OK, not a particularly precise statement. How about this: We encounter more diversity here in our neighborhood in Edina than we did in our neighborhood in the Lowertown area of St. Paul or in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis. Yet many people I encounter, including here, persist with the notion that suburbia is Stepford and Minneapolis is Brooklyn. We spend our free time in Minneapolis and I love it to death, but demographics are rarely straightforward and no one should pretend that they are.

You could be right. Maybe it is a lost cause, but I sincerely hope not.

Yet another summary of the meeting with a different spin:

http://abcnewspapers.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10787&Itemid=27

"Kudos to ABC Newspapers for giving Minnesota pro soccer a fair amount of ink," says

That little old jersey collector

Me

I am now waiting for the people who shredded me for having wanted to get out of the Thunder's neighborhood in St. Paul as quickly as possible to shred this guy. I'll hang up and listen to your answer.

We would, but we know he's just making a joke about you!

It doesn't matter where the team plays their games. If no one knows about the team people aren't going to show up. It is simple as that. How much of a marketing push was there when the team moved to St. Paul to increase diversity at games?

Yeah, this is sarcasm. Zath would not accurately be described as pale.

An update:

http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2010/01/25...tails-revealed/

This, and your initial reply, is ridiculous. A potential fan, Bruce in this case, asks the NSC organization why there was no attendance from ethnic groups at the stakeholders summit, and your ultimate reply is, effectively, that the ethnic communities already have their own FREE soccer, the Thunder were not successful in involving them for 20 years, and it is foolish to want to change that?

Really, why get up in the morning if we're all condemned to bleak, linear fates as you are projecting? Things can change; things can and do get better. It is very clear from your posting history here that you want to see professional soccer in Minnesota fail, to the point that you rip everything that anyone tries to do to make it succeed.

For my part, I would still like to see more ethnic diversity at NSC soccer games and I think it is a worthwhile pursuit.

Of course ethnic diversity at NSC soccer games is a worthwhile pursuit, why not start with the Dark Clouds? Haven't seen much diversity there.

The last two decades of professional soccer in Minnesota have yielded annual losses of tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. The new organization's first priority should be survival, then stability. I don't think crowd diversity has anything to do with either of those primary concerns.