Ted Segal of the Houston Dynamo (pictured above, center) is not your typical MLS owner. He’s a first-time buyer, if you will – a real estate investor who had no experience owning professional athletes before buying the Dynamo. He lives far away in New York, handles his club duties remotely and flies in and out for games and occasional meetings.
He also never seeks the spotlight, and when you talk to him it feels clear. Segal appears serious, thoughtful and reserved. Public relations at the Dynamo can be handled by the club’s players or by other members of Segal’s ownership group – such as NBA star James Harden – while Segal makes his presence felt in the background.
It’s an unorthodox approach by MLS standards, but so far it seems to have worked. Segal, 42, bought the Dynamo in June 2021 and increased his stake a year later. As the Dynamo faltered in 2021 and again in 2022, Segal showed a willingness to push for aggressive change, replacing the club’s head coach twice and reshuffling the club’s roster this year. Segal and other members of the Dynamo ownership group have also poured millions into venue upgrades this offseason to make Shell Emergy Stadium a little more bearable during the summer months.
Not much was expected from the club in 2023, but Dynamo were arguably the league’s biggest surprise this year. They finished 2022 just one point out of last place, but are now fighting for home-field advantage in the playoffs in a crowded Western Conference race. Mexico international Hector Herrera, the club’s biggest ever signing, has come back to life in 2023 after an unforgettable 2022, and former DC United head coach Ben Olsen is ensuring Dynamo are playing attractive football.
However, the club’s biggest opportunity is right in front of them: the Dynamo will face Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami in the US Open Cup final on Wednesday. No doubt the spotlight will be bright as Houston looks to win the competition for the second time in five years.
The Dynamo could use the attention even more than most as they remain bottom of the league in attendance. Segal, who reportedly paid $400 million for the Dynamo and the NWSL’s Houston Dash, has his work cut out for him in that regard: In one of the largest and most diverse markets in the United States, the Dynamo has often failed to resonate.
Ahead of the Open Cup final, Segal conducted an in-depth interview with The Athletic to explain the club’s current situation and what the future holds.
Questions and answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Given the club’s form last year, Dynamo could be the biggest surprise in the league this year. I don’t think many people expected the club to make the playoffs, let alone fight for home field advantage in the playoffs. How do you rate the Dynamo 2023?
It’s definitely positive and that’s our goal. We also recognize that our work is far from done. Yes, we are currently fourth in the table but have not yet secured a place in the playoffs. Therefore, we are clear that there are still five games left and we can control our result. Thanks to Ben (Olsen); When I was here in the dressing room yesterday and saw him talking to the players, the players realize what their job is and they don’t get distracted and get ahead of themselves.
In addition, he is fighting for a trophy in the final of the US Open Cup. Furthermore, we will compete in a great atmosphere against arguably the greatest player of all time. I know it is special for our players and I know they are up to the task.
You mentioned Ben – when you hired him, I think there was certainly a certain segment of your fan base that saw that hire as unambitious. Some fans wanted new blood, not a coach who had spent most of his career as a player and coach in the MLS. What did you think of this perception?
I found it humiliating. And I took it personally for Ben. Ben is far too mature and centered to let something like that affect him. People called this “unambitious” – this is someone who coached at the highest level in our league for 10 years and achieved strong results, winning the US Open Cup and qualifying for the playoffs most of the time. He did so in circumstances that were certainly challenging at times. And people are looking for better alternatives?
We searched the landscape. It was our second offseason doing this. We definitely knew the landscape and Ben always stood out. We could have signed Ben the previous offseason but he wasn’t able to take (the job) – no disrespect to (former Dynamo head coach) Paolo Nagamura and the job he did, he’s a guy high integrity and dedication.
For people criticizing Ben, I’m glad he’s proving them wrong now. He was extremely qualified and on top of that he’s a great guy.
Many fans were also quick to become enthusiastic about Héctor Herrera last year as he struggled to adapt to the league in the months following his arrival from Atletico Madrid. However, he has had a transformative effect on your club this year.
He delivered everything we hoped for and more. You’re right, the last year has been an adjustment period. Plus, it happened to coincide with a World Cup coming up at the end of our season, so I can’t blame him for focusing on his health and preparing for it. I think you saw last year the impact he can have and the quality he can bring, even in his limited time. You’ve seen that with great consistency this offseason and you can see that he’s playing at the highest level in this league.
