The Kansas City Wizards are set to introduce Claudio Lopez as the team’s first designated player today and the high-profile acquisition is just the topping on what has been an excellent off-season for the Wizards, which should be considered a darkhorse title contender despite playing in a loaded Eastern Conference.
What’s so special about the Wizards? Well, KC did lose Eddie Johnson to Fulham during the winter transfer period but KC has added Lopez and Colombian striker Ivan Trujillo to the attack, while also reloading the defense with a draft full of quality back-line prospects. Now it will be up to head coach Curt Onalfo to make it all work, to incorporate Lopez to an attack that struggled at times last year and to turn Carlos Marinelli into the playmaker the team hoped it was getting when it signed him last season.
Are the additions at forward and in the back enough to boost a club that has either missed or barely made the playoffs the past three seasons? It will depend greatly on whether Jimmy Conrad can stay healthy, Lopez can deliver the goals lost when Eddie Johnson left and the rookie class can produce a couple of immediate contributors (with No. 1 overall pick Chance Myers looking like one of them).
What do you think of the Wizards’ moves this offseason? Think they are ready to challenge East powers D.C. and New England? Think they will struggle? Share your thoughts below.
I expected my post would irritate a few KC fans, but as I stated that was not the point of the post, and I AM NOT a K.C. hater. I also don’t hold anything against K.C. for being Kansas! St.Louis and Real Salt Lake are glamorous? I understand where you are coming from as fans, but you need to step away from your bias as fans and try to be a little more objective. Look at the first response I got by “Does anyone even pay attention?” This is ironic because he must not be paying attention. This post is a little delusional.
A new stadium and training facility are great, but as we have already seen, this doesn’t necessarily add up to a lot more fans. Miami, by all accounts, had one of the best places for soccer in the country after they spent the money to modify an existing stadium to make it specific to soccer. They also had a very committed owner who was so sure of himself he spent and lost a ton of money. Is that really that different than what your claiming? Then the comments about a DP who most people seem to think is past his prime having a major impact seems real weak, as does the “big” increase in season ticket sales. 232% of nothing is what? Your being a little dishonest with that one. Your whole post is deceiving and clearly influenced by the fact that your a fan. I get it.
KCResident: You may be right about the real effort being put into increasing attendance, but certainly I must have heard at least a half dozen times about how KC was launching some new effort to increase ticket sales. As for the league not moving teams, that is semantics. If the team and owners were made the right offer by another city with better prospects, they would certainly consider moving. Why did Miami fold with such a committed owner and great soccer venue?
I don’t wish K.C. any ill will. Maybe they can turn this around, but take off the rose colored glasses and realize that it has been twelve years and they are still floundering. That’s picking on K.C.?
To be fair the Chivas situation seems a little shaky too, and they have a great new stadium and a brand name from a famous and beloved Mexican team. Not to mention the committed owner. Their real attendance was much lower than it shows. They padded it with some games that weren’t really regular Chivas home games. 800 season tickets for a team that was in the top four teams last year?
As a fan of the league I just want to see it prosper and make the next step forward. Who the teams are is not that big of a deal. Maybe K.C. will bring up the rear this year, but the league needs to move on from having teams that have an average attendance of below 10K. USL teams have matched that. Good luck to KC, but this needs to be the last chance and anymore expansion has to be with existing teams who are struggling because MLS cannot absorb all of this expansion unless it wants to become a foreign league and step back in quality.
To all of you KC haters and nonbelievers…just you hide and watch…you will see KC as a contender that they already are!
And dont worry about where we are playing for the next two years…we wil rock that house and be ready for our new stadium! Go spread your hate and discontent some where , where they might care , like St. Louis.
KC has the chemistry with a fast,athletic and hard working group of young players who will blend well with the older guys. Onalfo and OnGoal have keenly created a winner.
Same old crap KC fans have been hearing from day 1 of MLS. “Move the Wizards!”
Wizards fans can fire off all the facts they want, but the truth is that most non-Wizard MLS fans just don’t want to hear it. The biggest problem with Kansas City is it has the word “Kansas” in it’s name. That little factor immediately skews everyone’s perceptions about the market.
Please Kansas City, for my own amusement, win a championship and get your stadium built before NYRB and DCU just so I can watch everyone squirm and complain about how you guys don’t deserve it.
-Viva Molnar!
Aristotle:
“K.C. has tried everything over the years to get fans in the seats and had a very wise man as an owner who I am sure got some of the best people involved to bring up the attendance, and it just does not work. As I understand it, they even gave away a large number of seats to kids groups and slashed prices on a lot of tickets, which may have had some part in the temporary surge in attendance. Even after they finally saw some improvement in their attendance they fell all the way back down again.”
