Merry Christmas to all, thought it would be a good day to try to post my 2020 thoughts and 2021 predictions and get some discussion going over the holidays (although I realize there are relatively few who still post here and others who don't like being pointed out when wrong so they have me on ignore and thus likely few responses): 1) 2020 & 2021 will only cement the reputation of the Dynamo as a cheap and marginally competent team - the virus stuff obviously has an impact and the cheaper and perceived less well-capitalized teams will probably be hurt even more than the larger teams. There's no real local TV revenue here, 2020 had minimal net ticket sales that weren't rolled over into 2021 or refunded, SUM revenues have to be down with fewer other soccer events, the Orlando bubble cost serious money (but was a necessary thing), and is Brener willing to cover large cash losses? I think we know the answer to that. On the field, last place in the West in 2020, sold off arguably 2 of the 3 best players on the team (for less than they could have gotten a year ago), replacing them with more mid-tier veterans and USL guys, minimal player development from the younger guys. Yes, a messed up year but seems rudderless and then the perplexing decision (well, not really since it was the cheapest one) to bring back Jordan for a one-year extension while talking about how he's the right guy to work with Tab. 2) It will be interesting to see what the Dynamo do on a local level in terms of allowed capacity and bringing back fans - they played nice in the sandbox with Dora the County Judge and the City of Houston in the fall but that was when they probably thought they'd have more capacity for 2021. Now that it appears that the local governments have dug in on virus doom stuff, do they just go and use Abbott's 50% allowance for pro sports and ignore the County? MLS is all "woke" and nice about COVID and BLM stuff but that was when there wasn't an economic option and virtue signaling was all that was left to do. Now you have some unnecessary capacity restrictions that are harming the core business. Also - don't be surprised if season doesn't start on time to begin with. We'll probably know that in January since they will delay training camps. 3) Austin FC will make the Dynamo look bad - they'll probably struggle on the field some like most expansion teams but will show signs of progress and initiative that the Dynamo haven't shown since AEG sold. And we will be subjected to the shrinking number of Dynamo hardcores (like Web) who will talk about how they are glad we aren't doing it Austin's way, etc. to try and rationalize supporting an underperforming team. Dynamo social media team will bring it hard and then look like fools. 4) Dynamo will be sold in 2021 - this seems like the year if the rumored reports are true that the Dynamo and Orlando are up for sale (along with RSLs forced sale). Price will be not what they could have gotten in 2019 but not horrible, new owners will look beyond COVID issues to long-term and market potential (even if that opinion by me is a mixed one). But watch for MLS not allowing any distressed sales prices by teams trying to sell. And our celebrity owner Harden clearly doesn't even want to be in Houston so he may just cash out of it if offered. 5) Rebrand and new logo will catch on OK - nothing dramatic comes out of this. Was a lot of hype for little bump. The most annoying thing about the rebrand is not the actual logo change, it's the FO mentality of crapping on the Dynamo legacy of the Robertson years and trying to pretend that the "soccer club" started about the same time the The Surge was created. The Brener era has been almost nothing but failure (oh, sorry, I forgot about Jordan's claim of a "championship" winning USOC) so the answer is to pretend the glory years didn't happen? 6) Man, are those Robertson years starting to get small in the rearview mirror. The CCL stuff with LAFC this week and the discussion about the Dynamo and Pachuca, Puntarenas, InterLiga (remember that?), playoff games at Robertson - might as well have been a different life when you compare it what we see at BBVA most weeks. Dynamo now seem like the 2007-2014 Astros - a whole generation not knowing what it is like to have a winning team and will drift from it. 7) And finally, just how irrelevant have the Dynamo become in Houston? Never going to challenge the big 3 pro teams for interest but its like they've dropped so far below the radar deck they aren't even noticed at all by the media and general public. And amongst the fans and followers, how low is the intensity meter? Seems to me nothing short of an ownership and FO changeout is going to move the needle.
Many solid points Westie. I am honest when I say this however, I am drained to even begin to hash out my own thoughts on many of the talking points we all should be concerned about with our club. I am going to go on relax mode and chill on Dynamo ideas and concerns for the rest of this week. Let us table this and return to kick around some topics form above. HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE FAMILIA!!!
Enjoy. As much as I am a negative Covid-denier deplorable to most Dynamo fans, it would be nice to have the Dynamo back competitive AND an organization to cheer for. I like Tab Ramos but you almost don't want to reward this ownership and FO by buying tickets as it reinforces what they have done was the right thing. It's not and hasn't been since 2013 which was the last year of any real excitement as a Dynamo fan.
