Calling Out John Wagner

No, I understand and I'm not blaming you. You do alot for the true fans with your web site, reports, and radio show. So expect a call Weds.

 

Thanks, I appreciate that. I too am looking forward to Dustin's interview as I have never met Wagner either.

 

Christmann interview with Wagner

I will be very interested in reading that interview. (Okay, that is a bit of a "duh" statement, but there you have it.)

As far as the move went, the decision was made before enough people knew enough to say or do anything.

At the time, I was happy about the saved money, skeptical about the hispanic fans, and thinking, "as long as they save as much dough for Frisco, great." Frankly, if they save $500,000 over two years and spend that on making sure they can afford a roof, great. I still think that.

I think the one-two punch of a bad stadium situation and a bad season was simply too much. At leas the Chicago folk saw it coming with the renovation of Soldier Field on the books for some time.

Seriously - I think the better MLS coaches would have done a better job of adapting to the turf. Instead, Jeffries tries to redo the defense AND start a very young (albeit very talented) keeper. As fans who were used to the team having to struggle from time to time but NEVER this bad, it was simply unimaginable.

So - back to Wagner and where we go from here, with that recent history as a backdrop. First, I think many people are going to gague this ownership group on who they hire for a coach. The GM seems (at least right now) to be a competent business person who (hopefully) gets soccer. He does seem to be saying the right things about the game and the fans. But if they hire someone who doesn't know MLS, and doesn't have at least a serious potential for success....

That move will dictate what is done about the roster....

And we will have the 2004 season to contend with.

Secondly, it will be interesting to see how things go at the game on Sunday (USA WNT v. Mexico) as far as Sam's Army is concerned. Will they let us do our thing, or will they allow the 12-yr-old girls and their daddies to push us around because we're standing and making noise? More directly, what is done for the fans in general (price) and different specific groups - overall hispanic fans, the different SCs, etc. I think the move to the Southside reserved worked out great - and not just because we won. We seemed to get a better response from the North Side, we had as much if not more room to maneuver, and we still had good field access (yelling at players, etc.)

As I understand it, it was Wagner who proposed the seating situation for these seats for The Inferno (not the idea of the move, but the logistics of how to do it) in that he suggested that they were willing to block off a section of seats and save them for The Inferno, that we would buy our season seats and then what was left would be used for filler - people who wanted to buy game day seats, etc., could buy a seat in The Inferno.

This flexibility answers some significant issues for those in The Inferno who believe that we need to be able to add people as we go - that buying a set amount of seats in the pre-season would limit us over the course of a season to add people who saw us and wanted to join. And it requires them (HSG) to go out of their way for us. I think this is a great sign.

I agree that we need to stay on our toes and work for the best arrangement we can.

We need to be consistent in our voice that the hispanic audience MUST be a part of the Burn fanbase - they are too soccer-knowledgeable, too passionate, and there are too many of them to be successful in Dallas without them. Personally, I like a vast majority of the atmosphere they bring. There is a level of excitement that you don't get from the Library types. (IMO, do that - make the hispanic audience a major part of the Burn fanbase - and HSG simply won't be ABLE to do some of the cheerleader/sound-during the run of play stuff....)

 

Remember when the move was formally made. January, I think. I was in Cabo, reading my e mail and looking at the ocean. Right after the move was made, I typed a long hypothetical dialogue. To make a very long dialectic short, it was something like this.

DRUNKEN PETER: This is going to be a disaster.
HSG MOUTHPIECE PETER: No, it will be great!

Niether Wagner nor anyone else could immagine how right I would turn out to be. And there is not much the team can do to make it better. The best thing we can do is take seats on the side, where we were the last game. At least we should be able to hang some flags and banners.

Winning will solve all problems. Too band we will not see many next year.

 

I remember some of that. Oh the move to Southlake will be great, blah, blah, blah.

Yeah so great that even those who played in the Burn Bowl say it sucks. I think alot of people(including myself) are not so much upset over the move, but being told we will have this and that, but then only to be told. Well, you know how we said this? Well, there was a small problem.

Now I was at one point going to college as a business major, but dropped out. My question to Mr. Wagner is, how much research did they do before hand.

 

Sweeper33 is right on with both posts in this thread. Season ticket holders, the Latino fans, and the targeted suburban fan base all need answers for 2004 and legitimate peeks at 2005 (it's just good marketing, particularly to overcome the bad marketing impact of 2003). Setting aside unproductive issues about how did what to get us here, as a season ticket holder, I need to see some answers to feel good about competence and vision in the front office and to justify a further investment.

 

Who was Runner up Stadium #1?
Who was Runner up Stadium #2?

Runner up the first was the Cotton Bowl. There was no third place.

What did Dragon Stadium offer that placed them above Runner ups 1 & 2?

Less than half of the rent of the Cotton Bowl, a percentage of the parking and concessions. If nobody showed up at the games, the Burn still would have saved money.

If there is a gain will you invest this surplus in improving the game day experience at Dragon Stadium in 2004? (field markings, seating, ticket pricing, parking passes) How about local advertising & broadcasting?

I highly doubt it. The team still lost money, just not nearly as much. I expect a real ad blitz when the move to Frisco is made, becasue, at that point, the managment will know the team is about to make a profit. Of course, that profit goes in the bank and just offests the losses of the teams without stadiums, but it helps the league. Every ticket sold does. Further, I think the managment realizes that Dragon Stadium is so poor it might turn off casual fans.

When & how will you start communicating to your customers (Dallas Burn season ticket holders) and respond to their concerns Mr. Wagner/HSG?

He will not. The GM will.

John Wagner - why should I come back to Dragon Stadium?

If you will forgive me for answering a question with a question, who was fan of the year last season? Have some pride in that, something that nobody else has accomplished. Plus, we know where you live.

 

Ladies and Gentleman I think we have found our stadium name.

 

Well, I too am still waiting to hear something. But a the point in my previous post, business is not rocket science.

Did he list the pros and cons after seeing that the Burn would not lose as much money.

Did he even make a list of back ups?

Why did he even choose Sucklake(it was very heard to not say this the other week when I called in).

All in all, I think Wagner should step up to the plate.

i hate what ifs, but here is a big one. Would the Burn have sucked this bad if they were at the Cotton Bowl?

 

The Burn would have done better, might even have beat out LA for a spot in the playoffs. To me, no question at all. With Chad not being as slow on grass, the field being better on the health of the players, and the good crowds, to me it's a slam dunk that the Burn would have been better.

The players hate to play in sucklack. What else is there to say?

Now, that said Jeffries would still be coach if they had stayed. I'll leave it up to you to decide if that would have been good.

 

I just don't see the bang for the buck for a team in Frisco to court the Hispanic (recently immigrated/primarily spanish speaking), as opposed to the primarily English speaking middle class Hispanic who has moved to Frisco or its environs.

Write em off. You got north dallas soccer moms to court.

Things I want at the new stadium.

1) Grass pitch

2) 5000 capacity Chuck E Cheese franchise on site.