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Chivas USA owner delivers familiar message

Chivas USA owner Jorge Vergara held a press conference on Tuesday to discuss the future of his Major League Soccer Team and the event had a familiar feel to it, in part because many of the same messages he delivered on Tuesday were ones delivered by the team in years past.

Vergara recently took over sole ownership of Chivas USA, taking sole ownership of the club, and he insists he will be taking a more hands-on approach. He also cited a disconnect between Chivas USA and the team’s parent club, Chivas Guadalajara as the reason he decided to take over control of the MLS club.

“There was a divorce between Chivas USA and Chivas Mexico,” Vergara said. “They stopped using the resources and the knowledge that Chivas Mexico had to offer. One example is that I offered (Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez) to Preki for one season and he declined it saying that he wasn’t good enough.

“We believe in the project, we believe in MLS and we’re certain of the success the team will have in MLS and the league but the past few years have been unsuccessful,” Vergara added.

Vergara made it clear that Chivas USA will go back to its Latino roots.

“Considering that Chivas USA is a team of a mix of cultures; from Hispanic immigrants, Mexicans, Colombians, Salvadorans, etc. and we want to create a factor of success in the unity of cultures and identification with those cultures,” Vergara said. “We are going to recreate Chivas USA as an extension and success for Chivas fans in the United States.”

Vergara cited the team’s loss of a Latin influence as a factor in the team’s continued struggles.

“They [Chivas USA] tried to imitate the style of play from other MLS teams; they played more physical, the qualities of the US players and they forgot to use the technical advantage and speed of Hispanic players,” Vergara said. “We didn’t play like they do in the US, or Mexico and the failure of that is in this last season.”

Vergara clearly wants to cater to the Latinos in the greater Los Angeles area, but the club tried that same approach both on and off the field in its early years to very poor results. That reality, and also the reality that the track record of clubs run by leaders with little to no previous experience in MLS or American soccer is a very poor one.

One of the more interesting revelations made by Vergara on Tuesday was that Chivas USA continues to search for a home for a stadium in Los Angeles. He acknowledged that playing at Home Depot Center wasn’t working out for the club, and that a stadium in downtown Los Angeles was the club’s goal.

He also revealed that Chivas USA has been approached by several markets about potentially moving the team out of Los Angeles, but Vergara insists the Goats are staying put in the Los Angeles area.

‘There has been various cities that have offered us a home, specifically one in Texas,” Vergara said. “But it’s clear why we chose Los Angeles. In the beginning, we paid an extra fee to be in Los Angeles and that’s where we remain. This is where we have our fan base and we’re not moving. We have the advantage in Chivas USA of having many nationalities; we can promote players of other nationalities, which by the way, is already happening.

“Soccer wise, it’s simple,” Vergara added later. ” We need the team to perform on the field, play spectacularly and most importantly, get the wins, be the champion. Our goal is that in the next two years, we get to the MLS Cup final and grow from there.”

Chivas USA must still appoint a new head coach, and Chivas Guadalajara advisor Johan Cruyff will be closely involved in the selection process. All indications are that the team will hire a foreign coach.

What do you think Vergara’s comments? Think he is capable of turning Chivas USA into a winner, or do you think the Goats are doomed to fail?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Yes, Vergara’s remarks are largely idiotic. But regarding the idea of playing a Latin style in MLS, why do so many people actually think that’s a ridiculous idea? Maybe in 2005 it was more ridiculous, but in 2012 we have designated players and more foreign roster slots. And in case some of you haven’t noticed, MLS teams not infrequently continue to struggle against quality opponents from south of the border. If Vergara were to bring in 2-3 truly excellent Latino DPs and deploy some very good younger Latino talent (there are more David Ferreira types out there, you know) around them, you might just have the makings of a team that could make some real noise. Is Vergara smart enough to do that, or willing to put up the cash for such an overhaul? Probably not, but if he actually bothered to go there, I think the Goats might just surprise some people.

