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UTEP must add Men's Soccer...

jdubb66

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Feb 10, 2009
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I think we can all see now that soccer is the future of sport in America. With all the soccer talent that El Paso has produced throughout the last 30 years (Omar Salgado, Ricardo Pepi, Santiago Munoz), a good soccer coach would have little trouble finding quality recruits to fill their rosters. That's not even counting the players born in Juarez or northern Mexico.
 
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I think we can all see now that soccer is the future of sport in America. With all the soccer talent that El Paso has produced throughout the last 30 years (Omar Salgado, Ricardo Pepi, Santiago Munoz), a good soccer coach would have little trouble finding quality recruits to fill their rosters. That's not even counting the players born in Juarez or northern Mexico.
The 3 players you mentioned never played college soccer and probably never considered it.
 
I think we can all see now that soccer is the future of sport in America. With all the soccer talent that El Paso has produced throughout the last 30 years (Omar Salgado, Ricardo Pepi, Santiago Munoz), a good soccer coach would have little trouble finding quality recruits to fill their rosters. That's not even counting the players born in Juarez or northern Mexico.
Which men's program would you sacrifice to comply with Title IX requirements? Football? That's not going to happen ever.
 
Men's soccer could be a profit center for the University sports program. Especially if we can find a sponsor such as the de la Vegas or other some such big pocket donors. I think promoting the sport of soccer would be a big benefit to the Locos. With that added revenue we could create programs for women such as lacrosse or field hockey.

Furthermore, this is an exercise in strategic planning, thinking outside the box, looking towards the future. Look what's happening around the country. Soccer is mainstream now, and traumatic brain injuries are scaring parents away from the sport of football. Where are we in the football life cycle as opposed to the soccer life cycle? One of you marketers, plot that out for me.
 
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No chance man. Attendance is down for both football and basketball, but you think fans are going to attend a soccer team all of a sudden? The season starts right before football does and ends when the bowls are first starting.
 
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Men's soccer could be a profit center for the University sports program. Especially if we can find a sponsor such as the de la Vegas or other some such big pocket donors. I think promoting the sport of soccer would be a big benefit to the Locos. With that added revenue we could create programs for women such as lacrosse or field hockey.

No chance man. Attendance is down for both football and basketball, but you think fans are going to attend a soccer team all of a sudden? The season starts right before football does and ends when the bowls are first starting.
Let's do what we've always done then. Stick to what we're used to. don't take any chances or think outside the box. Seems to be working just fine for us.
 
I think we can all see now that soccer is the future of sport in America. With all the soccer talent that El Paso has produced throughout the last 30 years (Omar Salgado, Ricardo Pepi, Santiago Munoz), a good soccer coach would have little trouble finding quality recruits to fill their rosters. That's not even counting the players born in Juarez or northern Mexico.
Soccer is so popular in the USA that the Minor league USL franchises play in minor league baseball stadiums, and when was the last time the USA made a World Cup run in Men’s soccer? come on man only socccer loving dudes think it’s the future sport in USA, football is king and will always be king in the USA. I don’t know shit about soccer but I don’t see the USL or MLS inking multi million dollar TV deals or playing prime time TV games that draw eyes, shit college soccer ain’t even on ESPN or any major networks during prime time slots.

UTEP needs to invest in football, period end of story. not another sport no one really cares about, maybe people care about it here in El Paso, but that would be a terrible investment for UTEP IMO.

You are right though, UTEP would have a good team for sure just recruit San Eli, but why waste money on an Olympic sport when the football program needs a training table to feed the players and our facilities can use a nice facelift or addition or two to make things sexy for a new conference.

All six schools leaving the CUSA have invested millions in their football programs in some way shape or form, UTEP? Not so much, UTEP needs to invest in UTEP football not a soccer team that will draw a few thousand.

JDubb is one the top posters on this forum and i got mad love for you bro but gotta respectfully disagree big time on this one bro and I rarely disagree with you at all.
 
UTEP needs to invest in football, period end of story. not another sport no one really cares about, maybe people care about it here in El Paso, but that would be a terrible investment for UTEP IMO.

PREACH! As much as it pains me to admit it. Investing in Bball will not solve our current problems...even with another NCAA championship (however unlikely that is, talk to Baylor and Kansas about how that worked out for them).
 
Soccer is so popular in the USA that the Minor league USL franchises play in minor league baseball stadiums, and when was the last time the USA made a World Cup run in Men’s soccer? come on man only socccer loving dudes think it’s the future sport in USA, football is king and will always be king in the USA. I don’t know shit about soccer but I don’t see the USL or MLS inking multi million dollar TV deals or playing prime time TV games that draw eyes, shit college soccer ain’t even on ESPN or any major networks during prime time slots.

UTEP needs to invest in football, period end of story. not another sport no one really cares about, maybe people care about it here in El Paso, but that would be a terrible investment for UTEP IMO.

