Dynamo president Chris Canetti is busy these days.

Part of his focus is on Saturday's MLS Cup against the Los Angeles Galaxy at Home Depot Center. The rest of his focus, as is usually the case throughout the year, is on moving the franchise forward in the crowded Houston sports landscape.

There are potential television deals and a meeting with ownership after he lands in Los Angeles on Thursday. For the second consecutive year and fourth time in seven seasons, the two-time champs are in the final.

Dynamo coach and general manager Dominic Kinnear, who handpicked the players and molded the roster, takes care of the on-field product. Canetti handles the business side, although Kinnear leaned on Canetti when it was time to persuade ownership it made financial sense to pay a $1 million transfer fee to acquire midfielder Boniek Garcia.

Canetti wears many hats for the Dynamo. More than anything, he's a salesman and the promoter in chief.

"If you look at what we've done in seven years, it's pretty amazing," said Canetti, who joined the club soon after the Dynamo's inaugural match in 2006. "We've built a full-fledged football club in seven years. We've got a winning recipe on the field.

"We have a new stadium, a training complex, a very fertile fan base, and relevance in the community. We've done so much in such a short period of time. Sometimes I think we take that for granted, whether we're players, front office or the fan base."

With an average crowd of 20,946 at BBVA Compass Stadium, the Dynamo ranked fourth in MLS in attendance.

Television ratings remain dismal, though. No Dynamo playoff game has drawn a rating higher than 0.6 (about 12,000 households), so plenty of work remains.

Nonetheless, Canetti makes a strong case that the Dynamo are one of the most relevant MLS clubs among the teams in major markets. He's probably right, considering the Chicago Fire get little attention outside the soccer community.

The Galaxy and New York Red Bulls are the league's glamour franchises, but they get lost in their respective markets.

"We want to continue to grow the soccer culture inside the stadium," Canetti said. "I like to say what makes us different is what makes us great. It's so unique from other sporting events. It's what captures their attention and connects them to the team. It's the experience in that stadium. We tried to create an international atmosphere."

Canetti envisions the Dynamo becoming a regional MLS club.

"We want to continue to grow, which means selling out every game if we can accomplish that," he said. "We want to build our fan base.

"We know we have a long way to go in terms of deepening and widening the fan base. We've got people that are spectators of the Dynamo that come to our games.

"Now we need to bring that fandom deeper inside them with passion. At the same time we need to widen it, grow our fan bases, not just in Houston but regionally.

"With no MLS team within five hours' driving distance, I see an opportunity to create a regional fan base much like the St. Louis Cardinals in baseball, where the Midwest is theirs."

Whether it's South Texas all the way to the Rio Grande or toward Louisiana and Arkansas, Canetti wants to turns the South and Southwest into Dynamo country.

There's no reason to believe he can't accomplish that.

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