The Kitsap Pumas team is only going on its second season but it’s already a recognized name around the Kitsap Peninsula. The success is evident in the numbers, too: The team (which is part of Kitsap Soccer Club) had sold 15 season tickets by this time last year, and this year, with the season still more than a couple of months away, 175 season tickets have already been claimed. The number of preregistered players for tryouts doubled, and the sponsorships this year have doubled so far and may triple by the season start.
Even for the first year, the team saw pretty good interest from the fans. With an average 1,200 spectators per game, the Kitsap Pumas were fifth in the league for attendance.
“That’s pretty good for the first year,” said Robin Waite, Kitsap Soccer Club owner. “Our objective is to double and triple everything this year.”
Waite, a former co-owner of the old Division I Seattle Sounders, has been a longtime soccer enthusiast. Soccer as a sport was uncommon when he was growing up, so he participated in others, like track and field. But his love for soccer grew — and nowadays, the growing popularity of soccer in the United States has made it a more feasible enterprise.
When Waite moved to Kitsap County, he wanted to start a soccer franchise. When he ran into some issues with converting the Kitsap County rodeo arena into a field, he instead decided to build a stadium in Poulsbo. The topography turned out to be too challenging on the site he bought, but Waite didn’t give up. He struck a deal with Bremerton High School to use its stadium, and that became the team’s home field.
Waite used somewhat of a grass-roots approach when it came to branding the team. He had a contest for the name, giving the public several choices to vote on. Pumas won — and fittingly so, considering that’s just another name for the cougar, a common creature around the Kitsap Peninsula. “A week before the contest closed, there was a cougar citing in the area,” Waite said.
The hoops (color scheme of the stripes) were selected based purely on mechanics: White and blue reproduces well in color photography, Waite said. But when it came to the crest (the team’s logo that shows the puma head), once again the public was given the chance to be involved. A contest to create the crest attracted both amateur and professional artists, as young as 11 and as old as 63. The winning entry came from Everett graphic designer Joel DuChesne, who is the principal and creative director at Web design and branding company called Luminous.
The team’s hoops, crest and the jerseys (appropriately supplied by athletic-wear maker Puma) are far from being the team’s main branding vehicle. It’s all about marketing and reaching out, according to Waite.
“You have to have an outreach to your fan base,” he said. Advertising proved less effective than presentations to schools, service clubs and other groups.
Having a growing fan club also helps. “They sit together at games and make a lot of racket,” Waite said. Last year, after one player’s friends brought drums to make noise in support, the idea caught on and other fans did the same.
Kitsap Soccer Club also has a youth program and summer camp, which is another way the team reaches out to fans. Waite said the pro team is very fan-friendly, and soccer camp participants get the royal treatment, visiting on the field with the Pumas after games, getting autographs and interacting with the players. Here, too, the goal is to grow: Last year, 500 youngsters participated in camps and this year the club is set up to enroll 1,500.
The club is only getting started on an ambitious path. With players coming from all over the country and around the world, the name of Kitsap is becoming better known. One of Waite’s goals is to invite teams from other countries to play the Pumas in Bremerton (for a non-season game). He has a tentative agreement with a team from Glasgow for 2011 and is in discussions with an Italian team. “Getting them to come over and play a game is fantastic for Kitsap and it’s great for us, it gives us credibility,” he said. He has a Portland team lined up to visit this year.
The club is also considering moving up to Division II, which would entail a financial commitment and more travel. But for Waite, that’s an investment worth making in order to make the team a first-class franchise. He defines “first class” not only by having a superb player roster and first-rate coaches but also excellent office staff and volunteers who help on and off the field.
Branding a soccer team successfully, for Waite, is all about creating a buzz in the community. The sport of soccer still lags behind American staples like baseball and football in interest, but the fan base for the Kitsap Pumas is growing briskly.
“What we’re trying to do is establish local appreciation or identification with us as a Kitsap team, so that when people think of professional soccer in Kitsap, they think of Pumas,” Waite said. “We want them to think of our brand as a first-class soccer team, first-class soccer organization and first-class soccer players who are good citizens and who care about the community.”
