By FRAN STUCHBURY
Dick Butkus Football Network
FS: How much is involved in running the Kennel Club?
BD: Running the fan club is a lot more involved than we ever could have imagined. Just ask our wives! There are probably three main factors that contributed to the amount of work we have. First, although we’re all life-long football freaks, none of us has ever been involved with a fan club before. Being rookies though, I’m pretty happy with the job we’ve done so far. So are our members. Secondly, we started with a “management group” of about eight people and that has since been reduced to five. Less hands make more work, but many of our members are stepping up to fill the voids. Lastly, the size of the Kennel Club is about ten times more than we thought it would ever be. But I don’t regret any of it. It’s very rewarding and a ton of fun for my kids. I guess we put in about 15-20 hours a week with running weekly events and managing the website. But when I see my kids at the games and how excited they get over the Red Dogs AND the Kennel Club, I see it’s worth the effort.
FS: How many members does the club have?
BD: It’s funny. When we started this, the eight of us took bets how many members we’d have. All the guesses were between 40-70 people. We have about 400 members and we still get new members every day. I mean every single day. That amazes us. It tells you that there are some real Red Dog fans out here in northern and central New Jersey. Also we expected about a handful of hits on our website. I think we just topped 4,000 visitors yesterday. Everyone is happily surprised, including the team.
FS: What type of events does the club plan for both home and away games?
BD: Basically, there is something going on every week. It’s all about having fun whether the team is winning or not. For home games, we have tailgate parties. Great tailgate parties! We’ve been tailgating with various Jet and Giant fanatics over the last 25 years and we just took the best ideas from the best parties we’ve been to. We getting a few hundred people per tailgate and we have food, music, food, contests, food and more food! It’s unbelievable how the members bring out some great dishes. And they really take pride in their concoctions. There’s always some chili tasting contest or something like that going on. And as we continue, everyone is getting to know each other and those friendships are starting to carry over into the games. Also, for home games, we hold our annual flag football event (open to members only) just before a Red Dog home game in the Arena and on the Red Dog playing field itself. For road games, we gather at a local bar/restaurant and either watch the games together on TV or listen on radio. We’ve arranged a way to get the direct digital radio feed from the broadcast team at the games themselves so it sounds like your at the game. The establishment gives us generous member-only food and drink discounts, we give out prizes and have members of the team (that didn’t travel) rooting with us. For the three “away game” events, we’ve had so far, Jet favorite and team partner Bruce Harper, Red Dog favorite Kevin Guy, the Reebok Rush dance squad and player’s family members have joined us. Also for road games, there are the road trips to Albany that are a lot of fun. I believe most teams have a fan club that runs trip like these. Later in July, we will run a golf outing where potential fans (aka: future season ticket holders) get to play golf in foursomes with Red Dog personalities and existing Kennel Club members.
FS: Has your club done any charity work?
BD: No. Our mission statement is that “We exist to have fun, entice rabid fan support and heighten awareness of the New Jersey Red Dogs and the Arena Football League.”, maybe next year. Since we’re purely a non-profit awareness group ourselves, it’s hard to spread ourselves out that thin. But the Red Dog players do a lot of charity work in the community, perhaps next year we can help out in that area as well.
FS: Do you have a good relationship with the Reg Dog front office?
BD: Our relationship is an excellent one. Sure we have our push backs once in a while. But we’re both focused on the main goal: Spread the word about the team. They helped us start this from the ground up. If we’ve asked for 100 things from them, I’d say we got 95 positive responses. Jerry Streim and Kevin McKearney have been great in that department. And the few things we couldn’t agree on, well… I understand that they have a business to run and sometimes our idealism is not consistent with the day-to-day reality of running the team. In short, it’s nothing like the situation they have down there in Tampa Bay and their fan club. The Red Dogs understand that we’re helping them spread the word on a shoe-string budget as well.
FS: Do you have a good relationship with players on the team?
