FWIW, I actually *have* heard from DCU reps this year. However, the experience has driven home the bush league level at which the office is being operated. When I bought this year's season tickets, I was thanked for "being a first-time STH" and asked how I came to discover DC United. I told him I wasn't a first-time STH, that I'd had season tickets for years until I had a badge issued by his coworkers, that I turned that badge in and thus am now buying season tickets again, and that I hadn't just discovered DCU -- in fact, for a very long time I've only missed a home match when out of town or sick. He didn't seem to have any idea how to reply to my replies -- I got the same feeling I get when I'm connected to a technical support person halfway around the world. It felt like he was operating from a script, and I'd just answered in a way that didn't mesh with his script. Anyway, a month later, I got another call from someone else at DCU asking the exact same questions. I gave him the same answers. Last week, someone from DCU called my cell; it was during work so I couldn't chat with him, but he told me that he wanted to thank me for being a first time STH and wanted to know how I'd discovered DC United.
DCU has tweeted exactly once today, to promote an interview with Dykstra that also appears on the website. That's it. Nothing else. Bupkiss. How hard is it to get someone to practice with an iPhone and tweet a goddamn picture?
I think that there's two problems. First, as you mention, almost all of the long serving front office guys (including Stephen Zack) who knew something about the history of the club, the culture of the supporters' groups and outreach efforts to family-oriented local soccer clubs and leagues were either forced to walk the plank or encouraged to move on after Kevin Payne got sacked. Second, I think that the owners have decided to cut costs to the absolute barebone until the new stadium is built. That probably explains why D.C. Brau (which seems to be owned by nice cool & hip guys who struck on the idea of cozying up to the Screaming Eagles and the team as a way of marketing their very good but not truly great micro-brew) got left out in the cold. I don't think it was intentional. The new interns and recent college grads weren't told of the arrangement and the higher-ups weren't invested in the D.C. Brau relationship. It's pretty silly not to sellout the lower bowl (esp., on the supporters' side) for fair weather home games. It just tells me that the front office isn't trying.
Right but that is still only a small percentage of the attendance. They sell that for the Wiz and Nats but most STHs fir those sports are fans of the actual game.
Their "buzz" account has been tweeting other people's DCU stories fairly frequently, coincidentally most were right after you started this thread.
What the hell is the buzz account? Why would they not be doing anything from their main account? Jesus christ, I just looked. It's still just an automated thing that sends out links from the main site. No reason to not have it in their main feed, since they don't tweet anything else anyway!
You guys are missing the point. Think of the future space archeologists and how they'll learn about the team!
I don't think they necessarily care about rich fans but definitely fans having a interest in the team is secondary and I believe this is common in sports across the board This is the brave new world of sports fandom. Some of these complaints sound eerily like those of Chicago Fire's fans.
First of all, that's a great post by Natty. Agree w/nearly all of it. My belief is that this organization has decided that it will not invest in this team or organization until the stadium is built. In purely business terms, that is a defensible decision. They don't believe investing more than the bare minimum in this team/organization while it is still based at RFK will bring any real return. They may well be right about that. RFK's obvious dilapidation and its increasing inaccessibility from VA means that there are many casual fans who just won't bother anymore beyond maybe a playoff match or two, and that there is little that the club can do to convince them until Buzzards Point gets built. They know they can't compete with the other sports teams in the area right now who play in superior facilities and, in contrast to how it was during much of DCU's glory years, actually field competitive teams. They could advertise, but is that really going to draw that many more fans to a place that is literally falling apart? In their estimation, probably not. I tend to agree with that. Basically, they have decided to run the club in a sort of "stasis mode," not unlike Newcastle, until revenues associated with the stadium begin to arrive. They're not going to spend a ton. They're not going to invest much in the FO or advertising. They are going to do enough to function and to avoid any 2013-style disasters on the field, but little more than that. They have made that evaluation, frankly, because they know the market here for soccer is so strong that it doesn't really matter they do before the stadium gets built, fans will turnout and will pay to watch this club once the new stadium arrives. I tend to agree with that assessment. That the organization made that evaluation, IMO, is a testament to this fanbase and the DC-area soccer community as a whole. It's a sign of this fanbase's strength rather than its weakness. Here is the good news. Unlike Newcastle, there is a scheduled end-date to the stasis. When that stadium opens (or perhaps, as soon as season ticket payments to the new stadium start to arrive) this team should be able to operate again in less austere manner. We're not doomed to this forever, I think. I have some faith this ownership group will understand when the time is right to start investing in this team again, both on and off the field. So for now, I just keep my expectations in check. Considering the lack of experienced hands in the FO, the lack of FO budget that is obvious to all, and the fairly obvious restrictions on the on-field budget, I am pretty much withholding judgement until the stadium revenues arrive and this organization gets taken out of "suspended animation." To the extent I am judging the team at this point, I do so based on these parameters: Is the team competing for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference? Again, considering our budget, that's about what is appropriate to expect. And, due in so small part to the even greater incompetence of many of the other eastern teams, we have done that (or better) ever since the 2013 disaster. Is the team embarrassing itself off the field? Basically, is this team being run in a completely shambolic manner? Is this the "Natinals"-era Nats or the Susan O'Malley Bullets? Again, considering the lack of experienced "soccer people" and just a straight lack of people altogether, that's about the best you can expect. To me, it doesn't appear that United has reached that point. You don't see pieces in the DC Sports Bog goofing on United's FO idiocy very often. Is the stadium construction progressing? Is it running on time? Is it running late? Right now, I am not nearly informed enough to know. The deal hasn't collapsed yet, and in the world of DC sports (Tuesday, excluded) I'll take that as a win. So yeah, basically I am saying is to control your expectations for a few more years. It could suck a lot worse, believe it or not. It's worse to be a Philly fan right now. It's worse to be a Colorado fan right now. It's worse to be a Fire fan right now. It's worse to be a Red Bull fan right now. DC United still has hope. That hope is the in the form of the new stadium and a really strong local soccer marketplace, as evidenced by United's better-than-you'd-think attendance and its near constant presence atop ranking of markets watching soccer on TV. It will get better. Some of our experiences with this team may continue to stink, but I have faith that it will get better. And if I, the dark lord of pessimism, believe that... then I am sure that you call can work on believing it too.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a shuttle that took people to and from The Pug to RFK at one point? Things like that would really help to drum up some interest in going to a game.
