20 years of Major League Soccer in Houston

As I look back on 20 years of Major League Soccer in Houston, I am transported back to a cold mid-December day in 2005 when, standing outside Houston City Hall, I listened intently to Mayor Bill White welcome professional soccer to the Bayou City.  Among those taking the podium were Coach Dominic Kinnear, players Pat Onstad and Wade Barrett, who smiled and put on cowboy hats and boots as they looked over a crowd of curious on-lookers, media, and Houston “soccer people” who were angling for information and inclusion. Doubt, skepticism, and jealousy radiated from many in the crowd, but so did joy, optimism, and excitement for starting a new chapter in Houston’s soccer history.

Fast forward 20 years…as I attempt to best convey my recollections of that day and so many since, I carry a bag of mixed emotions that range from pride and joy to embarrassment and disappointment but realize that the journey of the now Houston Dynamo FC has been uniquely Houston; difficult to define, impossible to predict, frustrating and always evolving.  In the next few months many of us will be looking back at two decades of professional soccer in our city and attempt to give it context and meaning. What have we learned about Soccer in Houston since the 2006 inaugural season?

Setting the foundation

One of the key decisions from original Dynamo owner AEG’s President, Mr. Tim Leiweke, was to hire former Houston Oilers quarterback Oliver Luck as the first President of the new Houston MLS team.  Not because of Luck’s extensive soccer experience, but because of his knowledge of the Houston sports and political ecosystem.  In particular, Luck was very well versed in the mechanisms that existed for the use of public funds to construct and maintain stadiums and arenas for professional sports teams in Houston via the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority created in 2003.

Hiring the charismatic Luck signaled the intent to one day build a soccer-specific stadium for the Dynamo, something that previous professional soccer attempts in Houston had never envisioned as possible. That single decision and vision have been a foundation for the maintenance of a franchise in Houston.  The end game was not to “lease and hope” but to “build and compete.”  This plan came together when, in May of 2012, the doors opened to what is now Shell Energy Stadium.

The more things change, the more they stay the same

What has reality shown us about the Dynamo as a competitor to other sports franchises in Houston since 2006? By most reasonable measures (attendance, broadcast ratings, sponsorships, and media rights & coverage), the Dynamo is still clearly behind the NFL Houston Texans, MLB Houston Astros, and NBA Houston Rockets. For years, many Houston area radio “sports stations” didn’t acknowledge the Dynamo MLS Cup Championship years of 2006 and 2007 as part of Houston sports history out of sheer ignorance, incompetence, or both.  The team’s accomplishments were not even part of the conversation relative to Texans, Astros, and Rockets talk.

After two decades of professional soccer, even with our city’s diversity and now Latino population majority, the deep attachment of fans to the Texans, Astros, and Rockets has been hard to dislodge or, at the very least, move in the direction of the Dynamo.  For years, the organization contracted “mainstream” media types to carry the team’s message, which came across as insincere and lacking in knowledge and experience.

It’s HOT in Texas

From Dominic Kinnear to Ben Olsen, Dynamo Coaches have talked up the “home field advantage” of playing outdoor games in the heat and humidity of Southeast Texas. There is truth to this logic, demonstrated by the all-time regular season home record of 155-64-88.  That said, or written in this case, it’s also a fact that sitting outside in 95-degree weather with 80% humidity is uncomfortable but potentially dangerous and life-threatening. Could this be a reason as to why Shell Energy Stadium is not regularly sold out? 

The Texans, Astros, and Rockets all have temperature-controlled environments, and I believe that if the Houston Dynamo does not head toward a fully enclosed or retractable roof stadium, attendance will always be limited.  As much as it may be an advantage on the field, it also means empty seats for most of the year. Is current ownership ready for more investment in the quest for a new and “cool” stadium?  This may very well be one of the most intriguing questions as we head into the 2026 World Cup chapter of sports in our city. 

Youth is the Future

Youth is King. It’s the lifeblood of any organization. Youth must be nurtured, encouraged, and patiently developed. The Houston Dynamo Academy system has for years touted the idea of building an environment where top local “homegrown” talent will maximize their potential, leading to first-team opportunities and much more.  We can count on one hand the names of players who have successfully navigated the Dynamo Academy system to debut with the first team and maintain a significant role.

The Houston youth soccer landscape is a minefield of fiefdoms working in different directions with different approaches, goals, and motivations. Rarely has the Houston Dynamo professional/academy structure led the community in development, planning, organization, or success.  On the contrary, the attempt to make Dynamo jerseys ubiquitous by creating the now-defunct Houston Dynamo Dash Youth Club backfired spectacularly, and current Dynamo leadership is living with that legacy and continuing to build trust with the Houston youth soccer community. Instead of uniting youth soccer, the organization alienated many and set back cooperation at the youth level for many years.