BD: Absolutely. How can we not when there are players like Alvin Ashley, Chad Lindsey and Steve Viditech who we see at our bar/restaurant Kennel Club headquarters almost every Tuesday night? They take the time out to talk to our kids, play catch with them and sign autographs. There are only one or two guys on the team that don’t really interact with the fans. That’s one thing as fan club president that I’d like to address with these guys one on one. From Steve Young to Steve Papin, every football player should make time for the fans. And we’re fortunate that the Red Dogs are made up of players that do realize how important the fans are. The coaches on Frank Mattiace’s staff (and John Hufnagle’s staff before him) have also been great to the fans. The NFL could really learn a thing or two from these guys. We also all have a good relationship with the Red Dog Radio Network and have a good time with their personalities as well.
FS: Do the NJ fans get into the games?
BD: Some do and some don’t. I wish we were as loud as the fans in Albany or Arizona, but we’re not. However, I think we are getting there. It’s much louder this year than in the first two combined. We’re only three years old and in some ways (with the new promotion now geared to families) this year it feels like we’re an expansion team. Sections of the Arena are starting to really develop though. Section 123 and 107 are becoming “noise bases” and their enthusiasm flows over into the surrounding sections. In Section 123, there are the “Helmet Heads” (guys who wear these silly-looking kid helmets) that gets the crowd going after touchdowns and for key defensive plays. The Helmet Heads are led by “Ike” our mannequin that evolved into a cult-hero / mascot. Also, northern New Jersey is football rich with the Jets, Giants and high school teams. Many fans appreciate the game and watch the strategy involved. Not all go berserk, but it doesn’t mean the fans at Red Dog games are not into it.
FS: Tell the AFL fans about your team mascot IKE and why he is so popular with the fans.
BD: The legend of Ike is fantastic. First of all, it is a bit odd to drag a beat up mannequin to a football game. But Ike is at every game. He has season tickets. He’s a good luck charm of sorts. The Red Dogs have won something like 80% of the games Ike has been at. It’s like any cultish following, it’s a funny novelty that has spiraled out of proportion for whatever reason. I think it really took off when the ESPN cameras out Ike on TV last year during a home game. Announcer Mike Adamle called Ike a “dummy” and we went on the Internet as a joke saying that Ike vowed to kick Adamle’s butt. He’s like Freddie the Fan at Yankee games and Eddie the Fireman at Jet games. No one knows who or why fans latch onto something. With the Red Dogs, it’s been Ike. We like Ike. It’s crazy how other teams in the league know about Ike too. We have a web page on our site that is completely devoted to the life and times of Ike. It’s hilarious.
FS: Are you happy with the teams play so far?
BD: Personally, I’m not very happy with the team’s play so far. I see too much confusion and complacency with some of the new players and we miss a few old favorites like Larry Ray Willis and Kevin Guy. The truth of the matter is that if we were 5-1, no one would be talking about Willis or Guy. That’s just the was it goes. But the Red Dog fans have been spoiled because we’ve had a lot of success under Coach Hufnagle in the first two years. We went to the play-offs both years and set a pro football record for points scored. Now when we struggle against 0-6 Buffalo and lose to 0-5 Milwaukee, no we’re not happy. And we start pick apart why we’re not doing as well. I think when the Red Dogs play to their own level, they are a top team in this league. But for some reason, they let their opponents dictate their level of play. And it’s been that way since ’97. Keeping a level head, the defection of Coach Huf to the Cleveland Browns took the team by surprise and they had to find a coach just before the season started. I think Coach Mattiace has done well to maintain the staff from the first two years. He’s a fiery coach who is learning quickly. There has just been too many changes in the last four months and sometimes that shows on the field.
FS: Do you think the team would be playing better if Hufnagel was still the coach?
