Red Bull Bought Out AEG, A While Ago

The Red Bull buyout of AEG's stake in Red Bull Park is a done deal according to Ives.

"Red Bull buyout of AEG update?
The mayor of Harrison said it was in the works, how close is it?
IVES- It already happened. For some reason Red Bull is keeping mum about it but it's happened a while ago."

"With the Red Bulls buying out AEG, anything is possible as far as the stadium is concerned."

So apparently Red Bull didn't find it necessary to spread the word. Interesting to see the effects that come from this. One thing I am looking forward to is the effect this will probably have on Red Bull's bottom line, as they will now reap total benefits from all games and other events held at the Park I would imagine.

The AEG Red Bull Park website is still up, and there is no new, Red Bull's only site. I would imagine the brass will release a new timeline soon, as De Grandpre said he hoped would happen after he announced the delay to 2009.

Red Bull Hoped to host Super Club Pre-Season Tournament

It appears that Red Bull was hoping for Becks not to be the only big crowd draw at Giants Stadium this summer.

An interesting piece of information from Ives Galarcep's preview of the Beckham game this Saturday night:

"Red Bull attempted to plan a tournament featuring the likes of Manchester United and Barcelona, but that didn't get very far."

A tournament like that would have done wonders for increased international visibility of the club and to draw more fans to Red Bull New York games and events. Not to mention that a tournament like this would have done alot of good for the Red Bull bottom line. It's nice to hear that Red Bull had plans for something like this, even if they didn't "get very far".

Hopefully Red Bull will be able to host something of the like in the future.

The Whirlwind of Becks and Possible Effects

This Saturday night at Giants Stadium, the Red Bulls will play the Galaxy in front of the largest crowd ever to witness a regular season New York game.

This will provide a unique oportunity for the club to leave an impression on the masses Beckham will draw to the swamp.

Obviously the ticket revenue from this game will go a long way towards pleasing the Red Bull overlords, but there are many other things that make this weekend important and interesting.

For starters, the Becks hype machine seems to be at the highest it has been since his debut against Chelsea, thanks in large part to a trmendous preformance in last night's SuperLiga semifinal against DC including a signature bending free kick goal as well as an assist to catapult LA into the final.

That preformance as well as his improving health will likely help drive ticket sales in the last couple days leading up to the fixture.

But this goes deeper than one night of ticket sales. Red Bull New York's visability will take a huge jump, especially in the local papers and news. In fact, Jozy Altidore, Juan Pablo Angel, and David Beckham will be hosting an invitation only soccer clinic in Harlem tommorow. This is a great opportunity to get the club out there linked with a name like David Beckham as well as help grow soccer in the community.

The overall hope for the game itself is that the enormous crowd is won over by the Red Bulls play and the electric soccer atmosphere created by the thousands and that they all become Red Bulls supporters themselves and come back to other regular season games. Now, that is sort of a pie in the sky type scenario, but part of it can come true. I have no doubt that at least a few of those just there to see Beckham will be won over and return for future games not including Becks, but as past history shows when a big crowd comes to GS the after effect will not be something spectacular. Check out a great piece on that at Metrofanatic.

As the article states, the team has not usually done its job in these situations, so I guess it cannot be that accuratley guaged.

The attendance woes of the club have been well documented in recent years. We all know there are thousands upon thousands of soccer fans in the area, but thr trouble has been for the club to get them out to games consistantly to form a larger, stronger fan base.

They came to see Ronaldinho and Barcelona last year, and they are comming to see David Beckham this year. Consistant sucess will help with attendance, but it is clear that what this area needs to get amped on MLS is a superstar. They need their in that they just can't refuse. They need that one thing that will undoubtedly take them all the way out to the swamp, and eventually to the much more conveniant Red Bull Park.

The ticket sales and attendance for this match has and will leave a big mark on the NYRB front office. If their original thought was that the masses would only come out for a friendly with a star studded Barcelona team, that has been proven totally wrong with an almost as large crowd comming simply to see another MLS team with that one superstar, David Beckham.

Rumors have been floating around in MLS and fan circles for months about the possible addition of a second dp slot for each team (thus giving NYRB a third). These rumors were put in the message board spotlight as the mlsrumors blog revealed that sources have indicated the possility of that. Now, no one knows the credibility of the source or anything, but this rumor has been out there for a bit and could happen. But also it could not, that's what a rumor is.

The question is, will this crowd leave such an effect on the club's brass that they make their push for an international superstar of their own that will drive the crowds to the stadium, or will they continue their holding pattern until Red Bull Park?

Now the third dp thing is just talk as of now, but the reality is that Reyna's contract will be over at the end of next year, earlier than Red Bull Park is set to open with the current delay. In the next few years Red Bull will have to decide if it wants to finally break the bank like everyone has heard they can and get that player that will give the soccer fans in the metro area their official "in".

The crowd will say "do it", and there is no doubt Red Bull will be listening.

