Perhaps more importantly, who will replace Payne? I doubt the new owners let KP go without a candidate waiting in the wings. Levien is a sports executive type, but he also has the Memphis Grizzlies on his plate. Even though he apparently intends to live here, his attention would be bifurcated. So who will it be? Someone suggested that Lagerway would be an excellent choice, and I agree, but I he has an equivalent job in SLC with his Duke buddy Kreis, and I don't see him bailing out.
How about Kathy Carter? She has a pretty high-profile gig as head of SUM but perhaps the lure of being one of the few women to head a professional team in the US would appeal to her.
I think they bring in someone who has successfully managed a major deal with the city. Maybe someone from Abe Poulin's business.
Yep, this was ham-handed; and it didn't help that Garber joined in the chorus and made the same noises. From both of them, it accomplished little more with local officials than annoying them; and it was toxic to the fan base. Why get or stay emotionally invested in a team that's likely to leave town? Sure. But while pinning some blame on KP (and he deserves some), in the DCU community be sure and save a significant amount for other people like VMcF. Maybe. But I don't think it's even necessary for them to be thinking that to still arrive at the same conclusion. First, you could ignore the stadium issue entirely, and there are still enough things dysfunctional about the organization that it was going to be hard for him to keep his job. But second, even ignoring all of that too, Kevin Payne's position was in jeopardy. Lots and lots of times in the business world, management gets turned out when ownership changes. I don't think I'm disagreeing with you on issues, but simply on degrees. Nope. But I hope that everyone realizes there's a lot of risk ahead. In 2009 we were all certain we wanted Tom Soehn gone. So he left; and we got Curt Onalfo, and things got worse. I do think that KP needed to go for things to get significantly better; but the fact that he's gone doesn't mean they will, by a very long shot. I'm anticipating the relationships between the supporters groups and the team being severely affected by this, for example.
Let's wait and see who they bring in first before we jump to that conclusion ... We still have Chang in the ownership group and I think he gets the DC fanbase ...
scratching my head here - What exactly was so fricking DYSFUNCTIONAL about the Front Office? - (and I'm totally dismissing the stadium issue because KP did EVERYTHING right early on Poplar Point - the stadium issue fell apart when Uncle Vic pissed first on Fenty and then on the PG County Board) People complain about Tom Soehn - But in 2008 EVERYONE here was absolutely sure we needed him - And then we won a trophy Under KP and Kaspar, DC United started a concerted effort to tape and scout nearly all major leagues in South America and Europe for players - You can quibble about some of the choices if you insist on forgetting that in ALL sports most draft and veteran scouting choices don't pan out - And those choices were most likely Kaspars and the Coaching Staff KP was also instrumental in bringing stability to the Academy program (which originally was just a rip-off for Yuppie families and their kids) by getting Sonny Silooy, and getting Cerritos and Moreno to re-join the organization KP was also instrumental in starting and continued support for United For DC, which served as THE MODEL for a commitment to and organization to support community involvement for most other teams in MLS - How community rec teams do the Wizards, Nats, and Redskins support? And as Bootsy noted, relations between the FO and supporter groups could be "severely affected" by KP leaving be careful what you wish for - the new owners could be a lot like Jerry Jones or Danny Boy
I never actually looked in the store since I wasn't interested in buying the hats being advertised. Not that the results were any good, but weren't the past Blackout shirts free on entry?
I didn't use the expression "dysfunctional about the front office"; I said "dysfunctional about the organization". As for what was dysfunctional about it . . .as you say, putting aside the stadium issue (although while I think JE's assessment of blame for it was simplistic, I think your seeming to point the finger mostly at VMcF is simplistic too -- there's lots of blame to go around), where do you start? Two incredibly poorly handled coaching searches. A training staff that had to do a public mea culpa for mishandled physical fitness preparation for a season, resulting in multiple early fitness injuries, as well as mishandled rehabilitation (was it Khumalo who was growing a forest inside his cast? I forget). Numerous advertising missteps. Mishandling of ticketing deals (e.g. offering heavy discounts after large numbers of people had already paid full-price, which taught people not to pay up front at full price) and seat/section assignments (squeezing out cheaper sections on the quiet side into a smaller and smaller number of sections in the corner, and then taking two of those for away fans) that served to alienate blocks of season ticket holders (who ranted about them in numbers on here before they disappeared because, for many of them, they stopped giving a shit about DCU). The complete loss of over 13 years of audio/video/text content from the team website (nobody there seems to know what happened to it). For those of us that have to do stuff behind the scenes, the infrastructure stuff that's never ready for the home opener, even though it happens every single year and you'd think that after past years' problems someone would be on it and take care of it, but you'd be wrong. And bringing the stadium issue back for a moment because this one particularly pissed me off, being repeatedly told by a couple of important people with DCU that supporters groups shouldn't do anything with regard to making noise about the stadium effort because it was important for DCU to work quietly, behind the scenes; and then in an announcement at a large pre-season meeting, having the supporters groups actually berated by another important person with DCU because they weren't making enough noise in support of DCU's stadium effort with the implication that if the team moved it would be because the supporters groups didn't get the job done. And that's just what I came up quickly, off the top of my head; I've gotta go to work. Aside: half the people here keep misspelling Dave Kasper's name. It's Kasper, not Kaspar.
