2024 Season Wrap-up
Courtesy Connor Cunningham
Sometimes it is hard to remember why you do certain things. Oftentimes, the reason you start something is different from the reason you continue it. I started this blog simply because I thought Racing needed a site specifically dedicated to covering the team. Now, I mostly keep it up to date out of habit, to record my thoughts and get them out of my head, and to give Jeff Greer or Jonathan Lintner an extra chore during the day to make sure that I am behaving myself. The other thing that I can’t quite remember the reasoning behind is the decision to split my coverage into content that I thought was best suited for this site, and content that was suited for a broader audience on The State of Louisville. At first that decision seemed to be crystal clear, and I often saved the pieces of which I was most fond for that site. Now, I really just post my quarterly reviews there. Again, this is simply out of habit, and I don’t have any real intent on changing this unless the guys over there kick me out. This rather long preface is simply here to say that I wrote my 4th quarter piece first, but that it will likely be published after this.
That means that this piece serves as somewhat of a catch-all piece for the thoughts that enter my head during the season, but don’t really have a place in the context of a match or are more appropriate for after the season is complete. I will likely have forgotten some of the things I wanted to talk about, but the important ones have surely made their way here. There are all kinds of ways to handle a wrap-up piece, but I think the following format will prompt me to remember most of the things I want to talk about.
If Racing are serious about winning, there are things that need to be addressed. I wrote this for my forthcoming State of Louisville piece, but I want to dive deeper here: “I believe that Racing's issues are multiple and deep-seated. In simple terms Racing
Plays in a small market
For an ownership conglomeration without truly deep pockets
Who are hesitant to take on a financially disastrous loss that includes
Improving the team's staff
In order to find and pay the right players
To play in a system that is unique enough to cause their opponents problems”
Let’s break down that run-on sentence into each of its parts.
Before I get to that, let me just say that I fully expect to hit some nerves and say things people don’t agree with or flat out hate in this piece. Actually, I will probably write some things that I will ultimately disagree with myself as time passes. Try not to take it personally.
Racing plays in a small market
This is an environmental issue/problem. Unless you want the team to move, this specific challenge has to be dealt with creatively. I always got the sense, and maybe I got it incorrectly due to my own biases, that the organization has always thought that if they could get every USWNT fan in the Louisville area to attend Racing matches, that attendance would be a breeze. Yes, the USWNT “sold out” Lynn Family Stadium, but there is “sold out” and sold out. It sold out without breaking the Lynn attendance record. That’s a neat trick. The attendance is nothing to sneeze at, and Louisville represented itself quite well. I don’t fault the effort or the result of getting a USWNT match here. However, we now kind of know the upper limit on attendance. 13,000 is likely the absolute maximum you can expect if Racing go undefeated for 5 straight years. Here in the real world, the practical limit is about 8,000 (barring an air show or some other event that divides fan attention). My proposal is that the Racing matches at Lynn should be configured to hold 7,000 to 8,000 fans by strategically closing large sections of the stadium. I had this idea before the San Diego match, and now we know it is somewhat feasible. Thing that will make some people mad #1: I think the Estopinal End should be closed for Racing matches as part of a 7,000 to 8,000 seating configuration. The Estopinal End works for Lou City. It doesn’t for Racing. The Lavender Legion (of which I am a paying member and former board member) has been given 4 years to try to create an atmosphere. It has not worked. What has worked in more recent matches are simple chants stared by sections of the crowd with enough people to start them. Five elementary school aged children got a chant started in Section 125 with only 2100 or so people in attendance on Sunday. Their lack of rhythm made me pine for the days of mandatory music education in the public school system, but they got it going. Organic is always going to work better than manufactured. People need to be in close confines to create an environment. Let’s close some sections and get people closer together.
What I hope this will achieve is thing that will make some people mad #2: Make Lynn Family Stadium “Hell on Earth” for Racing’s opponents. The good people of section 107 have been trying very hard (myself included) to make Lynn into Hell on Earth for officials for a few seasons now. I frequently embarrass my wife with some of the things I say to the officials (all of the are well earned and clean by the way). However, opponents continue to come into the stadium way too relaxed. I can’t prevent a section of the fanbase from fawning over the opposition players, especially the international-level ones, nor would I want to. I just want to harden the environment to a degree that the opponents don’t feel like they have just been invited to Sunday tea.
I expect the fans to be polite, to a degree and respectful and I would never want any real abuse hurled at opposing players or coaches, but there is a difference between hospitality and reverence. I would prefer mute disdain with the goal of eventually heading toward open hostility (good natured of course). I believe that people know the difference between booing an opponent and attacking them verbally. I wlll get to the second part of this in section 6.
For an ownership conglomeration without truly deep pockets
Racing is in a financial mismatch against virtually every other team in the league. The valuation of the franchise might be greatly higher than the investment, but that is only beneficially to ownership on the day they sell it. I believe that every team in this league operates at a loss and with the new salary cap developments, Racing’s wage bill is only going to become a larger burden on the ownership. I simultaneously have some degree and very little sympathy for ownership. On the one hand, you can’t be continually dumping stupid money into an investment that is years away from paying off (hopefully) but you are also rather arrogant to think that you get to own a top tier sports franchise without being willing to invest stupid money into it. Thing that will make some people mad #3: The current ownership group can’t be successful other than to cash out. Of course, cashing out puts the team at risk of moving. One of the most irritating things about fans is their bravado when it comes to spending ownership’s money. I don’t think there is a single person in the current ownership group wealthy enough to own an NWSL franchise by themselves. In fact, that person might not exist in the city of Louisville or the state of Kentucky. Fans can come up with all of the lists of potential rich owners they want to, but unless you want to convince some sporting uber conglomerate to purchase the club as is, a single owner is likely to move the team.
