Will NYCFC become independent from Man City?

[NYCFC_JD]

If you think for a minute that expanding the City Football Group global brand isn't one of the uppermost reasons for them buying an MLS franchise then you're delusional. It absolutely is and they've been upfront about that from Day 1.
I have my own team in my own city and they're called NEW YORK CITY FOOTBALL CLUB. I'm proud of the club, the players and the support the fans deliver week after week.

What is in place is not going to change anytime soon, if ever, so you may want to consider another club or another cause.

Goodfella -- I completely agree. It's delusional not to see it. That's why i'm saying it, and it's hard to believe others don't acknowledge it. If you don't have a problem with the way it is, that's fine. It's great to have a team here. And I'm going to do my best to support the team week in and week out. I don't speak this critically of them to non-NYCFC fans. I'm in this for the long run, and I'm trying to gauge the team and the ownership and my fellow fans along the way. I picked this team and I'm supporting it. I'm just critical internally (on this forum) because I care. I want to love this team.

I'm afraid that we've lost tons of potential fans with these moves, and they're not capitalizing on the true power of the NYC sports fan base. Anyway, seeing things as immovable is not in my nature. I think if the majority of fans don't like how strongly they're pushing the MCFC connection (I don't know if that's the case), then the club should listen to it's fans. But you're absolutely right.... if they continue to push it for the long, long term, then they will lose fans, for sure. They've already ostracized a number of fans. Hopefully the CFG management turns it around and gives NYC it's own flavor for the team. Either way, I love this team, and support them wholeheartedly (particularly the players).

Edit: Just wanted to add, that CFG being successful is great. And our MLS club and MCFC and Melbourne (and team in the J-league?) all working together and utilizing knowledge and sharing scouting intel, etc. etc. would be great. I've got no problem with CFG in theory. But it's possible to have sister-clubs and not have one treated like it's a clone of another. I have nothing against MCFC or Melbourne. CFG just needs to let NYC have its own style, flavor and brand. If you want to cross-promote and do marketing that way, fine. But you better give us a unique team first, and you better cross-promote both ways.

 

[mgarbowski]

Dude, try washing your authentic jersey with a little bit of bleach added to the detergent and I guarantee you'll see sky-blue gradients in the fabric.

 

[Snuff]

I think the NYCFC, Man City and CFG connection needs to be looked at a little differently than we're all looking at it now. It's not an NYCFC/Man City connection as much as it's a NYCFC/CFG connection. In my opinion, CFG is trying to make and grow a CFG brand. They want people to be a fan of CFG and all the teams CFG owns. It theoretical works this way. Taking just NYCFC and Man City as an example. A person in the US starts getting into soccer. They for whatever reason choose NYCFC to support. They start really getting into soccer and want to follow a team in the Premier League, but don't know much about the history of the PL. They think "Oh, the MLS team I support has a parent company that runs a PL team. I trust them to run a good team so why not support their other club in the PL, at least as a start?" Now the flip side, someone over in England supports Man City. They hear about this up and coming league that's set to rival the PL in a few years. They want to watch the league grow. They need a team to support and follow. Same line of thought, they choose NYCFC. This can be applied to all the other teams under the CFG belt. From a personal standpoint, I didn't know there was an Australian league and would probably never watch it. Now if an NYCFC player was loaned there, maybe I'd follow it or even try to catch a game. I also know that there are big signings in the Chinese league, but once again, I have no urge to watch it. Once CFG gets a team there and I see who they sign, I may start watching.

Going a little further with this, naturally all the branding for the various teams will be similar. They will all have something related to the word City in their team names, their colors and uniforms will have common tones in someway. This is all to give it some form a familiarity between the teams. It works in the same way as; when you see the golden arches, you think of McDonald's. When you see the swoosh logo, you think of Nike. When you see the word City as it related to football or soccer, you'll think of CFG.

CFG has much more to gain developing their global brand and providing a good product in all their markets rather than using it all to boost one team. Let's say we do somehow get the next big US soccer player on NYCFC and he does leave us for Man City. I'd be upset at the start, but should i really be and is it really that bad? A lot of top young US talent is in the PL already, so why not have our guy go to an affiliated team at least. If someone leaves us to go to Man City, I think it'll have to do more with the quality of play in the MLS than any CFG shenanigans. Miazga left the Red Bulls to go sit on the bench at Chelsea.

End ramble.

 

[Seth]

I completely agree. It's delusional not to see it. That's why i'm saying it, and it's hard to believe others don't acknowledge it. If you don't have a problem with the way it is, that's fine. It's great to have a team here.

Just wanted to say that it's not that I don't see any connection it's more that I do see them as two separate teams. Totally acknowledge the connection. My main point is that for me, I have no problem with that, and there's many others who feel the same. And many that *do* have a problem with it. I get it.