In a way it is good fans can't 100% come back yet. Houston would probably be down to 15k at best and Austin would be sold out all year. I hope Houston is sold and the new owners are rich and willing to spend. I know MLS FO wants the billionaire owners to avoid Brenner type situations where they are cheap on purpose. I am not sure they will find one but someone like Tillman would be nice because he is local, rich, and is willing to spend to win. I am sick of the Dynamo being a laughing stock of the league in performance and fan engagement. More and more fan bases saying Houston should be relocated to a city that wants them. Real change won't happen until there are new owners, new FO, and Jordan is gone. The Robertson days were great but also 8+ years ago. We need a team for the next decade and generation to be proud of.
2021 is hopefully rock bottom for this team. They are going to be historically awful. This is supposition, but you can tell that their plan is to tread water for a year. That's why Jordan is back, that's why almost all the players are back. That's why the moves being made are going to be via internal league mechanisms or signing cheapo players. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think we're mostly set with the roster. We might get lucky and get a cheap loan to buy guy in as the past, but I do not see any significant outlay of money. The hope has to be that this means they are positioning to finalize a sale in 2021. That's resolution one way or the other. Either they sell the team and the new owners start the long hard road of remaking this team, or all the Dynamo fearmongers are right and the team gets relocated. The latter would suck, but it's hard to think that: A.) We wouldn't land a new MLS franchise in the near future. B.) We wouldn't almost immediately land a USL franchise. Call me an awful fan if you want, but I really want out of the ditch that this franchise has been driven into one way or the other. The depressing alternative is that COVID delivered a near knockout blow to an already weak franchise and that we will be stuck being the laughingstock of the league for years to come.
Tillman is not the answer. He has not proven yet to be a good owner of the Rockets and those fans hate him as much if not more than Dynamo fans hate Brener. Sure you can look at the Westbrook, Wall and Cousins acquisitions to show ambition but they have never gone over the cap and payed the luxury tax in Tillman’s ownership
Good day Houston soccer fans!I am back in the coverage game, and it is going to include more than just the Dynamo and Dash. I also plan to cover club teams, high school teams, college teams and more.Here is the first post explaining this project: https://t.co/40Exq2hagf— Corey Roepken (@RipSports) December 29, 2020 well, at least one good thing is guaranteed to happen in 2021
He brings a positive vibe which is always a good thing in my book! He also mentions covering our GHA high school teams. Which is a pleasant surprise.If you want to go out and get some live footy action, and on the cheap, I have always advocated for our city's robust high school soccer scene. Each Tuesday and Wednesday nights there are games and certainly on Friday and all day Saturday nights beginning next week and continuing till playoffs in later March. I say this hoping that the COVID-19 restrictions for allowing in just parents and the bands will be modified moving forward. Simply put, since our club is a dumpster fire that wont even begin play till March, go out for terrific run of play soccer action, for a cheap ticket and a man or woman can go out with friends to load up on their live soccer fix.
I’m sure this will make things go smoothly. This is another reason why the Dynamo won’t spend, no knowing when fans will come back and even if they buck Dora the County Judge, league-wide losses will be large https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-l...-force-majeure-clause-to-terminate-cba-source
I think relocation is extremely, extremely remote because a) there are only a few more markets of any real size (Las Vegas, Phoenix, maybe Raleigh Durham) that could feasibly support MLS AND are they going to build a stadium for relocating team? b) MLS won't let Houston be abandoned as a growing market (even if we are mixed as a good American soccer market) and c) the numbers don't work for buying and relocating when you have a stadium that is at least half paid off. Are we a zombie franchise like a rundown Denny's on a busy street that gets enough traffic and customers to support it? Yes. Are we a dead franchise in a dead city like the old Buffalo Braves of the NBA? No.
I’m a Bernardo Fallas/Tom Dart-man myself, but I’ll give it a try. Being an English and Spanish reader I have many choices, so you gots to come strong.
i can only hope that there is some sort of cosmic realignment going on where 21-22 sees an ownership change, GM out of contract and cashiered, ditto coach. reboot the development system same time. almost like expansion. we need something dramatic. covid will be less of an issue with time, and bluntly i am not concerned if the team is losing revenues and gets cheaper for sale. i also agree with the analysis that if we lost the team we'd quickly get one back. "Chivas." and they got LAFC from that. my contrarian argument here would be that i remember linkage of logo/brand/colors/brener rumor. we then heard the arod thing failed and they went ahead and did the branding. i am not sure why a team with the for sale sign out would be messing with the branding beforehand. you'd wait and see what the new owner thinks. it's your team now, old look, change up, what do you think? it made more sense with the whole thing in flux. look at the astros after crane. now, a team that was comfortable in its lead owner, turning away a rich suitor, changing its image.....might have minority owners looking to cash out. we have some fresh paint, a new image, please overpay oscar because he's bored with it......and good luck with that in a pandemic.