Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 26, 1995 TAG: 9506260153
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There still are questions to be answered about the franchise that passed the halfway point of its first season, like whether to play at home on Sunday afternoons in the future.
As Nashville visited the ``Dawg Pound'' on Sunday, Roanoke franchise founder and general manager Doug Fonder - Dawggy Daddy? - sat in the press box and said the club probably shouldn't play on that day of the week next year.
Yes, there were only 714 spectators at Cave Spring Junior High School's field, but they saw an aggressive 4-3 end to the RiverDawgs' six-game losing streak. Roanoke's past two victories? In the afternoon. On Sundays. At home.
The Dawgs have been trying to bounce back in more ways than one since a soggy Friday night loss to Charlotte on Memorial Day weekend - when a large crowd was expected with the Crestar youth soccer tournament being played in the Roanoke Valley.
``That weather really hurt us,'' Fonder said. ``That was going to be our night. There were only a zillion soccer people in town. We could have had 2,500 here.''
If it hasn't been a pretty start in some ways - the Dawgs are 3-8, lost two star players to a higher league and fired a coach a month into the season - the club has managed to reach other goals.
That's because a lot of what the team is doing is kids' stuff.
The RiverDawgs are averaging only 950 per game at the gate, but they're on track to break even financially this season. If the team came up short on its signage advertising sales, the season-ticket support was slightly better than expected.
The club has added investors since the season started, and the response to its youth camps already is better than expected.
The RiverDawgs budgeted for 400 campers at $80 apiece for the five-day sessions around the valley. The RiverDawgs already have 418 signed up, with five weeks of player-staffed camps to go.
Not only have the club's close ties with the Roanoke Valley Youth Soccer Club helped, the demonstrations the Dawgs did at every elementary school in Roanoke city and county in April and May reached the franchise's target audience.
Indeed, the average Dawg watcher Sunday likely was under the legal drinking age but above the legal driving age, if only slightly. It is that demographic that has soccer salivating about its future in this country, particularly with Major League Soccer beginning play next spring.
The Dawg Pound's atmosphere, if in need of more woofing at times, was warm. A huge RiverDawgs logo - the St.Bernard-ish mascot curiously resembles Fonder - was painted at midfield. It was obvious the fans did enjoy cheering for players from a roster that is overwhelmingly stocked with local boys trying to make good.
``We were after a family atmosphere, and we think we have that,'' Fonder said. ``We tried to be conservative in our goals this first year. We only budgeted for 800 [spectators] per game. We'll have that.''
The RiverDawgs have three remaining home games in the final month of the USISL season - all on Saturday nights - starting with a visit by Hampton Roads on July 1.
``We've learned, like anyone would in the first year they tried something,'' Fonder said. ``We got a late start, but we didn't want to wait until next year.
``There are three ways you can make it in this league. One is to have deep pockets, which we don't. Another is at the gate. Our goal wasn't to make it on paid admissions alone. If it was, we'd be in trouble.
``The other way to do it is with advertising and promotion. We've tapped into the market we wanted. We'll do more next year. There are 5,000 kids playing soccer in the Roanoke Valley.''
Now, if the RiverDawgs can ever get just half of them there, they'll be barking up the right tree.
by CNB