The Ring of Fire honoured at Toyota Park

Five members of the Ring were present for Armas’ ceremony yesterday, with only Kubik missing. The pride Armas took in being honoured in that company was visible on his face during the ceremony, as a reminder that in a very short time — the Fire were only founded in 1997 — the club developed a culture of respect for the badge often missing in MLS. All six in the Ring were central to the Fire’s expansion year cup and league championship double of 1998.

Chris Armas addressing the crowd

Armas was perhaps the most tenacious American midfielder of his generation, making 66 appearances for the United States, though he was cruelly robbed of an appearance at a World Cup finals due to his ACL tear in 2002. He served the Fire for a decade as a player and assistant coach. Armas now lives with his family in New York, but when he said he felt like he had a second family with the Fire community in Chicago, it did not sound hollow.

U.S. manager Bob Bradley with Chris Armas

As I wrote here recently, I’m concerned that in ten years, the Fire may not have the same feeling to it for the players, staff and supporters of the present day. I hope I’m wrong, and last night we were reminded why people don’t snigger at a club only twelve years old talking about the “tradition, honor and passion” to its history that Armas spoke of.  It’s why even in the pouring, pouring rain the uncovered supporters in Section 8 kept singing all night.

Section 8 flag display

It’s why we supporters get-together to make banners recognising Chris Armas and another Chris soon to leave the club, Chris Rolfe (#17 below). The latter is leaving under something of a cloud with the club, but when he came over at the end of the game to toss his jersey into Section 8 and when the only remaining Fire original on the team CJ Brown also came over and did his infamous victory jig, it was a reminder of why we do keep going for the club whatever happens. May the Ring of Fire live on.

Phtoto credits: Marty Groark, official photographer for Section 8 Chicago.

Editor’s Note: Chicago Red Stars President and CEO Peter Wilt returns for his third weekly column on Pitch Invasion, pulling no punches as he grades the first season of the league his own team plays in.

Sunday’s Women’s Professional Soccer All-Star victory over Swedish powerhouse Umea ended WPS’ first season and that makes this a good time to reflect on the inaugural year and analyze WPS’ progress.  I decided to grade the league in six categories of on and off field performance (mostly off) and give you my thoughts on the League’s inaugural season, particularly with my own experiences with the Chicago Red Stars in mind.

Following are my grades for WPS’ 2009 report card:

ATTENDANCE/RELEVANCE:  C

Probably the most disappointing grade for me personally.  WPS’ average attendance of 4,684 fell within the range of 4,000 to 6,000 mentioned widely as a goal by the League prior to launch for its first season.  It was on the low end of the scale, however, and included novelty bumps from each team’s inaugural game — such as14,832 at the league’s inaugural match at the Home Depot Center.

Viewing attendance figures through the prism of the bad economy makes this grade seem a bit harsh as the economy certainly contributed to lower than desirable attendance figures.  All sports, even including the NFL, have suffered at the gate in the past year, but surveys showed that fans think WPS ticket pricing is reasonable, so I’m not certain how much we were affected.

While the attendance numbers are critical, the more important issue with any team or league is its relevance in local markets and nationally as that will ultimately determine future support and success — more so than past attendance.  WPS and individual teams certainly put a stake in the ground and built their relevance nationally and in the League’s seven markets in 2009, but it does not appear that either the number of emotionally connected fans or the depth of that connection is large enough yet to be deemed a success.  Boston, Washington and Bay Area were able to carry on connections from WUSA, while Saint Louis, Los Angeles, Chicago and Sky Blue (the NY Power’s home base of Long Island is a different market IMHO) started from scratch.  Based on social media attention and observation at games and team events, it appears that a solid number of fans in each market have become passionately connected to the teams and players through WPS.  There are also a decent number of people in each team market who have become connected casually to their local teams.

The depth of support and passion among those that are attending the games is impressive, but the breadth of that support needs to grow.  Anecdotally in Chicago (and I believe this is true throughout WPS), it does not appear that the Red Stars have become an ingrained part of the Chicago soccer culture despite a strong mixture of traditional and new media and grass roots marketing.  That growth will likely occur over time if WPS and teams maintain their focus and continue to provide quality entertainment and strong marketing efforts.  League-wide attendance did trend upward from week 17 through the playoffs in week over week averages.  In Chicago, each of the final five home games had higher attendance than the previous game, culminating with 7,959 vs. Los Angeles in our season finale.  The late season growth is likely due to several factors including more lead time for groups and promotions, better weather, more word of mouth promotion and an improvement in the economy.  It is also worth noting that the League believes it has learned some lessons on scheduling that will be implemented next season in order to make attending games more convenient for fans.

