Q&A with Fire owner Andrew Hauptman
For a second consecutive year, Fire owner Andrew Hauptman kicked off the Major League season by meeting with local soccer media. Here's a sampling of what he had to say about his first year as an owner, the people running the team today, and the future of the franchise and growth of the sport.
On what's surprised him about owning a pro sports franchise: "It's been a good year. At the end of the day, it's been probably more work than I expected, but it's also been more fun than I've expected. I've enjoyed it. -
"Last year I guess I bought the team and four weeks later our coach was leaving. It was an interesting period. It wasn't easy. It was stressful to a degree. But I feel like we have gotten our footing and we have had an opportunity to dive deeply into every aspect of the business, on the field and off the field, and that's been rewarding in a lot of ways."
On the revamped front office: "I feel really good about the folks that we've been able to attract. -
"We've hired a new president, Dave Greeley. Like me, I think his expectations are just high. They're just higher expectations, the expectations of quality across everything we do is there. He brings a big-league mentality, but also the ability to get his hands dirty, to get into every single area."
On how close Brian McBride came to going on loan back to Fulham: "Not very, from my perspective. Personally, I wanted him here for the whole season. And sometimes not everything is about money. One of the things we struggled with last year was consistency and our ability to have that core group on the field game after game after game. I knew that he would be part of that core group, so from my perspective it was highly unlikely."
On whether Cuauhtemoc Blanco will return next season: "I don't really know what was so newsworthy about (reports Blanco doesn't intend to return). The last I heard his contract with us expires at the end of the season. - From a contractual perspective, well yeah, we'll see how we feel at the end of the season. We'll see how he feels."
On his competitive nature: "There's nothing fun about being mediocre. That game in Columbus (November's loss in the Eastern Conference final) was devastating. We need to win. End of story. Full stop. Success breeds success. That's what we need to be about as an organization. -"
On whether he wishes success for the new women's pro soccer team, Chicago Red Stars: "I hope so. I hope so just from the perspective that it increases the pie. From that perspective we want them to succeed, we want them to win. -
"One of my goals is to grow the passion for soccer here in Chicago. That is a meaningful part of that."
About team attendance and other aspects of the business model: "The reason I'm struggling with the question is the answers, from my perspective, are so obvious. We want to sell out every game, we want to have lasting corporate partnerships, we want to build the visibility for Toyota Park, we would like to, long-term, be more of a superclub in this part of the world. I mean, that's the truth. That's what we would like to do. There's no reason to think that we can't do it. Part of it is just changing the mindset. It's about believing in the product. It's about believing in the possibilities and going for it."
On the team's future: "I'm optimistic. I really am. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't. Because I don't need to be here. I really don't.
"I definitely see it selling out every game, and I definitely see continued improvement of quality on the field and continued improvement in terms of American firepower. -
"We've got great demographics, very favorable demographics in terms of the trends. We have a growing business, underline business, just the core business is growing across every area. -
"The perception is the league is on the rise, notwithstanding Beckham and hiccups along the road but overall. We've got high-quality partnerships, in terms of corporate partnerships and strategic partnerships like what we're talking about with Club America. We've got a fantastic facility to play in with great surroundings. So those are all a pretty good basis for success. The proof is in the pudding. We need to execute. Everybody who knows me knows I have very high expectations. And we'll see. We'll see if we can do what I'm talking about.
"What I really want is to look back some years forward, pick five years, and have people say, 'Wow, those guys, their ticket-sales operation is the unique in the league. Their approach to sponsorship is second to none. The game-day experience is phenomenal.' What I really want is for us to be considered the best that there is, certainly in the MLS and also to be able to show folks what's possible. Right now we're not at that place."
On when the Fire will become profitable: "I hope soon. We don't really like to talk about our financial performance, but I will for a second. And what I will say is that from a financial perspective we're doing markedly better than where we were in previous years.
"So year on year, truly across every aspect of our business, we've performed better. Significantly better, by the way, in 2008 than in 2007. Forgive me for not knowing percentages, but by coming in and doing things like partnerships with Best Buy and tours of Mexico and things like that. They were game-changing moves for us from a financial perspective.
"But that doesn't mean that we're profitable. But the expectation is that we will be profitable soon. But I wouldn't necessarily say - you know - do we plan to be break-even this year? The honest answer is not yet."
On whether MLS is expanding too fast: "Make sure you have your house in order. Make sure, from an operational perspective, that you are able to compete. I think that, my guess is from a league office, that they're very focused on that particular issue. Extraordinarily so. And that's good, by the way. From my perspective that's great. We need to fill our stadiums. We need to have the highest quality players on the field. We need to do those things, because those are the engines that drive everything else. Getting expansion money is meaningless if it fails, if the team's not a success, and if the quality of play goes down."
On who is the team's rival in MLS: "New York, I think, is a natural, not because of (coach Juan Carlos) Osorio, but it's Chicago-New York. It's Second City. It's everything associated with that. It's the big cities."
On whether there will be commercial development around Toyota Park: "The stadium deserves the kind of development around it that will benefit each other. From the moment I bought the club we expressed an interest in trying to help facilitate introductions, meetings, which we have. We have brought many a real estate development company around Bridgeview trying to generate that interest. -
"At the end of the day, it's all about how much does the village (of Bridgeview) want to see structure and development and commercial activity around that stadium. I get an impression that they're interested, but like everything that I tend to express, I think we could be doing more and they could be doing more to push that. I'm supportive of them in every respect for obvious reasons. And they've been good partners since we bought the club."
On how the team can improve Toyota Park: "Hopefully, this summer you'll see some unique things that we're going to try to do at the stadium. I'll just leave it at that."