season Ticket" option. Simple. Online. Painless.

    https://www.breakerstickets.com/2015-Season-Tickets&Tickets
    Where's that option? Don't see it anywhere...
     
  5. socfandan

    socfandan Member

    Jul 30, 2000
    Eastern Mass
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Ryan, appreciate the prompt reply and action. It was never my intent to make this a web-bashing thread, only initially provided examples of deficiencies as examples of perceived lack of attention to the business.

    Getting back on track, I will be interested to see responses to questions and comments made by both pressurecooker and holden. I also realize that are probably best answered by Lee or others on the staff rather than you Ryan.

    How long is the lease arrangement with Harvard? Is there any chance of a different venue in the foreseeable future? It has been noted in other threads that other fields at Harvard such as the Soccer Field could be viable and would provide a greatly enhanced experience with the addition of some stands and infrastructure.
    Thinking Dilboy's intimacy with parking, beer, T access and better seating.
    2500 people in a 30k seat stadium does nothing to enhance the game day experience. ( I know, you have access to 9,000 seats not the whole 30k but that doesn't change the perception or the visuals).
    Sitting on and staring at acres of concrete (historic concrete, but concrete nonetheless) and perma-lines in the perma turf is simply unappealing. If Gillette is the Morgue, surely Harvard is the Mausoleum.
    Any thoughts as to having designated seating for Cat II people or are they doomed to GA forever?

    Where is the 2015 marketing outreach going?
    Were the Breakers represented and was anything gained from the NWSL meetings held at the MLS National Sales Center? Any exciting league-wide or team specific initiatives to share?
    What will be done to take advantage of the local college population and the post college 20-and 30-somethings practically within walking distance?
    I do not hear much buzz about youth groups compared to the past.
    YSP package pricing seems a bit bizarre, as a YS administrator I do not see the value versus purchasing stand alone season tickets. And I am not sure who would want a 3 seat package of Cat II at $300 per seat (vs $215 for "regular" ST's) and 4 Cat I tickets at $312.50 per seat (vs $270 if purchased separately). Group nights seem to be well received and the discount is adequate, but how many youth organizations know about them?

    What about following up with past and present season ticket members for wish lists and suggestions? How are you getting back those you have lost? Has there been consideration given to setting up focus groups in line with the "Advisory Council" Andy and Joe set up prior to WPS kick-off?
     
  6. RWBreakers

    RWBreakers New Member

    Dec 11, 2014
    Club:
    Boston Breakers
    No, I completely understand, and didn't take it as an attack or bashing at all. I follow a lot of non-league football clubs in England, and some of their sites, news and stats are outdated, and it's frustrating.

    Regarding the rest of your questions, those are better suited for Lee, and not sure if you all saw, Lee is doing a Q&A on Twitter this coming Monday from 7-8 p.m.

    What I can offer is that we have a lot of great things planned for the season that we feel that fans will enjoy, and we want to engage fans more. One initiative will be launching shortly, within a week or so.

    Obviously I'm biased, but I feel we have the best fans in the league, many of whom have stuck with the club throughout the years, from league to league, no matter the results. I can't get into specifics just yet on other projects, but will share once things become official on a couple different fronts.

    We're going to be doing more video (during preseason and throughout the season), do some fan Q&A chats with the players, etc.

    Thanks,

    Ryan
     
  7. holden

    holden Member+

    Dundee FC, Yeovil Town LFC, Girondins de Bordeaux
    Oct 20, 2009
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    Dundee FC
    Just to prove I'm not all negative, just wanted to say, I appreciate that. There are some teams that post way too much and as I result I stop following them. I don't go to a team's twitter feed to see a different team's PBP. There are other avenues for that info. :thumbsup:
     
  8. socfandan

    socfandan Member

    Jul 30, 2000
    Eastern Mass
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I do not think I can ask these questions in 140 characters or less :unsure:
     
    holden repped this.
  9. Lee Billiard

    Lee Billiard New Member

    Dec 11, 2014
    Club:
    Boston Breakers
    Socfandan,

    let me go through this and address your points, hope it adds some clarity.

    Website -
    I think Ryan addressed most of this in another response. I can add that we are very aware ocean Spray is not our jersey sponsor, and without going into all the contractual details, Steward take over that space now and as you will see from the new website we have coming they have prominent sponsor marks replacing those images.

    Online store -
    Regarding the store....NWSL has an exclusive partnership with SES who operate the official NWSL store and with Nike as the league wide sponsor, product needs to be Nike. We abide by that ruling, we do not compete with the league store, what we do do is advertise in our store any product we had left over from the on-site store at games. Once that product is sold we do not re-stock, we encourage people to use the official NWSL online retailer.