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  2. A few things.
    1. His statements are inherently racist and the MLS should step in.
    2. If anyone moves into the stadium downtown it will be the Galaxy. AEG anyone?
    3. I pay double for Galaxy season tickets what I would pay for Chivas tickets mostly because it’s not a local team. I recently moved to LA and want to support a local team. Essentially watching the B squad of Chivas is completely unappealing to me in any way. It needs to be rebranded badly. I also despise the idea that has been floating around of branding a Florida team with Barcelona. I don’t want someone’s scraps I want my own unique team to support.
    4. The MLS should be a place to develop the USA national team and MLS’s own self interest. Developing players for other leagues is self defeating and idiotic.

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    • Also, I don’t see how the MLS doesn’t see this as a massive liability. You don’t think the MLS Players Union will be filing grievances win one entire team makes roster selections based on race? This is a major lawsuit waiting to happen. Marketing a team toward hispanic fans is one thing…but saying black, asian, euro, pacific islander, ETC players aren’t going to play for us is insane. I bet the Union is already filing a complaint.

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  3. Two things need to be done in order for Chivas USA to be relevant:
    1) they must re-brand, the Chivas brand alienates more potential fans than bring them in. If they want to cater to the Hispanic market in SoCal area, they need to get out of the Galaxy’s shadow in HDC and bring yourself to an area that you are actively courting.

    2) Win! I don’t care how well you are marketed, how great the atmosphere is, where your soccer-specific-stadium is located – if you don’t win, you will become irrelevant. This league is designed for parity, it speaks volumes of the management at Chivas USA that they have been so poor for this long (and TFC for that matter). If they continue to be mediocre, their attendance numbers and relevancy will continue to dwindle.

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  4. It sounds like he was offered a San Antonio move and he should have taken it. San Antonio is a growing, heavily hispanic metropolis who support a minor league team very well and would respond well to hispanic branding. They would go from a team with an inferiority/ sibling complex in a big city with many sports teams to one of the few shows in town. This is such an easy decision that is says something about him that he continues to perseverate.

    LA is not going to build another playpen for them, if anyone gets it, it will be NFL. I think it’s just the complex talking that he can’t share a stadium with LAG. As long as they have the complex the team isn’t going to be any good either. They need to focus on their own team and quit worrying about older brother.

    Some of their problem goes back to the fundamental paradox/ impossibility of trying to install a Chivas franchise in the US. Chivas is reknowned for being exclusively Mexican. How could you ever replicate that here? Unless we drop the international player limits, never. The international player limits will always undercut the basic concept, which Vergara still wants to press in some modified form nonetheless. The fundamental tension leaves the team flawed from the get-go. It can never be what Vergara wants, and I’m not sure Americans (even Mexican-Americans and hispanics) are going to be comfortable with a team based on a true “exclusivity” concept, nor will it necessarily be competitive under MLS roster and salary rules. It’s hard enough to formulate a team under the cap without picking players of particular backgrounds. Try doing it with internal restrictions to obey.

    FWIW, if Vergara is merely doing this to try and differentiate from LAG, maybe what he needs to do is move away from big brother where the team doesn’t have to be so identity obsessed.

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    • If Chivas USA moves to San Antonio and keeps the “Chivas USA” identity, Vergara would still have the same problem: Latinos who don’t root for CD Guadalajara would be alienated. If Chivas USA moves out of Los Angeles, it would have to develop a new identity based on its new home,

      Imperative Voice, I have two questions:

      San Antonio is a growing, heavily hispanic metropolis who support a minor league team very well and would respond well to hispanic branding. They would go from a team with an inferiority/ sibling complex in a big city with many sports teams to one of the few shows in town.

      I’m not sure what you mean by your second sentence. The Spurs are huge there. San Antonio isn’t exactly “minor league.”

      I think it’s just the complex talking that he can’t share a stadium with LAG. As long as they have the complex the team isn’t going to be any good either.

