Mellinger: Sporting looks like KC’s most successful franchise
 

Hard to argue.

Do we need to start having a Sporting KC thread prefix icon?




This isn’t about the soccer. Some of you can’t make that leap. Some of you never will. Some of you don’t want to, don’t care, and of course that’s your choice.
Your choice to miss out.

Because even if you’re stuck in the 1980s and refuse to think of soccer as anything more than orange slices and Capri Suns, you must at least wish your team could model the thorough, smart, and fan-first success of Sporting KC — MLS Eastern Conference champions after a 2-1 season-ending win over Philadelphia in front of another sellout crowd at Livestrong Sporting Park.

The Royals have the sorriest last two decades in the American League and the Chiefs have a case as the NFL’s worst team, so why not invest a bit in a winner?

Sporting KC is a serious threat to win the MLS Cup in its second consecutive playoff appearance, something the Chiefs haven’t done since 1995 (when Bill Self coached at Oral Roberts) and the Royals since 1985 (when Bill Snyder coached at Iowa).

Technically, this is the 17th season of the MLS in Kansas City but in reality it is the second season anyone outside a devoted but small demographic of hardcore soccer fans has paid much attention.

And what we’ve seen is remarkable.

Think about this: Sporting KC is not only on its way to joining the mainstream local sports scene … the franchise is changing it.

You would need a wild imagination and perhaps an opiate to believe Sporting will overtake the Chiefs or Royals in local importance, but that’s neither the goal nor the point. Why can’t Sporting turn Kansas City from a two-sport town to a three?

So maybe we didn’t need AEG’s non-promises after all. Maybe we just needed the rich guys at Cerner to buy an afterthought team and turn it into something much more.

You might’ve dismissed the first season of the franchise rebranding and the gorgeous new stadium as novelty, but what now? Every game but one was a sellout this year, and the team’s revenue is actually up across the board. The average (non-premium) season ticket holder is 27 years old. Disposable income is now being spent on professional soccer in a way Kansas City has perhaps never seen, certainly not since the Comets fad of the 1980s.
Sporting is not plotting world domination here, just a bigger chunk of the local sports market and two seasons in the plan is going off almost flawlessly. They are winning, and the management group is putting on a virtual clinic on how to connect with a community and make fans feel part of the process.

The $200 million stadium comes alive in large part thanks to the maniacs in the Cauldron — who have regular interaction with the ownership group, by the way — and the result is the league’s fourth-youngest roster playing with one of the strongest homefield advantages and a fan experience that’s increasing season ticket demand.

The only hiccup surrounds the name on the stadium, an ancillary fallout from Lance Armstrong’s chemically enhanced career finally coming into undeniable focus. But Sporting named its stadium after an organization that provides hope for cancer victims, not the fraudulent cyclist who started it, so backtracking now would be somewhere between counterproductive and cowardly.

Meanwhile, the team for which the stadium exists continues to elbow its way closer to mainstream. Soccer interest and participation continues to rise nationally, with Kansas City an emerging hotbed. Parents reading football concussion stories might give that an extra boost.

Look at this with an open mind, and the franchise that commissioner Don Garber calls the MLS’ greatest success story is perfectly positioned to take advantage of market conditions both in and out of its own control. So this is about much more than just soccer, but if that’s not your thing, then fine.

It’s just that you’ll be missing the best part of Kansas City’s current professional sports scene.


http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/24.../sporting.html

I've come around a lot on soccer, but it's hard for me to care much about MLS play. I get though that seeing the Sporting live is supposed to be a good time.

Can't figure out whether I care less about soccer or what Mellinger has to say.

Not my bag but props to Sporting for bringing something positive to KC.

I don't know much about soccer but the game last night was very entertaining.

"For the Glory of the City"

Dumb ----> "...looks like..."

Gee...ya think??!?!

It's really nice that Sporting is a good local team. I REALLY WANT to like soccer and enjoy riding on this teams wagon, but for some reason low scoring soccer games just bore me to do other things. I DO however root for them to win and check the scores after the games. I went to the Wizards vs ManU game at Arrowhead a couple years ago and that was semi-fun. I Imagine going to a game at Livestrong would be a ton more fun and I'm willing to go as soon as I find someone to offer me tix.

Hopefully I can start to watch the games and enjoy them, but so far I just haven't been able to do it.

One thing I do like about MLS is that it doesn't seem like they do the fake injury thing anywhere near as much as some of the international games. The World Cup gets unwatchable sometimes because it's so ridiculous.

These guys are like a breathe of fresh air compared to Royals and Chiefs ownership and their decades of "Comittiment to Excrement"

whether or not you like soccer is irrelevant, Clark should be taking lessons from these guys on how engage the fanbase....

Pioli has only accomplished one thing since arriving: making the town hate him, and by extension the team...meanwhile Sporting is a clinic on managing a franchise

Good to see Sporting do well and represent the city well. At least they don't bring shame on KC like the Royals and Chiefs. Too bad more KC sports fans don't follow the only winner in town.

I agree that the anti-soccer mentality is pretty lame. It's much like the anti-NASCAR mindset, pretty silly to hate just to hate. But alas, folks are folks, and you can't change that.

I guess now that the Hunts sold the team it has allowed for their success - not that they weren't already "successful," but I'm assuming that it must have been dumb luck because Hunts were at the top of the Org. chart. So I might just go and catch a game. I went years ago and it was a bit of a let-down compared to the atmosphere I enjoyed watching the Roma-Lazio and Juve-Milan games of my own childhood, but I think SKC has come a long way and perhaps it's time to line the pockets of an ownership group that cares and doesn't hate their fan base - well not if it means they'd have to make slightly less profit at least. Obviously the whole Hunt herd hates KC, its people, and above all missing out on a dime, so this team might be worth some dimes...