Hmmm, both teams got rid of Presidents/FOs that cared deeply about the fan experience and replaced them with folks dedicated to "finding enhanced revenue streams" instead. KC seemed to be the one team to go in the opposite direction and start caring about the fan experience and they're now selling games out and have a good local buzz. I should never be jealous of anything that happens in Kansas, it's just unnatural
To me this is a much better class of problems from when DCU was going 0-whatever or when there was no hope of getting a stadium. I really only care about what happens on the field, the rest is just chatter to fill boring time at work.
Aaron, even though most of what you say is true, my point is that minimal investment could up current revenues. We aren't talking about major media campaigns. And all those people watching soccer won't magically become regulars at Buzzard's Point. A good sustained community and social media presense wouldn't cost much and would be ready to pump the buzz for Buzzard's
I got a call from a rep with a Minnesota phone number I think last week asking me if I wanted to buy tickets. I told him I had had season tickets for years and still did and if he had crosschecked his calls with existing customers and he said he couldn't. :/ What?
But wouldn't that money be better spent on something more likely to make a long term difference? For example, look at youth academy residence the team is starting. To me, that is a much better investment than slightly increasing the caliber of the 20-something kid working in the FO.
I missed a call from a number a week or two ago and didn't recognize it so I googled it. Turns out it was a Minnesota number and people were noting online that the person was a MLS rep selling tickets to different team's games. Edit: Just looked it up again. People said that the person was either selling Sounders , Galaxy, or Union tickets. Very weird.
I wonder if he works for MLS instead of DC United... I didn't ask. If he couldn't check DC's existing customers, it's likely he was contracted through MLS then.
The calls from Minnesota are most likely coming from MLS' National Sales Center. http://www.mlssoccer.com/nationalsalescenter/about
First the youth academy thing is it's own argument. Seems a good idea for the club and soccer in general. But that is an investment in asset development. Players are the most important asset at any club, aside from branding and history. And I am not talking about getting a better intern. As I posted up thread the SGs do better with media on a volunteer basis. Just hold the current staff accountable. Putting a visible sign on RFK. Sending people to meet with local ethnic groups. Give them advice on having group events. They have people they are paying but they aren't demanding this work.
Prominent D.C. lobbyist is mayor’s pick for Events D.C. chair And what happened to the fountain soda inside RFK? #Heinekened Thx, Jay!
So, I agree with a lot of this. But I think a lot of people are skeptical that DC attendance will just recover when the stadium is built - at least sustainably. Moreover, while DC is a big soccer market, MLS in general has struggled to turn those viewers of the international game into MLS fans (Boston and New York also have big WC and European league viewership numbers, but don't have great MLS attendance). In fact, I would tend to argue that a number of markets, like Seattle and KC, have done the opposite, where the MLS team has become a hot ticket and then they've seen spikes in televised soccer viewership. I don't want to speak for other people on these boards, but it seems like the argument is that if DC wants to sell out the stadium for more than the first season, they need to have built a base of people excited about the team in general. I think it is fair to assume that the front office will not suddenly spring to competency overnight. While I agree both that there are acceptable, if not good, reasons that the FO has fallen into disarray and that the team is probably reserving big marketing pushes for around when the stadium is built, I do think that there is good reason to expect the FO to have started to recover from the cleaning house that took place when the new owners came in. I'm not a big social media guy (my Klout score sucks) but that seems like a cheap and easy thing to fix. As an editor, the DC site sends me into a rage over the typos and inconsistent style. A freelancer will fix those things for pennies, if no one wants to hire a full-time professional. Hell, I'll "volunteer" to do it for a gameday ticket. There are other issues, like STH benefits and treatment or supporters group-relations, but even the easy things aren't being fixed. I'm actually pleased that Booty was called three times to thank him for being an STH and asking how he heard about the club. It's not a good thing that apparently things aren't running smoothly internally and that he was called three times or that no one knew how to deal with his answers, but that should come with time and it is a good thing that they are following up and trying to discover how people are hearing about the team. While some of the issues raised I think are long term or are larger than the team is prepared to deal with right now, I don't think it is unreasonable to expect improvement and possibly experimentation with DCU outreach and marketing this far removed from the front office purge.
This is *completely* unacceptable. Say what you will about social media, but it's a huge part of any modern digital communications strategy. Ignoring it is fundamentally flawed.
Well, it looks like they just tweeted this link: http://www.dcunited.com/news/2015/04/black-and-red-basics-dc-united-vs-vancouver-whitecaps ...which contains no content.