      If by “complex” you mean the Home Depot Center, I think you’re absolutely right. AEG is a pretty arrogant organization that probably sticks it to Chivas USA pretty hard in terms of paying for things.

      For four seasons, the Dodgers and Angels shared Dodger Stadium. Walter O’Malley, the Dodgers’ owner, was nickel-and-diming the Angels to death on even incidental expenses. Angels attendance was dropping precipitously after 1962; that forced the move to Anaheim. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if AEG is trying to do the same to Chivas USA.

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  5. I quite enjoy the laughing stock that is Chivas USA. The blatant pandering makes me glad the club is in this state. It’s the one club I would refuse to play for if I was a player and one club that I would never support.

    People keep saying ditch the Chivas angle. I say ditch the Hispanic angle. Embrace the entire community. Why does this owner insist on making the same mistakes all over again?

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  6. So he is doubling down on idea that did not work. Not too bright. I said this Brand would not work when they started it and I was right. Chivas USA is a stupid bigoted idea. It works in Mexico not the USA. He should and probably will sell the franchise in the future after he fails again.

    It will go to another city. It will be re-branded with a different name. Chivas USA is doomed.

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  7. The only 2 things that could help say LA is getting more World Class guys like Keane, LD and Beckham but more in their prime still and closer to 29 or 28 rather than 32 or 33…..and lowering their ticket prices….75 dollars for the Sideline tickets near midfield is ridiculous when that can get you an awesome Dodger Ticket near the 3rd or 1st base coaches are or around where the foul ball boys sit or a Laker ticket with resell pricing in the upper 300s level at Staples Ctr and there’s not a bad view there…..maybe more quality around the whole field and for sure more than say 16 players…..other than that maybe a closer stadium as it does take a bit to get to the HDC and the trains and buses aren’t the fastest there even if they improved by say 15% they would be well above a 95% sellout average for them when they have waiting lists they should expand to about 32k or more if possible but only when prudent…so if you look at what the Galaxy faces imagine the Goats who in a way marginalize their freaking target audience and potential fan base……

    Chivas tickets are super cheap tho….when I had a better job and had Galaxy season tickets I wanted to buy Chivas tickets to A) support MLS by going to watch some of the more exciting teams in the league at the time like Columbus, RSL, Seattle even NY in 2010 and the Galaxy “clasicos” and they convinced me into a season ticket package….it was about 480 bucks per seat behind the damn benches lol…. so for Galaxy they should lower their prices about 20% lol but Chivas needs to improve their play by about 180%…..

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  8. They need to ger rid of guys like Peter Vagenas, Nick LaBrocca, Laurent Courtois, Ben Zemanski and probably Miller Bolaños and maybe even Sharlie Joseph unless he plans to actually get back to form and play the way he is getting paid as he is DP….and I guess Angel is no longer a DP but he will probably retire….somehow Oswaldo Minda is a DP and if that is the case and he’s getting more than say 500k I think he has to go too…..unless he gets a pay cut, don’t feel like looking up his salary in the MLS players union listings lol

    They could use Riley, Valencia and either Califf or McKenzie and maybe even Jazi….until they get better players I think Riley is good enough to start for a whie….Ryan Smith offers some wing play but need another guy not sure “Sueño” guy Jorge Villafaña formerly Jorge Flores is a starter but could offer depth…need a playmaker to play in front of Sharlie Joseph or next to him however they do it and between Agudelo, Moreno Correa and maybe even Bowen if he gets to how he played for the Galaxy during the WC when Buddle was gone they have enough for now I think…..Townsend and Cesar Romero give them “youth products” for depth and reserves to keep working on developing guys…..I have no idea how Miller Bolaños fits in….he did not as great as expected….I’d keep Joseph before him tho….oh well my 2 cents for the goats

    And yes a lot of the Non Mexican Hispanic fans are fans of the Galaxy because they were here in teh beginning and they had players like Mauricio Cienfugos, Martin Machon, Carlos Ruiz, Carlos Pavon (even tho he didn’t work out as well) and also even Pando Ramirez (who also didn’t work out well but man did that guy delivered at least ONE goal when it counted and made his mark as one of the best goals in MLS Cup Finals LOL)….they root for the Galaxy and even some Mexican fans do….but Hispanic fans as everyone has said will respond to a good quality side with cable and internet the fans out there overall have become used to great quality teams…..

