First, I am encouraged by the Dynamo playing more as a team this year. Seems the past couple of seasons we had too many head cases. Khano Smith is going to cause teams problems this year. This guy loves to shoot and good things seem to happen when you put the ball at the net. It will be interesting to see if coach resist the urge to move him out of the sub role and put him in a starting position. Coach's quote was something like, "Khano is going to present problems when he comes into a game. We purposely held him out so they could not get a good look at him." That may work first time, but how about second time through the league. It is a good problem to have because this guy can get and take shots. He is a great addition. How about the addition of Buddy Forward at D mid with 30 minutes to go? Dynamo's midfield is pretty sweet, but maybe more of a defensive, hardworking player is needed to compliment the rest of the attackers. Two goals came after he was in the game. Prejudice, heck yes for the former GC Pride captain. I was surprised at Wilmington taking off Keen. For two seasons I have thought he is the best outside mid playing in the US. That's right. This guy has the whole package. I can't believe he is not in the MLS. Just my opinion.
attendance Right now Greensboro is a great soccer playing town, but not a soccer watching town. It is a shame because the owner of the Dynamo has built a wonderful soccer stadium. I have spoken with him and attendance is major problem keeping him from moving back to the A league. Sponsors are the other thing, but he says he has those in line if he can just get the attendance up to 2,500 -3,000. My best guess on attendance was 500 - 750. Probably why you didn't see it posted. And my hats off to the hammerheads that came in support of their team, about a 3 hour drive.
Attendance That's to bad. I happened to notice on Keen.com that the Dynamo averaged 2,605 when they were an A-League team in 1997. Why has the attendance dropped so much. Does it tend to inprove as it gets in to summer?
Dynamo history This will be short and close to the facts, but not perfect. Dynamo started as a USISL team coached by Michael Parker, UNC-G, and made up of top players from his past team and other players from local D1 schools. Games were played at the UNC-G stadium and the rent was UNC-G got the concessions. Pay was low, but these guys were getting a second chance they never thought possible. Key to the attendance was that most, if not all the UNC-G players were involved with youth soccer in some form. Plus, we had watched these players at UNC-G. So getting fans to the games was really no big problem. The move to the Aleague brought on need for more revenue, read "beer," and concession profits. Without all the politics, this led to the Dynamo moving from Greensboro to High Point, about 10 miles. The shame was, and this pisses me off to no end, Greensboro people just do not go to High point for anything. A few of us loyals would go, but few indeed. The next big change was that the Dynamo lost their "local" flavor opting for hopefully better talent available, the Yari Alnutts of the world. As fewer and fewer locals played, interest died and attendance has fallen off. Now owner Neill MacPherson used an existng field from the Greensboro Soccer Association and built a pretty neat stadium with about 2 mil of his own money. Even as Pro Select they still have the mindset of bringing in the best talent they can, but do include local talent. Problem is stadium is on the outside of town and not the easiest to get to and they have gone for several years without Dynamo players having the connections with the youth players. So that is a bit of the Dynamo rollercoaster. I am sure there is much more to it, along with other opinions. And to answer your question directly, yes attendance will improve in the summer and I suspect you will see attendance at 1,000 plus for the games.
Location is really a problem with that stadium...it's almost to the Virginia state line! Still, it is a very nice place but location is really crucial for these teams. Remember the Raleigh Flyers? They ran into the same problem, because of their stadium location.
Stadium location/ Advertisement Why did the owner have the stadium build in such an unpopulated area? Did he want it near Byran Park, or did he get a good price on the land, or what. Also, how do the Dynamo advertise? Do they use T.V. ads or do they just rely on newspapers to get the word out? If they want to get their attendance up they really need to focus more on advertising.
stadium Just so everyone knows, Luv was joking, it only seems like it is at the VA line. Luv, if you are talking about RAL we do have just about the same situation, which honestly I can not understand. A 30 minute drive, counting city traffic, just isn't that big a deal to me, but I guess to some it is. The field is at the Bryan Park Soccer Complex. GSA "donated " the land and MacPherson built the stadium. MacPherson works with GSA on field usage, letting boys and girls classic play games, youth tournaments play games, and now Greensboro College is going to play some home games and host tournaments in the stadium. MacPherson has shown time and again his love of the game and support of Greensboro/Triad soccer. Advertising is done over at least one popular radio station, some news paper, and players making appearances and "clinics."
Exactly...I was talking about RAL. It's a similar situation with Bryan Park's location. For example, SAS is centrally located in the Triangle, and it's just a few minutes off I-40, making it a lot more accessible. If the Dynamo's stadium was located somewhere near Four Seasons mall, it would be ideal.