Rochester gone????

Hopefully, and then the rest of the league and it's fans won't have to hear about them going to leave each year.

 

I for one would like to see the Rhinos in MLS. They have a die hard fan base, and are proven winners. I'd back that expansion over a Chivas one any day of the week.

 

I like Rhinos, don't get me wrong.

But, do you seriously think they will prove to become the classic rivalry that Chivas-Chupacabras are going to bring to MLS?

If you do, Santa Claus is my cousin...

 

tell him i've been a good boy this year...

no one gives a crap about chivas

 

rhinos-mls

People, this really is legit. MLS needs a 2nd team for expansion if the chivas deal is going to work next year. The rhinos are the most prepared and proven team MLS could want. A proven fan base, and a soccer stadium that is going to be ready by august-september of '04 [note that the mls season goes all the way into november]. We'll know by november 30th though, until then things should be interesting...

 

i think that this will go through as long as they get the finacials worked out. it good for mls, it gives them an expansion team with an instant fan base. an article at CNN says that the Rhinos averaged 10,169 people. that's more than any expansion team could bring in in their first year in mls, even chivas. and with them becoming a mls team i bet they would get even more. Rochester doesn't have any major league teams so the rhinos would be an big attraction, even for non soccer fans

heres the link to the CNN article:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/soccer/11/08/mls.expansion/index.html

 

Rochesters new stadium is only going to seat 12500 so I don't expect there attendance is going to rise greatly.

(Please no responses about how the stadium is expandable, were talking about the present).

 

Well, this is a unique case, seeing as how the team already exists, but typically in most leagues, the expansion year is the highest attended year, until a larger base it built.

 

All the best to Rochester, whatever happens. They have positioned themselves nicely and may have, unwittingly, laid out a blueprint for investing in American pro soccer. Invested and developed a club/market at an initial cost of far less than an MLS franchise and have followed and stuck to a business plan. Now, membership in MLS seems to be within grasp. That approach seems to have reaped some rewards. Will other investors see the merits to this route? Is it a viable route or is Rochester merely a special situation? I hope the former is true.

I believe that MLS' and the A-League's destinies are inevitably entwined, whether they like it or not. It makes no sense for them to be competitors. If the money was available, I'd like to see MLS own and operate the A-League. I think that MLS management would eliminate the occurences of the Cincinnatis of the A-League. They could then impose sound business requirements and create an environment that would be attractive to legitimate (i.e. big money) investors to develop potential MLS clubs without initially jumping into the deep end. It could transform the A-League from the hodge-podge that it is now (as lovable as it is to a leaner version of MLS and ultimately, a truer 2nd division which, in my opinion, is necessary for the development and longevity of pro soccer in the States.

So much for brevity

 

I think I read somewhere that the stadium would have 13,000 permanent seats, but would be able to add 4,000 to 4,500 non-perment seats even without expansion.

 

rhinos-mls

Krammer buddy, the first phase of the stadium [this coming season] will have 13,500 permanent seats, and they are adding 4,000 more semi permanent seats just for the '04 season, and during the offseason into the '05 season they will convert the stadium into a 17,500 permanent seater. Add onto that 17,500 standing room, which could be a few thousand, and the rhinos could easily average around 17-20k their first few years.

This attendance rise can be supported by the fact that a large fan base from buffalo will most likely travel the hour or so to see mls, and the same can be said about syracuse, even though they allready have an a-league team.

No need to be bitter because you'll be in the a-league for the next ten years, buddy

 

I thought DuRoss said that the stadium wouldn't be ready for The Rhinos until the end of the 2004 Season at the earliest? And that is with the construction being on schedule and the weather cooperates.

I hoep the best to the Rhinos. I just don't want them to rush into what seems like a good idea. The MLS doesn't need another team playing in a sub-par stadium even for one year. It doen't make for good soccer, it looks terrible on TV and isn't the image the league should be trying to make to win over casual fans. Playing in high school football stadium and on baseball fields doesn't cast a "Major League" feel about it. Wait the year and enter with a bang and the Rhinos won't have to try and erase a negative image to the mass public.

Mikey

 

Here's another interesting thread on the subject for your reading pleasure.
https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=81248

 

Why can't Vergara be more patient and wait till 05? I don't like his attitude. He needs to remember he's part of MLS, and work for the benefit of the whole league. This is the reason that the league is scrambeling to find a 12th team for 04.

 

Ticket prices will have to go up to pay for the stadium and the higher salary cap.

Will ticket sales go down?