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  9. I can’t see how Vergara is making any money on Chivas USA. He’s either a stubborn man who won’t admit making a mistake or he’s using the club as a tax writeoff — or both. He certainly doesn’t know the L.A. market. Neither, frankly, does MLS — or else the league would not have let him in. I know Garber suggested that Vergara make San Diego the team’s home before the expansion draft, and Vergara rejected the idea. Given how popular Xolos de Tijuana is, Chivas USA would have no chance in San Diego, now.

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  10. bring them to el paso. huge growth for a pro team. we almost had one a few years ago. indios de ciudad juarez played next door to us and people went over in droves to support them. a team in san “in”tonio would be another set of fair weather fans. there are die hard mexico fans and there are die hard US fans here, but we supported our sister city.

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    • Yes, it seems Vergara has not learned his lesson from the team’s early days. Reserves and Mexican 2nd division players can’t cut it in MLS. They had Roberto Nurse who was top scorer of the 2nd division, and he couldn’t do jack in MLS.

      They realized this and started to bring in other MLS proven players, or decent Mexican 1st division players.

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  11. I met with him. He admitted to never having his hands on the club before and that he didn’t invest to buy full control just to lose money. I say lets all wait and see, but it did sound like he is ready to put money into CUSA with the stadium and player acquisitions.

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    • Thats true, that would mean the revs, colorado, dc united, the last 8 years of the earthquakes would have all been relegated but …oh wait…they don’t have mexican roots so for some reason you all don’t hate them as much

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      • Yeah…. and… this is also EXACTLY the reason why MLS need a single table and to align the season schedule…

    • We’ve heard this same drivel for years and we reply over and over why Pro/Rel is a bad idea in North America. For those new to soccer (or are in the slow class) here’s another attempt to get you to understand why:

      1) Relegation is a death knell for a relegated team. Single entity ownership means that your don’t want any teams to die.

      2) What kind of idiot owner would buy into a league and build a stadium when their investment can become worthless because of one bad season on the field?!?!?!

      3) What kind of fan would want to root for a team that was relegated, since the financial hit they take will mean they have little hope of ever winning a championship in the first division. How many teams in the (EPL for example) have won the championship after having been relegated within the past 15 years?

      4) Teams that finish at the bottom of the standings have difficulty retaining fans and generating enthusiasm for next year’s ticket sales. How would adding the insult of relegation to the injury of a last-place finish help with selling tickets? Remember that our fanbases are young and growing rather than a century old and passed down through the generations.

      5) In a salary-capped league, even the most successful teams will have bad years. Witness my favorite DC United. Also, the LA Galaxy have had bad years in 2006-2008. Do we want to relegate teams that have been icons of the league at various times?

      6) We will add more teams at some point in the future. Expansion teams tend to be weak as they figure themselves out. Why would you want to welcome a new team and fanbase to the league only to immediately punish that fanbase with relegation? You’d waste all that investment money by immediately killing your fanbase.

      7) In (England for example) fans of relegated teams will watch their team in the lower division. That would not happen in the U.S. or Canada. In North America, fans tend to only want to watch the top level of copetition.

      Again, you may think that you had some genius revelation here but you’ve actually said the same uninformed thing that countless other uninformed individuals have said.

      Class dismissed.

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  12. Maybe the idiot Vergara should try rebranding his team. Nobody in America cares a bout Chivas USA as a name brand, they will continue be Second Best to LA Galaxy.

