Other Sports **2012 Sporting Kansas City\Soccer Thread** - Page 72

|Zach| · 04:13 PM

Sporting Kansas City was eliminated from MLS Cup contention after losing to Houston 2-1 aggreagate over the span of two games. They finished the year as US Open Cup Champions and a Kansas City team record of 63 points.

MLS Cup Final | LA Galaxy vs Houston Dynamo | December 1st, 3:30 CT

Final Regular Season Eastern Conference Standings
Full MLS standings here.

2012 US Open Cup Champions.

**Reaper16** · 05-16-2012, 05:02 PM

Possible KC derby, lol.

|Zach| · 05-16-2012, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reaper16

Possible KC derby, lol.

Yea, the idea of it is so absurd. They got their first US Open Cup win this year. Qualified for the first time last year. They barely have a website...playing in OP, KS somewhere.

|Zach| · 05-16-2012, 05:17 PM

Sounders fans get on everyones nerves but this is a decent read. Obviously good for the league.

This story appears in the May 28 World Football Issue of ESPN The Magazine.

DRUMS BEAT, CHANTS ring out, fans march. There are brightly colored scarves and home-made banners, celebrity spectators and crisp, damp spring air. But this isn't Manchester. It's not even England. It's Seattle, and come Saturdays, the streets and seats fill, and the right side of Puget Sound becomes as lively a soccer city as anyplace in the Prem.

Sounders FC, a young franchise in a disrespected league, tucked away in a remote corner of a nonsoccer nation, is proving the sport can succeed in the U.S. "For everyone in American soccer," says Sounders coach Sigi Schmid, "I always tell people, you have to make a pilgrimage to Seattle. What you hoped soccer would be, it's actually like that here."

Per game, the Sounders outdraw the Mariners almost 2 to 1, with attendance through May 5 at nearly 39,000, which would place eighth in the English Premier League. Merchandise sales are on a par with the Seahawks, according to Gary Wright, Sounders senior VP of business operations. No wonder NBA commissioner David Stern, who let the Sonics leave Seattle in 2008 after 41 years, calls the Sounders "the most successful expansion team in the history of sports."

Not that this success should surprise anyone. Out of the way and independent-minded, Seattle has a tradition of embracing the new. The city gave birth to grunge, Starbucks and Microsoft. Occupy Wall Street? In Seattle, home of the 1999 World Trade Organization riots, that's so last century.

It also helps that the world's game has a rich history in the Emerald City. The original Sounders were founded in 1974 (two years before the Seahawks and three before the Mariners), but the Kingdome was literally crumbling when U.S. Soccer chose host cities for the 1994 World Cup, and Seattle was passed over again when MLS launched two years later. The demand was there; the venue still wasn't. Then in 2002, Seahawks Stadium (now named CenturyLink Field) opened, having secured public funding largely on the promise it could host soccer as well as football.

By 2007, a lifelong soccer fan named Joe Roth, who just happened to be the former chairman of Walt Disney Studios and a multimillionaire Hollywood producer with movies such as Major League and While You Were Sleeping to his credit, decided the time was right for MLS in Seattle. He partnered with Adrian Hanauer, a local businessman who ran a minor league version of the Sounders, then persuaded Microsoft co-founder and Seahawks owner Paul Allen to buy in. The marriage of football and fütbol turned out to be a masterstroke.

More than half of the Seahawks' full-time staffers also work for the Sounders. The teams merged ticket, marketing and financial operations, enabling the Sounders to hit the ground running. The new club also took advantage of the void left by the Sonics' departure -- inheriting media coverage and corporate sponsors -- though there's debate about how much that helped at the gate. "People say that was a factor," says Wright. "But I'm not sure how many basketball fans love soccer."

In the Sounders' original business plan, the goal was to sell 12,000 tickets per game. The team averaged nearly 30,000. "It became a cultural phenomenon," Roth says. But execs refuse to take that support for granted. "The day you assume everyone's always going to be there on Saturday is when complacency bites you on the ass," says Hanauer, the GM.

