Is OKC BACK on the NASL Expansion map?

https://t.co/STne9x2Rnf

This article was written in Madrid on Friday. Fairly complete coverage of the general resentment facing Rayo OKC and Raul Martin.

My browser automatically translates to English. There are also URL translators on the web.

 

http://matagigantes.net/rayismo-o-barbarie/rayo-oklahoma-las-locas-aventuras-de-mr-presa/

 

Welcome Chivas USA II! Lessons not learned from that disaster. Rayo won't attract fans because their parent club is from La Liga. I mean, you would if your parent club was Real Madrid or Barca. So if you are a Barca or Real Madrid fan, which maaaany people are, your chances of going "Hey, Rayo! My team trounces them all the time! I'll give them a shot here in America." is slim to zero.

 

David,

This article sites that same concern.

http://talkingbaws.com/2015/11/collin-giulianis-2-for-3k-the-challenges-of-rayo-okc/

 

Maaaany people in Oklahoma City?

Let's be honest here: if you're a Barca or Real Madrid fan, especially in Oklahoma, your chances of supporting the local lower-division side (except ironically) are slim to none going in.

Far bigger issues are them being second to market by two years, the Energy having what I believe is currently the best local stadium option and the vast majority of potential ticket buyers already in the other camp. And the market - Serie A/Other Euro League aficionado notwithstanding - doesn't make a huge distinction between Division II and Division III here.

Chivas USA was crap because they scarcely had an idea of what they were doing except for a brief period when they had Bradley and then Preki. The Chivas brand resonates far more with far more Mexican-Americans in the Los Angeles market (and turns off a bunch) than a Spanish secondary brand will (in either direction) in Oklahoma City.

If Rayo OKC has a clue, spends money, leapfrogs the Energy in terms of stadium experience, makes a splash with a couple of recognizable player signings, plays well, makes community outreach efforts and devotes resources to actually selling tickets, they'll be in a better place. Whether it will be enough to beat an opponent that's already been doing some of those things for the last two years is to be determined.

But it goes far deeper than just who the parent company is.

 

Rayo supporters are done with Presa

http://www.sofoot.com/a-oklahoma-le-rayo-perd-de-son-vallecano-211894.html

The fans in Vellacas felt that they got sold out to the highest bidder.

Having a Chinese sponsor was a major slap to face as the supporters protest against communism and fascism.

Now they feel that RayoOKC also does not represent their values -- association to militarism and conservation republican agendas.

I don't see how Presa can justify a capital call when the opportunity is presented to build a soccer specific stadium in OKC.

The illustrious finish line in the OKC soccer war is the soccer specific stadium. I don't think Rayo OKC has the horsepower to finish the race first.

 

If Rayo attempt to spend any real money here they will be crushed at home.

Just the way it is.

 

Someone should translate into Spanish how much I am enjoying the consumption of their tears.

 

I am enjoying the consumption of their tears so much:

Estoy disfrutando el consumo de sus lágrimas tanto

Happy to be of service

 

Peterson is aware of the criticism, but it’s not something that the commissioner is overly concerned with at the moment.

“I’ve got a little saying that ‘clubs stay, owners can come and go.’ We’re trying to build stuff that’s going to last for centuries,” he said. “It’s interesting, though, it’s just part of the name, not the full name. And if they ever did leave, it would leave with them.”


Peterson is a master of mixed messages. This club could be a top club in the country very quickly because of Rayo's involvement, but owners come and go.

 

I really wouldn't worry about the criticism either. Im not the commish but I think Peterson and Martin are both handling things the right way. Aside from this most recent back peddling by Peterson, which I've come to expect of him, I'm not worried/concerned about the team at all. I think it'll be an interesting experiment going forward.

@soccerokc They might have hiccups along the way to starting this spring but until they're late relax... Theres not much you can do. Backlash from their supporters in Spain does not matter either, nor should it concern you in OKC at all. This guy brought the team out of bankruptcy, remember this is Spain too, and I'm sure his aptitude for business is better than most the supporters group in Madrid...

If not then hey, you'll always be able to say "A todaso" and no one can take that away from you! Just don't get caught up in protests and politics in Spain and try to reconcile that with something you should feel in OKC; I'm sure its not good for your health in some way.

 

I see why you think that Chivas USA was a complete disaster. But each time I hear people bashing Chivas USA and MLS for taking the decision to let them in I ask myself if it really was such a bad decision, given the situation MLS was in at the moment were they took that decision. Everyone only seems to look at the fact that the marketing strategy of Chivas USA did not work out. And everyone claims that the disaster could have been predicted. But what was the value of the signal that a rich entrepreneur was willing to invest into MLS during those difficult years? I would guess that MLS would have taken in Toronto instead of Chivas if Toronto and their owners had been an option at that moment. Could it be that the move of enlarging the ownership group with a guy with deep pockets helped build confidence in other investors that the whole endeavor would not go belly up before their own (potential) investments could ever carry any fruit? Or is it possible that the interest of people like the ones behind Chivas USA was what kept MLS alive in those years? That is, could it be that the handful of owners who were running the show back then said 'ok if there is no other option let's buy some time with their expansion fees and if the whole thing is still not in a better shape in 2-3 years we close shop'. If Chivas has had any such indirect benefits then the return to the Chivas USA investment would be much larger than what people give it credit for. So my question would be: since you - implicitly - make the assumption that there were no such benefits can you point me to the evidence by which this implicit assumption is backed?