    Twitter -
    Yes, it is very hard being an Aston Villa fan! My passion for the Breakers is just the same, if not more as you see when Breakers season is up and running and games are going ahead. Sometimes too passionate as my regretful league fine this past season for remarks on twitter probably show. I dedicate everything i have to the Breakers, i am their number one fan and do what i believe is best for the organization with all my energy.

    Business -
    My point really was more based around operating budget. The WPS operating budget was in the millions, what we operate on now is a small fraction of that. However, we have grown (due to new revenue streams) and financially we are able to invest money back into increasing such line items as marketing and public outreach. Toward the end of last season we experimented with a few different strategies, such as radio, live bands on game days, beer and social gathering areas, expanded food items all to attract more fans and make a push for the 20 somethings that we have ALWAYS missed out on. We will continue with that focus and such avenues as radio, local tv networks and certain publication prints worked well, and will be continued in 2015.
    We will also be marketing in the Brazilian communities we have here in Massachusetts. We have fantastic Brazilian players coming in, and we want those players to be connected with those communities to drive a new passionate fan base and demographic.

    Hope this added some clarity and thank you for your passion of women's soccer.

    Regards

    Lee



     
  10. Lee Billiard

    Lee Billiard New Member

    Dec 11, 2014
    Club:
    Boston Breakers
    The process is teams submit facility availability, we had some issues scheduling with Harvard events and lacrosse games so we had a fairly tight window for games. Once that is submitted the league generate a draft schedule trying to balance out weekend and weeknight games evenly across the board. Teams cross reference with facilities again for issues and league confirm a schedule. Was it ideal for us? absolutely not, and we have passed on our thoughts to the league. From early accounts it does look like we will saturday games, spread evenly across the season with 1-2 midweek.

    Hope that helped.
     
  11. Lee Billiard

    Lee Billiard New Member

    Dec 11, 2014
    Club:
    Boston Breakers
    Thanks for this, we can certainly add some more clarity to our page. Typically people purchase the ticket and then inform us they would like to donate it.
     
  12. Lee Billiard

    Lee Billiard New Member

    Dec 11, 2014
    Club:
    Boston Breakers
    #37 Lee Billiard, Dec 12, 2014
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2014
    Holden - happy to respond.

    Length of contracts -
    Typically this is left out of press releases (which are finalized and edited by the league office) as MOST contracts are semi guaranteed so it can be every changing, or end at any point. NWSL contracts work as follows....players are signed to an Standard Player Agreement (SPA) with the league on a one year basis with a club option for year two. If teams do not exercise that year two option players effectively enter a waiver draft, then if they clear that they become free agents, or what the league refer to as 'discovery picks'. We typically have a few weeks after the season is finished to notify the league/players of us taking out the year two option. This allows teams to keep the players rights and the contract as is. Teams, like we have done, can re-negotiate ahead of, or in that year two option, a new contract with the player which will then re-start it all back at one year plus one year club option.

    Harvard -
    Good question, we knew the costs ahead of time and budgeted for those expenses so it was nothing that impacted our expense financial figures. We obviously wanted more 'bums on seats' to help off set some of that expense, but for many reasons we are correcting in 2015 that did not happen until the final 3-4 home games where we heavily increased ticket sales.

    Own Stadium -
    $3million plus some! it would be at least double that figure to buy land and build a small capacity stadium meeting all league, and fifa minimum standards. Would we like too, absolutely but like many other NWSL teams we are not there financially and we will not be for some time. The NWSL and its teams are focusing on sustainability, a $6million+ investment would be business suicide for us at this point. We are working on an option i believe will fulfill our needs, create a better game day experience for fans and a better environment for our players. That is in the works, still have some bridges to cross but it will be a positive step for the all and something i am excited to share.

     
    Blaze20 and holden repped this.
  13. holden

    holden Member+

    Dundee FC, Yeovil Town LFC, Girondins de Bordeaux
    Oct 20, 2009
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    Dundee FC
    Thanks for the responses Lee.
    Sacramento Republic built the stadium itself for $3 million (this stadium was deemed worthy to host international friendlies involving teams from Liga MX and the EPL, so I assume it met FIFA standards), they didn't buy the land (in CA, at least, it is a fairly common practice for stadiums to lease the land and then for the team to privately finance a stadium built on that land). I understand land acquisition would be expensive, especially in or near Boston and was not claiming that to be part of the $3 million price. :alien:

    Again, thanks for the responses, especially for putting other's minds at ease about the expenses of Harvard Stadium. :thumbsup:
     
  14. Lee Billiard

    Lee Billiard New Member

    Dec 11, 2014
    Club:
    Boston Breakers
    No problem, hoped it helped. I am aware of facilities here in MA and I have friends who own/run facility businesses so I have a good understanding of cost to build a full turf field with lights, stands, press box, permanent locker rooms, bathrooms etc etc. It's definitly not cheap, but Boston does need one! Just waiting for my winning lottery ticket to come up and Billiard Soccer Complex will be built :) haha


     
  15. socfandan

    socfandan Member

    Jul 30, 2000
    Eastern Mass
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Lee, thank you for the time and your replies. Looking forward to more announcements and continuing dialog!
     
