Shawn Hunter is now officially the CEO and president of Chivas USA. I'll post more thoughts on this later as I'm not able to put audio and pictures up right now.
I came away from the roundtable-type press conference feeling more positive about the franchise than I had going in. Shawn Hunter has a proven track record and knows what it takes to sell tickets. The team on the field is doing it so now it's up to the front office to follow suit. Hunter's got the reins now and he's committed to Chivas USA.
Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times asked Hunter specifically about staying at Home Depot Center, which I think is something we all wanted to know. From what Hunter said - and again I'll post some of the audio later - it sounded like they were in it for the long haul. Sorry, Galaxy fans - they're not going anywhere.
I don't know, though. This club has so many issues - both positive and negative - that you can talk to someone you really care about for like an hour on the topic and not come away with any real conclusions.
In the end, only time will tell whether this club can make it off the field. But I like the position its in right now.
7 comments:
To me, the big questions were:
1. Would you leave LA? (Sounds like answer is no)
2. Would you re-brand the team to something other than Chivas? Is this an option considering the club's ownership?
3. You already have low prices and a very good team. What are your early ideas on what you need to do to sell more tickets?
please dont re-brand the team... so tired of that
We shall wait anxiously for pics and audio. Thanks lb
1. I don't think they're leaving. They seem committed to the area.
2. Re-branding is completely out of the question. Jaime Cardenas asked him if they were thinking about re-branding and Cue laughed and said no.
"So you're staying Chivas," Jaime asked.
"That's for sure," Cue responded.
3. Shawn Hunter didn't really go into many details, probably because some of his ideas require some form of involvement from outside parties. He did allude to some possible interactions with schools, parks, youth clubs, etc., to target families and build a fan base that way. He said they'd have to be creative.
I think too many people have their head in the sand when it comes to Chivas. The whole Chivas USA brand idea is an oxymoron. Let's take something distinctly Mexican, add USA on the end and hope both groups come around to support it??? Huh?
Anybody who slightly supports the US won't support Chivas, Mexicans in LA who hate Chivas Genuine Draft won't support Chivas Lite. It's an absolute failure any way you look at it.
If people won't come out now with free tickets to support one of the better teams in the League, what will make them? People just won't identify with something that has such an identity crisis.
Their only choice in my opinion is for Vergara to sell the club, they move and rebrand as Portland's or Seattle's expansion side in a year or two.
This is a marketing blunder of epic proportions.
Joe your ignorance of the situation is AMAZING !!
Chivas USA while struggling at the box office has set a new MLS record for sponsorship and jersey sales prior to this year.
There are many non mexicans that support the team for a variety of reasons including they are not the Galaxy.
Mr Hunter coming in will bring our marketing Dept to a much higher level and thing will start to get better. Don't expect them to over night it will be a process.
AEG loves this move because like Shawn stated AEG has a marketing agreement with Chivas so the better they do the more AEG gets. Don't look for your papi to push them out of "your" house any time soon.
Dan, please excuse my ignorance but how long can you expect sponsorship dollars to hang around when nobody is in the stadium to support the sponsors? How as a guy in marketing can you say, mister sponsor, continue throwing dollars at us even though our attendance is declining constantly? No sponsor will continue to do that.
On top of that, with some of the promotions Chivas has had this year; get children in free the rest of the season, half price tickets, making Galaxy season ticket holders buy Chivas seats; and yet attendance is still horrid, what can they possibly have up their sleeve to get people in the stands? The team is among the most attractive in MLS and what's the attendance average for non-Galaxy games, 12,000 maybe?
Why can't people attached to Chivas USA see it for what it is? It's a totally misguided blunder.
I would imagine you would be hardpressed to find a marketing professor at any university in the country to say Chivas USA is a good idea. It contradicts everything Chivas Guadalajara has stood for over the past 100 years. Agreed? Please try and dispute that.
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