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  13. “One example is that I offered (Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez) to Preki for one season and he declined it saying that he wasn’t good enough.”

    Ya okay,

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    • I was thinking the same thing about Chicharito. Can anyone confirm this? More likely Preki said ‘sure but how much will this cost.’ and when he heard how much young Chicha was getting paid he said forget it because it was too high. Mexican league pays way better than MLS.

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    • It’s actually true. chicharito even said that is when he was really re evaluating his career as a footballer. After that he had some pep talks from his dad and grandfather and he decided to stay on at Guadalajara and had the best season of his career that saw hime eventually end up at Man U

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    • It’s possible… but like you said, I’d like to hear Preki’s recollection of events. Altho Hernandez didn’t break into Chivas’ 1st team until 2009 so it’s entirely possible he could’ve gone on loan to Chivas USA in ’07 or ’08. I do know Garber said he never heard anything about Chicharito-to-Chivas USA until now.

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      • No He made his debut in the fall of 06 and played a total of 7 times in the 06-07 season THAT is probably when he was offered to Preki….or in late 07 as he had 6 appearances in the 07-08 season with no goals and then he played in the fall of 08 or Apertura 08 and didn’t scored in 10 appearances but played 15 times and scored 4 in the Spring 09/”Clausura 09″ or the 2nd half of the traditional calendar in the 08-09 season and then in the fall of 09 or “Apertura 09” he played all 17 games in the Mexican regular season, remember they play 2 short tournaments with playoffs so they have 2 champions per FIFA calendar season and scored 11 times…which is better than his breakout season of Clausura 10′ or Spring 2010 when everyone got to know him and he made his “El Tri” landing as their big star….but he only played 11 times as Mexico was playing like 6 games in the US in their prep for South Africa….. so he was technically a starter or regular in 08 playing all but 2….. most likely tho Preki didn’t want to deal with the money he commanded….

      • I think it’s possible it happened too. People forget Chivas USA has had some decent young Mexicans farmed out there, the problem is they are rentals, they head back after a loan. You can’t build a consistent team that way.

        My thing is I don’t buy someone as sharp as Preki, not a genius but a decent soccer coach good enough to put together a .500 team in this league, would have missed the boat on Hernandez on talent. Cost on the cap weighed against everything else, maybe, but I don’t believe he just thought he sucked. That sounds Jerry Jones.

  14. Ridiculous. Imagine an NFL team somewhere with lots of expats. Create a team totally based on the Cowboys. Do you think the Steeler fans will love it? The way to attract Latino fans is to win…not to hard to figure.

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  15. Chivas will never win anything in MLS. It is a waste of a franchise. Do you ever see anyone wearing a Chivas USA jersey? I didn’t think so. Vergara sounds like a complete moron.

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    • I have every season of Chivas USA’s jerseys and so do my son and daughter. I know we don’t count in your eyes because were Mexican American. You people see us as garbage. for that same reason we weould like something of our own. Viva Chivas USA

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  16. I think what everyone is missing is the fact that Chivas supposedly passed on Chicarito. Is that really true? If so, that blows cuz that is exactly the type of player that all MLS clubs should be looking to acquire if available.

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  17. They can’t get any worse so what’s wrong with change. I initially liked the idea of cdusa, so I’d like to see it work out. It’d be cool to have a team with Latin flavor. His goal of winning MLS cup in 2 years is laughable, but I see he is reaching for the stars lol. If they get their own stadium, start winning, and cater to their Latino fan base they can have some success. They should’ve never stopped catering to their target demo in the first place.

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  18. a ridiculous philosophy. How about just seeking excellence no matter where it’s from or what it looks like?

    You know what every target demo likes? Winning. You know what winning takes? good players. You know where good players come from? lotsa places.

