Chris Bergin: San Diego Chivas will follow MLS rules according to Trey Fitz-Gerald

By the way it's San DIEGO, not San Jose.

 

That sounds great but how does this better the American game??

1) Mexican owner doesn't really give a *#*#*#*# about the League.
2) He's racist and hates Americans in general.
3) He's only promoting CHIVAS which is a Mexican club name and doesn't take into account anything about the San Diego community(History, tradition, etc.)

All in all...this a shyt deal for American soccer. I for one will not support it and will do everything I can to involve the labor officials onto this supposed franchise of equal opportunity which we all know it is not.

 

Yes he will

 

Sorry for any confusion caused by my ill-fated attempt at sarcasm to which you respond above.

...

Anyway, I don't think we really know whether Vergara intends to market to Mexicans primarily, Hispanics more generally, or everyone yet more generally. His comments in the papers and in radio interviews are all over the place. He seems to say whatever he thinks the audience at hand may want to hear - which is sort of what you'd expect from a snake-oil, er, uh, I mean vitamin supplement, salesman.

It probably makes plenty of sense to most of us to market a team to a broader audience, but Vergara may think he needs to focus his resources on the Mexican market, at least initially. Who knows.

What I always wonder about in these debates is why people feel put off or offended if an organization decides to market to a specific audience. Why does that bother you so much? I'm not Mexican, but I would've been happy enough to buy season tix for a Houston Chivas had Vergara decided to come here. I don't see marketing a team toward Mexicans as excluding me. What's the big deal?

 

I'm sorry, but did you forget the rules of when you put an 's' on a word?

 

Hey - The name Chivas will make Americans think it's named after the scotch.

 

I agree with this.

But let's acknowledge that Vegara's SD team would feel different than, let's say, the Chicago Fire, which markets heavily to the Hispanic and Polish communities.

Sometimes ignoring half the market to better serve the other half is smart business. Vergera probably feels that he can get a huge response from the Mexican community in SD and around the country if he makes this team feel like it belongs to them. I assume he will make some efforts to draw the suburban soccer crowd, but it will be a second priority.

I want to see him try this. I'm not sure whether it will work or not, but I'm eager to see.

 

And Chivas Regal could be a tremendous sponsor for the team...

 

how about Johnny Walker for the Metros ?

 

Zig Zag was a sponsor of a Euro team. I wish I could remember who. I've even seen their ads on boards on the sidelines.

 

You're too late...

Those of us who get the shoot-out already know that Johnny Walker does advertise on the Metros' cable broadcasts. And they do it with a straight face.

 

Ditto...

 

Re: Re: Chris Bergin: San Diego Chivas will follow MLS rules according to Trey Fitz-Gerald

You gotta love those inflammatory Bigsoccer posts.

Well, for starters, it expands the league so that more americans(even if they are Mexican-American) get an opportunity to play professionally. Also, increasing competition for the americans in the league already.

He's willing to invest over $10 million just to start out in this league. He obviously cares if it succeeds

That is a pretty damn serious accusation. So, if I may ask, what exactly are you basing this on.

He's using the Chivas brand name to get publicity for his team. He can give it a San Diego flavor in time. For instance, after they officially announce that San Diego is the city it will be in.

 

Well I am an anglo who grew up in san diego don't speak spanish (accept for the occasional cuss word) and I will be supporting San Diego Chivas with all my heart. Will even give me a reason to support Chivas in the mexican league too.

 

This seems realy dumb to me. SD CHivas is great for MLS. First it expands the league. In a sports Market where other leagues are looking seriously at contraction. THe team is looking to tap into the large Mexican american Community. THe largest minority in the country and one that is extremely passionet about soccer. Third this will bring soccer back to one of the great soccer cities. San diego has one of the best developed youth systems in the country has consistantly supplied players for the US national team and has had a history of supporting soccer (the San diego Soccers are still remebered in this city).
Finally if anyone has looked at a map san diego is on the Border. Tijuana is a city of 3million plus people and NO first division club. People in Tijuana are used to crossing the border for jobs shopping and to see family. This will be both the SD and TJ chivas. Or is maybe that the problem people don't like the idea that maybe there will be brown faces in the crowd. I am a white "anglo" who follows the EPL first and MLS only occassionally. But I have been hoping to see a team in San Diego since the start of the MLS and all along felt the best chance for the success of the team was for it to be a Transnational team.

 

The SOCKERS are still around in case you didn't know. You make it sound as if they haven't been around in years. The rest of what you said is very true.

 

The only way I will support a franchise like Chivas is if it doesn't discriminate against American players(polish, german, mexican, english decent, etc etc). If not you can bet it will fail.

 

Re: Re: Re: Chris Bergin: San Diego Chivas will follow MLS rules according to Trey Fitz-Gerald

What about other americans?

San Diego Isn't the only city seriuosly attempting to have an MLS franchise.

Well unless he's lying to the press it doesn't sound like he plans to do anything but inject non-American players into the league. Like I said he will have to prove to ALL American fans that his intentions are sincere.

 

Re: Re: Chris Bergin: San Diego Chivas will follow MLS rules according to Trey Fitz-Gerald

If it fails, my guess is that it will fail because of the lack of available talent vs the lack of support.

You cannot limit yourself to a relatively small subset of the available soccer talent in this country and hope to succeed.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Chris Bergin: San Diego Chivas will follow MLS rules according to Trey Fitz-Gerald

You asked how it helps american soccer. I gave you an answer.

So what, neither is Seattle, neither is Cleveland, but if somebody is going to get it, someone else is going to be disappointed. And, how does that even come close to justifying your comments that he doesn't give a **** about the league?

But how does that make him RACIST? The FMF is a league awash with foreigners. Chivas uses only mexican players in the hopes of being a source of pride to the mexican people, NOT to spawn hatred of others. It is now the single most identifying characteristic of the club. So, in bringing the name over, it makes sense that this policy would come with it. Who knows, maybe it can be a small source of pride to the mexicans on this side of the bourder as well.

I do agree with you that he does have some things to prove to all MLS fans in general, but I do not believe the things you brought up to be among them.

 

Don't use the name Chivas and then we're set. We don't alienate the fans of other Mexican League teams or people not of Mexican descent.

Would a name like Conquistadors have negative or positive connotations? Historically it's a mixed bag, but currently how is it felt? Something that's unique to those from South of the border, but equal among them all. This name might be crap, but there have got to be others.

 

Re: Re: Re: Chris Bergin: San Diego Chivas will follow MLS rules according to Trey Fitz-Gerald

True, but it's not impossible. I think if they had an only hispanic baseball team, they would at least have a shot at the world series. And an African-American only basketball team(smaller population than hispanics) they could still contend for the championship. While Mexican-americans are a "relatively small subset" compared to white americans, they are a relatively large subset to all others. Once you figure in the % of soccer fans in the mexican communities compared to the % of soccer fans in all american communities it doesn't seem as limiting anymore.