 

Re: rhinos-mls

Why should I be bitter? With Rochester out of the A-League there'd be no reason to have to read your childish posts.

 

Perhaps the demand for tickets to see MLS opponents will outway the higher prices along with the fact they will be in the nations top division.
At worse they would sell as many as they have been but I expect they will do better.

 

I doubt Rhino fans really care what the "mass public" thinks of their team. Do you care that many MLS fans think Blackbaud is a small rinkydink stadium with a few nice amenities? I doubt you do. The "mass public" has already seen where the Rhinos play anyway with the FSW feeds from there the last two years. Anyway a few halftime camera shots of the stadium renderings and pictures of the ongoing construction will take care of the "mass public's" perception.

The Rhino's ticket prices NOW aren't much different then what they are at CCS in Columbus. High price Club Seating in CLB is $33 then I think it goes to $22 sideline, $20 UD, and $16 on the ends. The reason I mention that is Columbus is a good barometer for where Rochester's ticket prices will be since they are about the same size market. I'd imagine the Rhino's would increase ticket prices, but I don't think it would be too much. Nothing like what LA did to their fans.

 

Presently the top ticket price in Rochester is $19 for their "premium" seats. Then it drops to $16, $15, $14 and $11 (with the majority of the seats in the $11-15 dollar range). With their new stadium I assume there will be less of the "cheaper" seat options due to good sightlines everywhere.

 

Well its a good thing your not running a team then.

Preception (wrong or right) is 90% of whats wrong with the league. If it's not preceived as a professional team why would people want to pay the price to see the match? Sure you will have us die-hard fans out their that will go see a match even if its in a cow pasture but do you think sponsors want to be associated with poor quality, be it on the field or the stadium its self. I don't think the mass public know who the Rhinos are (or care for that matter) Do you think Joe Blow public tunes into FSW on Friday nights? Again the die-hards will watch, but if the league is to grow they need to attract new fans. It much harder to market something that has a negative image. If the Rhinos come out with everything in place they wont have to struggle to erase those images.


The Battery nearly doubled their attendance when they moved into Blackbaud. Im sure some of it was success of the team and marketing but Im sure it brought some more sponsors.

And for being "rinkydink" While it might only hold 5,100 it still is the first SSS in the states with one of the best pitches in the country, great site lines, great concessions and oh yeah, a great pub. If you ever make it down I'll buy you a beer there.

Mikey

 

Re: Re: rhinos-mls

But remember, this brainiac has nothing better to do with his life. He'll probably be back here just to prove it!


Go Rhino's!

 

What your talking about is a little crazy dude. You're basically saying that someone in Podonk USA who turns to ESPN 2 at 4pm in the summer that basically is getting an .8 rating right now, will add or detract to MLS's fan base because they think Rochester, NY has a nice stadium. It doesn't really matter what Rochester has and doesn't have to people outside of Rochester. It only matters that people in Rochester have a history of supporting the team even with the current conditions.

I won't argue with you that new stadiums bring new sponsors, but Rochester has existing sponsors already that are probalby happy and know that a new stadium is coming and prospective sponsors that also know that a new stadium is coming. Why because Rochester is a proven entity with a fanbase. Chicago and Dallas haven't lost sponsors because of their moves to "lesser" stadiums because their sponsors knew it was just a tempary solution.

 

I think you and I are talking about two different things here. I doubt anyone in Rochester, which has an incredible fan base, will think any less of Rochester and in fact more fans probably be attracted to the novelty of having an MLS team for a while.

What I'm talking about is the MLS as a whole. I talking about the average Joe, the Euro snob, the soccer mom, and the rec league soccer player that the MLS is slowly making fans of and converting back after some poor decisions early in MLS conception. If they see a match being played with football hash marks or a dirt baseball infield, they are just going to laugh at the league. My sister-in-law was visiting for England recently and watched a Burns match on TV with me and could believe the field. MLS need to win over the millions of fans that are here in the US.

I expect more when I go to a nice steak house than I do when I go to McDonald's. And if the steak house had crappy seating, a run down building and okay steaks, I would be dissatisfied. I probably would tell my friends about how I was disappointed. Even if that nice steak house decided to change its chef, spruce up the decor, and improve customer service I would be hesitant about returning right away.

Fans of soccer in the US are the same way.
Even if they are from Podonk USA.

I think Rochester will succeed in the MLS (although they would prosper in the A-league) But I also think the Rochester, and mostly the league, would do better if they waited until the new stadium was completed before diving in.