On the same day FCD announced it would be hosting a game featuring the U.S. national team in July during the CONCACAF Gold Cup, I caught up with Dallas president Dan Hunt and here’s what he had to say:
Where are the negotiations for having a USL Pro affiliate at right now?
Hunt: It’s actually imminent. We’re down to final signatures. Where we are is Major League Soccer has the broader relationship with USL Pro, so there’s language that’s been worked out between the leagues. Obviously still we’re trying to figure out the mechanisms for bringing players up and down. That’s really the final step here but we’re down to final signatures here.
When exactly do you expect to name an affiliate by?
Hunt: Yeah, let’s call it no later than the first of the year because we also have to make our plans with players and where we see different players fitting in. So it would be no later than that. Everything else is agreed upon. It’s just those little nuances of contracts and especially loaning players between leagues and all that goes with that. So I’m excited about the opportunity. Again, for us we’re so focused on getting these young players playing minutes. That’s what they need to develop. And you’ve seen what’s happened once we’ve been able to get our young guys minutes.
Some are wondering what the timeframe is for improvements to Toyota Stadium.
Hunt: I will say the news that came out revealing we have been talking to the Soccer Hall of Fame and we’re actually in our window now of negotiating with them and also working on designs that would help bring that hall to the stadium itself. There’s a couple different sets of drawings. Again, a lot of nuance goes into where we would locate it for a couple different reasons. We’ve spent a lot of time on this and a lot of time at the architects, and I think we’ve got something that we really like the concept now and depending on where we put that hall of fame within the stadium structure, it will change to more enhancements if you will. And I know that’s a little bit vague in saying that, but until we actually put which side of the stadium, then that will allow us. But yes, we are in that phase of not only talking with U.S. Soccer about this. The hall is its own separate entity, but we’ve been visiting with the city and we are in an exclusive period to see if we can’t work these details out. And by the way, I think this would be a huge win for Toyota Stadium and Toyota Soccer Center and for the community of Frisco. This is something very unique. My father was very passionate about this as he was passionate about the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. And I have a very big, broad version for what this is going to look like and how we’re going to bring more notoriety to something that is very important to our game.
Which areas do you feel like FCD needs to address this offseason?
Hunt: What a fortunate situation to be in, returning this many players to a squad that went to the playoffs and was eliminated yet didn’t lose a game. My friends are all funny about pointing that out to me with a lot of pride because it’s a good situation. And we were able to bring in Dan Kennedy, which we believe will help us out. Chris Seitz really came off what I would say is his best year in the league and I think that Dan will be good for him and so I feel good about that. We will look to add a player in the midfield. We need some competition with the departure of Adam Moffat and Hendry Thomas. We’ll need some competition at the defensive midfield because we have our two starters who are Victor (Ulloa) obviously and Michel. So to bring somebody in or a couple somebodies. Obviously, Andres (Escobar) was not renewed here and so we’ll look for a winger. I feel very good about our front line. Again, most goals in the history of the club and you look at what we’re returning almost all of that production, so a good thing. And we’ll add a defender. A couple of the important reasons why on that are we love having competition and we know that Je-Vaughn (Watson), who we have tendered an offer too will also be playing with Jamaica. So then you have Kellyn Acosta but hopefully Kellyn Acosta is playing with the U-20s. And then I think there’s been some international national team interest in Moises Hernandez for Guatemala potentially. And you don’t know where any of that goes, so we’ll look for a versatile outside back that will be able to help supplement our guys.
Talk about the magnitude of Tuesday’s announcement about the U.S. national team returning to Frisco for the first time since 2007.
Hunt: Yeah, there’s not much bigger outside of landing an MLS championship game here, which we would obviously be hosting in the game in the current format. There’s really nothing bigger. Look what’s happened with the general interest in our national team, both men’s and women’s. This summer with the World Cup, I’ve never seen this country like this and everybody comments about it. And people who are non-soccer levels have fallen in love with the concept of the national team and obviously the tournament is a big deal. And it seems like Gold Cup is now really getting some notoriety and a lot of that has to do with the players that this region is producing too. You have a lot of players who are going on to Europe and to major clubs and that garners more interest for it. So yeah, as things go soccer wise, outside an MLS Cup, this is it for us. To have a men’s or women’s team here, the women’s team that played here was the largest crowd for them since I believe 2002. And you see how important that is to our fans. We’re bringing a very meaningful game. It’s our 18th game in our season ticket package for our fans.
How sad were you to see George John?
Hunt: It is because I remember us drafting him very clearly, the excitement before and how the coaching staff, Schellas Hyndman and company, had their heart set on him from early on. We have done a good job here with first-round draft picks and obviously it was a big one last year with Tesho Akindele being named rookie of the year and credit to Oscar for drafting the last two rookies of the year. We take pride in the draft. Not only is it and important and exciting time. We’re also NFL people and the draft is the lifeblood of your franchise in the NFL and we bring that philosophy over. I know that the homegrown thing has eaten into maybe the notoriety or the talent pool of the draft because a lot of the top young players in the country who choose to go to college are now attached with MLS clubs, but the draft is important and I can’t stress it enough because you need to get one kid a year out it that’s going to be a major contributor and that will make you a successful franchise over time. And George was part of that. George is a great guy. I really like him as a person. I was sad and disappointed for him obviously with some of his injury stuff and I’m personally hopeful that he’s able to return and have success. I really hope so for him because he has a number of years in front of him to play, and I just don’t want that to be cut short. Yeah, it is a little bittersweet. We wish him the best, unless he’s playing against FC Dallas.
Is FCD still hard and fast on not bringing in high-DP level players?
Hunt: Well, it (our philosophy on that) is always ever evolving. You show me a deal, you show me an expensive player that’s a deal and I think we’ve got something to talk about, right? We are business people too. Fabian Castillo in the end has not been expensive, especially since we own 100 percent of his rights and we’re looking to extend him long term here. That’s going to be an expensive proposition and we look forward to that opportunity with him, think he’s very happy here. So we’re always looking. This past summer, we took a real run at Sacha Klejstan, the former national team player. We were prepared to pay real money and we had moved into a position to be able to get Sacha and also we were permitted to play him DP money. So the door is open here and I feel good. But I also feel good about our decisions, for the value that we got from Castillo and Diaz, we have spent wisely and I believe that with David Texeira also, he was a DP number. He’ll be a DP number on this year’s books. That is on the lower end of the scale, but I believe he’s really going to come on nicely. You don’t score the kind of goals he did in Holland and have Liverpool chasing you if you don’t have the ability. River Plate did everything they could to retain Diaz. People have shown interest in Fabian Castillo over time, but again we’re very happy to have him here and we want him to be here for the long haul. But our door is open, always. We’re trying to bring the best players that will give us a chance to win an MLS Cup and a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
