Not one mention in this article about the three biggest issues with the franchise.
- The ticket prices are far too high. Quakes tickets are significantly cheaper and offer a better team, stadium, and fan experience. A’s and Giants tickets are cheaper than the Deltas. Fans simply will not pay a premium price (even in SF, the premium-price capitol of the world) to see an inferior and uninteresting product. They would pay a small fee though. Say 10 bucks a ticket? Literally the only thing that’s kept me from going to a game (my girlfriend lives blocks from Kezar, I could walk there) is the cost. 40+ a ticket? For a minor league team? I think most soccer fans in the city feel the same way.
- The branding. SF Deltas is a bad name for a team. It’s been written before that it’s the worst name in the history of American sports. The team needs a rebrand in the worst way. Literally anything other than that name and that logo would be better.
- Believe it or not, people in the Bay Area are a little bit tired of wealthy investors trying to make money off of us and telling us they’re our friend. Tech bros starting a soccer team and failing miserably, then pleading with less fortunate people to help them is an awful look.
Soccer is expanding in this country and I love the game. There are MLS expansion teams that have been wild successes and miserable failures. There is no magic way to create a sports team out of thin air. In soccer terms, the ownership of the Deltas “haven’t put a foot right” since they started the team. Start over from scratch. Rename the team. Sign a player with a name and build the marketing campaign around him. In soccer, unlike any other sport in America, the way to bring in fans is with a name or a series of names. Winning isn’t everything. San Francisco sports fans want to be entertained. AT&T Park is an entertainment venue, a place to be seen. It’s not a hallowed ground where sports fans come to love the game.