You want to know WHY they fell back down? It’s because of the fact that Hunt put the team up for sale! Up until that point, the Wizards were upping their average attendance every year (up somewhere around 15K in 2004 before he announced the sale). In 2005, the team was a lame duck, there was no advertising money at all to be had, Hunt had the Chiefs ticket reps casually doing ticket sales for the Wizards, they didn’t even have their own ticket staff, the Wizards became a bastard step child. 2006 was better, as the league forced Lamar to spend more money on marketing after seeing the pathetic excuse for marketing that they did in 2005.
Once OnGoal took over in 2006, they bumped attendance up to 15K over those 3 home games. Unfortunately in 2007, the team sufferred from not deciding their home stadium until Feb (which was the major delay for the schedule coming out last year).
As for the minor league baseball stadium this year and next year, there are NO better options in KC. Both Arrowhead and Kaufman are under construction this summer, there are no big universities in KC with a football team that they could share with either. CAB is the only “professional” stadium left in KC. The rest are high school stadiums, which would be South Lake 2, and we all know how great that turned out for Dallas now don’t we?
Aristotle-
Actually, KC has not tried everything to get people into the seats. Thats the problem. Hunt Sports Group never truly made a strong effort to get people into the seats.
Now, OnGoal has taken over and is actually getting things done. They got us both TV and radio deals in both English and Spanish, putting on billboards across the town, getting more coverage in our local media, and much more.
I dont think you ever know how much things are looking up for our franchise. You obviously arent paying that close attention to what is going on here. I think our situation is looking more postive than most of the teams in the league.
Not to mention that the league does not move teams, they dont own the teams. Why would you want to move a team that has fully committed local owners? Thats ridiculous.
Aristotle:
Your quote, “It would be different if this wasn’t dragging on forever and seemingly hopeless, but it is.”
What’s hopeless? The fact that we have a city approved money for a new stadium? We just built a state of the art multi-million dollar training facility? We just signed our first Designated Player? Our season ticket percentage just went up drastically? Our new owners are fully committed and car about winning?
Wow, that certaintly seems hopeless to me. I couldnt think of a situation any hopeless than that. :/
With all due respect to kco and MLSFAN, this isn’t about hating K.C., at least for me it is not. I understand your position if your K.C. fans. It can’t be much fun listening to everyone suggesting that your team be moved, and that it is an embarrassment. However, I have to disagree with you.
The empty or near empty stadiums and attendance do matter to fans as well as owners. The hokey stadium will matter. It would be different if this wasn’t dragging on forever and seemingly hopeless, but it is.
K.C. has tried everything over the years to get fans in the seats and had a very wise man as an owner who I am sure got some of the best people involved to bring up the attendance, and it just does not work. As I understand it, they even gave away a large number of seats to kids groups and slashed prices on a lot of tickets, which may have had some part in the temporary surge in attendance. Even after they finally saw some improvement in their attendance they fell all the way back down again.
I’m sorry for KC fans but the league really can’t handle any more expansion, and there are locations much better suited to having an MLS franchise than K.C. I can’t even stand watching a K.C. game on television. It’s embarrassing and it’s like watching a game in a morgue. You can hear individual fans talking in an almost normal tone of voice. Every other team has at least made it to the 10K plateau. Now K.C. is back below that, again. As for only large markets having teams, I would hardly call St. Louis a large market. The league was able to regroup and improve when Miami (who had a great soccer venue) and Tampa Bay folded. The league will improve again if it moves K.C.
i find it slightly humorous that two posters have mentioned that they ‘don’t rate’ new england. it’s not like this is the team that made it to the mls cup and won the us open cup. geez… i guess pat noonan is truly god.
this is interesting, perhaps some of you have already seen this. Very surprising to see KC’s season ticket sales increase at all, let alone that much.
http://themlszone.blogspot.com/
This will not change KC at all. I think they need to worry about a defense like the other teams that are winners have concentrated on. Even if they win the East (and that’s a long shot) they will have to meet Houston who will represent the West and most likely notch a third championship in a row. What would be best for the league is for either NY or LA to win since it would generate a lot of press/publicity. But that’s not going to happen as both teams look non-championship tiered this year. Sorry Red Bull massive! Maybe 2009?
this is interesting, perhaps some of you have already seen this. Very surprising to see KC’s season ticket sales increase at all, let alone that much.
http://themlszone.blogspot.com/
Are there really any “KC haters” out there? What is there to hate exactly? The lack of support? The temporary stadium? Missing the playoffs as an annual tradition? Personally, the club could win MLS Cup and I would not care or the club could fold and I would not care. Such is the depth of my “hate”. People here are simply pointing out the obvious. Claudio Lopez and Carlos Marinelli are not going to usher in a new era of dominance.
