If the Red Bulls hoped the rancor over their firing of coach Mike Petke would blow over before the scheduled start of the season, they’re going to be disappointed.
The #RedBullOut movement has funded another billboard near the team’s stadium, demanding ownership sell and decrying the firing of their club legend.
“What I was trying to achieve is firing/removal of the people in charge who made this seemingly rash decision,” billboard organizer Goran Markovic said in a #RedBullOut statement. “At the very least, to voice the fans’ displeasure with the unceremonious firing of Mike Petke.
“Seems to me a lot of people were very angry, but it was confined to the internet message boards and social media, I wanted to take it to the real world with the renting of a physical billboard.”
A billboard was crowd-sourced right after Petke’s shocking January firing by new GM Ali Curtis, and now a second one has gone up at Red Bull Arena exit off Rte 280. Petke was replaced by former Montreal Impact coach Jesse Marsch.
“Basically, it was a reaction to the surprise firing of a beloved (and the most successful) coach by Ali Curtis, who had been on the job for a few weeks and no previous GM experience,” said Markovic. “The idea for the billboard was not mine, but I took it and ran with it because no one else seemed to want to organize it … even though there seemed to be plenty of support for the billboard idea itself.”
The Red Bulls held a town hall meeting with supporters, but it got highly contentious with many becoming profane and shouting over Curtis’ attempts to answer questions. The team is slated to open March 8 at Sporting KC, but the billboard will stay for a month, through their home opener vs. arch-rival DC United on March 22. Leftover money is to be put toward potential digital ads.
“Firing of club legend Mike Petke was definitely not the only thing that spurred me to join the #RedBullOut movement, as it was just one in the line of many poor decision made by Red Bull in the running of our local team from Austria,’’ said Markovic, who has worn a t-shirt saying LOVE THE CLUB, HATE THE BRAND to every home game for the past two seasons.
“Red Bull is unable to connect to the team to the locals, leaving the beautiful Red Bull Arena half filled for most games. That is an issue here, much bigger than firing of a coach (that happens all the time in sports). Now I have an issue with Red Bull as owners because I gave them a chance and they have failed at almost every step along the way. Time for someone new in charge, Red Bull Out!’’