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  19. Nothing he said was new. They are *always* looking for a place for a new stadium. They are *always* looking to attract the Hispanic sports fan…yada..yada…yada! If they want to play a mexican-syle soccer in the MLS, I wish him lotsa luck.

    Nothing was said that make me think he won’t take a handsome offer for Chivas once the last (20th) franchise is handed out by the MLS, and increases the value of Chivas exponentially.

    Chivas will be gone no later than 2016.

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  20. “Our goal is that in the next two years, we get to the MLS Cup final and grow from there.”

    Sums it all up right there. It’s so easy, win MLS Cup and make your team better. Why haven’t other clubs thought of that?

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  21. I follow mexican soccer and this guy is hated by the mexican press, the team owners, even their own fans of chivas mexico. He bought mexican chivas as a business idea and he is super hated by almost every chivas fan and the mexican press. He tells the mexican fans that his life is money and he can do anything he wants in his life with his money and soccer team. My question is, how in the world is that deep sh!t in MLS because his personality is awful from head to toe. But if he was to move the team to el paso texas, hey that would make my life. Accordding to him when he came to juarez, where his wife is from, he said he loves el paso and juarez and he said MLS is missing on El Paso but he loves to bull sh!t. For chivas mexico he was the pioneer of making chivas mexico to play with only mexican players and not only that, he made them a gorgeous stadium. At the end of the day, he is a cancer for chivas usa and mexican chivas but good thing he has money to whipe off his Bull sh!t from his mouth.

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  22. 1. Change the team name to Los Angeles Aztecs or Club Deportivo Los Angeles or Los Angeles just about anything.

    2. Downtown stadium sounds good.

    3. How about not worrying about MLS style, or Mexican roots, or getting SoCal players, or loans from Guadalajara, or any other gimmicks and just fielding a quality team?

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  23. AKA expect another comedy of errors… It takes foreign coaches at MINIMUM an entire season to settle into the league and adjust to the way the league operates. The new coach is undoubtedly going to overhaul the roster and have a group of with as little chemistry as he has MLS experience. They’re like the US version of Toronto FC

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    • I thought they had a plan a couple of years ago to create a SoCal team. They would develop talent from the local market similar to the Guadalahara team. This seemed more in line with Chivas de Guad than trying to be a Mexican team.

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  24. Vergara: “We believe in the project, we believe in MLS and we’re certain of the success the team will have in MLS and the league but the past few years have been unsuccessful”

    Google Translate: “I believe in my own ideals, I don’t f*cking believe in and/or know anything about MLS but I’m certain that with my ideals we can continue to have little to no success just like these past few years”

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  25. Chivas first has to get out of the HDC by either a new location in LA or another city like San Diego or Phoenix. Once they do that and get out of the shadow of Galaxy then I will believe something their owner says. If they don’t do anything then they will continue to fail.

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      • Yeah, everyone keeps saying that but the fact is there are still plenty of hispanics in Arizona who love it there and don’t plan on leaving.

        Besides, In this context Phoenix is basically a marker for any southwest city (Las Vegas, San Antonio, San Diego, etc.)

      • I think it is more likely an AZ franchise would be located in Tucson for several reasons (especially city w/o major sport comp) but I’d be stoked with a team in either the Phoenix metro area or in Tucson.

    • Vergara doesn’t care about winning. He cares about selling his product. Unfortunately statistics back up his misguided attitude. During 2005 and 2006 when the team was “Latino oriented” attendance was the highest it had ever been. In 2007 when the team had its most successful season, an American coach, and up and coming US stars like Bornstein, Guzan, and Klejstan attendance plummeted to its lowest level to date and has remained in the same sub 15,000 range since. Of course this overlooks the novelty of Chivas being a new team accounting for higher attendance.

      Chivas is a failed experiment based on a flawed marketing premise, but Vergara is too big of a fool to admit that he is dead wrong.

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      • CUSA attenance has, in terms of median attendance, been on a gradual downward slide since their inception. If I’m not mistaken, the difference in average you cite is due to doubleheaders skewing the average.

