2015 Calgary Foothills PDL Thread - Page 5 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Addick · 06-23-2015, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MillerTime GFG

Jeesh, a lot of Foothills haters in here!

Even as a former Foothills player myself, I do think they should change the name for the exact reasons mentioned. Although they're not around anymore, Calgary Celtics were always our rivals, and it was definitely bitter. I'm sure that would make it more difficult to support if that were the case.

There is no reason that there shouldn't be swarms of kid's soccer teams going to these games. If I were a coach, I'd be organizing outings to these games for sure.

I played in some heated matches against Foothills but it gives the club something TFC and Sporting Kansas don't have, history. In fact, even for those who played against Foothills it allows you to actually relate to the club.

Considering they have their own youth teams, you are definitely right about there being no reason to not have them in the stands. They could pick one of their own youth teams to warm up with them on the pitch and then have them in the stands for the game.

MillerTime GFG · 06-23-2015, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Addick

I played in some heated matches against Foothills but it gives the club something TFC and Sporting Kansas don't have, history. In fact, even for those who played against Foothills it allows you to actually relate to the club.

I agree, I do like the history aspect of it, but I know for a fact there are some other clubs that are none too keen with Foothills in general, let alone the PDL club.

I'm not sure if changing the name would necessarily help because the same guys that are running it would still obviously have Foothills ties, but who knows. If you were a kid playing for SWU for example, and you went to watch Foothills PDL play, don't you think you'd be thinking in your head that you're maybe playing for the wrong club, and that the opportunity would exist moreso if you played for Foothills? You want to get the 10-15 year olds coming to these games too, but that's also the age where kids really start to get competitive, and in turn, develop that hatred towards rival clubs. Heck, even these kids' parents who would attend with them, would have hatred towards opposing clubs. I remember getting absolutely ridiculed by some Millwoods parents at the age of 15. Millwoods is a whole different story, but you get the idea...

TBH, I had these same doubts from the start. Love the guys in charge, but I'm not so sure I love the team name selection. I think the real attendance potential is in the youth clubs and their coaches/parents. I would be absolutely pounding the pavement to get these kids and clubs to the games.

cam_wmh · 06-23-2015, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MillerTime GFG

Just put you on ignore for being a Celtic. Kidding. I'm guessing Paul Verdy ruined Celtic. (Not sure if you remember/knew him, but if you do, you'd probably chuckle)

I really don't know what happened to them, I'm too far removed. SWU was never around either. It was just Foothills, Blizzards, Eastside, Celtic, and Chinooks back then, and that was pretty much it I think.

Yup those were the only 5 I recall as a kid too. The top 2 were always us and Foothills. The others we'd roll.

I think I recall, Lethbridge Ajax and Red Deer Cosmos too when we got out of City's, but it's been a while.

How old are you Miller? Maybe we played each other.

MillerTime GFG · 06-23-2015, 04:06 PM

I'm an 84, you?

Jimmy Stang · 06-23-2015, 05:04 PM

Calgary Eagles alumni here. Who's old now?

I believe that they folded right around when I was finishing up in minor, or shortly thereafter, so I'm guessing 1998 or 1999.

Addick · 06-24-2015, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MillerTime GFG

I agree, I do like the history aspect of it, but I know for a fact there are some other clubs that are none too keen with Foothills in general, let alone the PDL club.

Yeah, that will be the case for a few parties. While it may turn those people away, it isn't contributing to the issue that Shermanator is looking to address. Many people who are not bothered with the name/association and are genuinely interested simply aren’t showing up in a consistent fashion. If Foothills can convert these people’s interest into a continual investment of their time and money, they can place the club in a strong position where they are Calgary’s defacto club. Newcastle is a rarity in English football as it is a one club city and I’m assuming Newcastle United had similar issues when they became professional.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, has the club stated/indicated that attendance is an issue at this point?

MillerTime GFG · 06-24-2015, 10:16 AM

I think it has been mentioned by someone, but they really should get the PDL players out in the community, with other clubs. They should be doing guest coaching appearances. Kids love that stuff, and the players can encourage the kids and their parents/coaches to come out and watch.