Red Bull Park - Buyout

The opening of Red Bull Park was officially delayed last week, due to as many as six feet of concrete foundations under the site where the new home of RBNY is to be built. This caused the Park's open to be delayed to April or May 2009. If you have followed the construction cam at all for the new park, you could see this coming.

From the ashes of the delay announcement came some very interesting tidbits you may not know.

Let's start with Red Bull's possible purchase of AEG's remaining stake in Red Bull Park.

- In a midweek Michael Lewis article about the delay of Red Bull Park, the mayor of Harrison Ray McDonough revealed that Red Bull have been in talks with Anschutz Entertainment Group to buyout the remaining part of Red Bull Park.

""Red Bull wants to control their own destiny," he said."I'm very optimistic. Red Bull wants to have it."McDonough, however, said he was "not at liberty" to divulge the details of the negotiations."

the article goes on...

"The stadium's design and its capacity (25,000) will not change and the Red Bulls will allow concerts to be held at the stadium, according to one source familiar with the Red Bulls' plans.

That was one reason why the town and Hudson County supported the stadium in the first place was so they could hold other events at the stadium -- such as high school soccer and football games and concerts besides 16-20 dates for pro soccer to bring in revenue, sources said."

These quotes from the mayor proved to me that what I was hearing about the buyout was correct and that it would eventually go through if Red Bull had its way.

But then came these quotes from Red Bull Managing Director Mark de Grandpre in the press release about the new training facility...

""De Grandpre said the delay has nothing to do with the rumors that Red Bull is negotiating with Anschutz Entertainment Group, which was the former owner of the MetroStars, to be the sole owner of the stadium, which reportedly will cost $100 million. "

"The Austrian energy drink company bought the MetroStars from AEG for $100 million in March 2006 and renamed the team."We're moving on as planned with AEG," de Grandpre said. "Just like we've done since Day One."

At first read this seems like it dispels the rumor of the buyout, but read it again and consider the situation.

De Grandpre, at no point in this statement, denies the rumor that Red Bull is working on a buyout of AEG's stake. He simply says that the delays in RBP are not due to a possible buyout. The, "We are moving on as planned with AEG" part, simply says that construction is continuing with AEG on board. Well, of course they are not going to suspend all construction activity on the site until the buyout is complete, that would be stupid.

De Grandpre simply makes it known that the delays are due to the foundations on the construction site itself and not some financial buyout situation.

This is true.

It is also true that a buyout is in the works.

I'll side with the mayor of Harrison, even though that would not be siding against De Grandpre as he said nothing to dispel the rumor.

These things take time. They are dealing with millions and millions of dollars. Red Bull knows what it wants and I deffinatley expect them to get it.

Buyout or not, we can count on concerts and other events being held at Red Bull Park, as well as a possible expansion in the future. But they want to settle the stadium first, and if it is really a hit and they sign a huge DP, the stadium has the ability to be expanded.

I'll have a second Red Bull Park post with more interesting details from a fan and marketing perspective being leaked from a meeting with leaders of the ESC and the front office.

Project RBNY

The New York/New Jersey MetroStars were created in the inauguration of Major League Soccer in 1996.

Over the course of the first decade of the franchise's existence, the at-first large fan base began to decline as the club was unable to produce successful soccer, never making it farther than the MLS Cup semifinals in the year 2000.

On March 9, 2006, the MetroStars were bought by Austrian energy drink company Red Bull and their billionaire founder Dietrich Mateschitz for a sum of 100 million dollars.

The clubs strongest supporter's group, the Empire Supporters Club, along with much of the teams fan base, was outraged at the fact that their club was to now be a promotion vehicle for an energy drink.

The club was re-branded to be called Red Bull New York, featuring the company’s logos prominently on everything in relation to the club.

Although the disgust at the ownership change, Red Bull used their renowned promotion skills for the clubs first home match as the Red Bulls in the 2006 season.

The attendance at Giants Stadium that day was 35,793. The game featured a pre-game ceremony featuring the Cosmo's legends Pele and Franz Beckenbaur, as well as a half time concert by Shakira and Wyclef Jean.

Marketing of the sort, or close to it, has not been seen to this day. The home opener was a blip on the radar; attendance has continued to be the most disappointing for the region in the league.

The Red Bull ownership group played a large part in securing the soccer specific stadium deal for Harrison New Jersey, said to be the savior of the club's recent attendance woes. The Red Bull Park's scheduled opening was recently officially delayed to 2009 due to foundation issues.

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When you put a billionaire owner with a promotional drive for his company with the local pride of a club in the soccer rich metro area in a league with only a reported 2.5 million dollar salary cap that is known for not being relevant in the American sports landscape, you create a perfect storm of money, questioned incentives, instability, pride, failure, success, and soccer.

We are in the midst of a project in the metropolitan area to make soccer matter, to make Red Bull New York matter. This is: Project RBNY.