The "What can we do better?" thread

The fact that you're posting in the forum is a good start. We're glad to have you here, Robb, and I don't think we have any problem with those ground rules.

 

My two cents......

I have been a Wiz (intentionally Wiz, not Wizards, as that was what they were called when I started attending games) fan for a long time, but I live out of town. I drive 3 hours to attend games, sometimes by myself. The most fun I have ever had was when the folks from the Cauldron that I "met" on this board adopted me for a game. I have been to games with as many as 20 of my mates when I was in college, and while we had a good time my experience was not half of what it was when I was with the Cauldron. The one thing I think your club could do better is get more info out about the great supporters club, and make them easy to identify in the parking lot and during the pre-game. I suspect that there are many small "groups" of fans out there that would become even better supporters if they could share their passion with a larger group of supporters. The folks in the Cauldron provided me with an outlet for my passion for this sport, and as a business I would think your club would exploit this group of passionate fans by using thier passion to your advantage.
As much as I hate to admit it, I would never have introduced myself to the cauldron if not for these big soccer boards. I saw mention of the supporters club on the Wiz website, but was always afraid it was made up of an exclusive membership. In a nutshell, what you can do better is put the word out that the Cauldron is made up of regular fans who love the sport. Let the rest of your fans know that the Cauldron is open to everyone, and where to find them before, during, and after games. The Wiz organization did not sell me a ticket for 4 years, but last season the Cauldron gave me reason to purchase two. This season, I will likely purchase season tickets, not because of the product on the field but because of my cauldron experience in the stands.

Scott Pasley....aka "Diego Pasley"

 

Wow Scott, that's great to hear!!

I can tell you that the main thrust of the Cauldron Leadership groups this year is to do exactly what you have outlined: Get the word out about the Cauldron and do everything possible to really build the section. The feedback you've posted, as someone recently coming into the Cauldron, really helps us identify areas where we need to focus effort. Thank you!

edit: Scott, you and your friends should just have to look for the blue & white striped flag to find the tailgate....It shoud be flying at the tailgate before each home game this season (at least the weekend games).

 

My biggest thing is that I just want every aspect of the origanization to exude quality and class. To me, that's more important than championships. I think that that's been lacking somewhat, especially over the past few years.

Whatever is done, make it professional. Maybe better halftimes--I'd rather have area youth scrum for 15 minutes rather than see people roll a bubble through cones. I loved the Samba band at the beginning of the club.

Make the music in games scarce and appropriate. Playing "Bad Boys" when an opponent gets a yellow is funny. Playing Ricky Martin non-stop during the run of play is painful.

I don't care necessarily if we win all the games, or even many games. I want players who have enough pride to hustle and play every game to the best of their ability.

Make all the advertising campaigns well-thought out, sharp, and professional. "Zard Cards" made us look amateurish.

This is just a few thoughts off the top of my head at 10:45 at night. Sorry I can't be more specific necessarily. My main concern is professionalism, class, and quality. To me, on-field is secondary to that although I believe we will always have some degree of success if the organization is class from top to bottom.

Thanks for your willingness to listen to us. These are only my opinions, not everyone will agree.

 

Thanks KC, but in my humble opinion the Cauldron is doing all it can to attract new members. My advice is addressed to the club. In another thread, I did come up with a concrete suggestion for the club that would help promote the Cauldron AND, in my opinion, help in repeat ticket sales. If they would just assign the cauldron X number of rows in section X and let those non-regulars that wish to sit with the cauldron buy tickets there it would be so much easier. How about Cauldron season tickets, and Cauldron tickets for sale at the ticket window at $1 less than regular price. The Cauldron season tickets would offer reserved seats for the Cauldron regulars, and the $1 discount at the gate would serve as a reward to the members of the Cauldron for thier support of the team. More importantly, the $1 discount would encourage people to give the Cauldron a try. People like me, who found a much better experience and are returning to more games because of the Cauldron. The Cauldron usually has what, less than 500 people? So, under my proposal, the club sets aside 500 tickets at $1 off. At the most they lose $500 revenue per game, but I contend that money will be made up in return ticket sales or new cauldronites purchasing season tickets in the Cauldron. Dedicated "Cauldron tickets" would also help reduce the upset moms who end up in the Cauldron by accident. This has probably all been discussed before, but as a returning fan I feel that the club is under-utilitzing the cauldron game day experience.