So the front office made sure to build trust among its young, tech-savvy fans from the start, letting fans name the team and soliciting feedback through social media. "The people who put down a deposit for season tickets [their inaugural year] were sent a link to fill out info such as: What kind of fan are you?" says Bart Wiley, the Sounders' director of business development. "Will you sing and chant or just watch the game?" Comedian Drew Carey, another minority owner, took the concept of "democracy in sport" further by giving season-ticket holders the opportunity to vote out the GM every four years. (Hanauer, up for re-election in November, calls his chances "reasonable.")

The suits were also smart enough to stay out of the fans' way. "People ask how we created this amazing stadium energy," Hanauer says. "We didn't create anythingthey did. We've made good decisions, but we're careful not to disrupt the organic growth and authenticity of what's developed here. We know we can screw this up."

Of course, it's easier to support a competitive team. Under coach Schmid, hired fresh off an MLS Cup win with Columbus in 2008, the Sounders won the first three games in their history and haven't looked back. They've since made the playoffs and increased their point total every year without superstars like David Beckham and Thierry Henry. Not that they're cheap. The club has the third-highest payroll in MLS behind LA and New York, spending wisely on lesser-known but highly skilled South Americans like Argentine midfielder Mauro Rosales and Colombian forward Fredy Montero. This season, the Sounders are off to their best start yet.

Like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, what started as coffeehouse counterculture is now a money-making stream. And the rest of MLS is paying attention. New clubs in Portland and Vancouver entered the league in 2011 with similar grassroots excitement, and the European-style atmospheres are slowly taking root in places like Houston and Kansas City, albeit on a much smaller scale. But what plays in Seattle doesn't necessarily sell in KC. Instead of simply following the Sounders' blueprint, other clubs should follow their example. Take the world's game and make it their own.

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/sto...-espn-magazine

DJay23 · 05-16-2012, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dragonocho

Sorry for crashing the SKC thread with this but the Sky Sports reaction to Man City's Goals. Phenomenal ending.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aodh0...eature=related

One of the coolest endings to a season I can remember. It's right up there with the last day of the baseball regular season last year.

|Zach| · 05-18-2012, 03:50 PM

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/articl...e-slumping-skc

COLORADO RAPIDS vs SPORTING KANSAS CITY
DICK'S SPORTING GOODS PARK, Commerce City, Colo.
May 19, 2012 (WEEK 11, MLS Game #104)
7 p.m. MT (Altitude; KSMO)

Braincase · 05-19-2012, 12:10 PM

Anybody watching Chelsea v. Bayern Munich @ 1:45?

Superbowltrashcan · 05-19-2012, 12:57 PM

Got it on the 110" in the basement and the the other two as well. My oldest is pissed as hell she has to go to her cousin's graduation on her mom's side. I'll DVR it for her. Having a Stiegel Radler to bring luck to BM.... Stuff is tasty....

Braincase · 05-19-2012, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superbowltrashcan

Got it on the 110" in the basement and the the other two as well. My oldest is pissed as hell she has to go to her cousin's graduation on her mom's side. I'll DVR it for her. Having a Stiegel Radler to bring luck to BM.... Stuff is tasty....

I have to give Chelsea credit.

**Buck** · 05-19-2012, 02:38 PM

That shit was nuts. I normally don't like Chelsea, but I find myself rooting for them.

MMXcalibur · 05-19-2012, 02:39 PM

Bayern Munich has had roughly 183590157901851 corners with no result. Chelsea takes one and converts.

WoodDraw · 05-19-2012, 02:42 PM

**** Chelsea. But that was a great header by Drogba.

MMXcalibur · 05-19-2012, 02:46 PM

I understand how that's a penalty, but what's with the bulls*** of trainers coming on the field? Get the f*** up.

**Buck** · 05-19-2012, 02:53 PM

He's French.

Braincase · 05-19-2012, 03:31 PM

WOW! What a way to pull out the biggest game in the history of the club! CHELSEA! WOW!

ArrowheadHawk · 05-19-2012, 03:33 PM

So was that an upset?

