The Badge, The Players, The Fans Deserve Better - 2 Years Later

2 years ago tonight Centennial 38 walked out of the game in the first half in protest, leaving behind the simple message.  The Badge, The Players, The Fans Deserve Better.  Accompanied by a letter released a couple of days earlier the request was relatively simple.  KSE, invest in your club.  2 years later, have they?

I'm going to split "KSE" into two parts.  Essentially what the Rapids themselves control and what KSE above them can drive.  Coming out of that horrendous season KSE obviously opened the checkbook to acquire players.  We added Djordje Mihailovic, Sam Vines, Zach Steffen, and (eventually) made Rafa Nvarro's loan permanent.  That's on top of our normal offseason moves, trades, etc.  Obviously KSE saw that the team needed to be improved.

Beyond that offseason though, any improvement in the squad has been driven by reinvesting money from selling players (Bombito, Awaziem, and particularly Mihailovic).  And what little improvement has been made off the field has been around the edges with what budget the Rapids themselves can find each season.  The major issues have continued to be ignored by KSE.

To remind everyone of what KSE said in their response two years ago:

On the field we are focused on returning the team to the level of competitiveness we expect and have seen in recent years

Well to be fair, squeaking into the playoffs is traditionally the Rapids' level of competitiveness I don't believe that's what they were claiming they were aiming for. 

Off the field, we have already engaged Legends, Civitas, Perkins & Will, and Turner Construction on a number of feasibility studies and analyses around potential infrastructure projects as we assess a future vision for DICK'S Sporting Goods Park and the club's training environment. We are also actively evaluating additional ways to enhance the gameday experience inside and outside the stadium.

So, how's that going?  Not only has almost nothing happened (as I understand it, the training pitch has been relayed) there have been rumors there were bigger plans that were cancelled this offseason.  If nothing else, Turner Construction is no longer the official KSE construction partner, its now Kiewit.  Meanwhile the scoreboard continues to be a running joke, C38 has had on-going issues with Stadium Ops that have only been solved by getting higher-ups involved on a regular basis, the stadium still lacks basic amenities expected at this point like wi-fi and better food options (though in all seriousness, shout out for getting the mini donuts left) and what small changes the Rapids have been able to scrape together amount to some banners and flags.  Though again, credit to the Rapids for creating the Legends Garden as part of the Balboa retirement ceremony.

Over the next few months, we will be finalizing the master plan for our exciting Victory Crossing Project. When this is ready in early 2024, we will be hosting several open forums with supporters and members of the community to gather feedback on our plans for the club, stadium and entire project.

Right.  It is now (almost) fall of 2025 and there has been no movement on this front, no open forums that I'm aware of and any possible project on this front seems dead.

So needless to say they essentially followed through on none of the things they said they would do in their response to C38's protest.  I'll give them some credit for investing in the team in order to achieve that first goal of competitiveness, it just hasn't worked (and the failures of the FO's roster building strategy are long, well covered here, and best saved for another day).  Outside of that initial burst of investment in the 2023-24 offseason though, there's been nothing.

I do see the Rapids trying to make an effort.  They have invested a large amount of the money they've earned from player sales back into the team.  They spent $1M (in GAM) to get Awaziem and Murphy, $1.125M to get KDP, $1.3M (in GAM) for Atencio, $350K (in GAM) on Philly's draft picks, $500K+ on Lucas Herrington, they have an option to buy Manyoma for $2.25M, and of course they spent $8.2M on Aaronson.  Around 14.5M, give or take.  That leaves around $2M left over from the Bombito, Awaziem, and Mihailovic sales but some of these numbers aren't exact and of course you want something in the bank to make moves this offseason.  And I may have forgotten a significant move.  One more $500K-$1M move would certainly represent a full re-investment of the funds  Away from the roster the Rapids have been trying to improve the stadium experience, its just their hands are tied due to a lack of budget and not being the final decision makers when it comes to the stadium (that would be the DSG Park Stadium Ops division of KSE).

Two years later, The Badge, The Players, The Fans Still Deserve Better.  There's just no evidence KSE is going to do better by them.