http://www.coloradorapids.com/news/2011/12/tim-hinchey-named-colorado-rapids-president The Marketing guy is now running things. Discuss...
One interesting note. Hinchey has the title of President, but Plush's title was Managing Director. I'm not sure what that means, if anything (I might be reading too much into it).
I'm sure the decision will be near-universally panned by the Rapids supporters here, but I don't really have an issue with it. The guy has a ton of experience in the Front Office, across a wide range of professional sports organizations. His background is marketing, but I think we can all agree that the Rapids could use someone with a marketing background in that role.
He does have significant soccer experience. IIRC Plush came to the Rapids after running a professional lacrosse team. So maybe this is a good thing. Just depends on what he will or won't delegate to the right people (assuming the right people can be hired).
He's only been with the Rapids about a year, so the prior marketing can't be blamed on him. But was anyone that impressed with the marketing of the Rapids this season?
It's probably to avoid a lawsuit. They say that the Managing Director position has been downsized and now Plush can't sue them for hiring somebody into that same job description. Isn't Hinchey one of the people beside Bravo who Smith had issues with?
I don't disagree with this, but I rarely judge someone by their first year (season) on a job. Fixing a mess like the Rapids marketing area is probably a multi-season process. I'm guessing on the commercial side, the Rapids are in better shape now than they were before he got here. In the past 12 months they've announced "partnerships" with Scion, Porche, Westerra, etc. Those funds will go a long ways towards buiding a self-sustaining (ie. "funded") marketing approach. Hopefully we see the fruits of those labors in 2012.
Good points 30Something, perhaps it is a bit unfair to judge based on one season of cleaning up what seemed to be a pretty big mess.
One question, non-rhetorical: was it his job to get a kit sponsor? If yes: unhappy about this. If no: neutral.
I don't know anything about this guy, but having a guy of his background per se is not a problem with team Prez. That role in sports franchises is often in the hands of a business exec. What matters is how he works with other people, how well he recruits them, and whether he lets them do the jobs they were hired to do. I have no idea if he's good at those things, though. How well did Derby County do while he was there? Sounds like he was with the Charlotte Bobcats only a short time, a little over a year. He left around May 2007: 2005-2006 attendance: 671,011 2006-2007 attendance: 637,520 Hmm...
Snaging Westerra was a step above prior seasons. There seemed to be alot of crossmarketing tie ins. Coors, Kia etc. Anyone that equates marketing with just advertising is missing the mark. Also, not sure who really gets credit for something that might be nothing.
MMMMmmmm m'okay. Anyone with English football experience is suspect in my book, but I'll give anyone a chance. We'll have to see. I am glad that they're taking steps to fill the vacuum.
Now get to work flipping the paradigm here! We want nothing less than sold out every game, standing room only, hard ticket to find, and doing it while winning 10 major trophies.
I believe this disproves the law of fecal gravity. I made this same point back when I was outraged at finding out Hinchey having a voice in player acquisition, and I think I need to state it again: "Said marketing officer managed just a 11% bump and 1500-fan a game increase in average attendance, the year after we won MLS Cup. Dallas, abused as they are here on BS about their attendance, managed to draw 2000 fans a game on average more than the previous season, a 19% increase, and they didn't even win the freakin' trophy. By the way, he's also the same dude who formerly worked at the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats and New Orleans Hornets. The former's been in the bottom 10 in NBA attendance every year since they joined the league, and the latter hasn't been much better, to the point that the league now owns them. If marketing was his area of expertise, and these were the results, can anyone explain to me why he'd deserve a voice in the player acquisition conversation?can anyone explain why he'd get a promotion to team president?"
Dallas was also starting lower than we were. I have to say that an 11% bump, in this economy, isn't something I'm really in a hurry to fault him for. Not to say there aren't other reasons, like your comments about the Bobcats/Hornets, to be concerned.
Well I guess I did. The point is that status quo is unacceptable. After the Gary Smith mistake there are a bunch of pissed off Rapids fans looking at this with skepticism. Anything less than striving to be better than the best is an insult to the job title and to those of us that spend money watching them play musical suits.
Which is why I also included the increase in number of tickets sold, not just %. Dallas beat us on both counts. Which isn't completely inexplicable, but it's not like their stadium location, pricing, marketing, etc. is.historically has been that appreciably better than ours. If anything, they've found ways to alienate their fans that the RFO isn't even incompetent enough to dream up.
Because the guy has spent a few years in the EPL doesn't mean he knows the culture of soccer and its supporters. Though, I'll remain open minded until then...
Interesting if not anecdotal. The guy may be socially awkward in informal situations but that doesn't automatically mean he's bad at his job. Also, if he is truly this weird (on top of being incompetent, as this story seems to suggest) it's hard for me to believe that he'd still be offered jobs at all. He's pretty far up the corporate ladder and it's a rare person who can climb that far being both incompetent and socially outcast. Thanks for the post, but I'll take this story with a grain of salt.