  16. BlueCrimson

    BlueCrimson Member+

    North Carolina Courage
    United States
    Nov 21, 2012
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Boston just became my number 3 team. Any team run by a fellow Villa supporter deserves some love.
     
  17. Lee Billiard

    Lee Billiard New Member

    Dec 11, 2014
    Club:
    Boston Breakers
    So you're the second villa fan? Haha.
    Welcome to the Breakers family!
     
  18. Blaze20

    Blaze20 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Seattle Reign FC
    Sep 22, 2009
    Club:
    Philadelphia Independence
    Wait who is second??

    Edited to add that I do appreciate Lee answering all our questions. The breakers this season are a team of intrigue given they are one of the busier teams this season. It is great that you took the time to answer our questions.

    I do have one myself, will the breakers be having a new customize kit this season?
     
  19. pressurecooker

    Feb 22, 2009
    Boston
    Club:
    Boston Breakers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Lee and Ryan your responses on here have definitely quelled some of my concerns.

    Ryan, I definitely agree that you guys do a good job informing the fans about roster moves and player updates during the offseason. If I may offer one suggestion. I think that you or someone on staff should interview Tom and/or Cat once a month during the offseason to better explain the roster moves made so far and how new players will fit into the team philosophy for next season. I think I follow what the team is trying to do but I know the loss of O'Reilly and Sanderson has left some supporters on Facebook wondering what the coach is thinking.

    Lee, I don't know if you are able to answer this question yet. With Harvard Stadium scheduled to undergo massive renovations starting in 2016 or 2017 have you and ownership already been looking for an alternate venue? Are you hoping to have another venue already announced during the season prior construction so season ticket sales can start with the fans already knowing where the games will be.
     
  20. BlueCrimson

    BlueCrimson Member+

    North Carolina Courage
    United States
    Nov 21, 2012
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Houston is number 2. And the reason for that should be obvious.
     
  21. BlueCrimson

    BlueCrimson Member+

    North Carolina Courage
    United States
    Nov 21, 2012
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Haha. Yeah, it gets lonely being one at times.

    Provided the Breakers aren't facing the Flash or the Dash, they'll have my full support on game days.
     
  22. Lee Billiard

    Lee Billiard New Member

    Dec 11, 2014
    Club:
    Boston Breakers
    We are planning something for 2015, and that planning is to keep us at the same location and stadium for the foreseeable future, which is Harvard.


     
  23. holden

    holden Member+

    Dundee FC, Yeovil Town LFC, Girondins de Bordeaux
    Oct 20, 2009
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    Dundee FC
    Where can I find details of this renovation? The only mention of it I've been able to find online is from this Harvard Magazine article, which says:
    Which doesn't really say much about timeframe and other things. I assume, since it's a National Historic Landmark and American football rules were influenced by it's dimensions, that the reduction of capacity will not be due to widening the playing surface...

    My heart says expansion of Ohiri Field (or Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium), but my mind says new FieldTurf without permanent lines. Either situation or anything in between would be a good upgrade. :thumbsup:
     
  24. holden

    holden Member+

    Dundee FC, Yeovil Town LFC, Girondins de Bordeaux
    Oct 20, 2009
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    Dundee FC
    On another positive note, sounds like this loan was exactly was Mewis needed.

     
  25. pressurecooker

    Feb 22, 2009
    Boston
    Club:
    Boston Breakers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Here is the link to the proposal that was sent to the Boston redevelopment authority.

    http://www.bostonredevelopmentautho.../Harvard-Allston-IMP-Revised-October-2013.pdf

    If you look at page 97 it provides the overview with the timetable between 2014-2018 for the stadium. And the specifics on the stadium start on page 167. I saw somewhere earlier this year that they expected to start work in 2017 but I can't find the article. However the work permits have not been finalized yet so I am assuming they will start work in 2016 or 2017 to complete it by 2018. They won't be widening the field that I can confirm.

    I don't know how the Breakers could play there during construction. Also Ohiri field doesn't seem like an alternative to fit more people because they would need to regrade the hill to put in more stands and a bigger press box. This would also have to be submitted as a project which has not been done. Sounds like Lee has something in the works though to make Harvard a viable option through this construction very curious to see it when it is unveiled.
     

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