Where is Latino support?

For years, former Head Coach Dominic Kinnear was asked why he did not bring in a Hispanic player to his team. On the field, Kinnear focused on the best players for his system and was less concerned about their ethnicity, but he was able to win the MLS Cup twice.  But from a marketing perspective, the question lingered; Would a Latino player in Houston fill up the Dynamo stadium? Wouldn’t a Mexican player bring out Mexican soccer fans to watch and follow MLS?

In the post-Kinnear years, the Dynamo organization attempted to appeal to the Hispanic community by bringing in players from Central America, such as Alberth Elis, Maynor Figueroa, Boniek García, Darwin Cerén, and Colombian Mauro Manotas, among others, with moderate success on the field and certainly not filling up the stands on a regular basis.  With all due respect, these players were not of the caliber of designated players around the MLS, such as Wayne Rooney, Chicharito Hernandez, Kaka, David Beckham, Carlos Vela, Lionel Messi, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, just to name a few. I don’t recall a Houston Dynamo player jersey as the best-selling in the league.

The often-cited explanation/excuse/rationale for the lack of Latino support for the Houston Dynamo has been the “conflict” that exists with fans from a certain country who have “their” team back in Mexico, Argentina, El Salvador, or whichever may have been their country of origin.  But the MLS has now been in existence for 30 years, and an entirely new group of fans, many of whom are second or third generation Houstonians and Texans, no longer have a “conflict.”  Why are Latinos still not filling up the stadium?

HH arrives

At the press conference announcing the signing of Mexican International player Hector Herrera, I noticed that for the first time in club history, a shift toward competing at the highest levels of MLS with other teams’ acquisition of designated players.  Not only was much of the press conference handled in Spanish, but the international and Mexican media present made the introduction a real event that went beyond “more of the same.” The arrival of HH set up a unique scenario with high expectations of success on and off the field.

In his first official MLS match in Houston on July 9, 2022, the fans came out to support the team and the announced crowd of 21,284 roared when Herrera entered the field in the 55^th minute vs Texas state rivals, FC Dallas. The team did not make the playoffs that season, but with an entire preseason to prepare, Herrera led the team to the club’s second US Open Cup championship and, for the first time in 5 previous seasons, to the MLS playoffs. The plan was taking shape, and all signs pointed toward continued success.  The 2024 season started with optimism and relative success on the field, with a total of 54 points accumulated.  Unfortunately, the on-field success did not translate to full attendance at Shell Energy Stadium.  Although there was an increase in fans entering the stadium from 2023 to 2024, the team’s overall home attendance was still in penultimate position in the league.

The final indignation of the Hector Herrera era occurred in the 2^nd game of the first-round playoff series vs the Seattle Sounders when Herrera committed a hard four from behind and was given a yellow card by referee Armando Villarreal. Herrera was visibly frustrated and offered his displeasure by spitting on Villarreal which led to an ejection.  The team finished with 10 players, lost the game, and thus ended the initiative of bringing a Mexican national team player to the Dynamo.  Time will tell the outcome of the HH experiment, but the organization decided to end the relationship.

Season #20 – A Golden Age of Soccer

As the 2025 season begins, there are a myriad of ways to measure the impact that the Houston Dynamo franchise has had on our city, the sports landscape, the youth soccer community, and in other categories. Like most sports organizations, the Dynamo has made good decisions that have contributed to the sport’s growth in Texas, and they should be praised for that. There have also been mistakes, oversights, and disappointments, which have alienated soccer fans who may never return as customers.

No organization is perfect, and I genuinely believe that most of the teams’ owners, past and present, balance business with a love of the sport and a motivation to leave a positive legacy.  I am often asked about the growth of Soccer in Houston, and I am convinced that even with all the flaws, our sport is living through a golden age.  I lived through what I call the “Dark Ages” of soccer in this country, sandwiched between the demise of the North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1985 and the birth of Major League Soccer in 1996.

Never did I imagine that Houston would have a soccer-specific stadium, and that the business of soccer would thrive at all levels more than ever. For better or worse, and whether one agrees or disagrees with the soccer ecosystem, the Houston Dynamo franchise will continue to impact all of us who love and live the sport in one way or another. To use a cliché, with a position of influence in our soccer community, the Dynamo organization has a responsibility to lead, listen, and be as altruistic as possible for the good of the game and of soccer in Houston. Let’s celebrate these two decades of MLS Soccer in Houston but continue to look toward a better future where maybe we can say one day that the Bayou City is truly a Soccer city.