NON-TICKET REVENUE: C-

Starting a professional sports league in the worst economy of our lifetime — tough.   Starting a professional SOCCER league in the worst economy of our lifetime — really tough.   Starting a professional WOMEN’S SOCCER league in the worst economy of our lifetime — are you kidding me?!?  Well that was the reaction I got from a lot of people.  The bad economy certainly impacted ticket sales a bit, but I think the impact on sponsorship and ancillary stadium revenue was much stronger.  Corporations were all in cutback mode for sponsorship, not frozen or even expansion…and the new kids on the block were often left holding an empty bag.

It hit the League and the teams.  WPS, working with Soccer United Marketing, earned some great partnerships with Puma, EuroSport and Fox Soccer Channel early on and later with MedImmune, the US Coast Guard and several others to create a solid foundation for future years.  Similarly, teams all fell short of initial projections, but made up ground as the year went along.

The poor economy hurt merchandise, concessions, parking and camp revenue also.  The bright side for WPS is that as the economy improves, these are all categories that will likely grow.  Camp revenue was down nationally due to the economy, but several teams including Sky Blue FC and the Red Stars did well with their camps.  In Chicago, nearly 500 girls went through the Red Stars camp program in its inaugural summer.  The good word of mouth we’re getting on the camps means we’ll likely double and even triple this important revenue and marketing area in the next couple years.

FAN EXPERIENCE: A-

While I personally thought we would have higher attendance, the people that did attend really enjoyed their experience and felt they received value for both the cost of their ticket and their time.  The fans were more engaged in the action on the field than I anticipated and the teams all did a very good job managing the balance of sport and entertainment. WPS restricted the amount and types of promos during game action and teams created activities and attractions for fans of all ages.

Access to players, coaches and staff was as good as any League I’ve ever been associated with, the stadia all provided intimate settings with great sightlines and attention to customer needs was a priority throughout WPS.  Most teams have the beginnings of passionate supporters groups, including Local 134 in Chicago, Marta’s Maniacs in Los Angeles and Laclede’s Army in St. Louis.  Jock rock was avoided in most venues as the crowds provided the sound track with loud cheering for individual plays if not the organized cheering of large supporters sections.  Efforts were also made with varying degrees of success to diversify the audience by marketing to young urban men and gay and lesbian and ethnic communities.

Crowds that are small relative to MLS and other sports made getting in, out and around WPS games convenient for fans.  High and low end hospitality areas, tailgating and fan fest areas at many venues provided plenty of reasons to arrive early and stay late as well. Minor league baseball impressario Mike Veeck visited a Red Stars game at the end of the season and came away impressed with the overall fan experience.  This is high praise from someone who understands fan experience as well as anyone in sports.  WPS teams need to improve getting the message out regarding the overall fan experience in order to get more people to arrive early, stay late and enjoy the full WPS experience around the game itself.

QUALITY OF PLAY:  A-

WPS rosters were filled with virtually the entire 2008 Olympic gold medal winning U.S. Women’s National Team, the three 2008 FIFA Female World Player of the Year finalists and the best players from Brazil, England, France, Australia, Japan, China and several other nations.  While Leagues in Sweden, Germany, France and England could claim one to three good teams, WPS was unique in having seven teams filled with national team players.  The Red Stars, as an example, could field 13 players with full national team experience representing seven different countries…and that’s the team that finished in 6th place.  WPS certainly achieved its goal of parity as any team could defeat any other on a given day.

While some teams took a little time to mesh and some games saw more fouls than scoring opportunities, the typical WPS game was free flowing with end to end action, gorgeous goals and often featured segments with ten or more passes being strung together.   Europe’s Kelly Smith, Sonia Bompastor and Carre Jonsson all brought class, Brazilians Marta, Cristiane and Daniela provided flair and young Americans Tasha Kai, Lori Chalupny and Megan Rapinoe added personality and skill.  The high level of play kept fans attention riveted to the field.

WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM WUSA?  A-

When I was in grammar school, I never liked to go first.  Whether it was demonstrating something in gym or answering a teacher’s question in class.  Giving it a shot after someone else failed always gave me the benefit of learning from the first person.  The same can be said of all of my pro soccer experiences.  My predecessors with the Milwaukee Wave and Chicago Power were rather underwhelming, the Chicago Fire had the benefit of studying the lessons of MLS’ first two seasons and WPS was able to go to school on three years of WUSA shortcomings.

WUSA spent too much money on traditional advertising, stadia, staff and players and avoided working with MLS and other established soccer organizations.  Many of their owners were disengaged from their teams, many of their team CEOs had little pro soccer business experience and much of their promotional efforts were misguided.  WPS’ business model was based on not repeating these errors. In general, I’d say WPS succeeded in keeping true to the new curriculum.  Engaged owners?  Check.  Reduced and more efficient spending?  Double check.  Work with MLS, USYSA, AYSO, WPSL, W-League and any other soccer related acronym?  Check.  Hire more experienced soccer execs?  Check again.   We weren’t perfect in this area though:  Rules of engagement on the player side changed regularly in WUSA and despite warnings from those who went through it the first time, WPS was unable to totally avoid this trap.

OFF FIELD ENDEAVORS:  B+

This category is a compilation of several including ownership, marketing, communications and operations.  Ownership in WPS is very different from WUSA.  In addition to being a traditional franchise model as opposed to WUSA’s single entity, the team ownerships are mainly individual or groups of successful businessmen who have personal connections to soccer.  WPS owners as a group do not have the net worth of the corporate cable giants that owned WUSA, but they do have the interest, knowledge and passion for the sport that was missing in WUSA with the major exception of the Washington Freedom’s John and Maureen Hendricks who are the sole WUSA owners to invest in WPS and represent the best of both types of owners.  WPS’ See Extraordinary marketing campaign was on message, professional and distributed well economically to its target audience both online and through Fox Soccer Channel.

The League’s commitment to online marketing paid dividends as it mastered Twitter earlier than other pro sports leagues.  WPS also effectively used Facebook, its own team and League websites and its own social media web site to get the word out in an interactive and viral way.   Commissioner Antonucci, a former Yahoo! executive  made online marketing a focal point of the League and her lieutenants Rachel Epstein, Karyn Lush, Rob Penner, Amanda Vandervort and Jill Coy effectively designed and rolled out the League’s online marketing and communications strategy.  Weekly insider emails which have become a staple of team to fan communication provided informative content unavailable from traditional media and the standard Sunday Fox Soccer Channel time slot provided destination viewing to the nation’s soccer base.  The League’s partnership with EuroSport gave fans of WPS teams an easy way to buy merchandise online and via catalog.  Efforts are near completion on a national retail partner that will provide in store access to WPS merchandise as well.

Reducing budgets from the WUSA days risks a negative impact on brand image.  For the most part, I believe WPS maintained a professional image at both the League and team level via its online branding, by hiring young talented staff and making the game day experience pleasant without being ostentatious. Except for promising the best women’s soccer league in the world, which it delivered, I believe WPS promoted modest expectations and in most cases over delivered.  Community interaction of players and staff with the public was kept on message and generally impressed stake holders.  Staff and players are communicating effectively with the public.  The main challenge is to increase the opportunities for that interaction.  That can be done with even more appearances (teams were very good with this) and larger and more experienced sales staffs.

SOCIAL IMPACT:  N/A

Please don’t confuse the term “Not Applicable” with “Did not happen” or “Failure” or “Success”.  There is no doubt that WPS players are de facto role models, give young girls aspirational heroes and advance the cause of equal opportunity for women in sports and sports business.  My point in calling this category out as a non-gradeable category is that I believe WPS needs to succeed as a business based on its entertainment value, marketing  and on field performance not as a social cause.

This doesn’t mean that there isn’t real value or benefit to providing opportunities for women and goals for young girls to admire and aspire to emulate.  It just means that as a business, WPS needs to stand on its own legs and not be considered a charity that is supported BECAUSE it provides the added social benefits.  It should be mentioned that WPS teams and players were active in many charitable and social endeavours including Greenlaces, the environmental awareness non-profit founded by Chicago Red Stars defender Natalie Spilger.

