The Galaxy have made mistake after mistake for nearly two decades, and the mess at the Rose Bowl on Wednesday night highlights the consequences of all their failings.

The game was a party for the 70,000 Manchester Fans in attendance, but a torturous outing for every poor sap that made the mistake of calling themselves Galaxy fans while attending said event.

From first-hand accounts, the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back was the cued audio of the Manchester United hymn “Glory, Glory Man United” played after each of the English side’s 7 tallies.

But it’s important to understand that all of the humiliation Galaxy fans had to endure last night is not a standalone incident; it’s not bad marketing or poor planning for a standalone event. Rather, it is the inevitable consequence of the Galaxy’s piss poor marketing efforts and their inability/unwillingness to build a proper franchise in a city of the size of Los Angeles.

THE SOUTH BAY GALAXY

As story goes, AEG initially sought to open up a soccer specific stadium in downtown Los Angeles immediately adjacent to Staples Center. Still years away from becoming the powerhouse that they would become, the company was rebuffed by the powerful Coliseum Commission who feared that a soccer specific stadium 2 miles down the road would eat into their ability to schedule international exhibition games.

AEG instead opted to take the Galaxy far away from the city core and into the quiet suburban city of Carson – 15 miles away from the renascent Downtown Los Angeles.

Since then, the Galaxy has really become the “South Bay Galaxy” – their marketing efforts focused on the well-to-do local crowd in nearby Redondo, Manhattan Beach, Torrance, etc. and practically neglecting the rest of the Los Angeles DMA.

Occasionally, usually coinciding with the start of the season, billboards will be sprinkled throughout the county. But beyond that, there is little in Los Angeles proper or any of the non-South Bay neighborhoods that let the average Angelino know that a professional soccer team plays here or even exists.

As such, it is not out of line to say that the South Bay Galaxy operates truly a small market team – they lack any real presence in the market at large, and their locally focused efforts more closely resemble those of a Triple A baseball team out in central California than those of a first tier professional club on one of the planet’s Prize Metropolises.

A “SELLOUT” CROWD

Thanks to poor location, poor marketing, etc. the Galaxy has always struggled with attendance and has never truly managed to correct the problem.

The club historically hovers just around the 20,000 tickets distributed (not tickets sold or tickets used) mark year in and year out.

Ticket reps rely heavily on group tickets to local AYSO and youth clubs and their ticket sales lack seem more focused on a week-to-week approach than any true long term fan base building model.

The reported attendance figures become even more questionable when you consider that multiple sales reps have reported that the club has a policy of announcing a sellout of 27,000 when only 22,000 tickets have been distributed.

And these figures have been okay with the club for quite some time. The Galaxy has a litany of excuses at the ready for why the building appears to be half empty on any given night through the course of a season. Which are important, given that one would be hard pressed to name the last time there was a true “standing room only” game for a Galaxy regular season game.

In multiple conversations, the following phrases have all been offered by team officials as justification for the organization’s inability to sell out:

“well, Coachella is this weekend so a lot of people are out of town”

“you know, the early starts are usually really a challenge”

“it’s the Sunday games that make it hard for people to come out”

AT LEAST WE’RE NOT “THOSE” GUYS

To make matters worse, the Galaxy have a generous lock on the Los Angeles market. When Chivas USA came into the league as an expansion side, the Galaxy received a fee from the league and the incoming franchise because they would be intruding on their territory.

Chivas USA threatened to be competition to the franchise and there was a general feeling that the club might want to step up its game to meet the raised bar and rise to the challenge. However, Chivas USA proved to be a monumental blunder, and rather than help the Galaxy grow through competition, they instead helped the organization maintain its painful status quo.

Chivas USA lowered the bar so much, that anything the Galaxy was doing must have felt glorious by comparison to the marketing team. After all, what concerns do you have about a 20,000 annual attendance when the sales team across the hall is pulling in 15… 14… 13… 12… etc. year after year.

THE LOS ANGELES “SOCIAL CLUB”

This organizational sloth has also affected the fan culture in more ways than one. For years, the Galaxy’s twenty one thousand in attendance was strong enough to lead the league – but when Toronto entered the league, followed by Seattle, suddenly the Galaxy found itself playing checkers versus the newcomer’s chess.

The reaction was predictable from the front office – more canned responses: “well, Seattle is really a perfect storm, and there’s no comparison….”

What was less predictable, however, would be the way that Galaxy fans would react. Rather than pick up the gauntlet thrown down by the fans in the PNW, Galaxy faithful relied on the same type of rhetoric put forth by the organization.

“Well, Sounders fans are bandwagon fans that didn’t support the team until they joined MLS”

“the front office mics them and pays for all their tifo”

“they play in turf not real grass” (talk about non-sequiturs)

The excuses were consistent with the organization, and it became evident that the Galaxy was unwittingly fostering a culture of indifference. They were unwilling to meet the challenges of a new generation of American Soccer, and as a result so too were their fans.

They have been conditioned to be indifferent about the club and to mask any “fanaticism” behind a veil of “I don’t care” – even some of the club’s most vocal supporters have opted to identify themselves as “social clubs” rather than “supporters” in justifying why they can’t keep up with the league’s top supporter groups.

FOOTBALL IN LOS ANGELES

One of the most painful blows to the organization came from circumstances beyond the Galaxy’s control – AEG’s top man, Tim Leiweke, was unceremoniously separated from the company when a sale of the company went sour. The move was directly related to the building project for an NFL stadium at the existing convention center, and the potential return of an NFL team to Los Angeles.

Under his tenure, the Galaxy was closely linked to any European superstar that was beginning to approach the end of their prime. This was no accident, Leiweke was a booster of the club, and “rumors” about potential singings to the Galaxy began when Leiweke himself made contact with said players and gauged their interest in coming to Los Angeles.

After Leiweke’s exit, the club resumed a much more conservative approach – one that has cemented its status as a small market club. Chris Klein, former player and current club President, has opted to forego the superstar route in favor of a program that emphasizes the club’s development system.

The problem: the club’s development system is still in diapers and will take some time before it starts producing MLS game-ready talent.

In the meantime, the Galaxy is left without stars and without a strong appeal for local fans to come out.

The club is undergoing the expected doldrums that follow years of success in a parity driven league; and with the club having failed to generate excitement, and build a rabid, raving fan base during the “up” years the pangs of ‘rebuilding’ years have become much more prominent.

The Galaxy does have a solid core of true fans, but given the mediocre attendance numbers and the paltry television viewership, it’s safe to say that they are not many. On any given game day the vast majority of the people who truly care about the Galaxy can be found in one of the Stub Hub Center’s 24,000 seats.

And even then, they have fostered a culture where support is fickle and not at all unconditional. Even the fans that do identify themselves with the club can’t be bothered to fight Thursday night traffic to see a crucial playoff game or an international quarterfinal match. The club has taught them that it’s okay not to care.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S FRIENDLY

Exhibition games against top level European sides are nothing new.

Before we proceed, let’s make one thing perfectly clear. The performance of the sides and the score line matters about as little as the color of my shoelaces. They are exhibition games organized with one purpose in mind: Money.

There are generally three main players involved: The organizers, the visiting club and the host club.

In theory, the Galaxy could bypass the organizers and bring the European sides to play the games at their home stadium. But that would require the Galaxy to assume the role of the organizer and pay the visiting team a fee instead of getting paid by the organizer.

For the Galaxy, midsummer friendly money is an irreplaceable sum on the revenue column. As a former Galaxy President explained, they “need” the money from the midsummer friendlies to offset the money that they don’t get the rest of the season.

To make matters worse, the Galaxy FO has this nagging belief that fans that come to see Manchester United may be swayed to see the Galaxy during regular season games. In the modern day of personalized marketing, the data used to purchase exhibition game tickets is likely relayed back to the Galaxy sales staff. They in turn are required to make the awkward call in which they ask you how much you loved seeing Wayne Rooney and if you’d like to see Gyasi Zardes this Sunday instead.

THE CONSEQUENCES

With organization of the event now out of the Galaxy’s hands, all the ingredients are in place for an epic disaster.

The Galaxy’s marketing team has failed to reach greater Los Angeles, and they have created a poor fan culture, thus attendance and television viewership are down and Galaxy fans aren’t exactly known for their unwavering support.

This translates into a loss of revenue for the club which in turn needs to rely on extra sources of income like the midsummer friendlies.

The friendlies are scheduled, but not to be played at the Galaxy’s small stadium (which the Galaxy can’t even fill) but rather at a much larger venue far away from the Galaxy’s target audience in the South Bay.

Of course, the Galaxy’s unresponsive fan base is unable to carry the event at such a venue, so the organizers do everything possible to maximize revenue and cater to the away team and the away fans for the evening; even going as far as designating the away team as the “home” team.

The cherry on top: Even the Galaxy’s manager knows that this is a dog and pony show. Rather than try to “prove something” like some of his colleagues around MLS, he opts to put out the U-20 on the field to take on some of the planet’s best paid players.

By the end of the evening, Galaxy fans have been screwed over in every way possible. The event is far away from the Galaxy’s home stadium, tickets are often not included in Season Ticket Packages, parking prices are ridiculous (and by some accounts, not very convenient to the venue).

The game takes place in front of an army of “away” fans who all live locally and ironically represent all the fans that the Galaxy has failed to capture.

The team takes a beating, and does so while said army sings “Glory Glory Man United”.

Of course, all of this could be avoided if the Galaxy had a greater vision in marketing; If the club actually sold out the StubHub center on a regular basis.

The club could foster a culture of “supporters” that never miss a game and fill not just the stadium, but the club’s coffers.

Then we wouldn’t need these games, and if we wanted to play them, they’d be played at the Galaxy’s home, on the Galaxy’s terms. And the club manager could be made to understand that the game is a reward for the club’s throngs of passionate fans and he should put on a good show.

And after every goal, there would be no army in red; because by then, the Galaxy’s marketing arm would have reached all of them and they’d be singing Seven Nation Army.

All of this could be avoided. If in almost 20 years, the Galaxy Front Office had tried. Just a little.