 

I think the main thing is to make the game experience more soccer appropriate. The music and sound effects played in the past are not appropriate for this game. They are cheesy and embarrassing. I think making a good attempt to make the game atmosphere more like you find in other parts of the world would be great.

The main thing I think and I am sure you dont need our feedback for this, get people in the seats! I strongly believe that the right marketing campaign will get this team good attendance numbers. I want more than anything for this team to have some of the highest attendance figures in the league.

I am really glad you are asking for feedback like this. More businesses in this country should give it a try. I truly appreciate you posting on these boards soliciting feedback, it is great to see as a long time fan of this team.

 

I definitely haven't been and ardent support of the team, although I've wanted to be that for a couple of years. But, I'll toss out a couple of ideas and comments.

First, let me quickly say that one of the most enjoyable times I've had at a sporting event was the doggie day, last season. It was very unique and enjoyable, both for us and our puppy.

One suggestion I would have, would be to do our best to get air time on local sports talk radio. I believe that people don't head out to games, because it's just not in the city's conscience.

I know, I've always *intended* to make it out to more games, but I never think about it when it's time to actually go or buy tickets. I know those guys aren't just going to make the Wizards a staple of each of their shows, but it's not like they are exactly over-flowing with content. I'd imagine if you could line up some good interviews they'd be more than happy to put the Wizards on the air more often. It might take a little bit of convincing, but I think that they'd have to recognize that they could all use something new to spend their time on, even if it's just a few short segments.

People aren't failing to show up at games because it's a bad product. It's just not something that's on their minds.

 

This is worth looking into I think. The Cauldron is easily missed depending on where you're parked outside, which is the best time to talk to Cauldronites, and I think more people might check it out from sheer curiosity if it were more visible. On the other hand, the Cauldron tends to wrap up the tailgate earlier than most and head inside, so that approach might have some limitations. I don't know exactly what the club could do, perhaps the Cauldron could fix this themselves (ourselves?) somehow.

Obviously, the club has already taken steps to make the Cauldron more visible inside by moving the section, which I for one am excited about. In the corner we had barriers between ourselves and the other fans, which were the tarp and the tunnel. In the middle we won;'t have this anymore, which will result in being able to engage our neighbors more easily, I think. Just my opinion.

 

The moving of the tailgate last season to where it was, was for this exact purpose, to put us more in the middle of the parking area. It's probably something that the Cauldron can work on ourselves, but there's got to be a way to make the tailgate more open to all people instead of people thinking it's just a group of people tailgating.

 

Personally, I think that's a tough cause.

If you're at a Royals game and you walk by a tailgate, you automatically assume it's a group of people who know eachother... a private tailgate if you will.
Same at a Chiefs game.

The way to do it is to simply invite anybody and everybody who walks by to join you. Give it the atmosphere that tailgating at a college football game has. Make it seem like one giant party in the parking lot instead of a lot of smaller parties.
I've made a number of road trips to college football games and done a whole lot of tailgating in Lawrence for KU games and the reason it's such a good time is because nobody feels like they're excluded from anything. In Lawrence on gameday you can pretty much wander into any yard/house within a four block radius of Memorial Stadium with a dollar bill in your hand and ask where you can get a beer.
The reason the FanFest at the Big 12 basketball tournament works so well is because it is literally one big party. Anybody and everybody is welcome. And even more importantly, anybody and everybody is welcomed. I know everybody feels like the Cauldron tailgate is open to all, but it needs to give off more of that vibe. Maybe that's something the organization can help with, maybe not... I don't know. But if you start bringing people in and they have a good time, they'll start coming back. That's how you best grow the Cauldron, and in turn grow the atmosphere in the stadium.

