That end of the stadium will drive the experience for the rest of the fans
inside of the stadium. They'll be singing. It will be chanting. It will be smoke.
It will be a lot of different things that will drive this iconic feel.
Hey there ALSD, Jared Frank your Editorial Director here on location
We have a real treat for you now,
here with CEO Chris Wright. Chris, thanks so much for joining us.
Jared: I thought a good place to start would be with some of your past experience.
Most of us in this business know you from your 26 years
with the Timberwolves and the Lynx. What led you to transitioning
from that brand to this new brand here in the same marketplace?
Chris: Lots of things to what you ask, Jared. But number one, I came from soccer.
So I played, I coached, was the general manager of a couple of franchises over here -
Pittsburgh Spirit and Minnesota Strikers
before I found my way to the NBA. So I'm back to my first passion and
back to my love, and really what a way to maybe end a career by
building a brand new stadium, building a team. So the team side of this operation
reports to me as well. But then also building the business, and really
establishing the franchise here in the marketplace. So all of that.
The other piece of it that was very compelling was the ownership group led by
Dr. McGuire, with Glen Taylor, who I'd encouraged actually to invest in
this team, as the team emerged in the MLS last year.
But then the Pohlad family, the Binger family from the McKnight Foundation, Matt Mithun
from the Mithun family (Campbell Mithun),
the Mortenson family, one of the top-three builders in the country,
Jeremy Jacobs from Delaware North, all part of the ownership group. And that piece of it
was really compelling for me because I think when you look at the power of the
ownership group, you see how this ownership group could potentially take this team not
only to market, but how it could become a flagship franchise for the MLS.
Jared: Even with all the experience of all those stakeholders that you mentioned, you
started by saying "a chance to build a stadium", "a chance to build a franchise",
"a chance to build a business". So it's more of a startup mentality than
an established brand, so transitioning from the Timberwolves
and the Lynx, which was established in this marketplace, to something brand new
and fresh and exciting, that's two different mindsets and two different
mentalities for running a business. So can you talk a little bit about the
differences and why you wanted to, at the end of your career, shift to a startup mentality?
Chris: I've been involved with really two startups previous to this one -
Pittsburgh Spirit. When I took over the Pittsburgh Spirit, Edward J. DeBartolo had
taken a franchise that had been in mothballs for a while, and so he gave me
the opportunity to lead that organization. So we established the MISL
in what was the American football city of the country,
Pittsburgh, in a big way. And lots of incredible business lessons came out
of that. Then the Minnesota Lynx. Obviously, when we brought them to market
here, establishing them in this marketplace. So this is really the third
time that I've been down a path of a quasi-expansion franchise,
startup, however you want to describe it. But getting in on the ground floor of
really what you want the stadium to be. How do you describe the atmosphere of
the stadium? What do you want the fans to feel when they walk in and walk out of
this stadium? And so we want that to be iconic and really
declare a vision for the franchise in terms of fan experience and
how we're going to put all that together. But then, what is this team going to
represent? What is the style of play? What type of players are we looking for?
And then obviously to build a front office to be able to support all that, and build
a business to support all of that. That always has been an incredible challenge for me.
We went through a lot of different types of years with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
We were out of the playoffs for a long time, so we had to reinvent
ourselves often during that 12-year period of time. This is my opportunity to
really invent, with 72 great professionals, what this franchise is
going to be, and that for me is the potential of leaving a legacy for what
this franchise can be in this marketplace for a long period of time.
Jared: How does Allianz Field compare to what we've seen come online in Major League Soccer in
recent years, and how is it going to lead the next crop that comes up behind you,
in terms of new builds and major changes and makeovers to facilities?
Chris: The very first differentiator is the fact that we are not supported by
any form of public financing whatsoever. It's a privately financed stadium which is very unusual today.
There is a level of maybe stadium fatigue in this marketplace. I came from an environment
whereby Glen Taylor put in 50 million-plus of a 150 million
that went into Target Center. So to a degree, Target Center was
subsidized by public money. This is not. So the ownership group here is
basically funding not only the expansion [fee] - $100 million, but a $200 million stadium.