What can you attribute this to? It can be attributed to the fact that he chose this product and he believed in it from the beginning. He wouldn’t be here if he didn’t believe in what we’re trying to achieve and the importance of his role in it. He agreed to it. We thank Ben for giving him the responsibility to be a leader every day, in the locker room and on the field. And we thank (general manager) Pat (Onstad) and (technical director) Asher (Mendelsohn) for revamping the roster. Hector is one of 11 players on the pitch, but we have brought in 17 new players this year. We’ve brought on board people who believe in a culture of winning, rather than the culture of complacency that existed before.
It feels like the Dynamo faces many of the challenges that many of the “legacy” clubs in MLS face. Attendance in particular has been an issue for Dynamo for years. Numbers are down again this year, as is participation in the Dash, your NWSL franchise. How do you crack the code? They just put a lot of money into the stadium to make it more comfortable, but that didn’t immediately pay off at the gate. What will it take for Dynamo to draw again?
It’s not a single thing. And I think it’s a cliché when people say, “As long as you win, people will come out.” You can’t rely on that alone. I think it helps. I think if we qualify for the playoffs and people come to the stadium and see the full stadium and the excitement that you feel in the stadium, I think we will benefit from that. I think in terms of marketing and our reach, we’re making progress on that front and something like this doesn’t happen overnight. I think it repairs our relationship with our youth community, which is what we intend and have done.
The Open Cup has lost some of its luster in recent years. This year feels very different because of the different team playing there. Do you think this is an opportunity to introduce yourself to your own audience and perhaps a subset of consumers who would never have looked at the Dynamo in the first place?
It absolutely is. It’s a great opportunity for the fans we already have and for those who watch it, but it’s also a curiosity because we’re playing against Messi. It puts your company in the spotlight so you can take advantage of that and bring those people back.
I’m excited for these new fans to see the quality of the game and the quality of the squad we’ve put together. And I know that it is always important for our players to fight for a trophy.
Over the last decade, MLS has become a league of haves and have-nots. There are teams like Atlanta and LAFC that have become the face of the league, so to speak, while other teams, particularly the league’s older teams, have lagged behind and remain under the radar. Is your job inherently more difficult as the owner of one of these more low-profile teams?
First of all, I would like to thank all the teams you mentioned who are enjoying success, attention and strong fan support. I know these owners and organizations and they deserve everything they have achieved. It doesn’t just happen with the snap of your fingers, it involves a lot of hard work.
I would also like to note that they were able to enter the league at a different time than the league’s so-called “legacy” teams. So they benefited from the growth of MLS for 20 years until they entered the league. They have learned from the mistakes and benefited from the positive experiences that preceded them. So when you see a $300 million stadium being built as opposed to a $70 million stadium like this, it’s happening on a different time frame and on a different runway. Again, I don’t begrudge them their circumstances, they happened at a different time. What I can do is try to improve the reputation of our own club and learn from the positive aspects that these new clubs have brought with them. The great fan experiences, the great stadiums they built. In certain cases they are monuments and when we make the improvements to our stadiums we do so by learning lessons from these venues. We can learn from each other in order to work together to help each club and the development of our league.
But of course it’s nicer to start from scratch, with a blank canvas on which to plan certain things. But I believe in the potential of this market. This market will soon be the third largest in the country, is incredibly diverse and has a proven history of football promotion. Great company base, so there’s no reason why it shouldn’t succeed here and that’s why we invested in the first place.
Frankly, it’s sometimes difficult for Dynamo to achieve this diversity. It’s not an issue that only affects you – many MLS clubs struggle to connect with diverse populations in their respective cities. Houston obviously has a large population of Hispanic fans, who turn out in large numbers for the Mexican national team and Liga MX clubs. What can Dynamo do to better capture their interest?
I think it’s an increased commitment to these groups rather than taking any group for granted. I know these important communities in Houston will be contacted extensively. Houston is an incredibly diverse city, it’s not just Mexican or Hispanic communities that fill the stadium, we have a large Nigerian population, we have a large South Asian population. Houston’s great diversity is an asset to us. So yes, there are certain segments that are coming through and we want to grow, but football is, to use a cliché, for everyone. We want everyone to participate.