 

Could they make an announcement with the stadium PA to point us out and make an invitation? Starting, say, 90 minutes before kickoff?

 

I can't answer that question knowledgeably so I won't even try.

I can't imagine it would be heard all that well out in the lot though even if it was possible from a logistics standpoint.

 

DO:
Either of two things: Move the Cauldron back to the original section AND restrict the first x rows OR move the Cauldron to the corresponding section on the same sideline but on the opposite side of center. Either would get the best KC fans out of what are almost the worst summer glare seats in the house.

Market the tailgating. Market the tailgating. Market the tailgating. For the love of everything you hold holy...market the flippin' tailgating. The weather is almost always fantastic. BBQ aroma will sell, period.

Find an impact midfielder. Almost nothing sells like winning. Nothing is as detrimental as losing.

All games, USOC as well, televised.

Get a rival. Create an identity for KC. Something that goes beyond poor sound effects during games. In the past there's been an outstanding Brazilian Samba band, an atrocious Zardmeister, the Wizards' Girls, emphasis on the proliferation of one color, burger/pizza minutes and other things. Some things have worked better than others. None of them have been both good at conception and have remained consistent for long enough to be clearly paired to the ID of the KC Wizards.

I'd start with a blue quartz rock (or some other huge blue piece of granite or marble) mounted on a pedestal. Get a story, then tell it. Half of it stands on a pedestal during pre-game intro, the other half becomes a fan's cornerstone of the new KCW home. Market the rock.

Continue with a standard KC goal counter...one standard noise for one goal, two for the second, etc. "X-nil to the KC Wizards" lyrics on the scorboard post-goal. Convert them one by one with color, song, belonging, party, and expected actions.

Blue, navy, sky blue, and white only going forward. No black on anything, period. Remove black from the official colors in the media guide. Do this now. Get a logo that reflects this. Reserve the current lesser secondary logo for letterhead. DC United is black and KC is and will forever remain far removed from that atrocity of a uniform.

Amen.

CONSIDER:
Less kids, more actual noisy fans.

More adult-geared marketing. {seeing what sticks} Anything and everything blue and white only, demanded where possible. Professional looking tie, professional looking buisness scarf - black topcoat worthy, "Blue-out Fridays"...$.50 off any blue drink at sponsor's places on Fridays...An annual Jazz and soccer event...KC's best blue bikini...Fitness contest (only blue costumes)...Mr. Wizard (only blue whatever they wear)...Bike Show Night...Co-op a circuit date for the USVBA/Inland Beach Tour grass volleyball doubles tourney (champs introed at halftime)...Co-op a midwest circuit date for a Fri/Sat BBQ Contest...Red Bull & Red Bulls promos all summer at local watering holes...pre-game "Blue Wizards" (blue margaritas) served with a ticket package - a pitcher on the patio, some chips, and 2 GA tix, $40..."World's biggest blue torch" post-game late season bonfire and hot local band, throw whatever metalic powder burns blue into the fire...whatever. Always make a ticket part of whatever entry fee, etc.

For the kids: How about a magic night? We are called the Wizards. Get a blue-clad Wizard as the mascot. Find 1-3 successful Santas and convert them. Blue garb, white beard. Work the appearances at schools.

Bring back the Wizards' girls, have the group be professional, then market them.

Make blue easy. Everything cheaper, everything available, everything blue. Get to a critical mass sooner.

-WC

 

No blow-horns or thundersticks.

 

You can hear every word on the PA very clearly from pretty far back in the lot. Swede and I used to use the Dynamo introduction as our cue to go in.

 

I'm with you on the thundersticks, but the horns are ingrained in American soccer culture now. When you turn on an MLS/US National team game, one of the sounds you immediately pick up is the sound of those horns. They're loud and they create atmosphere.

I had a guy ask me what "that one sound that kept coming from the stands" was during the US/Mexico game just the other day. It's that loud. It's that noticeable. And most importantly, you don't hear that sound at any other sporting event in the United States on anywhere near the same level, if at all.