Of course they might be doing this already, I really don't know, but I do know that FC Edmonton does quite a bit of this stuff.

shermanator · 06-24-2015, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Addick

Before we get ahead of ourselves, has the club stated/indicated that attendance is an issue at this point?

No one at the club has mentioned it is a problem, it's just me as one of the main supporters whining about it. I would guess 1000 per game is the break even point, and I really don't think that's an outrageous number of people to get out to games.

Resolute 14 · 06-24-2015, 11:00 AM

IF 1000 is break even, Foothills is probably in trouble. Quickly found estimates for 2013: http://www.kenn.com/the_blog/?p=4795

Only eight teams broke 1000, and most were well below what Calgary seems to be averaging.

Edit: 2014: http://www.kenn.com/the_blog/?p=6037

Addick · 06-24-2015, 01:35 PM

Going by the numbers provided above, it looks like achieving an average attendance of 1000 would categorize operations as a success. An average attendance of 250 might be enough to see the team breakeven. If this is the case, I think Foothills will have a fair bit of time to build their base and develop a core following.

It’s going to be a combination of drawing in people who are unaware (e.g. Youth teams and people new to footy) and getting people who are interested to actually turn up. There are probably several quick ways to manage the former and I’m interested to see how the latter can be tackled.

shermanator · 06-24-2015, 03:22 PM

I think my earlier estimate of 1000 to break even was off.

According to this article, the operating budget of the club per year is about $150K (I'm excluding the one time franchise fee). Based on their reported sponsorships being ~100K, which is very good for PDL, they need to make ~50K in ticket sales, merch, beer, etc to break even:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle24354488/

So, with an average attendance of ~500 this year date, average ticket price of $12.50, there's 25K left to be made with ticket sales of the last two games and beer and merch.

Addick · 06-24-2015, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shermanator

So, with an average attendance of ~500 this year date, average ticket price of $12.50, there's 25K left to be made with ticket sales of the last two games and beer and merch.

Never underestimate revenue that can be made from beer. After some Juventus bosses visited the Emirates and saw how much Arsenal charged for beer, they said they deffo needed to build a new stadium.

cam_wmh · 06-24-2015, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MillerTime GFG

I'm an 84, you?

ha. no i'm 79.

MillerTime GFG · 06-25-2015, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

ha. no i'm 79.

I'm jealous, you can play O35!

cam_wmh · 06-25-2015, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MillerTime GFG

I'm jealous, you can play O35!

Yep. It's awesome. I'm on track to play >40 games this summer.

Ozy_Flame · 06-25-2015, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Yep. It's awesome. I'm on track to play >40 games this summer.

That's insane. You must love football to play that much!

shermanator · 06-25-2015, 10:28 AM

The PDL has unveiled a scouting network, which it hopes will help MLS and USL scouts identify elite PDL talent. The top 50 prospects based on this scouting network will be updated every couple weeks.

This is the list where 5 of the top 50 prospects are playing for Calgary Foothills.

http://www.uslpdl.com/home/883451.ht...B8PLLo.twitter

cam_wmh · 06-25-2015, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

That's insane. You must love football to play that much!

haha suppose I do. For instance this week played Sunday, Tuesday, and now tonight.

In fairness to the fitness consideration... I'm a keeper.

Muta · 06-25-2015, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shermanator

The PDL has unveiled a scouting network, which it hopes will help MLS and USL scouts identify elite PDL talent. The top 50 prospects based on this scouting network will be updated every couple weeks.

This is the list where 5 of the top 50 prospects are playing for Calgary Foothills.

http://www.uslpdl.com/home/883451.ht...B8PLLo.twitter

I hate seeing kids younger than me achieving more than I ever did at that age.

Wankers.

MillerTime GFG · 06-25-2015, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

haha suppose I do. For instance this week played Sunday, Tuesday, and now tonight.

In fairness to the fitness consideration... I'm a keeper.

I'm playing tonight on shouldice Encana, but am playing in net lol. Keeper's out of town and I used to play a little in Uni, so here goes nothin...also have a guest PDL player coming to join us. Hopefully he can help us score some goals after back-to-back 0-0 draws. :/