Borough Boys Issue Statement RE: MLS Expansion

Just another straw for them to grasp at.

 

If we are going to talk branding seriously I think we need to acknowledge that NY/USA is just a part of City´s branding ambitions..like it´s part of a number of clubs branding ambitions.
It seems that earlier this year both Barcelona and Manchester United had meetings in New York attended by thousands of fans.

No doubt NYC will also be branding itself, locally and to a lesser degree nationwide?
You might even suspect that it would be counterproductive for City not to brand NYC as much as possible eh?
Having a NYC team starting from scratch promoting City is like robbing Peter to pay Paul..In other words, there´s no profit in it.

No, I think IMHO that the keyword is not branding, the keyword is ambition..You don´t want one smallish brand promoting a bigger brand, you want to have two biggish brands.

 

Don't fall off your high horse.

As to your argument: Chivas USA.

 

Rode a clydesdale once. Awesome.

I've said this before, the problem with Chivas USA isn't the name or the location, it's the owner. He is cheap and doesn't care if the team succeeds. No TV contract, slashed player payroll, a front-office reportedly only including five people or so. He's not even trying.

 

Yeah, I think that's more than branding. It's branding by your regional nemesis.

 

...and if not....they at least will go out supporting something that is in Long Island.

 

I don't think the gag reflex felt by many people who would have liked to have supported NY2 would be been as extreme if they managed the announcement a lot differently. There were two major narratives they could have gone with, and they picked the wrong one and really hit hard on all of the wrong notes.

The narrative they chose was Manchester City FC is buying into MLS and extending the Manchester City brand to the USA. Look, here are a bunch of Manchester City players. Here is Manchester City coming out in a silly t-shirt that says NYC FC. We're probably going to wear the same colors as Manchester City too, even though they have no relevance to New York. We're partnering with the Yankees, just in case we didn't alienate you by being a Manchester City minor league affiliate!

The narrative could have been: Sheikh Mansour is a really big soccer fan, loves New York City and really wants to be a part of MLS. He happens to own Manchester City... but let's been honest... New York City has much much bigger potential than Manchester. It's the media capital of the world and it deserves a team with its own identity and global ambitions. New York City FC will be built to represent New York City on the global stage, but it will be built from the ground up as New York City's team with its own identity. Sure, we may call in resources from Manchester to help now and again because that's just efficiency in business, but this is its own team, with its own destiny, and it's second to no one, certainly not second fiddle to Manchester City. It just happens to have the same person owning it.

The second narrative would have gone over much better but unfortunately they decided to go with the Manchester City buys into MLS narrative, which was just tone deaf and stupid. They did this to themselves. Frankly, I'm surprised that Don Garber didn't know better after Chivas USA and seeing how the New York market has been ambivalent to the Red Bulls despite a great stadium.

Don Garber is the person I'm most disappointed in over this because I really thought he "got it." He really could have delivered something great with this, something that would have made his legacy. Instead he delivers us Man City USA.

 

Cosmos have the money, they just don't want to play by the rules MLS has in place.

 

IMO, they basically wanted to be Notre Dame Football.

 

No no ffs..Sela Sports don´t have that much money, what they have is a Saudi bank as shareholder but from that to being able to spend freely..

 

That's the real issue. If the Cosmos don't want to play by MLS parity rules there's no place for the Cosmos in MLS. Ever.

 

My view is the BBs made friends in the Cosmos org and want to hitch the wagon to them. Nothing wrong with that IMHO.

To me all 3 teams in NYC area a flawed and I really haven't decided who to follow ( as far as the 2 new teams go) .

Energy Drink FC: destroyed my Metros to create a commercial for their drink so I will never follow them.

NeoCosmos: Have no intention of actually playing in NYC and apparently will only be a minor league team. Have seemed a lot more interested in selling T-shirts than playing in the top league. Basically the Rough Riders with a throwback name.

NYCFC: Come off as a purely a way to expand the brand of Man City. The linkup with the Yankees doesn't really make me want to support them being a Met fan. If they play at YS the travel time isn't that much different than RBA for me.

 

Clarkstown Eagles of the NPSL...c'mon up and I'll smuggle you in a beer!

 

Interesting dilemma you got there..So given that all three are "flawed" will you watch any of them and in that case what might attract you to see them?

 

Don't laugh but I was FCNY's season ticket holder.

 

Don't get me wrong. I do plan on going to matches of both the Cosmos and NYCFC. For the Cosmos I can't see me giving much more than going out to the odd match ( much like I used to go to the odd Long Island Rough Riders when they played in USISL). NYCFC will depend where they play to be honest. If it's Yankee Stadium most likely I'll go to a few matches a season. If they play in a stadium in Queens, my wife and I will very likely have a least some sort of multi-match plan maybe even a season ticket. .

 

Good answer..Well, at least I can say that Queens is still the main target for a stadium they say, but also the most contested it seems.

 

Although flawed I do recognize that NYCFC is the true realization of the MLS2NY campaign. I could make an argument that Doug Peterson and FCNY were more successful in realizing the stated original objectives of the BBs than the Cosmos ever plan on reaching.

 

And why the Borough Boys get so much derision from many of us with no choice - and often no team.

Poor baby, have to pick from three teams. waaaaa, waaaaa, waaaa.

Seriously. This is your problem. In the United States? You have to pick from three professional soccer teams to attend and support.

 

So we are just shut up and take what ever the almighty soccer gods give us? Sorry professional sports teams aren't a charity or something I'm obligated to give money to.

 

But it's like "first world problems". Bitching about Starbuck's vs Whole Foods while half the world goes hungry half the time.

From 2000-2006 the closes professional soccer team from my house was a 2 hour drive. Today, it's still farther than the distance from Red Bull Arena to Hofstra.

Sorry if I don't seem particularly sympathetic.

 

Don't have to tell me. I'm a former NY Centaur, SI Viper, FCNY fan.. ;-)

 

Now I've had a week to think about it your 2 hour trip one way to watch a sporting event is sooooo much worse than what I had to do from 3/02-3/08.. I mean how can training in such places such as Ft Sill or Ft Drum ever compare. I now understand how sitting in a air conditioned car with such thoughts of who will score during a game can be stressful. How can my experiences of being in an up armored Humvee in the sandbox ever compare ?

BTW from 95-01 my average trip to the see such glorious teams as the Centaurs, Rough Riders, SI Vipers and the Metros was in the 1:50-2:40 range.