Establishing a Local Supporters Group

Milwaukee needs a grass roots effort to the scale of the Sons of Ben, the Indy Brickyard Battalion, Borough Boys or the San Antonio Crocketteers.

There is no magic wand here, but it needs to start somewhere. We'll need an identity, mission and a few meetings among a long list of other important matters. Below are just a few starting points, just to get the conversation started.

Identifiers/Imagery/Names:
What names should we go with for our supporters group? My personal feeling, not being from Milwaukee, is it should be an identifier that is statewide. That way the Fox Valley, Madison area and Milwaukee area can feel a part of the bigger picture.

Well for starters we could go with our state flag.

Flag Imagery and Symbols: agriculture, manufacturing, a minor, mining, a sailor, shipping and Forward (state motto) {not specifically on the flag but dairy - "America's Dairyland"}
Date: 1848
Colors: Blue with yellow and white lettering

We do not need to use any of these images, but my thoughts were to use them at least as a starting point.

Another thing to to keep in mind is should we we overlap with our other sports teams: Badgers, Brewers, Bucks and Packers?

Teams / Leagues:
At this point I'd support anything the plays professionally for 90 minutes. Yes MLS would be the ultimate goal, but I'd support a NASL (preferably) or USL PRO team.

Anyone interested in actually getting something started instead of waiting for someone else to, please send me a message. I'd like to reiterate I do not have all the answers on how to get this off the ground, but I'm tired of waiting for something to happen.

 

Would it be to close to the Brewers identity?

Wish I had a great idea, but for some strange reason my creativity is blocked or hung up on the Mad Cows (play off of mad cow disease and America's Dairyland).

 

I get the lack of farmers inside the city. And the only issue I have with the Dairyland Farmboys is not being gender neutral. If we go Dairyland, possible colors: black and white (with red trim - for the iconic red barns).

I prefer the Braumeisters over the Brewmeisters. Not too sure about the colors. Cream, amber, steel and copper stick out when I think of brewing beer or the beer itself.
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Also, once a few more folks come on board (hopefully a graphic designer), we should start setting up meetings to form our identity and mission in further detail. I'm sure we could find a Milwaukee area bar to meet up at; The Highbury, Caffery's Pub, Upper 90 etc.

 

The Braumeister's colors seem to go well together. I like the identities and colors we're putting together. Once there are more (or actual) members, we'll want to have a good pool to choose from. Hopefully we'll have 3-5 options once the final vote actually happens.
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The next step is designing the structure of the Supporter's Group. At first we may start with a committee. Eventually we may have a full board with the appropriate leadership roles and non-profit status. Obviously this may take years to accomplish (if ever).

 

Forward '48. (Wisconsin's Motto and the year it was established, 1848).

The Choices (so far).
- Braumeisters
- Dairyland Farmboys
- Forward '48
- Mad Cows

 

I was hoping for a few more people to jump on board, but either way let's get this going. This is my first stab at our next steps.

1. Reach out to potential members
   1. Facebook group "Bring Professional Soccer to Milwaukee"
   2. There are already good programs in the area (Marquette, UW-Milwaukee, FC Milwaukee, etc). It wouldn't be a bad thing to let them know we're getting off the ground.
2. Set a formal 1st supporters group meeting - time and place (local bar?)
3. Work on the shared agenda (I don't have all the answers, so I won't pretend to)
   1. Establish a Name
   2. Define Our Goals
      1. Short Term: crest and colors, create a mission and membership parameters
      2. Long Term: host / co-host World Cup viewing parties and working with and showing a potential ownership group Milwaukee (and Wisconsin) can support a professional outdoor soccer team (realistically we should aim for NASL or USL PRO, obviously MLS would be our ultimate goal, but we need a track record first)
4. What can folks do until Milwaukee gets a team?
   1. I think we could take a page out of the Free Beer Movement. Just getting the conversation started is key.
   2. Once we have an identity we could make an effort to go to the MLS Draft Weekend?

Hopefully we can have something of substance by next year's World Cup. Here we go.

 

I like your list, Iron Brigade has a nice ring to it. And Old Abe also gives a similar narrative as the Indy Eleven. To go off your '48ers we could evolve the Foward '48 to Forward '48ers or Forward '48s. Milwaukee also has a Harley Davidson history, the Biker Boys / Girls has some good visuals.

On a personal note, I follow the Eau Claire Aris, Madison 56ers and Milwaukee Bavarians on facebook (just to keep in the know), but living at least an hour away from two of the three cities I find it hard to justify the drive for NPSL. Even though my preference of NASL over USL PRO, I would drive the hour for Division 3 soccer and up, not Division 4 (NPSL or PDL).

And who knows, in the future Fond du Lac could actually host the 3 Wisconsin based NPSL teams for a State Cup of sorts. It would be easier on their "commute". Eau Claire is the furthest at 3 1/2 hours away.

 

Well it's after the holidays. I'm thinking our next step is to set up a meeting time and place. I'm also wondering if the Milwaukee Soccer Development Group (https://www.facebook.com/MILSoccerDG) would like to come on board. They primarily help with youth soccer, but it would seem they might be interested. And for that matter the Northern Front 316 of the Wave as well. They might be Wave specific though.

It just seems Milwaukee is too big not to have some group pushing for professional outdoor soccer in the area.