Let's just get this out of the way. I believe FC Dallas is going to win the 2017 MLS Cup, and if your expectations are set any lower, you've not been paying attention.

There's a solid stack of reading, starting with our own Jon Arnold's season preview, to reinforce what you already know - FC Dallas is a deep, well coached team and baring a plague of injury bugs (knock on wood) you should be laying a one-hundo on the current 9:1 odds of being MLS Champs by the end of this season.

It also is chronically near the bottom in league attendance. In fact, it was dead last in 2016. I'm proud to champion how good this team can be, but that enthusiasm continues to be doused with the reality there is nothing to suggest attendance will be any better in 2017.

The Hunt family has steadfastly refused to be realistic in their marketing and branding of this club. Here we are again, the day of the season opener, a few weeks from the first home game and there are no TV commercials. No wrapped buses. No bulletin boards. I've heard radio commercials on the Ticket and I'm told there's a social media campaign called #FCDWeek.

In other words, while expansion side Atlanta United is expected to have 50,000+ at their home opener, don't be shocked when 21 year old FC Dallas - again - fails to sell out its home opener.

Something to think about: In the entirety of the last three seasons you can count the number of sell outs on two hands and still chop off a few fingers. Portland, a team that has broken 50 points in a season only twice, has sold out every league game they've played since joining MLS. Now consider this - the population of Portland (619,360) is actually smaller than that of Colin County (885,241) - that supposedly "too far away" home of Toyota Stadium.

Go back, re-read that previous sentence and let it soak in for a minute.

Inspired by Rob Stone's rant about the Revs, here is mine: I'm tired of explaining why stadium location is not the problem. I'm weary of listening to other team's supporters easily default to the smack of "yeah, the good team nobody comes out to watch". I'm burned out on trying to explain to other soccer media types how the best team somehow has the worst attendance and that DFW is not a "crap soccer market".

Please Dan and Clark, hire a proper marketing agency. Seriously, take this as a friend telling you its time to let someone else dress you for a change.

Find a smart contemporary group who can point you in the right direction of not just filling seats, but actually creating and growing the brand passion we see in almost ever other MLS market.

The community at large will begin to care and pay attention to this thing only when you figure this out : You have to tell them, sell them and win them over. While other MLS teams, even established and successful ones, engage in real world marketing strategies, utilizing multiple avenues you refuse to do anything coherent and consistent. There are soccer fans galore in the DFW area, they just need a reason to pay attention and to buy into what you're doing.

Work harder and better with the supporter's groups. Find ways to exploit their willingness to embrace and promote the club and not just reasons to tell them "no". Start with finding safe and reasonable means to allow the willing group in the Beer Garden to capitalize on the support structure that is erected above that section to hoist tifos. That's the stuff which ignite the fans and players alike. The Beer Garden may never be Dortmund, or even Timber's Army but there is both the willing fans and structure in place to regularly do something very special.

Please find ways to mend the fractures between FC Dallas and the rest of the DFW youth club scene. Take the higher road, reach out and extend your hand to the other clubs and build that community as competitive, but united. Repair whatever has cracked and drained that pool of potential fans. When you hear stories of other clubs actively preventing their players from attending FCD games, something is very wrong.

Also, I certainly pray you aren't waiting for the 2018 debut of the US Soccer Hall of Fame and stadium reconstruction as a solution. While we can all agree having the Hall of Fame locally is neat, it is the answer to a question no one ever asked. The good news is having all of that historical stuff, the shiny new digs and new level of polish to the whole stadium will be additional fuel for a quality marketing campaign that extends well past Twitter or Facebook.

When we watch most of this weekend's MLS openers with jam packed stadiums and giant tifos realize those aren't the byproduct of passive front offices. Those scenes are the result of money and planning spent on building and creating passion for those brands.

The Hunts have proved their unique way of getting good on the field works, but we've waited long enough to find out "build it and they will come" does not.

3rd Degree is an independent FC Dallas blog. Founded in 1997, 3rd Degree has been in partnership with the Dallas Morning News since 2012. You can follow us on twitter at @3rdDegreeNet.