YOU SUPPLIED THE QUESTIONS, ERIK STOVER PROVIDED THE ANSWERS

A short time ago, Red Bulls Reader posted a partial transcript of the round table discussion new Managing Director Erik Stover had with the local media. At that point, RBR asked for your questions. Well, here are your answers…

Miguel asks: Since next year the Red Bulls will have to play the first half of the season at Giants Stadium I propose that a natural grass surface be installed (so the game can be played as it was meant to be). What do you say, can you make it happen?

No, and not because we wouldn’t consider it but because of the use of that facility. The reason it is field turf is they have concerts coming in; they have trade shows, all kinds of other things being done there. I lived through the attempt of making grass work there, and it costs $9 million over three years and it was the worst field that anyone has ever seen. Under the circumstances, it was actually a worst-case scenario for our players.

Alan asks: I see lots of TV commercials for Red Bull sponsored events like Flugtag, car racing and Soapbox car racing. Why is there no investment in advertising the soccer team on TV?

We invested a significant amount of money in advertising, it just wasn’t TV based. A lot of people identify with television more readily, but there is Internet, there are billboards, there is bus signage, there is radio, the list goes on and on. We spent probably more than any other team in Major League Soccer on advertising in market. It was very expensive to put up those Juan Pablo and Jozy billboards up in New York City at the tunnels. That’s the kind of media buy that has never been done in Major League Soccer before.

T. Faust asks: Why are you the right person for Managing Director of the club? Your experience seems perfect for a Director of Stadium Operations. What relevant experience do you have for everything else a general manager does?

I think the most important thing that we are doing is building the stadium and training grounds. To lure fans back to our events we have to do everything right the first time. There are a lot of questions … well; he worked at Giants Stadium so he’s just going to duplicate the problems. What working at Giants Stadium allowed me to see is what the problems were. I understand why those problems existed in that facility and what we tried to do to correct them. I also know, having worked in San Diego in a very different market with very different circumstances, saw how different things can be effective. Because I have over eight years of stadium operations experience, we can deliver on those expectations for customer service. The other part of it is I think there is a misconception of what this job is. It goes back to leadership and sharing of vision and management, and letting the experts do what they are paid to do. As far as my skill set, everything that you need to have in this job, I’ve done before, whether it’s negotiations, personnel management or leases and contracts. It’s taking those skills, understanding your goals and objectives and making sure that those two things line up perfectly and that the job gets done.

Tim asks: What experiences can you take from your nine years at NJSEA and how will you apply them at Red Bull Park?

I know we need to be more flexible with how we treat our fans. Soccer is a different sport. We want a European-type atmosphere at our facility. The problem at the Meadowlands is that you have so many buildings and so many different organizations and it’s hard to have roles that apply across the board. What ends up happening is that you have very little tolerance for the gray areas. We’re going to own the building, we’re going to operate the building and the people there are going to be our season-ticket holders. We’re going to have control over all of those aspects. We understand very clearly that the experience that our fans have at the Meadowlands is not what they want to have at the new building. We’ll be doing a lot of focus groups so we don’t miss any of those points because we can learn a lot from our fans.

Dave asks: You have said that the new stadium will be the best way to attract new fans. Will there be a stronger marketing effort to make people in the area aware of the new stadium?

It’s so integrated into our business model, it has to be up-front. I think everything will improve. As the stadium comes on, everything we do will improve. We’ll have a new website for the stadium. We’ll have a new training facility, which not only will be high-quality for our first team and academy but it will also be grassroots marketing for everything we are trying to accomplish in raising the awareness of soccer in the New York metropolitan area. Everything we do will be tied into those two facilities and our overall business objectives.

Dan asks: Do you think not having a background in football will adversely affect your ability to evaluate players, if say Juan Carlos & Jeff Agoos are offering differing opinions of the same player? And how would you potentially handle such a situation?
T. Faust asks: You say you are very hands on about player decisions. Why? What is it about your background in stadium operations that makes your voice valuable in this area?

We have a lot of resources at our disposal. We have a global effort to develop soccer worldwide. I think first of all, Jeff and Juan Carlos work extremely well together. If for some reason there is an unlikely scenario there is a line drawn in the sand over what particular player to be brought in, we’d rely on those different scouts, player personnel people and sporting directors we have at our disposal to help make the right decision. As in all business decisions we make, we are operating with a unifying command approach and at the end of the day we will come to a decision everyone is comfortable with. There will be players that we will miss on. There will be players that we will be perfect on. That’s just part of the business.

Alan asks: Why does there seem to be little to no co-operation between RBNY and RB Salzburg? Specifically when it comes to player loans and signings.

I think first of all that is something we have to manage on the sporting side. (Head coach) Juan Carlos and (sporting director) Jeff Agoos will manage that on a day-to-day basis. There is a misconception in there. Some of that appearance of lack of cooperation was based on speculation. I know that there are always discussions going on back and forth, but the player they might have available to loan may not fit in our roster, or a player like Jozy, where they may consider purchasing him, he didn’t necessarily fit in with their roster. There certainly isn’t a lack of cooperation. We are sister organizations, but you also have to put in Major League Soccer rules into consideration there too. You can’t just transfer players and have it not impact the salary cap.

Tim asks: Besides timing, will the Red Bull Park (RBP) design and build out change in any way from the expectations that have already been conveyed to fans (e.g., grass field – no turf; seating surrounding entire field, i.e., not 3/4 around; stadium ambiance conducive to loud/pro-home team support; seating section fully covered overhead; no gridiron football lines; similar to Salzburg stadium, etc.)

All of that was brought to the table when Red Bull bought this team. It has everything to do with making a world class soccer experience on game day. Most of those things required extensive, much higher capital investment in the project, and that I think shows the commitment to doing things the right way.