You are right though, UTEP would have a good team for sure just recruit San Eli, but why waste money on an Olympic sport when the football program needs a training table to feed the players and our facilities can use a nice facelift or addition or two to make things sexy for a new conference.

All six schools leaving the CUSA have invested millions in their football programs in some way shape or form, UTEP? Not so much, UTEP needs to invest in UTEP football not a soccer team that will draw a few thousand.

JDubb is one the top posters on this forum and i got mad love for you bro but gotta respectfully disagree big time on this one bro and I rarely disagree with you at all.
Well thanks Big Wood. I appreciate the love and the feeling is mutual. But allow me to retort.

First, having a soccer team and a football program at a school are not mutually exclusive, you can do both. Marshall does it and they have a national champion soccer team and a great football program. Their athletic budget is less than UTEPs.

Secondly, there is a major market for soccer in El Paso, you know this is true. Certainly more than golf, cross-country or T&F. The locos are drawing more fans as of right now than the UTEP Miner football program this year (84,000 vs 48,000). Utep program has 2 games left, locos at least 3 They're selling more beer, more hotdogs, more on merch (est.) and probably bringing in more in TV revenue.

Thirdly, you gotta hand it to him, Dimel has done a great job of recruiting locally and developing local talent, but that has been an anomaly at UTEP and El Paso is a soccer hotbed as mentioned previously. We have a local kid who is a phenom with the national team and another kid who is playing for Newcastle United. We're not making the most out of our local talent.

Lastly, this attitude that we have to continue doing the same thing over and over with little or no strategic planning is part of the reason we're in a shit conference and being left out of expansion year after year.
 
Couldn't you make the same exact argument in favor of a baseball team? (Sport is popular in the area, nice stadium, this area produces talent consistently, etc.)
 
For the love of God, a soccer program IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

The highest attendance EVER for an NCAA soccer game was 15,896 for a UCSB vs UCLA game. So our last football game tops that already by 3000.

There's a reason UNM ditched it's men's soccer program just 14 years after playing in the NCAA championship game
 
Well thanks Big Wood. I appreciate the love and the feeling is mutual. But allow me to retort.

First, having a soccer team and a football program at a school are not mutually exclusive, you can do both. Marshall does it and they have a national champion soccer team and a great football program. Their athletic budget is less than UTEPs.

Secondly, there is a major market for soccer in El Paso, you know this is true. Certainly more than golf, cross-country or T&F. The locos are drawing more fans as of right now than the UTEP Miner football program this year (84,000 vs 48,000). Utep program has 2 games left, locos at least 3 They're selling more beer, more hotdogs, more on merch (est.) and probably bringing in more in TV revenue.

Thirdly, you gotta hand it to him, Dimel has done a great job of recruiting locally and developing local talent, but that has been an anomaly at UTEP and El Paso is a soccer hotbed as mentioned previously. We have a local kid who is a phenom with the national team and another kid who is playing for Newcastle United. We're not making the most out of our local talent.

Lastly, this attitude that we have to continue doing the same thing over and over with little or no strategic planning is part of the reason we're in a shit conference and being left out of expansion year after year.
I see what you mean all valid points and well placed, I just don’t think having a bad ass soccer team which I agree UTEP can build is appealing in this day and age of college football/athletics, but it could help UTEP Athletics from the points you make, just won’t make UTEP a sexy conference addition if your football program aren’t generating major investments from donors or your own Athletics department budget in my opinion.

When the new CUSA was formed in 2013, UTEP had a top 3 facility ranking, eight years later and UTEP is slowly falling behind the arms race for facilities and other upgrades that are football operations specific. The main upgrade UTEP has made to operations is new turf on the practice field, put a bubble over that thing now!

you got a brand new practice facility? You getting major corporate sponsors to help pay for upgrades? You have donors feeding your team and buying uniforms or other stuff? You putting millions into your football program from your own budget from the revenue you created? I think those are the minor strategies to get you out of a shit conference, it’s all about football in my opinion.

Good thread here.
 
This is a joke. There are 20 NCAA sports more prominent than men's soccer. Albuquerque is a much better soccer market than El Paso and they cut their team. D1 soccer is not a full scholarship sport. There are nine scholarships to be split among 29 man rosters. People would have to pay their own way. They also wouldn't get free meals cash stipends and books like full scholarship kids get. We would be terrible.
 
To say the Locomotive draw more fans than UTEP football is misleading. Southwest University park seats 7500 for soccer which means even the lowest official UTEP football attendance (11,025 vs Old Dominion) would outsell a Locomotive sellout by 3,525.

Speaking of Marshall, the defending NCAA champions, they had a home soccer game last night vs Wright State. They won 1-0.

Official attendance was 1,095...
 
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To say the Locomotive draw more fans than UTEP football is misleading. Southwest University park seats 7500 for soccer which means even the lowest official UTEP football attendance (11,025 vs Old Dominion) would outsell a Locomotive sellout by 3,525.

Speaking of Marshall, the defending NCAA champions, they had a home soccer game last night vs Wright State. They won 1-0.