Are there really any “KC haters” out there? What is there to hate exactly? The lack of support? The temporary stadium? Missing the playoffs as an annual tradition? Personally, the club could win MLS Cup and I would not care or the club could fold and I would not care. Such is the depth of my “hate”. People here are simply pointing out the obvious. Claudio Lopez and Carlos Marinelli are not going to usher in a new era of dominance.
>:( dang work internet
MLSFAN: attendance doenst have anything to do with performance on the field. but attendance will have a factor on talks of moving the team. im hoping KC can pull in quality constant numbers, it’d be good for the league as well as rivalries. i think Arrowhead really made it look worse then anything, but the ave. attendance doesnt reflect the actual attendance (ie. comp tickets not being used, inflated game attendances, etc…)
MLSFAN: attendance doenst have anything to do with performance on the field. but attendance will have a factor on talks of moving the team. im hoping KC can pull in quality constant numbers, it’d be good for the league as well as rivalries. i think Arrowhead really made it look worse then anything, but the ave. attendance doesnt reflect the actual attendance (ie. comp tickets not being used, inflated game attendances, etc…)
Conrad should have an easier time staying healthy now that the thug Virtuoso is out of the league.
Why move KC? The new ownership group has a plan. So they have to suck it up in a baseball stadium for 2 years while the SSS is built. The team that should be moved is Chivas USA. Add St Louis, NYC2, Montreal and Portland or Vancouver. Move Chivas to Miami and you have a nice 20 team league.
Last year when KC played at Chicago, Marinelli had his shorts on backwards. Yep, no lie, adidas logo in the front, number on the back. If this is the guy to lead your team, you have serious problems.
Well put, “kco.”
I think we should just provide a fill-in-the-blank template for KC bashing posts. There is nothing new in this commentary.
How about all sports leagues in the US only have teams in LA, NY, and Chicago? The comments on this article are ridiculous.
Since when do teams get judged by the size of the market they play in? Performance on the field is what matters to fans.
Let the owners and league officials worry about attendance and money. That should not be our concern. Unless personally have money invested in the MLS, why do you care where a team plays or what numbers they bring?
Well, mostly predictable comments. KC haters, old DP, unproven young players, blah blah blah. All I have to say is God Bless Lamar Hunt, Thank You OnGoal LLC, and C’Mon Wizards! An MLS Cup would go great with our new stadium and new brand (just Kansas City. No lame FC needed). Keep on hatin.
What do you think about Kansas City changing their club name to SPORTING KC??? Sounds better than the wizards named after the wizards of Oz.
Posted by: DURSK
Anything is better then what they have. KC Union was a good one when the topic has come up before.
A darkhorse they might be. I think Curt Onalfo did well last year; he did a great job integrating his young players into the team and getting them to perform at high level. That’s what the consistently best teams (e.g. Houston and New England) do. Claudio Lopez is not coming here for his speed; he’s being brought here as a goal scorer. JPA is not the speediest forward in the league either… I think it all depends on whether Onalfo can get Marinelli to be the playmaker he needs…
All I know is that KC is the toughest team for me to beat in FIFA 08 with my beloved Red Bulls.
That’s got to count for something, right?
What do you think about Kansas City changing their club name to SPORTING KC??? Sounds better than the wizards named after the wizards of Oz.
Everyone talks about replacing the 15 goals EJ scored in 2007, but not about the 2 he scored in 2006. If Trujillo beats 8.5 it’s really a plus. Let’s not forget how boom and bust Eddie was. I believe he only scored in 9 games last season. Hat tricks are wonderful, back to back hat tricks are phenomenal, but that left only 9 goals in the other 28 games the team played.
Eddie will be missed, but him leaving isn’t exactly the same as DC losing Emilio or NY losing Angel.
For some reason, even when KC isn’t playing very well, they always seem tough to beat. Adding young (motivated) defenders should generally make them stronger, although they’ll be liable to make the occasional rookie mistake. Conrad staying healthy will play a huge part in their maturation.
I fear Lopez might be past it a bit, but it’ll be fun to watch him work with Trujillo.
The big question for them, IMO, is the quality of linking play we see from the midfield.
and no KCFC, it sounds like a fast food fried chicken franchise
they are looking pretty good, but probably wont beat out dc and new england. however, 5000 people showing up to an independent league baseball stadium to watch the kc wizards is a total embarrassment for the mls. it holds the league back. new stadium on the way or not, the wizards and mls would be much better off if they moved to queens or miami. that market will be fine, they are getting a team in st. louis soon anyway. put the 17th and 18th teams in st. louis & miami, move the wizards to queens, and split the league into three divisions (east, central, west) with 6 playoff spots.
