Posted: 8:06 pm Wed, January 27, 2010
By Liz Farmer
Daily Record Business Writer
New Crystal Palace GM Keith LuptonWith a new league and — they hope — soon a new stadium, Baltimore’s minor league soccer team wants to model its business after minor league baseball in its goal to fill seats and become a regional destination and entertainment center for soccer fans.
To get there, Crystal Palace Baltimore is looking to new General Manager Keith Lupton to guide the team to the next level off the field. Lupton spent 28 years in the minor league baseball business and helped start and manage Baltimore Orioles affiliates in Frederick, Hagerstown, Bowie and Salisbury.
“I’m probably the least knowledgeable about soccer than everyone in this room, but that’s not my job,” he said at a Wednesday news conference at the ESPN Zone in Baltimore. “My job is to get a new stadium up and fill the seats through season tickets, advertising, media and entertainment.”
The team, which was founded in 2006 as the sister club of Crystal Palace Football Club in London, has been playing at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s stadium for the last two years but has plans to build a new stadium in the Carroll Camden Industrial Area.
Crystal Palace hopes accomplish that by the 2012 season. The stadium plans are not finalized but they call for a 10,000-seat venue with room to expand. With an average attendance of 1,300 last year, filling that stadium will be a challenge. But Lupton said that’s where his experience can benefit.
The minor league baseball business model of being an inexpensive night out for families can easily be adapted to a different sport, he said. Entertainment options at ballparks in Maryland, like the carousel near the Harry Grove Stadium in Frederick (which was Lupton’s idea), and the bumper boats in Waldorf may not have anything to do with baseball — but they are definitely a hit with kids.
To that end, plans for Crystal Palace’s new stadium include something for everyone: bumper boats and a playground for children, a skate park for teens and an English pub that will be open year-round for adults.
“At ballparks every year you’ll see something new, something attractive that keeps bringing people back,” Lupton said. “I’m not trying to rewrite the book. We’re just trying to bring some of what we did in baseball … and fill up the stadium.”
He noted the team’s advertising strategy, which is primarily now online, would need to expand into markets like Baltimore, Howard and Anne Arundel counties.
“You entice people with the lure of downtown,” he said. “It’s creating that destination — that’s why minor league baseball has been so successful.”
The Maryland Stadium Authority recently approved $100,000 for a study to examine whether the city can support a minor-league stadium for Crystal Palace Baltimore or a larger venue for Washington’s Major League Soccer team, D.C. United. The Washington team has been looking for a new stadium since 2007.
Crystal Palace Chairman Randall Medd said he is looking forward to the results of the feasibility study, but he feels good about the team’s chances for a new stadium.
“The backing of the city of Baltimore and the administration has made me very confident,” said Medd, noting the team already controls the property and is working on financing.
On the field, Crystal Palace is entering the more competitive North American Soccer League as a founding member. And with a television contract with the Fox Soccer Channel, Crystal Palace will have more exposure.
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