By The Athletic Soccer staff
Sep 9, 2020
This piece was reported by Pablo Maurer, Jeff Rueter and Sam Stejskal
After years of mostly-lackluster results on and off the field, the Houston Dynamo could be in for two major changes.
Multiple MLS sources tell The Athletic that the Dynamo are considering significant changes to their branding which could be adopted as early as this offseason, as the club continues to explore ways to increase its prominence within Houston. Those changes may include a new crest, club name, colors, or some combination of the three.
Advertisem*nt
“From a marketing standpoint, we are always looking for ways to innovate our brand and connect with our fans,” chief marketing officer Katie Scallan said when asked about the club’s potential rebrand. “One way we can do that is by doing a better job of representing the Houston community and tapping into the culture of our city.”
Even more foundational changes may be afoot within the club’s front office. Multiple sources also told The Athletic that the club’s controlling owner, Gabriel Brener, has expressed interest in selling his share of the team. It’s not clear how far along Brener — whose ownership interest also includes the NWSL’s Houston Dash — is in that process, or to what degree the Dash would be involved in a sale.
The Dynamo did not offer comment regarding Brener’s potential sale of his ownership stake.Major League Soccer also declined to comment.
Despite operating in the United States’ fourth-largest city, Houston has more closely resembled a small-market club with its operation. The Dynamo have routinely been among MLS’s lowest-spending clubs, quicker to trade within MLS or buy low from lesser leagues than make a big transfer outlay on a single player. This offseason was highlighted by trades for Darwin Quintero and Zarek Valentin, as well as paying a small transfer fee to Hoffenheim for goalkeeper Marko Marić. The team currently sits sixth in the Western Conference, but that amounts to progress under Tab Ramos for a team who has made the postseason just once in the last six seasons.
With the team struggling on the field, the club has tweaked its local marketing approach in recent seasons. Early evidence of the new approach includes the team’s Twitter hashtag switching from #ForeverDynamo or #ForeverOrange to #HoldItDown —a mantra which “originated on the streets of Houston,” per the club.
Advertisem*nt
“The transition from Forever Orange to Hold It Down is an example of (better representing the city),” Scallan said. “It’s more than a tagline or a hashtag; it taps directly into the mindset that makes Houston special and serves as a daily reminder to us that we’ve got an obligation to represent H-Town on and off the field.”
The change to “Hold It Down” also allowed the club to use the same hashtag for both the MLS and NWSL teams.
The Dynamo themselves have struggled to remain relevant in an MLS that has grown in leaps and bounds over the past decade. In 2019 the club ranked 20th out of 24 teams in average attendance, and that attendance figure has decreased for five consecutive years. After peaking at 20,658 in 2015, the club has seen a near 25 percent drop in attendance year over year despite playing in a soccer-specific downtown stadium, opened in 2012 in one of the largest media markets in the United States.
On Wednesday, a club spokesperson said season ticket sales haven’t dipped amid the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the club, the Dynamo sold 15.6 percent more 2020 season tickets than they did for 2019, and the club is already up nearly 10 percent for the 2021 season. The spokesperson said the Dash saw a 23.2 percent increase for the 2020 season as compared to 2019, and added that season ticket renewals are around 90 percent so far for both clubs. The club did not provide raw totals for the number of season ticket members.
Brener first joined the ownership group in late 2007 and bought out AEG’s remaining 50% stake in late 2015. The club’s current ownership group also includes famed boxer Oscar De La Hoya and, most recently, Houston Rockets guard James Harden, who purchased a small share in the Dash and Dynamo last July.
The Dynamo’s current name and branding were adopted in 2006 when the club moved to the Houston area from San Jose and are ostensibly a nod to the area economy’s energy sector. It also provides an aesthetic link to older, most established clubs in Eastern Europe like Dynamo Kiev or Dynamo Moscow. The club had originally announced a different name — Houston 1836 — but that moniker was scrapped after widespread outrage from the Latinx community in the area, who associated 1836 with the battle for Texan independence.
Advertisem*nt
The club’s primary color, which the Dynamo have dubbed “wildcatter orange,” is among the most singular and easily identifiable in Major League Soccer. Only two other teams in the league wear orange in any form (NYCFC use a touch of orange in their kits and crest as a nod to the Manhattan flag, while FC Cincinnati feature the color in some form or another on both of their kits) but Houston is the only team in the league so closely associated with the color. The club’s home, BBVA Stadium, makes extensive use of the color in its seating and other decorative features.
It’s still unclear what exactly the club is planning on changing about its brand identity. It could go the way of Sporting Kansas City or the New York Red Bulls, who shed their previous name and logo entirely, or simply refresh its brand like the LA Galaxy in 2007, D.C. United in 2015 or the Chicago Fire this past offseason.
While the first team may undergo a rebrand, the club isn’t anticipated to change the terms of its USL affiliation with Rio Grande Valley FC. The original terms of the agreement run through the 2021 season, with sources indicating that there are no plans to change the pact. RGV has changed its presentation within its market over the past year, distancing itself from being a full MLS2 team and trying to be a team for its local market first and foremost, that still takes Dynamo players on loan.
(Photo: Thomas Shea / USA TODAY Sports)
