Rochester - The Right Way to Build a Club

There's almost no interaction between the Rhinos and Jr. Rhinos.

At least this is finally changing a bit:
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/sports/rhinos/forprint/0726story2_rhinos.shtml

Here's the key passage to me:
"The Rhinos and Jr. Rhinos could join together, similar to European clubs, to aid youths who progress through their system and make it to the pro team. "

Let's hope it happens.

 

The Jr. Rhinos were once known as the Rochester Mavericks. Always a strong club in the Northeast. They joined a league in the late 90's with most of the youth superpower teams in the NY, PA, OH etc areas (FC Delco and such).

Not sure why they changed their name to the Jr. Rhinos, but they have never been affiliated with the senior team. If they can bring the youth, W-League and men's squads under one umbrella, they will be moving in the right direction (the W-league teams needs some serious work. Not sure if they have won a game in the last two seasons)

 

I also agree. Even though I hate the rhinos with a passion I have to admit that they are a model franchise. The MLS has to understand that franchises take time you just cant put a team in a city with lots of people and expect to get 20,000. I dont know what the Rhinos do but the hounds should learn about some of it.

 

Mutts, the problem is that nobody knows why it's working in Rochester. If anyone did, they'd can it and sell it to other cities.

Had to be at least 50% luck.

 

What I dislike about the Rhino's is their...attitude.

Hear me out. It's the owner's attitude.

You have a good team. You have a good fanbase. You have little competition in your market.

What you also have is a CRAP field. I saw that excuse for a field on FSW and it looks awful and plays terrible. It's obvious the ball changes speed when it crosses the turf. Of I was a player I'd be scared to play on it.

It makes me sick that a decent team and organization like the Rhinos cannot somehow find a field to play on that actually makes the game better. The week before I saw the Silverback play the Rampage. Yes, the game drew a lot fewer people. But the field allowed the teams to play on a good field.

The Rhinos at the crap field is like a fine wine in a dixie cup.

I don't have a lot of respect for owners that buy good players and do everything else right, and yet won't use their own money to provide a showcase for their team. Why is public funding a requirement for them? Don't they have pride in their own organization, and team, that they WANT to have a good field and stadium?

I feel bad for the fans there. The owners don't seem to get it, but the fans do.

 

Rochester may have the fans and are doing a lot of the right things, but with out your own stadium Rochester is missing a major piece of the big picture. I think you need to look at the Charleston Battery to see a team that is doing it right, ie the youth teams, good community relations, beautiful pitch and facilities, great organization, loyal fans, exciting soccer (despite the fact most teams come into Charleston and bunker down defensively). Now if Charleston could only get another 2,000 people a game and get a bit more atmposhere at the matches, we'd be THE model in the US.

mikey

 

Good team, ************ field!

I constantly want to chant that at Frontier Field. I think it is an embarrasment to the sport and a shame to have such skilled players play on that mockery of a field.

 

I agree, the field last week was horrible, but no where, and I repeat, no where in Rochester is there a decent field with enough stands for the fans. A flash back to the first year of the Rhinos, they played their first 7 or 8 games at Fauver Stadium at the University of Rochester. One word - TURF. Granted, the turf there is WAY better than what the Sounders have in Seattle, but the U of R only holds max 3k. I love that field, but you can't have that be an A-league facility. What are you going to do, put the other 7,000 faithfull fans up on the hill to watch the game? They have played some games out at Brockport, but that field is not that easy to get to and doesn't seat that many people. RIT is not good. Niether is Naz or St. John Fisher.

The field sucks at Frontier, but the Rhinos have done plenty to move towards getting their own faciltiy built. But the local politician hacks have hung up the move for some time now. Blame the local government, not the Rhino front office.

Maybe the solution is for the Rhinos so say ****************** it, we'll pay the whole thing and collect all revenues. Concessions, parking, field usage fees for the other soccer programs in the area, etc could add up quickly for them. I think it is time for the organnization to be proactive instead of reactive.

On a parting note, the three games I have seen on FSW are Seattle/Calgary (narrow turf), El Paso/Cinncinati (cow pasture/fair grounds) and the Rochester/Montreal match.

 

Seniors

It is good to hear that Rochester is trying to develop some younger teams because the people in their stadium are larger senior citizens. They do a brilliant job of busing in folks from the retirement homes in the area. Great for the numbers, not great for growing the fan base.

 

Re: Seniors

Good thing they put the extra wide seats in huh?

It's good to see that you have such a clear understanding of our fan base from way out there in Portland.

Time to get my geriatric 30 year old ass to bed.

 

The owners of the Rhinos have done everything but take a shovel and dig the foundation. They secured financing, and they did offer to pay for the whole dang thing if the city would just get a location. Here is some of the sad story. The political scum from this city hoodwinked DuRoss into helping them form the "Rochester Sports Authority", or some such thing. They promised quick action on the stadium issue for his support.What do you think happened once they got thier power. You guessed it , nothing. Then they began looking into suburban locations. It took these morons a year to figure out they weren't the Monroe County sports authority. Therefore, they would have no operational say in the running of the new stadium. Of course they lied to everyone saying the suburban location was out because the people didn't want it. Imagine that, polititions that care about what the people want. What a joke. Whats worse is the people around here probably believe them. However there may be a break. Senator Dollinger has proposed abolishing this farce of a sports authority, rightfully blaming them for the lack of action on the new stadium.

 

The right way to build a club? Give me a break. They're the New York Cosmos of the A-league. They have the luxury of shelling out the cash on all sorts of players. Do they get butts in the seat and deserve the right to benefit from that? Yes. But let's not pretend that the Rhinos have been around for a few decades slowly building a fan base and players talent. They're in a good spot for soccer, do a good job of taking advantage of it, and do a good job of managing and buying all the talent they need.

 

Re: Re: Rochester - The Right Way to Build a Club

Maybe the MLS or the USL needs to learn where the good spots for soccer are. When you want to enter a team into the USL, you pay your fees and start the team. The Rhinos owners did it right when they picked Rochester. Dont take credit away from them.

 

The one thing Roch. got, and still gets, is top press coverage. When the team started, even the soccer bashing writers jumped in urging support for the '"new" pro team in town. Usually front (sports) page coverage. Plus numerous player profiles during the season in between games. I don't know what level of coverage other cities get. But it has got to be difficult without that good free publicity. Buddying up with the local press would have to be a top priority when moving into a new market. It's got to be tough in cities like Seattle that have other major league sports getting the front page.

 

Just simple common sense

When you define common sense, a picure of the RHINOS will be there, I really hope they capitalize on player development there is some money to be made there .