Who are hesitant to take on a financially disastrous loss
The team needs monetary infusions that are simply not going to give you a return on investment. I would love to see Racing’s books and the books of other NWSL teams and I am sure that it would be a fascinating insight into their operations. However, I seriously doubt that any team turns a profit. Which leads me to thing that will make some people mad #4: Women’s sports have to become more than just an investment vehicle for rich narcissists at some point, or it risks becoming a charity. This is a tough one. I think that many men’s sports franchises and clubs operate at a loss on paper, and it is extremely unfair to expect women’s sports to be profitable on a short time frame. Then again, if you can’t afford a loss should you be a sports owner? Honestly, the only way most professional sports teams seem to be profitable today is either when they are inherited through generational wealth or sold to the next rich person. There is no real solution to Louisville’s problem here other than a drastic increase in attendance which doesn’t seem to be on the horizon. That doesn’t mean that is still doesn’t affect their day-to-day operations. Long story short: if you want the current ownership to invest more, you are going to have to give them a really good reason. We all need to work together to increase attendance (and/or the value of the tickets) by (almost) any means necessary.
Improve the team's staff
Racing is lacking in technical staff. I frankly don’t care what other teams have, but Racing needs some real help here. I have always felt that they have cheapened out on hiring staff. That doesn’t mean that they don’t have good coaches, but I do think it means that there is a limit for what the organization is willing to pay for coaching excellence. That mentality has to chance. The head coaches in this league are leaps and bounds above what they were even two seasons ago. The league cleaned house to some degree and replaced the bad actors with at least better coaches and hopefully better people. Thing that will make some people mad #5: I feel like Racing made the wrong head coaching decision at almost every turn. Bev may turn out to be great, but she isn’t there yet. I am unsure of who else was being considered, but Racing ultimately made the safe choice. It cost them a year of progress. They can’t afford another lost year.
Find and pay the right players
On this one Racing has no choice but to change their way of thinking. They won’t have the draft to get players like DeMelo and Sears anymore. This will somewhat force Racing to pick players that fit the system they want to play. Whether that is the right system is up for debate, and I will make my case below. I spend some time in my 4th quarter review for the State of Louisville on this topic, so I won’t rehash things here.
If you don’t want to read that piece, I will give you the brief version. The talent gap in the league is increasing at the top of the table, and what was good enough last season, is not good enough this season and definitely won’t be good enough next season. Racing needs to be very, very careful on the international players that they sign, especially if most of the game film on the player is in a league that is not up to par with the NWSL (or NCAA for rookies). Thing that will make some people mad #6: fans need to stop falling in love with the players. This level of devotion is only going to hurt the fans. Racing has proven itself to be brutally ruthless recently, and I don’t expect that to change. Do a job or find another team. The time for sentiment is over if you want this franchise to survive in this city. The players should be treated respectfully, but nobody gets a free pass.
Play in a system that is unique enough to cause their opponents problems
Where the real “Hell on Earth” needs to take place is on the pitch. Louisville (unless something changes) is always going to have a financial challenge compared to other teams in the league. That is why I believe that thing that will make some people mad #7 has to be a change in style that makes the opponents dread playing Racing. I would like to see a style where every player is Kayla Fischer-level aggressive. That might lead to multiple suspensions, but something has to change. Louisville hasn’t succeeded by attempting to play attractive football, so don’t attempt to play it. Find a style that makes the game an absolute nightmare on the other team. This doesn’t have to be completely ugly or use the “dark arts” 100% of the time, but the dark arts shouldn’t be ignored. Everyone wants to play beautiful football now. Racing needs to find a way to make them pay for it. I refuse to believe that there aren’t some coaches out there plotting against the current wave of play-out-from-the-back, possession football. Find one and bring them to Louisville to help implement something unique. The harsh truth is that Racing Louisville can’t stand against the current cream of the crop in this league playing a similar style with lesser players. They need to win the chess matches.
And alternatively, what if Racing isn’t all that serious about winning?
Be okay with 9th place (or worse). It is sustainable and not the end of the world. I am not a fan with infinite patience, but I can't picture myself ever stopping supporting Racing. There is still a whole bunch of fun to be had at the matches. They could catch lightning in a bottle every once in a while without many changes. Not everyone gets to be a fan of a consistent winner and sometimes you end up supporting a perennial doormat. It's fine. The owners are perfectly within their rights to make the minimum required investment and watch the value of the franchise continue to grow. I just think we need to be honest about what the ambitions of this club are going to be. This offseason will be key. If the club is going to be unserious about winning, I am perfectly happy to cover the club in an (even more) unserious manner. I mean, I let a pirate preview a match this season and Racing are undefeated when that happens. Maybe the pirate should take over. And seriously, what’s the big deal if Racing is never a winner in Louisville. For those of you that follow me closely you know that I love to quote The Wire, especially the line “Deserve got nuttin’ to do with it.” What that essentially means to me in this instance is that nobody is promised anything, and you shouldn't expect any great reward past the agreed upon terms. Racing agrees to play football and we agree to watch it. Past that, you get what you get (and don't throw a fit…couldn't resist).
The Racing players are always able to produce a smile after the match, win, lose or draw and they make the fans proud either way. That might just be enough to sustain things for a few more years.