BD: I don’t think so. That’s too easy of an excuse. Even when Coach Huf was here, we’d go through same losing streaks like the one were’ in now, so I don’t see much of a difference there. There’s less offense, but more defense. We lost games in 1997 and 1998 we had no business losing, so I won’t pin that on the change on the head coach. I do think the Red Dogs should have split the Head Coach and General Manager responsibilities more. That might have been more than Coach Mattiace should have been asked to handle. Joe Morris is working with Mattiace closely but I would have let him concentrate 100% on the Head Coaching position. And it’s not like Mattiace is new to the team. He’s been with the Red Dogs one way or another since the beginning. The big knock this season has been the Larry Ray Willis trade. Was it a good trade? Absolutely not. The Red Dogs gave up a top flight OS and Todd Shell to Titus Dixon who is out of football entirely. But the Aaron Garcia trade last year was just as bad. Sure, Hufnagle had to trade from strength (at QB with Foggie and Garcia) to get talent in other positions, but what did we get? We got Chris Spencer who wound up right back in Iowa in exchange for what? So we gave up Garcia, who is doing very well for the Barnstormers this year, for nothing. We are 3-3 under Frank Mattiace right now. Last year we went into Week Eight with a 3-4 record that included a 81-42 embarrassing blow out loss to Tampa Bay at home. Last year we blew a 19 point lead to the Mustangs, barely beat the City Hawks (2-7 at the time) and the Forest Dragons (4-9 at the time) at home with the play-offs on the line. I think we need more imaginative play calling than Foggie to Ashley over and over. I think we miss Coach Hufnagle in that department if anywhere. Offensive Coordinator Frank Haege needs a few more wrinkles to his offense. But Coach Haege is new as well. He was the Defensive Coordinator last season. The good news is that as the season wears on, the team can only gel. It’s kind of like the way the New York Knicks are coming together as a team right now. I see a lot of similarities between the Red Dogs and the Knicks.
FS: Do you think they will make the playoffs this year?
BD: Yes I do, but I have a funny feeling they lost all chance of a top four seed by letting Milwaukee take a game from them last week. Who knows, we may get the Firebirds in the first round again. And if that happens, I like our chances. In a way, getting a 5-8 seed may not be that bad for this team. Since 1997, the Red Dogs are only 9-9 at home, but 12-7 on the road. And those road wins were over tough teams, Tampa Bay, Nashville, Albany and Orlando. But personally, I’d like to host a game in New Jersey as opposed to traveling to Albany, Tampa Bay or Orlando again.
FS: Tell people why the NJ/Albany is such a great rivalry.
BD: Well the obvious reason is because we’re the younger team and we keep beating them in their own backyard. The have their eye on the prize, but can’t seem to get past those pesky Dogs. In New Jersey or upstate, we find a way to win. The pinnacle was that play-off win last year. Albany was sure that they were going to win it all, but they ran into us in the first round and we ended their season. And it wasn’t just that we did win. It was how we won. We took their best game and beat them. And this was after already beating them 55-48 in the Pepsi earlier in the season. No one likes losing to a team twice in the same season in their house. It’s games like those which make for a great rivalry. Plus, the division-factor has a little to do with it. We have the same kind of problem with Milwaukee that Albany has with us, but it’s not in the same division, so not the same sense of urgency. There’s not that two-games-a-year situation going on every season with Milwaukee like we have with Albany. Throw in the mix that it always seems like Red Dog-Firebird games are very close and come down to the last possession…. well that makes for a great rivalry. If they want the Arena Bowl, they have to get over us first. But they won’t because we got Ike.
FS: If you were in charge of marketing the team what would be the best way to get more fans to come to games?
