May 23, 2007
One dollar is all it will take for kids 12 and under to get in to see the Rhinos take on Miami FC this Sunday night. The $1 Kids Nights will also be held for the Rhinos on Sunday, June 17th vs Charleston, and Sunday, August 12th versus the Puerto Rico Islanders. Fans can also take advantage of this deal when the Rhinos Women host the Hamilton Lady Avalanche on Friday, July 20th. Lacrosse fans were not left out as the Rattlers will have a $1 kids night on Saturday, August 11th as they host the Boston Cannons.
Another big deal that was announced yesterday is that every fan that goes out to the Rhinos Women's home opener on Friday night will receive a free ticket to Sunday's Rhinos game versus Miami FC. The best deal ever may be taking advantage of the US Soccer Passback program to get in free to the women's game on Friday night and then getting a free ticket to Sunday's Rhinos game versus Miami.
It's nice to see the Rhinos finally do something to help spur ticket sales. It seems like forever that ideas like this were brought up to the Rhinos and the answer they gave was that it wouldn't work. Well, it's nice to see that they are actually trying.
Now if they had some marketing behind these things to get the word out..............
A couple big USL news stories
- The Portland Timbers have a new owner in Merritt Paulson. With his previous experience being with NBA Entertainment, it will be interesting to see if this spurs on any of the "Portland to MLS" rumors with Michael Keston kicking the tires both in Portland, as well as Seattle.
Although, it could be that Paulson knows that he just acquired a stadium and a baseball team and isn't up on the soccer side of things. The fact that the company that bought the Timbers is named Shortstop, LLC doesn't give me too much hope that these are soccer people.
- The Puerto Rico Islanders have named former Dallas Burn and shortlived Virginia Beach Mariners head coach Colin Clarke as their new head coach. It's very interesting to see the Islanders with an Irish head coach. But, it is nice to see Clarke landing on his feet after the whole Mariners debacle.
A big trade in MLS and more
- Toronto FC has sent Alecko Eskandarian to Real Salt Lake for Jeff Cunningham. The move adds one of MLS' all-time leading goalscorers to one of the most offensively challenged clubs in the league in Toronto FC. It also appears to clear out some salary cap space for RSL as new head coach Jason Kreis continues to try and remake the team to his liking. RSL also gives Freddy Adu a teammate from hsi DC United days in Eskandarian.
SI.com's Grant Wahl says that RSL could have their eyes on former Chicago Fire midfielder DeMarcus Beasley. But with Adu being shifted to the left midfield spot that Beasley plays, is that a realistic move? Well, it could be if Adu bolts for Europe as soon as he turns 18 later this summer..........
- The New York Red Bulls are not happy with attendance so far this season for their first place team. I'm surprised that it's taking them this long to realize that it takes a lot more than winning on the field to draw fans to games.
- Andrea Canales has a look at why Clint Mathis is back and better than ever this season for the Red Bulls. Apparently Clint is starting to take offseason conditioning work more seriously now. What took him so long to figure that one out?
- The LA Daily News has a cool article talking about the stark contrasts between the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA from the way their front offices are run, to their fans, and even to the beer of choice for each fan base. I'd love to see an article that looks at stuff like this from team to team to team. What makes teams like LA, Houston, DC, and Toronto work so well and why are clubs like KC, Columbus, and the Red Bulls struggling?
- And finally, Bruce Arena isn't the only MLS head coach stepping into the broadcast booth. New England Revolution head man Steve Nicol will be providing color commentary for today's Champion's League final between AC Milan and Liverpool. I wonder who Steve will be pulling for?
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
