Sporting KC's sellout streak will reach 71 matches in its home opener Saturday against the Whitecaps, and "all indications are the team will sell out" every game this season, according to Sam McDowell of the K.C. STAR. Team President Jake Reid said that the club had a 97% "renewal rate on its allotted 14,000 season tickets, and it houses a 5,500-member waiting list." Both are the most in club history, though SKC CEO Robb Heineman said that if there is a "pressure to keep the numbers there, it's rising." The club reached the playoffs "for the fifth consecutive season" in '15. However, McDowell noted SKC "has not provided its fans with a home playoff game since winning the MLS Cup" in '13. The competition both in the Western Conference and also "inside its home market" is "heating up." The Chiefs "won their first playoff game in 22 years this January and the Royals have reached two straight World Series, winning the Fall Classic last November." SKC "is insistent it hasn't felt a financial effect from the Royals' championship run." But either way, the city "seems to have a new standard." Heineman said the ownership group has made a "very large (financial) commitment" to make the team a championship contender. Heineman also stressed the team has flexibility to "sign players over the course of the season." McDowell noted the team is also "targeting a new fan base with what it refers to as the 'incubator' generation, essentially 12- to 18-year old kids" (K.C. STAR, 3/6)
DYNAMO EFFECT: In Houston, Jerome Solomon noted Dynamo fan enthusiasm "hasn't waned despite a couple of subpar years, but there hasn't been the growth you would expect, particularly considering the continued expansion of youth soccer." The Dynamo have a "sterling reputation as a first-class organization ... but they are coming off a second consecutive eighth-place finish and they missed the MLS playoffs for just the third time in 10 seasons." Solomon noted MLS "isn't yet strong enough to carry this franchise to the next level." Dynamo Owner Gabriel Brener said, "There is a lot of soccer popularity, but not a lot of it lands on Major League Soccer, unfortunately, but soccer awareness is huge. Now we've got to work at MLS to develop the best product possible" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 3/5).