BD: Exposure, exposure, exposure. Take no prisoners and make no excuses. Most people who know about the Red Dogs love the Red Dogs. But very, very few people in New Jersey know about the Red Dogs or even when they play their games. I agree with their new marketing strategy to focus on families. The $19 children’s season ticket plan is a winner and I would have done that from day one. I’d televise away games. In the long run, that pays off by creating an interest in the team. If the Barcelona Dragons – Scottish Claymore games could be televised locally and sell ads, the New Jersey Red Dogs can too. I know that exposure costs money, but this is a toughest sports market in America and you have to know that going in. If you want to compete with the Yankees, Mets, Knicks, Nets, Liberty, Giants, Jets, Devils, Islanders, Rangers and Metrostars for the sports dollar, you have to expect to spend money up front for advertising. You can’t count pennies and hope for dollars in the New York metro area. There are also six minor league baseball teams in New Jersey and minor league basketball as well. The New Jersey Jackals (minor league baseball) have done a great job as far as exposure goes and a lot of that has to do with committing to a home stadium (at Montclair State College) and constant advertising. The Red Dogs are an Arena after thought behind the Devils, Nets, and St. John’s basketball. It’s like they have one foot in the major league and the other in the minors. I would fish or cut bait. I’d be a player in the Meadowlands Arena or build myself a smaller arena in north/central New Jersey. I’d get my games on FM radio or a stronger AM station. Currently the Red Dog home games are on radio stations that you can’t pick up at night unless you live within ten miles of the station. This year there are three Red Dog home games are on TV. I wouldn’t televise any home games until ticket sales picked up. I know that the side boards at home games are attractive to home advertisers, but you can do just as well, maybe better with away games. Major League Soccer has shown that you can post ads in portions of the screens during the game and espn2 proved you can run info at the bottom of the TV screen during the games. Harry Weismer had the similar problems when he owned the New York Titans in the early 1960s. He was over one million dollars in the hole, but the team survived (now as the New York Jets). And how? Sonny Werblin came in and increased exposure. The Titans were in debt, but still went out and spent (at that time) a record breaking contract on charismatic Joe Namath. It wasn’t winning that made the Jets, it was the team’s exposure (through Namath) that brought in the attention. He was always in the papers... Broadway Joe. In fact, the Jets have been perennial losers, but you still have to wait ten years on their season ticket waiting list. The Red Dogs have a tremendous asset in some like Alvin Ashley for example. I would get Alvin on every media outlet possible in New Jersey. New Jersey cable TV, New Jersey radio stations, local magazines and newspapers would love him, make New Jersey personal appearances… whatever it takes. Get him an aggressive PR agent. Commit to exposure and ride it out. I’m not saying the Red Dogs aren’t doing these things already, but if you’re asking me how I’d market the team, that is the only way I’d do it.
FS: Do you think the Red Dogs will be playing in NJ next year?
BD: I hope so. I think they have a fighter’s chance. If they get aggressive in the off-season with ticket sales and sponsorships, they will be back. I’d say the odds are 60-40 in favor of them coming back (as long as a decision to fold hasn’t already been made). If they are at all complacent, they won’t be back. I have a realistic side and I’m aware of how the business of running a business and the bottom line works. So I figure I’ll enjoy this season with my four hundred or so Kennel Club buddies while we do have a season. We are spreading the word to all who will listen. If the word is spread, the team has a great chance of staying put. Arena Football is one of the best sports products going. I truly believe that. I’ve seen people laugh at the game, then fall in love and wind up buying season tickets. It reminds me of stories you hear about the NFL in the 1950s when pro football took a back seat to college football and players played for peanuts. Then the NFL exploded. Those who rode the wave, won. Those who folded lost untold millions. Back then, teams like the god-awful Steelers stuck it out, while other teams like the Boston Yanks played in the NFL for five years only to pack it in prematurely only to watch the Patriots come in years later and make Boston work in the NFL. I don’t know the Red Dog ownership’s intentions, but I hope they ride out this growing stage. They’ll be glad they did. The fans are there in New Jersey. Tons of them. The New York/New Jersey Knights (of the WLAF) and the New Jersey Generals can attest to that. In their last seasons, they drew quite well. The New Jersey Red Dogs will either be gone by next season or huge in about two to three years.