I think we should wait for a while before we make judgements of this type. Rayo Vallecano supporters are mostly leftist. And so it should come as no surprise that part of the more extreme supporters think that they are entitled to decide about how the private funds of another person should be spent. If the owner is serious about his Rayo Vallecano investment then he will have to find a way to live/deal with the opposition of some of the most fervent leftist activists among the supporters anyway. They will criticize him for each decision they would not deem in line with what they consider the 'right' way of running a club. And running a business that has the approval of the various factions of ideologically inspired supporters would be impossible. So while I don't know if the owner is a really serious guy (it's quite possile that he is not; after all Spanish football has produced owners like the Gil family or the former owners of Deportivo La Coruña and others), I would not dismiss the chances of Rayo OKC simply on the basis of the fact that the guy faces opposition from among the supporters of his Spanish club.

 

While I'm not convinced that Rayo has the $ to do OKC well. It's a competitive league and starting a new team is difficult to do well the first year; re: Ottawa, Indy, J'ville. I question if Rayo will invest the money and time to be successful. Realistically, how much time will folks in OKC give this team considering they already have a USL team? How much time and resources will Rayo invest? The game day experience is going to be a key factor and that leads to questions for a stadium; how is Rayo going to pay for that?

Each year the quality of the league improves. All teams must improve to keep pace. Expansion teams have a difficult task to overcome on the field. Rayo is in a tough environment, I'm wishing them luck.

 

Hi! I'm here to tell you some truth about Rayo Vallecano.

First of all, Raúl Martín Presa is one of the most stupid presidents in Liga BBVA. You can believe me, I've met him and he's really stupid.

As you know, Rayo Vallecano is a modest team though this guy wants to show it as a big team. No. That's not true. We have a small stadium in a really modest and left-winged neighborhood of Madrid. Also, our stadium is falling apart. Some fences are so old and oxidized they can break anytime, most of seats are really DIRTY, no light in some parts of the stadium (some old people have fallen through the stairs because of this)... And you don't wanna know the awful bathrooms we have... Some photos and a great video of Athletic Club de Bilbao fans falling into the field (1:58):




(photos by @Abarrancos, @bukaneros92 and @paulreidy67 on Twitter)

Remember that every season ticket holder pay more than 100€ per year for his seat. To get this shit. Yeah. Presa is really worried about our happiness.

About the money. Presa is not very tidy about club's money. This summer he left some trainers from the club's academy without their salary. No reasons. After they protest on social media and talk to some on line media about it, he decided to pay. What a great president.

Maybe you've read about the seven stripe shirt Rayo Vallecano uses in their second kit. A "beautiful" iniciative. It would be really beautiful if it wasn't a sham. The club pay part of the money they get of the shirts to some associations: FALSE. They add 8€ to the normal price so the customer is the one who really pays to those associations. "Oh, Rayo Vallecano is REALLY WORRIED about social causes": FALSE. In fact, they have forbidden the biggest support group, Bukaneros, show boards with social grantings. For example, Bukaneros couldn't enter the stadium with a board that said "Sexism kills" because it was "violent".

And we can't forget last year Presa tried to remove Rayo Vallecano's women's team, their only professional team with titles, claiming there wasn't money for them. In one year he has gained 2 MM€ to get Rayo OKC. Wow, this man is really unpredictable.

These are only some examples of how this guy works. Almost every Rayo Vallecano supporter is against Rayo OKC. If you understand some Spanish, you can look up #PresaVeteYa on Twitter (#PresaGoAway) to see supporters' rage.


By @bukaneros92: "the future is in young people, not in Oklahoma".

 

Look, I lik your spunk, but if you don't know the obvious responses to this.....well...

 

Cantera is español for youth teams, not for young people

 

You can be appreciative of where you currently are and still have a desire to have "better" so while "stupid" isn't the right word to use, they do have a "right" to have an opinion of how their owner spends money on soccer ... and if they don't agree with him spending it on OKC then I see no reason the can't voice their displeasure.

Taking them out of bankruptcy doesn't put him above criticism.

 

Can't disagree with you at all in the way you're look at it. But just like you come on BS or possibly talk about it in your local watering holes in how you dislike Funk, McLaughlin ... those fans have the right to voice their displeasure.

That being said, it's probably nothing you need to concern yourself with either ... but it may mean there's a less of a "the Rayo OKC ownership group is any way morally better than the Energy group" in some of the discussions moving forward ... then again, that likely won't be the case. Seems like there are similar issues to both groups (fans not liking the way they operate the teams they own). To you, Funk is scum on a personal level because of your fandom to the Blazers, etc ... same is being said about the owners of the Rayo OKC group ... and both have valid arguments I would say.

 

I've been around enough countries and clubs in Europe, many middling to lower end like Rayo, to know that money spent outside the club is consodered sacrilege.

This isn't Manc Citeh with cash to burn, or possibly Celtic who have money and don't need it all to dominate in their league.

This is quite different. I expect issues back in Spain.

 

I'd just like to point out 100 euros a year is a bargain for any season tickets for any professional team.

Investment into a market where you can charge people 500 USD+ for a second division product, in a high school stadium you didn't build, where player salaries average 40-45k a year seems like good business acumen to me.

Renovating that stadium in Madrid, or even fathoming trying to build a new one, might just be out of the current budget that is only recovering from bankruptcy.

I'm not a cheerleader of this just because, I actually think there is merit in this move that may benefit both Rayo and the NASL. There indeed is inherent risk involved (no question about that) but to suggest its doomed/stupid from the start just because you do not like it tells me that your scope is too narrow to realize everything going on. Granted I am not saying I know everything going on either, but everyone just needs to calm down and relax... Let's see how this plays out, it is truly interesting.

@Lost_Hill Quien lo pican se pierden, ya no? Tranquillo pues. Y bienveniedo a BS.

 

I was referring to the popularity of those clubs globally, not specifically Oklahoma City.