The good news/bad news there is that we can design it
without any influence really from a public entity that is going to be part
of the stadium. And this is beautifully designed. So if you take a look at Bayern
Munich's stadium in Germany, if you take a look at the work that Populace is
doing worldwide right now, especially with Tottenham Hotspur's
and White Hart Lane, we have a great architect who is bringing an awful lot
of different ideas, but we have a real vision for the look and feel of the stadium.
That will be number one. And number two, the iconic piece of the
stadium is going to be something that we're going to call "Wonderwall", which is
2,800 safe-standing areas inside of one end of the stadium where there will be
no seats, where our supporter's section will be. If you take a look at Borussia
Dortmund and the great "Yellow Wall" of 23,000 fans, this is a much smaller
version of that, but we're going to establish that end of our stadium.
That end of the stadium will drive the experience for the rest of the fans
inside of the stadium. They'll be singing. It will be chanting.
It will be smoke. It will be a lot of different things that will drive this
iconic feel that we have inside the stadium. And also it's a very tight
stadium, so it's being designed so that there is not really a bad seat in the house.
It's very sheer. Arguably the worst seat in the house will be a very good seat.
Everybody will feel on top of the playing surface. So in terms of
creating a home-court, home-field feel for our team, we're going to be able to do
that very easily with 20,000 rabid fans that we're going to have in
there every single game.
Jared: So you mentioned Wonderwall. I know you have done a
phenomenal job here of creative storytelling and creating this brand,
Wonderwall being one segment, one chapter of that story. Just so people aren't
making assumptions or wondering what the heck they're talking about.
What is Wonderwall? What does that mean?
Chris: There is a tradition inside of our stadium.
Obviously, soccer is built around traditions. We have three incredible traditions.
We have a march to the match. We have something that is called "Scarves Up"
which is our marketing theme this year. Every single time we have a
corner kick, 20,000 fans raise scarves above their heads and twirl them. And then we have this
Wonderwall tradition, where at the end of a game,
when we have won, all of our players go and stand in front of our supporters section,
link arms, and our fans sing the Oasis song Wonderwall. And it really came out of our
locker room, probably about four or five years ago where two players, when they
won games, used to sing this song inside of the locker room. Our fans heard that,
they basically took it into the stands, and then after a game, they basically
sing that back to our team. It's an incredible tradition, and
I would say go YouTube the video of Minnesota United fans singing to the players.
It gives you goosebumps when you when you hear this. So we're
going to name that area of our stadium after that song. And who
knows, can we get Liam Gallagher back to sing
it as part of our opening weekend? We don't know that yet. But I mean obviously,
there are some great opportunities for us to maximize that opportunity.
Jared: Taking a step back, looking at the entire site, can you tell us the advantages of the site?
There were a number of different areas where we could have placed a stadium.
But I think in the end if you begin to take a look at
its position between the two cities, St. Paul has a really rich history in soccer.
The Lagos family is very well-known. Buzz Lagos is
known as the grandfather of soccer in the state of Minnesota. He goes back to
the Minnesota Thunder/Stars days when this team played up in
Blaine, Minnesota. So it's equidistant between the two cities on a major
highway (I-94), on the light rail transit site, and on the Greenway. These days, there are so
many different ways that people get to games and leave games. But the fact that
people will be able to cycle to a game is incredible. With the light rail right
there, a station right outside, which we will hopefully rename Allianz Field Stations
And then there are six universities within six miles of the
stadium, all somewhat within walking distance of the stadium,
some within three miles. So not only from a staffing standpoint
but from a fan support standpoint, it seemed like the ideal location. And the
Midway area, that's the the name of the geographical location, has really
embraced us. We're beginning to work with Chambers of Commerce, the non-profits
inside of that area, building relationships with them so that we're
accepted into the the neighborhood in the right way.
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