And yes, totally agree that it's great to have a team here. Never got into the Metrostars because they weren't a local New York team. They were from New Jersey and played in New Jersey and at the time there was no train line to the Meadowlands so there wasn't really a way to get there without a car. But then when they turned into the Red Bulls to me at least that was just ridiculous. Fine, have a team sponsored by Ford, but you can't call the team the New Jersey Fords. That's just wrong. I don't even like renaming stadiums let alone teams.

 

[Seth]

Wrong from the first sentence...But nobody wants to acknowledge that their sports team has that as their color, so they call it sky. But it's not.

Finally, I understand this is a pet peeve and nobody cares, but you're all wrong, and I couldn't keep it in any longer. I'll try not to bring this up again. But calling our uniforms sky blue is an insult to true natural beauty.

Hey mgarbowski when's your birthday? I need to know so I can order your new sky blue jersey to get here in time!

http://www.mlsstore.com/Sporting_Ka...adidas_Sky_Blue_2015_Primary_Authentic_Jersey
Men's Sporting Kansas City adidas Sky Blue 2015 Primary Authentic Jersey

 

[SoupInNYC]

I will continue to call this team "City" and I really don't care if anyone dislikes that or thinks it "resembles MCFC" too closely.

There is a team over in New Jersey that likes to claim that they play in a different city and a different state. Their name does not include "City" in it. Ours does, because that's where we fucking play.

Go City, COYBIB, go Pigeons, whatever.

 

[Danton]

I don't think ajax was suggesting supporter-owned, but rather an ownership group that's not going to treat the largest market in the U.S. like a farm team. Man City might not technically own NYCFC, but CFG owns both, and we all know who their favorite child is, right? I'm not saying that it can't be done right and even have massive benefits... it definitely could. BUT they have not shown themselves 1) capable of or more importantly 2) caring to do it the right way.

This is one of the reasons I started another discussion thread "Team Name / Nickname" on the forum. I don't want this "City" "FC" baby blue, EPL stuff..... If I wanted to have an EPL team, I'd have an EPL team... I don't. I'm an MLS fan, and sports are local.

The club needs to stop acting like it's Man City B. This is New York, and we deserve better. And if you disagree that CFG is running this club like Man City B, here are the facts:
1) It's call Football Club, because CFG doesn't care about what we say in the US, they care about aligning NYC with Manchester's brand.
2) Same reason they emphasize the "City" and "Cityzens" b.s.
3) Baby blue jersey clones of man city.
4) Frank Lampard saga.
5) Turning Kreis into a scapegoat and replacing him with former Man City academy coach (I like Vieira's personality and ability, and it's not his fault CFG did this)

It can be CFG as the owners, they just need to cut this stuff out. Give us our own team that we can be proud of, not some Man City light.

My biggest fear is that those of you on here saying "now I follow Man City" or "now i pull for man city".... my fear is that that is the purpose of NYCFC for CFG. I pray that that's not it. Because if the point of NYCFC is to sell Man City, then it's not a team at all, it's just a commercial, and we're viewed as customers, not fans. I pray that that's not the case. But if I continue to see evidence that it is the case, then I'm not buyin.

To echo some of the other posts, it appears that some of the problems you seem to have look more like problems with the state of modern soccer, than with something unique to CFG. Look around the league. There are bottom lines, and seats to fill. These owners are not setting up these franchises out of the kindness of their hearts, or to give something back to their community. These are assets, and in a cynical, strictly materialist conception, we are customers. And that's fine! MLS needs our dollars to continue to be viable. Now, are CFG unambitious, doing the bare minimum to get by in the league while gladly taking our money all the while? I'd say no. I think (for the most part) CFG treats us pretty well. There are fuckups with the renewal bags, and the Yankee Stadium ticketing is a cluster right now. But if this was Andrew Hauptman or Jay Sugarman, your home would be somewhere outside of the city. You wouldn't have a Lampard saga because you wouldn't have ever signed a Lampard (or a Villa, or a Pirlo) in the first place. You wouldn't have a structured staff of 80, but a continual turnover of cheap-labor interns.

I'm not trying to be an apologist for some of the tone-deaf things CFG does, or probably will do in the future, but at a certain point I've learned to be a realist and swallow the non-vital things I can't change. And there are far worse situations to be in with owners. I think if you asked Colorado Rapids fans if they'd rather be CFG-owned, or stick with Stan Kroenke, they'd prefer the former. This doesn't mean turning a blind eye wholesale to things we don't like about the running of our club, or keeping our mouths shut (I think there's a lot of worth in making issues known to people within CFG that we have access to, especially STH and their account reps). Of course the jersey thing came across poorly when it was revealed. But you know what, it's ours now. And I think that's the point. NYCFC is just as much what we make of it as it is what CFG puts on the table. Even in a globalized sports market, support is/can be/should be intensely local -- and with Third Rail, Blue Ladies, HoO, Brown Bag, and everyone else who attends the games, it is.

