Pro soccer: FC Dallas trying to establish annual partnership with Sockers

FC Dallas is coming back.

For the second straight season, the West Texas United Sockers are bringing Major League Soccer to the Permian Basin.

And the Sockers are hoping to make tonight’s friendly — scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. at Grande Communications Stadium— into an event soccer fans can look forward to every year.

“It’s good for the game, it’s good for helping other teams, it’s good for our own (public relations), it’s good for us to look at some of our young players and this kind of competition is a good chance for evalution,” FC Dallas technical director Barry Gorman said. “We don’t want to miss it.”

Played shortly after a blockbuster Fourth of July weekend, last season’s interleague friendly drew about 3,500 fans to the stadium to see FC Dallas beat West Texas United 2-0.

Unfortunately, this season’s matchup didn’t have a set date until two and a half weeks ago, which has hampered the Sockers’ ability to promote tonight’s friendly.

FC Dallas wants to eliminate that uncertainty in the future.

“When you can set it up as an annual thing, you can focus on building interest, building a connection with the fans in the area,” Gorman said. “We want to get it early on the calendar so it can be given the proper attention it should have.”

FC Dallas has a natural link to West Texas soccer fans.

Besides the fact that Pizza Hut Park in Frisco is geographically the closest MLS stadium to the Permian Basin, West Texas soccer players spend a lot of time in the Metroplex.

Monty Hoppel, the general manager for both the Sockers and the Midland RockHounds, has had three children play club soccer.

When they move into club ball, those kids and their parents spend weekend after weekend in Fort Worth and Dallas, and if FC Dallas is in town, it’s a natural stop for a bunch of soccer-playing kids.

“That’s where all the leagues are for kids who play club ball,” Hoppel said. “My son’s team has had a couple of outings there. We went as a group.”

FC Dallas isn’t bringing its entire starting lineup to the friendly. With MLS play suspended until June 26, FC Dallas is using the break to get some of its starters healthy.

But the game gives both FC Dallas and the Sockers a chance to see their young players in action. Staring a two-game weekend in the face, West Texas United head coach Jesus Enriquez plans to play his starters in the first half, then send in the reserves for the second.

Bringing in an MLS team can only help raise the profile of a Sockers franchise that finished in the top three in the Premier Development League in attendance in its first year.

That’s the plan. Hoppel believes that the Sockers are in the process of building interest. Unlike some professional sports teams, which rack up high attendance figures in the “honeymoon period” — the first couple of years — professional soccer in the Permian Basin has a chance to build interest as the years pass.

And the Sockers know that bringing in top professional teams can only help. In preseason play, West Texas United played two Mexican professional teams, and Hoppel hopes to bring a first or second-division team from Mexico’s Primera League in the future.

“We want to schedule three or four games a year outside the PDL,” Hoppel said. “We’re not going to do a ton, but we’re not afraid to take the risk, either.”