OVERALL, AKA SUSTAINABILITY:  B

WPS laid a tremendous foundation for a sport that has proven to be difficult to sell during the best of times muchless the worst economic time of our lives.  As heavy as the lifting was for the first season — and at times it felt like we needed Vasiliy Alekseyev — year two will be a greater challenge in many ways.  The novelty bump will be gone (though I suspect it wasn’t as great a bump as MLS or other leagues experienced) and the League will need to innovate and keep up an aggressive and energetic start up approach through an improved 2010 economy.  If not, the energy from a new endeavour will be limited to the expansion franchises in Philadelphia and Atlanta.

WPS will not “make it” in 2009, 2010 or 2011.  “Making it” in this case is about sustainability and that merely requires keeping enough teams in existence for the League to be around for future generations.  The League has not yet proven its business model operationally, but it has set a base line that allows adjustments to be made in order to work toward profitability much like MLS did in its early years.  If you’ve followed WPS this year, please feel free to provide your grades and feed back in the comment section.

Last week’s column on customer service received some great comments and helped unearth a terrific blog post from my friend Magda Walczak on the effectiveness of customer service at shoe company Zappos.  Next week’s column will be a Q&A with  Portland Timbers Director of Soccer Development and Assistant Coach Amos Magee.  Amos’ experiences give him a unique perspective on all levels of soccer in the United States.  I think you’ll enjoy reading his comments.  Finally, if you’d like to follow my Tweets, my Twitter name is @RedStarsCEO.

Peter Wilt

Editor’s note: We write about the supporter experience a lot here at Pitch Invasion, but what’s the view like from the other side of the fence?  We’ve invited Peter Wilt, the President and CEO of the Chicago Red Stars of WPS and former President and CEO of MLS’ Chicago Fire to write a weekly column on his experiences as an executive in American soccer and on the business of the sport.

I have been fortunate to start or restart five professional soccer teams in the United States and have been rewarded with six championship rings in three different professional soccer leagues.  I managed the MLS Chicago Fire from its 1997 inception through my unpopular (at least in my household) dismissal in 2005 a year prior to the team’s move to its new stadium, Toyota Park.  The last several years have been dedicated to launching the Red Stars, Chicago’s first professional women’s soccer team.  The Red Stars ground share of Toyota Park with the Fire allows me to work at (or near anyway) the stadium whose development and design I led.  I continue to be an ardent supporter of the Chicago Fire.

Pitch Invasion has invited me to write a weekly piece on soccer business in America. I anticipate most of the weekly posts will be anecdotal and will share lessons learned from my own experiences. I also hope to write occasional pieces that are a bit more in depth and feature analysis of specific data and will also have interviews with various personalities in American soccer.  If there’s a  topic you’d like me to cover in the future, please mention it in the comments or send it to me at pwilt@chicagoredstars.com.

My first post describes the ten pillars of my soccer management philosophy, which will help provide perspective for my future posts and put them in context.

1. FANS ARE IN CHARGE. While professional soccer teams have an ultimate fiduciary responsibility to the investors in the team, I believe two important factors steer decision making towards the premise that soccer executives should work for the fans.  First, professional sports teams are a community asset that represents the community in a fashion unlike any traditional business.  The investors are (usually temporary) caretakers of this asset for the fans.  Secondly, what is good for the fans is usually good for the organization and investors.  If the fans are happy, engaged and supportive of the team, they will spend more money, watch more game broadcasts and promote the team better themselves.  Fans, and I am one also, ultimately cheer for the badge, the team it represents.  They don’t cheer for the organization or the owners.

2. WE ALL SELL. Sometimes it seems that everyone wants to get into sports, but few want to get into sports sales.  The truth is that EVERYONE in sports needs to sell their team and their sport, whether it’s in the traditional sales sense or not.  Of course ticket and sponsor sales staff sell, but it’s important for all staff to keep their sales hat on constantly whether they’re in operations, marketing, accounting, team administration or communications.  Hiring staff with this mindset and indoctrinating this mentality creates a culture of sales that pays dividends directly and indirectly.

3. TARGET THE SALES AND MARKETING EFFORTS. The market place is huge and cluttered and soccer teams are always short of resources, both human and financial.  While there may be some incremental sales and value to a general audience sales and marketing plan, the preponderance of resources should be used to sell to those who are ALREADY economically and emotionally attached to the sport (the soccer community).  An exception to this is with a startup, which needs to establish a brand in a community at large in order to gain credibility and relevance with media and corporate decision makers.