 

Agreed. "No blowhorns" flies in the face of the Latino marketing we are trying to do--that's seems to be a big Latino thing. It will make it hard to hear each other and sing though. Maybe restrict horns to one side of the stadium? Nah, then you will have segregated stands, that's no good. I can't think of a clear cut answer to that one.

 

my group's tailgate happens every game under the d17 pole. from my vantage point out there, i can see the cauldron tailgate and it does kind of look like it's just another group's (larger of course) tailgate. what about moving it to "soccer street" there in between lot c and the stadium? some of those kids games and stuff can still be set up at the front of the lots. locating the tailgate slighty away from everyone's cars would definitely give it more of a "special" appearance, and everyone going toward the stadium would see it and know that it's something the front office is encouraging.

as for other suggestions, robb, the #1 concern i have is that this product be marketed towards adults. i'm not saying forget the kids, they're integral and valuable in their own way. what's the #1 thing soccer bashers use? soccer is a kids game. hunt sports group did NOTHING to change that perception and only fueled it further with their horrible and embarrassing wiz name, logo, and color scheme... on top of only marketing towards families with kids. obviously, this isn't something that can be done overnight, but getting the joe sixpacks in america to accept that soccer is a game for adults is the biggest obstacle to gaining mainstream acceptance in kansas city as well as the rest of the country.

also, i know that MANY posters on here didn't like the papa john's magic minutes, but i think you all should definitely keep it. yeah, it bothers me when people only cheer for the pizza instead of the game, but those couple times when we actually get that goal during those 3 minutes leaves a REALLY positive taste on everyone's tongue (pun intended). maybe some sort of deal could be thought up that rivals the royals with krispy kreme. like, link up with taco bell and say that every person with a ticket gets a free taco per goal. imagine a 5-goal night... people would definitely be talking about that and the free tacos the next day at lunch.
ok, so maybe that wasn't the best suggestion because i'm on a diet, but in fairness, it's not a really strict diet.

 

when counting/announcing attendance, count the number of people who actually came to the game, rather than the number of tickets sold or given away.

steve davis touches on it here:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=408199&root=mls&cc=4716

 

i don't have a problem annoucing tickets sold... it's when the number has just been completely fabricated that's the problem.

 

First off, I would suggest you listen to your fan's, esp. on BigSoc... oh, right, you're already doing that. Good job! You're already doing well. (Seriously though, I find it extremely cool that you would come to ask us all what we want. You say "we haven't done anything to earn [your trust] yet" but I disagree. While I wouldn't say we'd follow you into battle blindly, the actions you have made so far have my approval)

One of the things that I love about soccer and that I think differentiates it from other sports here in America is the method in which fans cheer. Since goals aren't scored all that often and there are so few breaks in the action, most of the cheering occurs durring the run of play - hence, singing, chanting, etc. I get the feeling that a lot of people don't realize that they can (or that it's their god-given duty to) sing/chant along with the Cauldron. Perhaps more can be done to overcome this misperception/stigma - maybe put whatever words we could put up on the jumbotron or something. Just throwing out random thoughts, of course.

I also feel that it could be a good idea to entice some college age people to come out, esp. en force and somehow to get that section seated right next to the Cauldron. Maybe even do some sort of bussing between here and Lawrence. Again, perhaps this is actually not a great idea at all, but I figure the worst that happens is everyone laughs at me and then procede to ignore it.

 

Robb is obviously listening. He did change his font.

Is this a good time to plug a Wizards pre-season in Spain?

 

Agreed. We've got to get soccer on their brains. Come on, these are the guys that spend time watching poker, golf, nascar... There's no reason or excuse for not making a great sport like soccer larger part of the national sporting conscience.

You've got to get the Wizards on sports talk shows.

Start a weekly Wizards podcast. Even if it's just a 5-10 minute show, you could do interesting interviews right on there to reach a different segment of the sporting world that no longer listens to sports radio. We, in the internet community, would do our best to make sure link and recommend the show.