Essentially, my point is that it could be much, much worse. That doesn't mean we have to accept everything CFG gives us blindly, or quietly. But I think perspective is useful in airing our grievances about the things that really matter. At the end of the day, it's our club too, and it is what we make of it. If there's anyone who has final say over what the soul of their club looks like, it's the fans isn't it?

 

[Vallos]

Here is an apt analogy:

CFG is to soccer like Microsoft/Apple is to consumer electronics... They are happy you own their operating system (MCFC, or primary regional team), but hopes you to buy into their ecosystem of devices and services (NYCFC, Melbourne City, etc.).

 

[Z4CH3B99]

Is anyone else tired of these damn threads bashing on CFG and the NYCFC ownership and marketing guys?

This has to be like the 5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000th thread of this nature. Can we all just move on? (At least until there's another lampard like saga)

 

[mgarbowski]

Is anyone else tired of these damn threads bashing on CFG and the NYCFC ownership and marketing guys?

This has to be like the 5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000th thread of this nature. Can we all just move on? (At least until there's another lampard like saga)

There's no game this week so we're discussing names and colors.

 

[Shane1988]

Maybe it be best to block any sort of talk linking CFG MCFC and NYCFC because it ends up going one direction

 

[BxLio91]

Wrong from the first sentence. This has nothing to do with Man City or CFG, but this is a defense of the sky and its beauty. The color of our uniforms looks nothing like the sky.

The defining element of sky blue is not that it is light, but that it is gradient. Darker in some areas than others. Always.
View attachment 4590

Go outside right now. The sky is darker in some areas than others.
Where I am it is darker high up than by the horizon.
View attachment 4591 View attachment 4592
Most importantly, it is the variations that make it interesting. The flatter the color of the sky is, the more boring any image of it will be.

I realize there is a convention to call a flat color sky blue, especially in commercially produced paints and fabrics. But the jersey is not even like that. Our color is softer and lighter than even commercial sky blue. We have an almost pastel baby blue. But nobody wants to acknowledge that their sports team has that as their color, so they call it sky. But it's not.

Finally, I understand this is a pet peeve and nobody cares, but you're all wrong, and I couldn't keep it in any longer. I'll try not to bring this up again. But calling our uniforms sky blue is an insult to true natural beauty.

http://m.imgur.com/7KcanEB

 

[Goodfella]

Maybe it be best to block any sort of talk linking CFG MCFC and NYCFC because it ends up going one direction

that would be un-American, pal

 

[Falastur]

My issue with the idea of operating multiple teams as a method of recruiting new fans in other markets is that, while you may persuade a few fans - perhaps numbering in the thousands, which, let's face it, is pretty much peanuts for the global teams these days - to follow your "main" team based on their association with another of your teams, you are actively discouraging it for all the fans of a rival team. If CFG want to recruit fans in the US market for MCFC who already follow an MLS team, I'm not sure how it makes sense to do so by creating a rival to their local team. There will be some who are willing to overlook this issue, but more likely far more decide that they want to support a PL club with no link to a club they have to face off against in the US several times a season.

I'm not certain exactly what CFG's game is, but my current suspicion is that it's a complicated web of reasons, and has as much to do with global commercial reach for the recruiting of major sponsors as it does with making new fans. On top of that, CFG seem to be fixated on the idea of being recognised as a company which goes out of its way to build the sport in areas where it is underappreciated - hence their resolute support of women's football (I'm sure a NYCWFC is coming soon) as well as why they seem to have a fascination with building up teams from the bottom, whether that be by making a new club from scratch or by buying a club which has no tradition of success.

Maybe it be best to block any sort of talk linking CFG MCFC and NYCFC because it ends up going one direction

We've always resisted doing that - it can be counter-productive, and we don't want to make it sound like this is something the fans should not be allowed to think about, although moderation on this subject has been required in the past. It's a valid topic of discussion though, even if it is more likely than most areas to produce disagreement and disharmony, so for the time being we are letting it run its course.

 

[Shane1988]

My issue with the idea of operating multiple teams as a method of recruiting new fans in other markets is that, while you may persuade a few fans - perhaps numbering in the thousands, which, let's face it, is pretty much peanuts for the global teams these days - to follow your "main" team based on their association with another of your teams, you are actively discouraging it for all the fans of a rival team. If CFG want to recruit fans in the US market for MCFC who already follow an MLS team, I'm not sure how it makes sense to do so by creating a rival to their local team. There will be some who are willing to overlook this issue, but more likely far more decide that they want to support a PL club with no link to a club they have to face off against in the US several times a season.