4. BUILD A GOOD STAFF. It sounds simple.  Hire hard working, talented people with good character – move all others along. I also believe in the importance of a diverse staff and promoting from within.  I like to hire entry level employees from an intern pool, because we have had the opportunity to see their skills, work ethic and passion first hand.

Peter Wilt with Chicago Fire supporters

5.  BE A GOOD LISTENER. This is more than a management skill.  It is an important way to learn ways to improve your business and to help reach agreement in negotiations – whether it’s a sponsorship deal, a youth soccer club partnership or a trade with another team.  If you know what the other party wants – and you’re able to put yourself in their shoes – you’ll be much more successful in creating agreements that are positive for all parties.  Paying attention to fans is another way to benefit by being a good listener.

6.  TRANSPARENCY IS GENERALLY GOOD. If you believe in your organization’s integrity, intelligence and decision making ability, you should not only have no fear of the public seeing into your organization, you should welcome it.  There are certain caveats to this such as privacy needs for many personnel, financial and health issues.  But in general, providing insight into an organization’s decision making invariably improves fan relations and fan support.  Transparency, i.e. public explanation of decisions and situations, takes away the mystery and allows the team to provide context into its decisions.  It also engages the fans in a positive manner that allows them to gain understanding.

7. PROVIDE GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE. Like common sense, good customer service is something that everyone thinks they have, but surprisingly few actually do.  Good customer service is the cheapest and best form of advertising and business retention.  Customer service is a process and a culture that develops over time through consistent, honest and fair actions and communication with all team stake holders.  The result is a team and organization that fans, sponsors, media and observers all feel good about and willing to support and even evangelize.

8. MAKE FAN(atic)S NOT SPECTATORS. Getting people to ATTEND soccer games in the United States is difficult.  Getting them to CARE deeply about the sport, team and League to follow on their own is even more difficult, but long term is more important.

9. CREATE EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS. The best way to get people to care about the local team is to provide opportunities for personal contact with the team (players, coaches and staff).  This can be done in person one on one, in small and large groups and virtually via countless online social marketing tools.

10.  BE AUTHENTIC. Don’t try to be something you are not, whether as an individual or as an organization.  It’s much easier to be yourself and more effective.

I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts, perspective and experience with you on the business of soccer in the United States and hope to add discussion via the comments section as well.

Comments made by former MLS Commissioner Doug Logan to the Oregonian in this regard made waves recently. “Soccer audiences at their best have got to be a little dangerous,” Logan said. “It’s three guys with a beer cursing at the guy on the field. It’s not a family activity. If you want a family activity, go to the circus.”

Logan further criticised the reliance of MLS teams on group ticket sales to youth soccer groups. ”Success at the gate has to have a tribal following and not just a van of soccer-playing kids who come to one game a year,” Logan said. “If your business model depends on youth soccer, it won’t be enough.”

This might seem an obvious statement to fans outside the U.S., but for years, soccer marketers in MLS have mainly been all too on message that the sport is a family-focused activity based on appealing to youth soccer. In recent years, that’s begun to change league-wide, and Logan was recognising that, albeit clumsily.

Yet Logan’s comments were curious in that he himself was MLS Commissioner during the period of its launch years that most of its teams — DC and Chicago excepted — were attempting to sell the sport solely as a family activity, and doing little but alienating the 18-34 adult demographic in their pursuit of the youth soccer crowd: which led to most MLS teams cracking down on anything that might potentially alienate their own stereotyped view of a sensitive soccer mom, who’d be frightened away at the mere hint of a swear word.

We can all get along

While he did not address the league’s past failures, it seems that what Logan really meant to do was point to the fact that MLS teams do now need to market more to adults who like to drink beer and come out to matches with friends to support their team week in-week out, rather than solely to families and youth soccer team groups — especially if the aim is building a strong season ticketholder base. What he failed to acknowledge was that this doesn’t necessarily exclude attracting families and children elsewhere to the rest of the stadium, and that many of them can also be passionate  fans themselves.

In a recent interview on du Nord, the Fire’s former President and current Red Stars President Peter Wilt explained that the two demographics can co-exist, with some effort to grow understanding on both sides.