Official attendance was 1,095...
Is it? 16 home home games x the current average of 6,172 = 98,752 total attendance. (Not including playoff games)

UTEP has 6 home games and would need to average the pathetic attendance of 16,458 per game to match Locomotive.

They'll need crowds of at least 20k over the next 2 home games to catch up. Even larger crowds if Locomotive goes on a playoff run.
 
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Is it? 16 home home games x the current average of 6,172 = 98,752 total attendance. (Not including playoff games)

UTEP has 6 home games and would need to average the pathetic attendance of 16,458 per game to match Locomotive.

They'll need crowds of at least 20k over the next 2 home games to catch up. Even larger crowds if Locomotive goes on a playoff run.
I guarantee you UTEP makes fives times more revenue than the locomotive. 6,000 people to watch minor league soccer. It's nice but not nearly the same thing. Don't know about Rice, but I'll guarantee 30,000 plus for UTSA. They'll bring between 3-5 thousand fans.
 
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I guarantee you UTEP makes fives times more revenue than the locomotive. 6,000 people to watch minor league soccer. It's nice but not nearly the same thing. Don't know about Rice, but I'll guarantee 30,000 plus for UTSA. They'll bring between 3-5 thousand fans.
Can you list the salaries of the Locomotive coaching staff and players? Then compare them to the UTEP football coaching staff and how much the 85 scholarships are worth?
 
I guarantee you UTEP makes fives times more revenue than the locomotive. 6,000 people to watch minor league soccer. It's nice but not nearly the same thing. Don't know about Rice, but I'll guarantee 30,000 plus for UTSA. They'll bring between 3-5 thousand fans.
I don't know. I see tickets for tonight's game start at $18 and go all the way up $52. It can't be that much far off.

UTSA is not bringing 5k fans. Guranted.
 
D1 soccer is not a full scholarship sport. There are nine scholarships to be split among 29 man rosters. People would have to pay their own way. They also wouldn't get free meals cash stipends and books like full scholarship kids get. We would be terrible.
Colleges split scholarships with all sports perhaps with the exception of football and basketball although I think I remember a case where we did that with basketball for a couple of scholies for local players.

At any rate, that is the benefit of having a local recruiting base. They can live at home and use scholarship money for books and other expenses. Splitting scholarships keep costs down and allow schools to make more revenue. Plus kids get the opportunity to play collegiate varsity soccer. We would not be terrible.

And the fact that Albuquerque doesn't have a team would allow us to recruit their players and take advantage of their "superior" soccer culture.
 
This is a joke. There are 20 NCAA sports more prominent than men's soccer. Albuquerque is a much better soccer market than El Paso and they cut their team. D1 soccer is not a full scholarship sport. There are nine scholarships to be split among 29 man rosters. People would have to pay their own way. They also wouldn't get free meals cash stipends and books like full scholarship kids get. We would be terrible.
I know for a fact this is not true... Not even close to remotely true. I do think UTEP missed the bus when it came to NCAA soccer. The alianza cup held in El Paso is one of the largest tournaments in the USA. No NCAA team has 29 players, much less see the field
 
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No soccer. Football is king and is the money maker. So end of thread.
No one is recommending replacing football with futbol. We're simply advocating adding a revenue-generating sport to supplement what football and basketball bring in.
 
No one is recommending replacing football with futbol. We're simply advocating adding a revenue-generating sport to supplement what football and basketball bring in.
And if you add a new men's program, you'll have to add a women's program to comply with Title IX requirements. You'll be stretching an already thin athletic budget even thinner. I doubt men's soccer will generate enough revenue to cover itself, another women's program, and offset the losses the athletic department is already operating under to begin with.
 
Soccer is so popular in the USA that the Minor league USL franchises play in minor league baseball stadiums, and when was the last time the USA made a World Cup run in Men’s soccer? come on man only socccer loving dudes think it’s the future sport in USA, football is king and will always be king in the USA. I don’t know shit about soccer but I don’t see the USL or MLS inking multi million dollar TV deals or playing prime time TV games that draw eyes, shit college soccer ain’t even on ESPN or any major networks during prime time slots.

UTEP needs to invest in football, period end of story. not another sport no one really cares about, maybe people care about it here in El Paso, but that would be a terrible investment for UTEP IMO.

You are right though, UTEP would have a good team for sure just recruit San Eli, but why waste money on an Olympic sport when the football program needs a training table to feed the players and our facilities can use a nice facelift or addition or two to make things sexy for a new conference.

All six schools leaving the CUSA have invested millions in their football programs in some way shape or form, UTEP? Not so much, UTEP needs to invest in UTEP football not a soccer team that will draw a few thousand.

JDubb is one the top posters on this forum and i got mad love for you bro but gotta respectfully disagree big time on this one bro and I rarely disagree with you at all.
How many of those San Eli kids went on to D1 scholarship soccer?
 
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You can actually put a team together with the second tier of local players and win the NCAA soccer championship
 
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