11-21-2011, 05:01 PM
\|Zach\| For The Glory Of The City Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Kansas City Casino cash: $5336768	2012 Sporting Kansas City\Soccer Thread Sporting Kansas City was eliminated from MLS Cup contention after losing to Houston 2-1 aggreagate over the span of two games. They finished the year as US Open Cup Champions and a Kansas City team record of 63 points. MLS Cup Final \| LA Galaxy vs Houston Dynamo \| December 1st, 3:30 CT Final Regular Season Eastern Conference Standings Full MLS standings here. 2012 US Open Cup Champions. Last edited by \|Zach\|; 11-26-2012 at 04:13 PM..
Posts: 53,427

05-16-2012, 05:17 PM	#1068
\|Zach\| For The Glory Of The City Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Kansas City Casino cash: $5336768	Sounders fans get on everyones nerves but this is a decent read. Obviously good for the league. This story appears in the May 28 World Football Issue of ESPN The Magazine. DRUMS BEAT, CHANTS ring out, fans march. There are brightly colored scarves and home-made banners, celebrity spectators and crisp, damp spring air. But this isn't Manchester. It's not even England. It's Seattle, and come Saturdays, the streets and seats fill, and the right side of Puget Sound becomes as lively a soccer city as anyplace in the Prem. Sounders FC, a young franchise in a disrespected league, tucked away in a remote corner of a nonsoccer nation, is proving the sport can succeed in the U.S. "For everyone in American soccer," says Sounders coach Sigi Schmid, "I always tell people, you have to make a pilgrimage to Seattle. What you hoped soccer would be, it's actually like that here." Per game, the Sounders outdraw the Mariners almost 2 to 1, with attendance through May 5 at nearly 39,000, which would place eighth in the English Premier League. Merchandise sales are on a par with the Seahawks, according to Gary Wright, Sounders senior VP of business operations. No wonder NBA commissioner David Stern, who let the Sonics leave Seattle in 2008 after 41 years, calls the Sounders "the most successful expansion team in the history of sports." Not that this success should surprise anyone. Out of the way and independent-minded, Seattle has a tradition of embracing the new. The city gave birth to grunge, Starbucks and Microsoft. Occupy Wall Street? In Seattle, home of the 1999 World Trade Organization riots, that's so last century. It also helps that the world's game has a rich history in the Emerald City. The original Sounders were founded in 1974 (two years before the Seahawks and three before the Mariners), but the Kingdome was literally crumbling when U.S. Soccer chose host cities for the 1994 World Cup, and Seattle was passed over again when MLS launched two years later. The demand was there; the venue still wasn't. Then in 2002, Seahawks Stadium (now named CenturyLink Field) opened, having secured public funding largely on the promise it could host soccer as well as football. By 2007, a lifelong soccer fan named Joe Roth, who just happened to be the former chairman of Walt Disney Studios and a multimillionaire Hollywood producer with movies such as Major League and While You Were Sleeping to his credit, decided the time was right for MLS in Seattle. He partnered with Adrian Hanauer, a local businessman who ran a minor league version of the Sounders, then persuaded Microsoft co-founder and Seahawks owner Paul Allen to buy in. The marriage of football and fütbol turned out to be a masterstroke. More than half of the Seahawks' full-time staffers also work for the Sounders. The teams merged ticket, marketing and financial operations, enabling the Sounders to hit the ground running. The new club also took advantage of the void left by the Sonics' departure -- inheriting media coverage and corporate sponsors -- though there's debate about how much that helped at the gate. "People say that was a factor," says Wright. "But I'm not sure how many basketball fans love soccer." In the Sounders' original business plan, the goal was to sell 12,000 tickets per game. The team averaged nearly 30,000. "It became a cultural phenomenon," Roth says. But execs refuse to take that support for granted. "The day you assume everyone's always going to be there on Saturday is when complacency bites you on the ass," says Hanauer, the GM. So the front office made sure to build trust among its young, tech-savvy fans from the start, letting fans name the team and soliciting feedback through social media. "The people who put down a deposit for season tickets [their inaugural year] were sent a link to fill out info such as: What kind of fan are you?" says Bart Wiley, the Sounders' director of business development. "Will you sing and chant or just watch the game?" Comedian Drew Carey, another minority owner, took the concept of "democracy in sport" further by giving season-ticket holders the opportunity to vote out the GM every four years. (Hanauer, up for re-election in November, calls his chances "reasonable.") The suits were also smart enough to stay out of the fans' way. "People ask how we created this amazing stadium energy," Hanauer says. "We didn't create anythingthey did. We've made good decisions, but we're careful not to disrupt the organic growth and authenticity of what's developed here. We know we can screw this up." Of course, it's easier to support a competitive team. Under coach Schmid, hired fresh off an MLS Cup win with Columbus in 2008, the Sounders won the first three games in their history and haven't looked back. They've since made the playoffs and increased their point total every year without superstars like David Beckham and Thierry Henry. Not that they're cheap. The club has the third-highest payroll in MLS behind LA and New York, spending wisely on lesser-known but highly skilled South Americans like Argentine midfielder Mauro Rosales and Colombian forward Fredy Montero. This season, the Sounders are off to their best start yet. Like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, what started as coffeehouse counterculture is now a money-making stream. And the rest of MLS is paying attention. New clubs in Portland and Vancouver entered the league in 2011 with similar grassroots excitement, and the European-style atmospheres are slowly taking root in places like Houston and Kansas City, albeit on a much smaller scale. But what plays in Seattle doesn't necessarily sell in KC. Instead of simply following the Sounders' blueprint, other clubs should follow their example. Take the world's game and make it their own. http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/sto...-espn-magazine
Posts: 53,427