The two most important audiences in American soccer are suburban families, which are traditionally conservative and sensitive to vulgarities and rowdy behavior, and young, urban, male, passionate fans who like and partake in extreme behavior. It’s two extremes that are oftentimes seated side by side. It’s ironic that they have this dichotomy while their end goal is the same: supporting the team they love to victory.

Throughout my time with the Fire, the key I found was communication. I get most credit for my dealings with Section 8 — with the young, urban, passionate fans — but I spent just as much time dealing with the suburban soccer community. It’s important that both constituencies understand each other and that they’re empathetic to each other.

Interestingly, this was a similar point to one made by Portland Timbers owner Merrit Paulson in an interview also published in the Oregonian this week, in which he deliberately played down the ‘danger’ of American soccer when asked about Logan’s comment that soccer support needed to be “a little bit dangerous.”

I disagree with that, strongly. I strongly disagree with that. That sort of plays to the worst stereotypes. But I understand the point, and I just think he’s trying to make the point in a flamboyant manner.

And the point that I agree with is a model that just targets soccer moms and youth soccer is an inherently flawed model. Those people spend their lives going to soccer games every weekend. Trying to target them for season tickets is the wrong way to go.

Now, the reality is, you’re going to get some of those folks. One hundred percent, you need a family environment. I don’t know if you could see a better family environment than Seattle right now. It’s one big party.

But in my mind, soccer is about the new America. It’s a younger demographic, by and large. The 20- to 30-somethings, more urban, is definitely a sweet spot. But families and sports fans and suburbanites are very much a target. And it’s a really unique sporting experience. I don’t think it needs to be dangerous.

What I’d say to that is, we have a section of our supporters, the Timbers Army, which adds to the ambiance, adds to the atmosphere, and I would not suggest that families sit there, with kids. So you need to have different environments for different people. And that’s part of the show, the Timbers Army.

So I would agree with him to the extent that there’s probably a section that’s not a family-oriented section. You get a lot of the European flair here — especially in Portland, even more so than in Seattle, in terms of the standing and the chanting and the synchronized chanting.

It’s never been clear to me why it’s been so difficult for so many MLS executives at the team and league level to figure out that the two demographics are not mutually exclusive, as Wilt and Paulson explain. One section or even end of ‘rowdy’ fans isn’t going to put-off most families attending in the rest of the stadium; in fact, the unique atmosphere that supporters’ groups engender is only likely to improve the spectacle and differentiate a soccer game from the other sports youth groups and families attend.

Kevin Payne, DC United’s supremo, figured this out back in MLS’ inaugural season, 1996, and ever since, DC has had strong support and solid attendance.  I interviewed Payne last year, and explained how they facilitated the supporters’ groups who created the most passionate support in MLS at the time. “The biggest difference between our approach and the rest of the league was that we set out from the beginning to appeal to people who already cared about soccer, whether they were American fans of the game or came from another country with a love for the game,” Payne said. “We thought there were enough people like that to be successful. Part of our philosophy was not expecting to attract non-believers.”

Unfortunately, the rest of the league largely ignored this approach, aside from expansion team the Chicago Fire under Wilt, who in 1998 launched to strong attendance numbers and worked with the Barn Burners and the Polish Ultras ’98 (later standing in Section 8 together) who helped develop the Fire’s identity as a club with their tailgates, tifo displays and vibrant support.

In neither DC nor Chicago, despite the existence of strong supporters’ groups, were families and youth soccer groups sidelined as a result or scared away en masse. That’s not to say there was never a balancing act or some explaining to do by the front office, but all it takes is good communication and an effort by the club to connect with both sides.

Again, though, much of the league ignored this success, presumably petrified that the perceived ‘danger’ of supporters’ groups would scare off their dwindling youth soccer crowds. Obstruction to supporters culture based on a customer service rep occasionally receiving a few emails complaining about a curse word or because of the myth that youth soccer groups who come a few times a year would inevitably develop into an adult fanbase on their own dampened the atmosphere and slowed season ticket sale growth. Without a large base of season ticketholders, MLS teams were constantly scrambling to group sales, ticket giveaways and promotions to half-fill the stands at the expense of building an identity as a club people would believe in and support through thick and thin.