      • I’m not sure if you meant to say this but it sounds as if you think their attendance went down after 07??? That simply isn’t true….it went down SEVERELY after the 08 and 09 seasons the last time they were any good and that 06 season is heavily influenced as the anomaly type of year because they dropped 5k+ in 07 after going up 2k+ close to 3k from their inaugural year…remember the Galaxy did help them pat their attendance as they played them like 2 or 3 times as the home team back then….the thing about them being Latino couldn’t be further from the truth as you pointed out….Claudio Suarez played very little…Ramon Ramirez didn’t play much past 07 and Palencia left early as well…Guzan, Kljestan and Razov were the stars of that freaking team lol not exactly your most Latino guys…….and I believe as Wendell Gee said the 06 attendance was greatly influenced by at least 1 double header with FC Barcelona playing Chivas Guadalajara after Galaxy played Chivas USA….I was there for that.

        I think he may be BSing but the thing is even as “part” owner he’s been sorely lacking….they technically have 2 DP type players with Angel and Joseph although Angel is pretty much retired and Joseph is well ending his career horribly lol but if they can just DUMP some of their playes and keep what little talent they have and start over and actually BRING IN good guys from South America, Mexico even Central America, Osael Romero didn’t work out but he should have tried harder and they should have tried to keep developing his role I think Fraser didn’t care for him, and actually pick good players in the draft not guys like the forward I think they picked last year or a guy they quickly traded away in Valentin…SMH then they could get back to being a quality side that can compete, but MLS Cup in 2 years? I’d say Portland has a better chance and they are right behind them in the Draft lol but with a great prospect of young talent and Porter to look up to…I’d say SJ, KC, Chicago and even to a degree DC & NY have a WAY better shot than Chivas of even being in the Final…lol

  26. How can presume to cater to a lot of Mexican fans when you alienate them out of the gate by being affiliated with the one team they might DESPISE? Rebrand the thing and call it, Pocho Athletic or something. At least then, Club America fans will be in the loop 😉

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    • Agree 100%. Think I posted once before how ludicrous/stupifying it is to pigeon-hole your fan base and alienate a good number of potential supporters of your club right out of the gate. Not all LA fans are “Hispanic”, not all “Hispanic fans” in LA are Mexican… and far from all Mexican fans favor Chivas. You are not going to catch a Mexican League Club America follower to don the rojo y blanco just because it’s MLS. You aren’t going to get a Tico or Catracho to jump on board the Chivas bandwagon either, no way no how. Brits, Italians and Chinese and every the gazillion other backgrounds of fans in LA probably won’t warm up to a club specifically stating it caters to one ethnicity. Geez… MLS already has enough trouble getting fans here to watch an MLS side over EPL, La Liga etc without this kind of suicidal marketing.

      Kind of makes sense that fans want their own team they can take ownership of, not some retread, JV side that is a condescending, thinly veiled marketing scheme for “the real team” in another league. Big Fail. Hit reset. Rename. Focus on football. Better yet, I’ll repeat- move to San Diego, a soccer starved city with a huge fan-base that a Chivas rival, Xolos are already poaching quite successfully.

      Downtown stadium? Well… AEG has its approval for the downtown stadium that Lieweke has specifically stated will be designed to house a soccer team and international competition. What team might that be? Yup… Gals will likely beat you on that front too, but at least you’ll have the consolation of having Home Depot all to yourself.

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      • totally agree with this, Vergara isn’t catering to “hispanic fans in the US”, he’s catering to Chivas fans in LA, which severely narrows his fanbase.

        A rebrand and a move would solve alot of this, bring back the LA Aztecs!

      • That is a HORRIBLE idea, the Aztecs name…..but San Diego as much as it seems a good idea would be no better, probably WORST than Chivas USA in LA after a few seasons and the initial buzz will wear off….as someone said above….very fair weather fans. There’s a lot of outdoor stuff the people of San Diego do so the sports teams don’t do well…..Chargers are the only team that will have some relative success and support and the city is horrible about money for them so I doubt they can help Chivas, which they would have to LURE them and convince them to move to SD. Vergara has enough money to pony up 250 million for a State of the art 25k seat stadium, granted the land is expensive so it might be more like 300 million for a centrally located stadium somewhere near. btw I live in Hollywood and there’s VERY little land in all of LA county period to build a stadium AND have parking let alone just a damn stadium….lol

      • Solles,

        Totally agree! Bring back the Aztecs. For as much as NASL got wrong, it got a lot right,….team brands were typically spot on.

        Edwin,….you are plain wrong.

    • I’m a Morelia Monarcas fan in la liga MX but support Chivas usa here. Of course America fans won’t like it but i don’t see why the rest of la liga mx fans wouldn’t

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  27. Also, it should be mentioned that Los Angeles is completely out of money. The city is going to be cutting major services over the next several years, and the chances of getting tax payer dollars for a team branded Chivas (which all non-Chivas Guadalajara supporters hate) is less than zero.

    Reply
  28. These guys are going to be playing in Weingart Stadium before you know it. For those unfamiliar with Los Angeles, Weingart is a junior college football stadium (20,000 seats) that is significantly less modern than a Texas high school football stadium. Still would be better than Buck Shaw, but JV to be sure.

    Playing in the 95,000 seat Coliseum in untenable.

    Reply
      • List of people that DO NOT support the Chivas USA brand:

        1. Any Mexican or Mexican American not from Guadalajara (or whose family is not from there).
        2. Any Mexican or Mexican American from Guadalajara (or whose family is from there) that supports Tecos or Atlas.
        3. Any non-Mexican Latino.
        4. Mainstream Americans.

        Chivas USA is a horrible, short-sighted and I dare to say, slightly racist endeavor.

        Please re-brand and cater to a local market, so as to help the sport grow locally here in the USA.

        The MLS is essentially exporting jobs to Mexico, by having this organization hire management who will be “commuting” in from Mexico.

        Nationality or Ethnicity should not be a central theme surrounding the core identity of a national sports team in the USA.

      • don’t think it’s even in the top 5 possible locations for MLS franchises at the moment, but as a resident of AZ I would be absolutely over the moon if Tucson got a team.

      • You talking rational destinations or ones that Garber likes? Because to me Phoenix would be on a short list of cities without a team that should be looked at. But instead you’ve got Garber wandering around NYC2, Orlando, Miami.

    • By the way

      Everyone who keeps saying move to san diego needs to a reality check !!!!

      Ive lived in San diego for 8 years. They are fair weather fans. It will be hyped up in the beginning but when you have teams like fc dallas, colorado rapids, columbus crew, NE revolution coming into town, there will be empty seats,,,,,,

      San Diego has already lost the clippers. The SD chargers are threatening to move to LA because they want a new stadium. The city council is a joke on getting stadium approvals.

      Only chance a soccer team would be successful in SD is if the Chargers move to LA

      Reply
    • By the way

      Everyone who keeps saying move to san diego needs to a reality check !!!!

      Ive lived in San diego for 8 years. They are fair weather fans. It will be hyped up in the beginning but when you have teams like fc dallas, colorado rapids, columbus crew, NE revolution coming into town, there will be empty seats,,,,,,

      San Diego has already lost the clippers. The SD chargers are threatening to move to LA because they want a new stadium. The city council is a joke on getting stadium approvals.

      Only chance a soccer team would be successful in SD is if the Chargers move to LA

      Reply
      • SanDiego has plenty of the Latinos the owner says he wants to cater to. (Of course so does LA, Texas, NYC, even Chicago and Florida.) I am pretty sure there is no way Chivas will develop a bigger fan base unless they start winning games. The owner says nothing that makes me think he knows how to do that!

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