Yes move KC is the answer. Yes all of you who forget when KC averaged 15k a season as the second smallest market in the league. Put the team up for sale for 2 years and have no certainty venue will kill many markets. Oh wait, that happened in Dallas too with the same results. New owners, new FO, new staff top to bottom, final stadium finanancing TBA any day now. Yes we need to move because some internet poster thinks so. We’ll now return you to your regularly scheduled short-sightedness.
Lopez as a DP is marginal. I don’t think he’s much over the DP money but he’ll definietly help draw our growing number of Argies that have really started rolling out for the games. Secondly with the Club America tie-in that’ll spark the interest of a few others to come out. He’ll put up decent forward numbers but he’ll also not play with an amateur’s mind like the player he replaces. For all the prowess everybody thinks Eddie Johnson had, he killed just as many a buildup by not playing strong minded. EJ had two fantastic games that built his stats for last season but beyond that he was very average. EJ was the master of being in the play but not really being in the play. I still see it at Fulham. He’s there in body but he won’t move to truely be available or will just find a way to be a step short of challenging and let up with an “ah” almost. Hopefully Lopez will be just business.
I don’t think KC are anywhere NEAR DC, NE, Chicago, Houston, FCD, Chivas, or NY. Honestly, I can’t even take them seriously (mostly due to their minor league baseball stadium and comical offense without EJ). It will be at least a few years before the Wizards can challenge the best of MLS. But, they do have some good young players, so maybe there is hope for the near future, KC fans.
They could challenge DC, but I don’t rate New England. At some point their tightfistedness is going to have an effect on player morale, and I predict it will happen this year.
Posted by: Haig | March 10, 2008 at 11:35 AM
Haha, wow, really? As long as players are getting paid i dont think they care.
arguably done* is what I meant.
I hate to be Mr. Negativo, but that is a whole lotta ifs. Claudio Lopez accomplished very little when he returned to Racing Club, Carlos Marinelli is playing for his eighth club for a reason, and the back-line prospects could go either way. For every Parkhurst there is a Stokes. I am guessing that the Wizards will find a way to make a hash of it again.
A lot of ifs.
Let’s just get the season going already.
Woah now Brett. That post is very close to crapping on Lamar Hunt, their original owner.
He’s arguably more for soccer in this country than any other human, and it was his franchise originally.
arent KC playing on a baseball field this season?? either way, i dont expect much, but ive been proven wrong before.
it still boggles my mind how KC got a team to begin with. couldnt have been the best market at the time :-/
It doesn’t really matter what they do. Their still named the Kansas City WIZARDS.
Change the name to Kansas City 96 and get more then 7-8,000 fans at games and maybe I’ll start respecting them. They could have Ronaldhino on right now and I wouldn’t care.
But what would be better is if the just moved.
Isn’t El Piojo 50 years old??? Not a DP. Very one dimensional player. One thing that we have in the MLS is speed, and good old Piojo doesn’t have much left. He’ll disappoint in my opinion.
The only move the Wizards should make is out of KC!
Posted by: tkozal
Seconded. Preferably to St. Louis.
The only move the Wizards should make is out of KC!
Best comment this month, hands down.
Wizarda can also use invisible cloaks, travel through time, and turn people into woodland creatures….BEWARE INDEED!!!!!
PS Wizards name….stil lame….VIVA KCFC!!!!!!
KC will win the Cup this year, and it’s all going to be thanks to Marinelli. Now he has two fellow Argentines to feed – Lopez and Colombano – and he will have a spectacular season.
Lopez – 35 Goals. Marinelli – 45 assists. Wizards – undefeated with a Goal Differential of +130.
And I’ll be the first to admit I’ve never heard of Trujillo. He may only be 25 but has never been prolific according to his stats.
I’ve never seen him play and realize sometimes players can just play in MLS, I’ve seen it before.
So we have a proven, if old, striker being overpaid, an unproven striker everyone hopes will compliment him, and a bunch of rookies. I’m not gonna get all gooey on KC until they start winning games.
I’ll eat my humble pie when it comes (as I so often do, crap), IF it comes.
Claudio Lopez is well past his prime. Not worth a DP. He’ll get a few goals(6-7 non-PK)), but nothing on the order of an Angel or Emilio.
I like what Onalfo is doing, and am glad he got rid of deadwood like Garcia and Burciaga.
They’ll make the playoffs. But that’s about it, unless Scott Sealy can be more consistent. He is brilliant at times, lousy at times.
Claudio Lopez as a DP? Really? Is it that hard to lure a player to KC? I guess that’s not too surprising.
They could challenge DC, but I don’t rate New England. At some point their tightfistedness is going to have an effect on player morale, and I predict it will happen this year.