Not this poster. I knew Soehn was a dud even when he was assistant. The deer in the headlights look in his eyes did not inspire confidence. DC did have a little renaissance between 2004-2007 that was fundamentally rooted in finding some gems in the unlikeliest places (Emilio, Gomez, Fred) ... combined with some good domestic finds (Carroll, Namoff, Gros) But 2007 is arguably the start of MLS 2.0. That's when Beckham came and the DP era started. That was just after TFC came in the league and showed everyone what a sold out SSS could look like. That was a clear turning point where there was a divergence of MLS clubs ... Many clubs transitioned smoothly into MLS 2.0 and some did not. DC under Kevin Payne did not. Since 2007 we no longer had any clue on how to find players that could compete in the new MLS.
How about the team's inability to consistently choose medical practitioners that won't bungle procedures and cause them to do more harm to the players than good. How many United players have sued the team because of medical maltreatment they got from doctors chosen by DC United? Off the top of my head I can think of Mark Simpson, Mike Ammann and Bryan Namoff. Then there are the injuries that took repeated surgeries to fix like with Benny's ankle. Obviously, the front office isn't actually handling the medical treatment. BUT, they are choosing the doctors. And they seem to suck at that. And then they've got players getting hooked on painkillers to the point that they're having to score them on the streets of Baltimore. And that tangentially leads to how the team handled a lot of the younger players it got like Tino and Freddy. This is also a league issue, but it's fair to say that United didn't put the team's (and the league's) short-term interests ahead of teenage players' developmental - on and off-field - interests. Not having Quaranta finish high school while he was playing for United was shameful. Exploiting Freddy and making him the focal point of the team - and late a scapegoat - wasn't Payne's proudest moment, either. (The league and the players' respective camps - family and agent - are to blame here, too.) Taken in isolation, these aren't hugely condemning issues. But combined with the poor coaching hires, the lousy attendance, the announcers' not going on the road (seriously, how bush-league does that look?) and the performance on the field for most of the past 13 years (8 of which the team missed the playoffs), and it's not exactly a stellar performance. And that's leaving aside the stadium issue. You asked how it was dysfunctional. I could go on, but I'm guessing you get the idea by now. Payne wasn't captaining the smoothest-running of ships even though he liked to act - and still does - like he did.
I mis-typed here. Meant to say that United DID put its own interests ahead of those of their teenage players. That's my bad, sorry for any confusion.
Yes. I've grown weary of seeing players who normally DC United would have snatched up playing for Columbus or Seattle or Salt Lake. Payne may have been taping every league in the world but I don't what he was watching other than the Harrisburg City Islanders and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds (who, by the way, have a new stadium).
I've stayed at a hotel a couple of blocks from that new stadium a few times when I was in Pittsburgh on business. It's a neat location close to a bunch of bars. It would be a fun place to catch a game. Would be worth a road trip if DCU ever ended up playing there for a USOC.
Forgive me if I don’t have all the facts. (F./;king middle age). One of KP’s biggest failings IMO was his handling of the El Salvadoran fans. After letting Arce go (which I’m not arguing with) the El Salvadoran fans became irate and would often come to RFK and cheer the opposition especially LA (Cienfiegos) and Dallas (Ceritos) and boo United. This used to piss me off no end. IFRC Kevin said some impolitic things about El Salvadoran fans either in print or on the radio which exacerbated the situation. This may have reflected the feelings of some of our fans but was a very poor management decision. Some time ago in Balto. I had conversation with an El Salvadoran who flat out told me he hated United and this was some years after things had calmed down. Handled unemotionally and professionally we may have kept many thousands of fans.