MLS often seems to be split into two ownership groups. There are owners who want to grow the league by easing spending restrictions and taking the gloves off, so to speak, and there are others who may prefer a more fiscally conservative model or simply prefer the status quo. Commissioner Garber has said publicly at this point that the league wants to grow and take advantage of the opportunities presented by Messi’s arrival and the 2026 World Cup. Where are you coming from in all this? Are you part of the conversation at the league level?
I think, as you mentioned, we’re in a unique moment to capture the attention of the American sports fan and the global sports fan with Messi coming into this league. And signing a Messi is just one way to build a squad. This is a strategy that has been tried by many teams with varying degrees of success. Messi in particular is an exception to everything that has come before him, perhaps with the notable exception of David Beckham. But this approach is only one path to success. The beauty of MLS and some other American sports leagues is that you can really take different approaches to success.
Look at the Philadelphia Union, which has long been very focused on youth development and the benefits that come from it, allocating resources in a completely different way than teams that make star signings but achieve equal or greater success in return Just seeing you in Miami. Now I think that most of all – and that it is the duty of all of us as owners to seize this unique moment in time and not waste it – I know that some owners are planning to bring in big names, and there are others that do will focus on youth development or a number of other things. And then there are organizations like us that take a hybrid approach.
How involved are you in everyday life? They don’t come from a traditional football background and aren’t based in Houston. How connected and involved are you?
From the very beginning, in my very first press conference, I said that I would never be the person who chooses the 11 players that go on the pitch. I know my strengths and limitations and would never use force to interfere in decision-making within the squad. I have a weekly update call with Pat Onstad and (Houston Dash President) Jessica (O’Neill) where we talk about the past week and the critical issues facing the team both in the short term and longer term strategic positioning concerns planning. I listen to Pat, hear about his vision. And then I hope I can bring a useful perspective by applying my perspectives from other areas of work to at least counterbalance or justify what he’s suggesting or proposing – “OK, so Player X, you want to for this reason sign or.” this amount of money. How does that make sense? How does this compare to Player Y?’ General negotiation skills and business knowledge that is applicable to any industry and will hopefully benefit people who have football knowledge that I certainly don’t have.
MLS further refined its competition format this year and expanded its playoffs. They have also added entirely new competitions in recent years, such as the Leagues Cup. What do you think about the new setup?
As for the idea of a crowded landscape, I don’t know that it’s that different in terms of regular seasons in other places in the world where you see things like the FA Cup, the Copa Del Rey or whatever. And I don’t think you can deny that the Leagues Cup was a huge success this year. Part of that was the advantage of it being Messi’s debut. But I think it also brought a lot of attention to the league, and it also brought a lot of attention to Liga MX fans who saw that our teams were competing with them and being at their level. The tournament was a boon in showcasing the talent level of MLS, and it brought new attention to the league among groups that wouldn’t normally focus on it.
As for the league’s postseason structure, compared to other US leagues, I think it’s consistent with the expanded playoffs you see in other leagues. And what you’ve seen in other leagues is that fan affinity increases when more content is offered and when more teams can stay in the hunt late into the season. There is a lot more scrutiny on the sport across the league, which is a positive thing. Finally, and I’m not directly privy to these conversations, but generally for a content provider (like Apple), more content is better than less.
The idea of a “downtown soccer stadium” has long been considered a sort of panacea for all sorts of problems in the MLS. Frankly, Shell Energy Stadium bucks that trend. It is centrally located and easily accessible both by public transport and by car. Given your recent investments, the club seems committed to the location. What do you think about the venue as it stands today?
I think the location is great. If you talk to someone like Commissioner Garber, he will often say that we have arguably the best location in the entire MLS. Looking back on our first few days at Robertson Stadium at the University of Houston, I think there was a lot to fill there too. So I think our fans will travel. Being where we are now I think is a positive in that it can attract fans from downtown. This is a changing neighborhood and it will only continue to change due to the development that is taking place around the stadium. This is every bit the outcome MLS hoped for when it helped build the stadium here over a decade ago. You’ve seen a trendy neighborhood develop here naturally over the last 10 years, mirroring what Greenpoint has become in Brooklyn, or U Street and Logan Circle in DC, or Wynwood in Miami. Fans who came in 2012 or 2013 wouldn’t recognize what it is today.
And finally, given some of the changes the city is making around the neighborhood where they will bury the highway that divides downtown and east downtown, where the stadium is located, a “big dig” style project carry out and create a unified city center with a green space that opens up to the front door of our stadium. An outstanding location becomes extraordinary.
(Photo: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports)