1. CHIVAS CHAT: Regardless of which city he picks for his MLS team,
Guadalajara owner Jorge Vergara already has made money in America.
Tryouts for the Chivas training academies he plans to run at
locations in the United States have attracted tens of thousands of
participants.
At three days of tryouts held in Southern California in late March,
about 3,000 kids turned out each day and paid $50 apiece.
According to a source, he plans to market Chivas academies as a
franchise operation in U.S. locations. Local operators would pay for
the right to use the Chivas name and uniforms and would share
revenues with the team.
Vergara has also begun cracking down on unauthorized Chivas
merchandise sold in Mexico. Vendors not sanctioned by the team have
had their merchandise confiscated at the Estadio Jalisco, the famed
Guadalajara stadium it calls home.
He hopes to monitor the sales of Chivas merchandise and use of Chivas
uniforms by amateur and semipro teams in the United States, of which
there are thousands.
As to which city Chivas USA will call home, Vergara has visited
Chicago twice. The city and surrounding areas are home to more than 1
million residents of Mexican descent; roughly two-thirds of them have
roots in Guadalajara or the state of Jalisco, of which it is the capital,
according to Fire general manager Peter Wilt.
A source says Vergara sent a proposal to the Los Angeles Coliseum but
rejected a counteroffer in late March. Another source says there
haven't been discussions between Vergara and Home Depot Center for
several weeks, but in previous meetings most of the details about his
team sharing the facility have been discussed.
MLS has proposed Vergara share with the Fire its stadium to be built
in Bridgeview but he has expressed a preference for Soldier Field.
League officials will meet with Vergara either this week or next week
to confirm his plans for 2005.
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