This year the camps took a huge hit from the whole MTA debate and lack of marketing. There wasn’t even money to mail out flyers this year. A former Thunder player who was in charge of camps resigned at the end of the camp season this year. When Manny Lagos first came to the Thunder as a FO person he spent a lot of time working on the camps but of course things have changed with the new owners.

I think the deal is there are a number of players who’s contract states they need to help with these camps. But as things are becoming more competitive in signing players in US leagues, you are seeing those things go away more and more. Some of the Thunder players who stuck around last winter worked for MTA last year, but I know a number of them were frustrated with financial issues and getting paid last winter so they will be finding other work this year.

Most of the contracts are based on a contract that starts when the player reports to training camp in March and ends with the last game of the year. Players generally get paid between 15-30 thousand for that period. Very few are in that upper range. Some players also get housing paid for by the team during the season.

Brian, do you know anything about the business model I referred to from the Strib article? The thing about the Thunder players being practically reliant on camps etc., to get paid?

Are you sure your done. Seriously, I appreciate your comments and reading IMS and for your kind words.

So many things to comment on and so little time.

First, I still have to agree with Jeff on this. The Thunders first priority has to be the first team and although I think they have meant it to be, they spread themselves thiner than they thought they had. I have to agree with most of the things Jeff had to say. If a team is winning championships ever year or competing for them with good players and good coaching, then their academy will more than likely be held in higher regard. Unless of course they are not very good.

Chros, I think a lot of people think that MTA and the Thunder are joined at the hip. They are and they aren’t. They represent the pro club in a sense and it gets the Thunder name out their but they certainly are separate groups on paper and legally.

The thing that has frustrated so many coaches and officials from other clubs is that they created this mega club right away with about 95 teams at about 1700 kids to start out. This really pulled a lot of talent from other clubs that many were not at all happy about. Some people feel they should have kept the number smaller and more elite. Some didn’t think they should be in the club business at all, which I disagree with, while others felt they should only be looking at the overlooked players in the ethnic communities.

While it is true that Chicago and others have some of these same issues, I will tell you that Seattle was very sensitive to this issue and started a different model this year where they call in elite players from different clubs to train with Sounders coaches who keep a watchful eye on these young players. In a sense it’s more of an ODP system or an all-star system. But these players don’t play in tourneys or leagues. I’m not sure that’s the best scenario either although they will be politically correct and stay in the favor of all youth clubs this way.

I’ve written about this before, but the Thunder didn’t have the money to follow through on the marketing plan they had at the beginning of the season.

Amos was perfect for this sort of thing on KFAN. He was personable, funny at times and could laugh at himself and our game and yet people respected Amo for his accomplishments. By the way, you have to try, but MLS has already found this out and some USL teams as well, but getting a Eurosnob to a MLS or USL game is an extremely difficult thing.

About 15 of us attended a focus group for the Thunder last winter, but unfortunately I didn’t see much effort to implement the changes we talked about. One thing I talked about there was how the team has no connection with the city. Maybe the Happy Gnome or the Sweetwater wants to be the exclusive Thunder bar, but it’s Brits Pub and the Local that are filled with fans for EPL and Champions League games. Then there’s Dinkytown as well. I think it comes down to grassroots efforts, sending a couple people over there to spread the word of mouth, give them a scarf, let people know there is actually a team in town and that it can be really fun to go watch them.

The other element that I was hoping to see more of was media coverage to build awareness. I don’t think this is unrealistic. I bet there is at least one Thunder player who is savvy enough to call into KFAN of 1500-AM each week. It doesn’t even have to be about the Thunder, per se. Get a regular guest slot, “translate” that week’s world soccer happenings, and mention there’s a game, a tailgating opportunity, and a pitch-side bar at NSC that weekend.

Whenever something major happens in soccer, the radio people try to talk about it. Usually it’s them not understanding what the Confederations Cup is or offering some knock on an aspect of the sport. It would be great if one of the producers realized that we have a charismatic “star” in this town in Bruce McGuire, or that the Thunder could push for a player to be the guest. Somebody who can poke fun at the nuances of our game while also providing some real awareness.

The third issue is always going to be the location. That’s probably entirely the reason I only went to two games this year (I live in St. Paul off University and 280, so I’m not nearly the furthest away). There’s been the odd grumble about a soccer stadium by Midway Stadium, but I don’t think there is anything behind that. (Is there?) Especially after the improvements at NSC.

So for now, I think it’s all about awareness and connecting with the city. I think it can be done by the Thunder players and staff, but I think the fans can play a role too. I brought first-time fans with me to both games this year, and told a lot of people about the beer garden and the new stadium and how much fun the games can be. People here like soccer, they just need a little motivation to go.

This is somewhat unrelated, but I remember a few years ago the Star Tribune did an article on the Thunder’s soccer camps and how they were vital for the team’s financial structure. The article basically implied that much of the players’ salaries came from their participation in these camps, and that other USL1 teams were beginning to follow that model. Are the camps completely separate from the academy?

Finally, in relation to the actual article, it was another of the many insightful pieces that Brian has done on this site so far. I’m not sure if everybody appreciates the amount of time a lot of these articles must take, so I wanted to say thank you again for doing them.

But as far as attendance, I attended only two Thunder games this season. One was (I think) the home opener against Vancouver (I was interested in seeing Martin Nash and Jeff Parke), and another was a Sunday game against Puerto Rico (their Champions League success intrigued me). In general, the new-look stadium—and specifically the beer garden—also made me really want to see a couple games.

I really enjoyed both games, but I can’t have estimated more than 1000 people were at either. I’m not an expert, and I know it is sometimes deceiving when there’s as many total seats as they have there, but there for sure wasn’t close to 3,000. Those were also relatively marquee games I’d think, as compared to seeing Cleveland or something. Were my two games just an anomaly, or were the numbers seriously fudged?

Man U academy makes a lot of money selling off their players over the long term. Not even in the same development universe as the MN Thunder, so that’s a bad example to use.

“Can you think of soccer professionals in the Twin Cities better to be associated with than Buzz Lagos, Manny Lagos, Don Gramenz etc?”

No, but it would be even better to be involved with coaches that have successful records in the near past. I think everybody would agree with that. Currently it’s not the case.

My point is the image comes from the pro team, and they need to be the focus in the long run. I have begun to think that lately the MN Thunder only exists to promote the youth summer camps and programs where the competition is less demanding than in the pro team success arena.

The money may not be directly connected, but time and energy developing the youth programs is definitely involved.
I believe the pro team should come first, not the other way around.

“If by some chance the Thunder were ever to fail and the team folds the youth program will still be successful at they were when they were the Wings and Bangu.”

Which kinda says it’s a marketing idea based on a pro team’s image…??

They would be as successful at the LOCAL LEVEL like they were before. They would be seen as a failure at their attempt to unite the clubs in an attempt to move forward as a bigger national youth club. It would be the same as ending in a draw after having a three goal lead. It would go one the books as a draw, but any real coach would know his team blew it right when it really counted!

Wings and Bangu would never be approved faster as a US Soccer Development Academy without the Thunder now would they? The overall national image of both clubs would go backwards without the pro team connection.

I think comparing academy programs in England to the US is a bad analogy. Okay, I do not want my kid to play for Thunder, so what are my options. Move to KC? Chicago? The distances are just to great. In England, the locations are much closer.

I honestly think if MN Thunder wants more people to come, they need to work on the perception of their connection/affiliation with MTA. Just my humble opinion.