I'm not certain exactly what CFG's game is, but my current suspicion is that it's a complicated web of reasons, and has as much to do with global commercial reach for the recruiting of major sponsors as it does with making new fans. On top of that, CFG seem to be fixated on the idea of being recognised as a company which goes out of its way to build the sport in areas where it is underappreciated - hence their resolute support of women's football (I'm sure a NYCWFC is coming soon) as well as why they seem to have a fascination with building up teams from the bottom, whether that be by making a new club from scratch or by buying a club which has no tradition of success.



We've always resisted doing that - it can be counter-productive, and we don't want to make it sound like this is something the fans should not be allowed to think about, although moderation on this subject has been required in the past. It's a valid topic of discussion though, even if it is more likely than most areas to produce disagreement and disharmony, so for the time being we are letting it run its course.

Agreed I know when I joined this forum one of my first comments I made on here was slightly inappropriate regarding this particular topic, I have to admit I was wrong due to my lack of understanding and knowledge on how the CFG actually worked as a business model for City and New York, however I have learned loads since joining this forum in a short space and I have developed a better understanding of the fans and club in which I have a lot of respect for, let's try keep it clean and reasonable and try not to cross that line

 

[JCMore]

I kinda like the of being connected to other soccer clubs around the world. I think a global environment really makes the sport more entertaining! I like different customs and cultures and I like that soccer is one thing that really does connect most people from every country. I only recently got into soccer after the World Cup in Rio. I used to watch baseball and I always liked the Atlanta Braves cause my family is from Georgia. But they are almost impossible to follow unless they are playing the Mets. So when I was going to pick a soccer team in the US to watch I almost became a NJRB fan. My friend steered me away ("why would you ever root for a team named after an energy drink? So unclassy.") I started following the pigeons ever since! I've been thinking about watching ELP but I not about following big named teams for some reason so I'm really interested in trying to start following Melborne city F.C.! Anyone know how to watch them from the States or if it's even worth it?

 

[Nick_nycfcfan]

Hate the connection and the main reason I didn't renew my tickets.

 

[LionNYC]

Hate the connection and the main reason I didn't renew my tickets.

It's not like the NYCFC-MCFC is news. Why did you buy in the first place?

 

[NYCFC_JD]

Is anyone else tired of these damn threads bashing on CFG and the NYCFC ownership and marketing guys?

This has to be like the 5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000th thread of this nature. Can we all just move on? (At least until there's another lampard like saga)

With all due respect, I don't think folks are trying to bash CFG or the people, they/we're bashing some of their actions. And there's probably a reason there have been so many posts about it..... To be fair, the people on here in the forums that are talking about it are the ones that love the sport and the team enough to stick by it and try to make it better (or at least what we see in our opinions as better). We're not just going to drop the team... we care too much. So we raise topics that we think are important to the club. If everyone that didn't like particular aspects of a team left, there would be no fans of any team in the world. So we shouldn't be too fickle, but we should have a say.

I completely agree with what a lot of folks are saying on here about the POTENTIAL for great things for CFG and NYC. They just haven't gotten it quite right so far. Which is fine and to be expected, things take time. I think we're all just hoping that CFG / the club will somewhat acknowledge some of its mistakes and at least improve on them (maybe give us a different home jersey next year, for example... or give us a fan poll on various topics.... like the stadium poll but for other topics... Will be interesting to see how City Voice goes for sure).

And as far as this topic bringing up disharmony, I think we can all hopefully discuss it as fellow fans and respect one another. Everyone here is NYC family. We might disagree on X, Y, Z, but we agree on far more than we disagree on. And we love the same team.

Edit: Just wanted to add that, I think we need to be VERY careful about saying we should quash certain topics of conversation. I think it's important to realize that most people that attend this forum and message on this forum are fairly in line with one-another's thinking... so when a fellow fan or potential fellow fan comes along with a different viewpoint, we absolutely should not shut them out by telling them they're wrong and to go away. Because you know what they'll do? They'll go away. And we'll have fewer fellow fans. That's not what we want... the more the merrier! We can all disagree on certain things and still support one another and the club!

 

[NYCFC_JD]

It's not like the NYCFC-MCFC is news. Why did you buy in the first place?

I can't speak to why someone else bought season tickets, but it's not outrageous for someone to buy tickets and try to fall in love with a team. I mean, I've been watching MLS for a long, long time. I used to be a Metrostars fan when I was really, really little, but then they disappeared. And that monstrosity called Red Bulls took over....

So if you're in NYC or the metro area.... and you love soccer, and you want a local pro team.... what are your options? You have an Energy Drink, and then NYCFC comes along. It's not perfect, at all, but people give it a try. Nothing wrong with hoping it gets better, or trying to help it get better. Unfortunately for MLS, I think a lot of soccer fans in the NYC metro area still wish there was a third/different option... and the league is missing out on all those fans (and fans like Nicholas who tried one and left).