I would make this deal.... Don't lose any more coin flips after they beat NY on wednesday. Make admission cheap like $5 to the home USOC matches and I wont care that they aren't bringing in China or Everton. on edit; I wouldn't care anyways so for me its a very easy deal to make.
Well yeah um thanks! I was saying they need to win those bids. Win those and I wont care that San Luis was gonna face the Rapids in the Tecate Cup.
I'm getting really sick of seeing all these international club teams come to the US with none stopping in Denver. The latest to announce, Inter Milan. My guess is that KSE is too cheap to chase one of these big dogs.
Its also been announced that Inter will play LA as well as Dallas. So far only Colorado, FSL, Chivas and Columbus have not announced major friendlies. Houston has not announced a game with the Dynamo, but they're hosting the ASG with Man U. In USSF D-II, Portland, Charleston, and Montreal have announced friendlies against major European sides. In USL - 2 (Division 3) Charlotte will play Bolton. The same Charlotte that Ceus has been on loan to the last couple of seasons, though he's back in Denver now since he broke his wrist.
Read it and vomit local Denver soccer fans. A schedule below (stolen from elsewhere on bigsoccer) of all the friendlies so far this summer. Some pretty neat stuff on there. It appears some MLS clubs really care about growing their own brand and that of soccer by hosting major friendlies with massive clubs. Then there are the Rapids, who must be hosting video game night and high school tournaments in deference to some strange no-compete clause it signed in 1996. please throw us a bone here FO.
I envy those August friendlies with Inter...as guys will actually be trying to get in shape for the season, they might try hard. After watching the Juventus game I felt a little better about not having a friendly. I felt mad I wasted my time watching that on tv, I can only imagine how pissed I'd be if I spent $60-100 on it. I did enjoy that friendly with Everton, though. Was that a July game?
I'm guessing that if the Rapids win their USOC qualifier tonight that they'll push hard to host the first USOC game and that's what we'll get to use our bonus tickets on. Which I wouldn't complain about. I'd rather see a USOC match than whatever random Mexican team the Rapids could get, though I'd still take a good European team.
Of course, since they lost, I'll go back to my prediction that our bonus game will be a game against our partner club, Real Maryland.
Given there doesn't seem to be any hope of landing a quality side barring a miracle, isn't this the best/only option?
well; its only us, Real SL, Columbus, and arguably Chivas* that have no friendlies. What are the chances we will all get and share the same international team in August? Probably not much chance at this point, but...fans can dream right? That is half of following this team anyways, dreaming. Dreaming about coulds, ifs, woulds and shoulds. *(even though Chivas have got and will get games in their stadium and town, just not against their team)
And look at what those first two have done the last 2 years in MLS. With all due respect guys, if our B-team performed that poorly against NYRB's B-team, do you really think the Rapids A-team will do anything besides get embarrassed against the top-12-in-the-world sides you guys want to see us play? I think it's a blessing in disguise we're not focusing on the international friendlies.
DC, who's on a historic run of suckitude, just won their big friendly last night. I'm not real worried about being embarrassed by a big team.
Who cares how they perform, it is about getting to see a big name team play live, in person, at DSG Park. It raises the profile of the club to have Juventus or some other famous club come to play a friendly. It shows the ownership is dedicated to the sport and investing in it. High profile friendlies cost money. KSE isn't investing in anything soccer at the moment so they won't spend cash on this. Not too surprising, just more of the same disappointment. A few short years ago Denver was buzzing with the ASG here and then Everton. Now? Bupkiss. Thanks KSE. We love you too! Ohh, but they will go out and get the World Lacrosse Championships. Another sign that for KSE the Rapids are about the venue, not the sport.
Yawn. That we know of, KSE has spent 138.5 million dollars on soccer in the last 3 years (stadium+roster), and who knows how many millions they spent on the non-soccer staff, promotions, etc. in those years combined. This year, KSE spent, I would guess, at least low 6-figures on the Supporter's Terrace (including hours spent in meetings, training personnel, and on). And in the last 3 years, there's been exactly, what, 2 events during the course of the Rapids' season that have happened on the actual pitch that weren't soccer games? The "KSE is only about the venue" argument holds no water whatsoever. Additionally, let's consider the nature of an international friendly. It costs a lot of money, as you said. But the Rapids also play in an 18,000 seat stadium, which instantly limits possible profits of a friendly, and that's before you consider how few teams/events in the world could come here and sell the place out. This isn't a matter of KSE not investing in soccer this year anywhere near as much as it is a matter of potential profits not even remotely approaching costs. And considering how mediocre the Rapids have been in their history with limited resources, the last thing the Rapids need at the moment is large amount of red ink because it tried to appease the 5000 or so fans in the state who get their panties in a bunch whenever ManU or whomever breathes in American air; it'd just give the RFO/KSE another excuse not to spend on a better roster/staff/etc. for the team that needs it. Since DC is the example you used: would you rather have their place in the standings and utterly meaningless bragging rights about beating an AC Milan team that didn't care until the last 20 minutes of the game, or our place in the standings?
Counting the money towards the stadium as "soccer ops" is kind of disingenuous, as Bonji's point is that the money they spent for the stadium was to get a venue, not for soccer. How do San Jose (Playing Tottenham in a 10K venue) or Portland (Playing Man City in a 5K venue) manage it? I'd rather have San Jose's place in the standings and their friendly with Tottenham. What's your point?
It would be disingenuous, if they didn't spend money renovating the stands specifically for the supporters this year. That, and if my point wasn't that the money they spent was for both the venue AND soccer. But instead, you ('you' being the general fan here) want to eat your cake and have it too, complaining for years that the Rapids don't care enough about the fans and ignoring the investment put in this year specifically to cater towards hardcore fans. By playing teams like Tottenham and Man City, where you don't have to pay them as much because they're not part of the Big 4. Also, I'm sure they've jacked up ticket prices, which, considering the state of our midfield stands in games so far this season, seems like a great idea for a friendly here Also, I don't have the time at the moment to research it, but I know many posters here complained about the Everton friendly as being a big "meh" at the time. I don't know if you're one of them, but Tottenham and Man City aren't much better on the excitement scale. My point was DC's not a good example.
Yeah, but the part of you're I was quoting was referring to the money spent on the stands and soccer operations the last 3 years. You're additional point about the additional expenditures on the terraces was dead on, but I thought that counting the stadium spending was a bit off target. I know season ticket holders could buy tickets to the Tottenham game for $20. Not much jacking up going on there. I was happy to see Everton, I'd be happy to see them again or Man City or Tottenham. Well maybe not Tottenham, I hate those guys.
Don't drop the context and quote a sentence at a time, you're better than that. Otherwise, I'll have to resort to things like: And I include the stadium spending because I've heard this same sentiment ever since KSE took over, that no money is ever invested into the Rapids, and every year, the numbers say otherwise. It comes off as petulant if you pretend that investment shouldn't count, especially considering a stadium is a long-term investment and it's not like money just stops being put into it after construction. And the rest of the tickets?
But I don't think that's a good counter to Bonji's "They only care about the venue" argument. He could just as accurately argue that those are expenses put towards the building and operation of a new venue, not towards the soccer operations. Premier Midfield $50.00 Center Circle $35.00 Sideline $25.00 Goal View $20.00 Family Zone $20.00 Supporters Sections $20.00 Not too different than a regular season match at the Dick Midfield West/East $43.00/$39.00 Premium West/East $33.00/$30.00 South Stands $25.00 North Corners $20.00 Terraces $16,00