The biggest offseason addition for the Houston Dynamo was out at Houston Sports Park for the start of preseason camp on Monday, though he wasn’t wearing cleats, or even workout clothes.
Gabriel Brener stood on the sidelines with a suit and dress shoes alongside his fellow owners watching the Dynamo practice for the first time since acquiring AEG’s interests in the team and becoming the new managing partner.
“This is perfect,” Brener told media at the team’s opening session. “You can’t ask for a better setup or weather. You can tell the players are ready for the season and look to work hard.”
While the players just began their preparations as a team looking ahead to the season opener against the New England Revolution on March 6, Brener and the rest of the ownership group—Oscar De La Hoya, Jake Silverstein and Ben Guill—have already begun to look at how they want to put their stamp on the organization.
“We’re taking baby steps. We have a good organization and a good group in place, but definitely there is room to improve in many ways, and we have very good plans for the future,” he said. “We want to have people coming to the stadium from the first minute and supporting the team all the way, because that means a lot to the players.”
The physical show of support from the new ownership made an impact on the players, and certainly emphasized Brener’s message that “there won’t be a corporation running the team but a person.”
“To see Gabriel and Oscar De La Hoya and Ben is fantastic,” head coach Owen Coyle said. “It shows that we are all together and striving towards the same thing. Not only the owners, you see the staff here as well and that’s important. Regardless of what your job is, we are all in this together. We certainly have built that family atmosphere in the Dynamo and I’m sure that can help us moving forward.”
Ricardo Clark was with the Dynamo when Brener took a minority stake in the franchise in 2008, and was excited to hear the news of the transition over the offseason. Having the owners showing their support on day one meant a lot to the team, he said.
“He has always been very involved, even when he wasn’t the majority owner, he has always been very supportive and involved and shown his face around the locker room,” Clark said. “We love him around here; he’s awesome and he really is the guy to be there for our team.”
Former boxing champion De La Hoya, who joined the group alongside Brener as a minority owner in 2008, echoed Brener’s commitment to showing the Dynamo players and fans their level of commitment to the team and the city.
“I believe the way we are going to impact this is by being here, by showing the players that we are owners that really support the team,” De La Hoya said. “Like you can see today, Gabriel [Brener] and I are here and we’re supporting 100 percent. We’re going to try to make it to every single game and show the players that we really care and show Houston that we really care about this team.”
Brener’s goal for the team on the field is to return to its championship caliber, stating several times since taking over that he “hates losing,” but his vision for the organization as a whole goes much deeper. Building a real connection with the Houston community is top of his list—a goal that a continued presence will help achieve.
“[Owning the Dynamo] gives me a great deal of satisfaction. We are involved in a number of different business industries, but none of them gives me as much pleasure as our soccer team, which is doing nothing but good for the community. We work with kids; it’s just a feel-good all around.”