Thanks...

The Royals should take note at how KC supports their teams when managment puts forth a little effort. They could make some money.

Im not sure its an "anti-soccer" mindset. Its probably more to do with the fact that watching paint dry is on the same excitement plane however its a notch above watching golf so it has that going for it.

I agree with everything you said there. I love how SKC ownership cares about the fans AND wants to win. Neither the Royals nor Chiefs need to be small market teams if we just had ownership dedicated to building a winner. Look at Pittsburgh. In football they are not considered small market because of the huge national fan base they have. In baseball though the Pirates are. Why? The Steelers are winners and the Pirates are not. As a result one thrives while one struggles. Owners who care about winning can turn both KC franchises around much like new ownership did it for SKC. Now I also think we are about 20-30 years away from seeing soccer matches similar to the ones you remember as a child as it will take time to change the minds and culture of people here towards liking soccer.

It takes time and decades to change a culture. The Chiefs and Royals have been a part of KCs landscape for decades. Pro Baseball and Pro Football have been around for a hundred years.

Pro Soccer in the U.S. is in its infancy by comparison.

I never got into tetherball either....

Without dooming this thead to the DC forum, it's extremely interesting that you just happened to mention NASCAR in comparison to soccer.

I DO think there is a mild bias, against BOTH, in certain parts of the country. And it has to do with bigotry.

I would rank watching golf much higher than soccer. Tom Watson has done great things since the Royals or Chiefs have.

And Zach rejoiced with the angels.

The MLS has done a good job of fostering a style of play that is in line with what Americans find important and what they value in gamesmanship.

If soccer was an actual sport ....

trololololol

But it's still soccer. Doesn't really count.

The diving really is a cultural thing, not a sport thing.

That's ****ing BAD ASS.

It counts more than trotting out a losing team for 20 years while every year taking about how "next year will be better because we have prospects"

There is a multi page story about the team and the city embracing it in Sports Illustrated...I actually think the issue is available just today in news stands. I have not read it just but was interviewed for it so I need to find a copy.

So if some local JR. A hockey team was winning a cup - he would be pimping that too? The sad, sorry state of KC sports.

Comparison failure.

That was from the US Open Cup Final they won this year. Seperate tournament...64 teams from all levels of the US Soceer pyramid...single elimination like the NCAA's.

It was a big win for a few reasons. Their first cup since 2004 a wild dramatic game the likes of which I may never see again and they beat Seattle who are notorious arrogant assholes. They are like the Yankees without the actual championships. It was also cool beating Seattle because up until then they pretty much had our number. They would always find some way to beat us in the very last second it was infuriating.

These videos they did leading up to the game were really ****ing cool. Playing up some of those facts. The 3rd one is the best.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/G-xi8oV3Bso" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RkgO2n06yY4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wuvt1YXlJyk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Nascar gets hate because it is not a sport, even though they try and force that concept down your throat. If it were f1, baja or even all road races at least it would be a tad more exiting. You have 3 types of fans, the rednecks who go and think it is a sport. The people that people watch the rednecks and then the people at home. Funny enough, all of those people have one thing in common. They wanted a reason to get drunk. Only the wnba is on par with how boring nascar is.

Well it becomes prevalent enough in some of the games, particularly the World Cup games, that you can associate it with the game as a whole for that tournament.
The problem, for me (and I'm admittedly not a hard core soccer fan), is that the quality of play in the World Cup matches seems much better than the MLS games I've seen. So, even with the flopping, those games are still more appealing than any MLS match I've seen.
I live like 7 minutes from the FC Dallas stadium but I don't have much urge to see them. I'm not anti-MLS; I don't have any dislike for it. It just doesn't move the needle for me. Once in a while I try and watch one of their matches, but I lose interest pretty quickly.
I can sympathize with soccer fans, though. I love the NHL and plenty of people hate that and think it sucks.

Too bad nobody gives a shit.

Actually, it's not. Pro soccer has been in KC in some form since longer than the last time the Chiefs won a Superbowl. 1968 to be exact. So while it's not 100 years old it's not an infant either.

http://www.sportkc.org/sportkc.aspx?pgID=906

Sporting Kansas City 1990-Present
In 1996 the Kansas City Wiz of Major League Soccer were formed. In 1997 they were renamed the Wizards. The Wizards became the 2000 MLS Champions. In 2006 the team was purchased by a local group named OnGoal LLC. The team was officially rebranded Sporting Kansas City in 2010. In 2011 they opened the state-of-the-art LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, giving the team their first true home for players and fans alike.

Kansas City Comets 2001-2005
The Kansas City Comets are part of the newly formed Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). The Comets are under the ownership of Kansas City Sports Enterprises and make their home in Kemper Arena. They were known as the Kansas City Attack for 10 years and became the Comets when the NPSL League disbanded in 2001.


Other Soccer Teams in Kansas City

Kansas City Spurs NASL 1968-1970

Kansas City Comets MISL 1981-1991

Kansas City Attack NPSL 1991-2000

My favorite part of the story. :clap::clap::clap:

Please God, just don't let them put us on the cover....EVER.

Spurs were once NASL Champions.

This.

And yet, they still click on the link and post. ROFL

I can't stand NASCAR but I am not clicking on the links to post that myself or no one else gives a shit about it.

Or you could just recognize the difference between an article ABOUT the Sporting and the Sporting itself.

That might help.
;)