Payne’s absence from DC’s leadership from 2001-4 and Wilt’s firing from Chicago in 2005 (by an AEG executive who had never attended a Chicago Fire match) hardly helped matters. But Toronto’s arrival in the league in 2007 kickstarted their approach again with a successful launch with a largely adult supporters base who were already into soccer, an echo of Payne’s approach in 1996.

Toronto’s successful season ticket drive created a bandwagon wholeheartedly leaped on by expansion team Seattle this season, who have over 20,000 season ticketholders in part thanks to their Scarf Seattle marketing campaign. Nearby, Paulson in Portland seems to have the right approach, recognising the base of organic culture the Timbers Army that already exists provides, and planning to grow from that when the team joins MLS. 2010 expansion team Philadelphia have done the same thing, working closely with their supporters group, Sons of Ben, who had thousands of members even before the team had a name and an MLS franchise.

Toronto fans celebrate their first ever goal

Meanwhile, MLS has begun to encourage existing teams to follow this approach, including at teams that have long had very weak supporters’ sections. Brian Bilello, COO of the New England Revolution, told footiebusiness.com earlier this year about the change of emphasis in their marketing campaign, with a new “Defend the Fort” theme aimed at supporters:

The primary reasoning behind the Defend the Fort campaign is to grow the number of season tickets in The Fort, our supporters section. While we’ll do as much as we can to grow the supporters section in general, we feel that season ticket growth is the key because those fans are the most passionate, most involved and have the biggest stake in the game, so to speak. So we didn’t want it to be where people are coming two, three or four games and sitting in that section, but rather growing a base of fans who are here every single week. That will drive the energy in the building.

Whilst this is welcome, hardcore soccer support can’t be generated solely out of a new marketing campaign. MLS front offices can do much to facilitate supporters’ groups, but in many places there is a lot of damage teams will have a hard time repairing, if they even try. The years of neglect and obstruction to supporters’ groups at teams like Dallas and Colorado mean it might never be possible for strong supporters groups to develop there.

It’s a shame it’s taken so many at the top of MLS so long to realise all this, exemplified by Doug Logan’s comments ten years after the end of his tenure as MLS Commissioner. What MLS has long lacked is not just snazzy marketing campaigns or “danger”, it’s the mere facilitation of supporters’ culture, despite the examples set in DC and Chicago and more recent expansion franchises. This does not mean the exclusion of everyone who doesn’t want to stand or sing or drink. Family sections and supporters coexist quite comfortably and safely in European stadia in various places: you can have atmosphere without alienating a family who comes to support the team as well.

What MLS needs to appeal to the 18-34 demographic is not danger in itself, but simply smart, far-sighted leadership by MLS executives and supporters’ groups who can work together to grow soccer culture bottom-up.

It’s certainly true that many people think it will fail, as its predecessor the WUSA did. I can give you one reason why it won’t — the people who run it realise they have to earn your interest in it.

Peter Wilt, the Chicago Fire’s popular former GM and President who oversaw the club winning the Double (MLS and Open Cups) in their inaugural year, is heading the WPS team in the Windy City. Read his words, for in fact they would be well-heeded by all executives running soccer clubs in this country regardless of the gender of their players:

On the topic of excuses, the Women’s Professional Soccer Town Hall at the NSCAA Convention seemed to be full of them as panelists tried to explain why the WUSA didn’t survive and WPS will. The most popular one was “It’s the media’s fault”. That excuse was phrased a dozen different ways in the 90 minute forum. Suffice to say that room 338 at the Baltimore Convention Center was not a safe place for Barbaro, Sea Biscuit, Whirlaway or any other dead horse. We can not blame others for any lack of exposure and attendance. It is the responsibility of the League and its member teams to reach out to our audiences in other ways – new media and grassroots direct marketing – to connect our League and teams with people who are already emotionally and economically connected to the sport.

The other theme seemed to be the social cause of gender equity. You’ve heard the argument, “You must support this league, BECAUSE it’s a women’s sport and our daughters are entitled to role models and a place to play when they grow up.” I’m sorry, but that is NOT a solid basis to support any league or sport. It may be a convenient byproduct of a women’s pro sports league, but it is not a primary reason why anyone should attend WPS games. WPS will provide competitive, entertaining games featuring the best women’s soccer teams in the world at a fair price – THAT is the reason this League should be supported.

Photo credit: century council