Cesar Carbajal – the Blog

My mother raised us alone since I was 10 years old because my father abandoned us to start a new family. She is illiterate, she can’t write and can barely read. Nevertheless, she was always able to provide for me, my three brothers and two sisters. Somehow, she managed to steer the boat (our family) in the right direction. Her leadership skills would be the envy of many 500 fortune companies’ CEO’s. Every morning she knew that she had to do better than the day before to keep our company (our family) afloat. There was competition, several gangs in the area recruiting for entry level positions, and my mother’s combination of excellent customer service and accountability would keep us from joining their ranks.

When it comes to budgeting, she knew exactly how to manage our finances day by day. It is not an urban legend, there were a couple of specific days during the week that we got to eat meat and drink milk. She was not stretching our money so that it could last until the next payday; there was no payday, she was stretching our money so that it could last one day. From time to time, she would go to the local store to ask for a line of credit, her credit history was great and she would always pay back or would exchange for her seamstress services. The line of credit was so generous that it would help us get some bread, eggs and beans. She was a very fiscally responsible CEO, would not spent more than what she could afford and would not waste any resources. She would not jeopardize our family’s future by spending in nonsense perks, no TV, birthday parties or expensive coffee. One litter soda was converted into two by adding one litter of water. Coffee was replaced by tea made from oranges leaves stolen from our neighbor.

She also did a lot of marketing; people in the neighborhood knew that she had a bad temper and nobody dared to mess with us. And sales too, making sure that our neighbors knew that we all were available to do some chores for them.

See? My mother was a great CEO, she is now retired but during her tenure our family had wonderful moments and it is now up to us to manage our own successful families.

I know she didn’t see it as a company, her only motivation was loved.

It all started as a great idea; a soccer team in the US for fans of Mexican origin. The team would be quickly embraced by the southern California followers of the Mexican soccer team Chivas Rayadas del Guadalajara. Soon, many more thousands of nostalgic Mexican fans would also make Chivas USA their home team. Mexican players would be in its roster just to ensure that fans wouldn’t forget what the team symbolizes. Opening season was great, attendance was bigger than MLS averages, seems to be that the marketing formula was working.

A few more great seasons, qualifying to the season playoffs four times in its first five seasons and that was it. Today it was announced that Chivas USA is ceasing operations immediately. The Chivas USA soccer team is gone and its spot in the MSL will be taken by a new franchise that will start playing in 2017.

It is sad, for the followers of the club and the players. It is also bad for the city as we lost one more professional sport team. It is good for the sport, as you should not build a new professional sport team by gathering your emigrant fans and trying to make them follow a team that is just a replica of the original in Mexico. A successful team brings meaningful positive impact to the community, just take a look at Xolos de Tijuana.

Anyway, personally, I was related to the team, although not in the way I would like to. In 2006, Chivas USA, the MLS and SUM filed a complaint against me with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, they wanted to take the domain name www.Chivasusa.com away from me as I have registered the domain in 2003, a year before they started playing in the MLS. They were represented by the law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP, New York, New York. In summary, they lost the case and I got to keep the domain name. What this the beginning of the end? Maybe.

Chivas USA only lived 10 years, but from day one the marketing formula was wrong. I just wonder how they managed to survived 10 years.

Adios Chivas USA.