Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 28, 1995 TAG: 9504280024
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
So, while many Americans still think soccer is cross country with a ball, much of the nation is trying to get a kick from the sport in a regional concept that is working from coast to coast.
Will the minor-league, 88-team USISL - an acronym that stands for multiple and confusing titles - play here? Or is the Roanoke Valley's soccer interest simply kids' stuff and the parental guidance that pushes a solid youth program and huge holiday tournaments?
We'll know in six weeks whether the Roanoke RiverDawgs are barking up the right tree. By then, the new pro team of mostly area players will have played six home games of a schedule that begins Saturday night in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
``This league is the thing that's been missing from soccer in this country,'' said Sam Okpodu, the former Nigerian national team member who has been picked to coach the Dawgs. ``After college soccer, there are a lot of talented players who can't play anymore. This league is the best thing to happen to soccer in America except Major League Soccer, and we can't sit around and wait for that to start.''
Okpodu, who also will play for the RiverDawgs, has added the role to his regular job as the women's coach at Virginia Tech. He appears to have a better than decent team, and the regional talent recruited aggressively by the club includes some very familiar names. The team will play all of its home dates at Cave Spring Junior High School's stadium on weekends, starting May 6 against the Columbia (S.C.) Heat.
What the RiverDawgs appear to need, besides an identity and a couple of more investors, is some organization. At the exhibition game against Raleigh, N.C., on Saturday, a crowd of more than 600 appeared. That's good for a game that had virtually no promotion.
Of course, the fans had some trouble identifying the players. No rosters were available. None were available that day at the club's media session, either, the first press day I've attended in twentysomething years in the business where you couldn't tell the players because you didn't have a scorecard.
One TV station's sportscaster pulled into the parking lot, saw players milling wherever or already leaving, with no organization to the session. He turned around his vehicle and left. That's lost exposure the RiverDawgs can't buy.
In the corporate community, few know of the RiverDawgs, who haven't advertised who or what they are well enough at the genesis of a pro franchise. The club's advertising and promotional sales pitch apparently has been left too often to the inexperienced, according to more than one area business executive.
The RiverDawgs have a neat, fuzzy logo, but they don't even have their own phone number. In a market where the Express, the Avalanche, the Tour DuPont, the Stagg Bowl and other NCAA championships and the Commonwealth Games, among others, are seeking sports sponsorship dollars, the RiverDawgs already must play catch-up.
Having a plan is one thing. Executing it is another.
The RiverDawgs do have a sold opportunity to be successful. They're tied into the well-run Roanoke Valley Youth Soccer Association program. They can sell a sport that appeals to that youth market. They play on weekends. Many names on the roster are familiar ones.
Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for youths. The club's break-even point in its original budget was based on only 800 spectators per game. The team's logo is one that will sell on merchandise - if people learn who the RiverDawgs are. Opportunity is one thing. Maximizing it is another.
Right now, the new team's major battle isn't yet with the Richmond Kickers, Nashville Metros, Hampton Roads Mariners or Birmingham Grasshoppers. What the club needs - and it seems appropriate for soccer - is to put its best foot forward off the field.
Pro sports can be a Dawg-eat-Dawg world.
by CNB