05-18-2012, 03:50 PM	#1070
\|Zach\| For The Glory Of The City Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Kansas City Casino cash: $5336768	http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/articl...e-slumping-skc COLORADO RAPIDS vs SPORTING KANSAS CITY DICK'S SPORTING GOODS PARK, Commerce City, Colo. May 19, 2012 (WEEK 11, MLS Game #104) 7 p.m. MT (Altitude; KSMO)
Posts: 53,427

05-19-2012, 12:10 PM	#1071
Braincase Banned Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Pond> Me <Barn Casino cash: $11298284	Anybody watching Chelsea v. Bayern Munich @ 1:45? __________________ BrainCase
Posts: 15,429

05-19-2012, 12:57 PM	#1072
Superbowltrashcan Starter Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: South JoCo Casino cash: $3576406	Got it on the 110" in the basement and the the other two as well. My oldest is pissed as hell she has to go to her cousin's graduation on her mom's side. I'll DVR it for her. Having a Stiegel Radler to bring luck to BM.... Stuff is tasty....
Posts: 544

05-19-2012, 02:38 PM	#1074
Buck Take a Chill Pill Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: South Carolina Casino cash: $8329900	That shit was nuts. I normally don't like Chelsea, but I find myself rooting for them.
Posts: 44,562

05-19-2012, 02:39 PM	#1075
MMXcalibur Pessimistically optimistic. Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Denver, CO Casino cash: $2475086	Bayern Munich has had roughly 183590157901851 corners with no result. Chelsea takes one and converts.
Posts: 16,399

05-19-2012, 02:42 PM	#1076
WoodDraw Veteran Join Date: Mar 2004 Casino cash: $10005059	**** Chelsea. But that was a great header by Drogba.
Posts: 3,785

05-19-2012, 02:46 PM	#1077
MMXcalibur Pessimistically optimistic. Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Denver, CO Casino cash: $2475086	I understand how that's a penalty, but what's with the bulls* of trainers coming on the field? Get the f* up.
Posts: 16,399

05-19-2012, 02:53 PM	#1078
Buck Take a Chill Pill Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: South Carolina Casino cash: $8329900	He's French.
Posts: 44,562

05-19-2012, 03:31 PM	#1079
Braincase Banned Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Pond> Me <Barn Casino cash: $11298284	WOW! What a way to pull out the biggest game in the history of the club! CHELSEA! WOW! __________________ BrainCase
Posts: 15,429

05-19-2012, 03:33 PM	#1080
ArrowheadHawk Rock Chalk! Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Topeka, KS Casino cash: $8004961	So was that an upset?
Posts: 15,672