Improving
MF: You followed Charlie Stillitano in your position. How much of the mess did he leave for you to get out of. Do you blame him for any of this situation we're in?
NS: Look, Charlie is a friend of mine. I'm not gonna comment on the job Charlie did, I'm just gonna talk about the job I've done since I got here in 2000. We have improved our business and bottom line every year for the past five years, we have assembled and developed over the course of that time one of the best, if not the best, front office in MLS that is highly respected, both by within our group of 12 teams and clubs overseas, and we're very proud of that. It's not fair for me to talk about 96, 97, 98, when I was at the league office or Tampa. I didn't know or understand the challenges Charlie had. It does no good to look back at that time. All I can do is look forward and continue to work towards improving this business.
MF: So could you tell me a couple of ways the MFO can improve?
NS: Well, it's really clear to me by your angle of questioning, and comments and perceptions of attendance going down, that communicating more with our core fans, and that's gonna be the area that will be focused. We're gonna do a better job communicating the message, or counter-communicating the bad message, because the bad message is put out by people who either are not MetroStars fans or have an axe to grind with our office.

Positives
MF: So, not to be all negative, what are some of the positive things to come out of MFO?
NS: There's been a lot of positives. In 2000, we had good on-field performance to rebound from a lousy year the year before. Over the last five seasons, we've grown our business, we've reduced significantly the losses of our business. It's no secret we lose money, we can't make money in Giants Stadium, that's why we're trying to build our own stadium. We reduced our operating loss significantly. We've hired and collected an incredibly talented group of people, so we've had a lot of successes. And I think the fact that we've grown our business and our sport, we have the best television package. Our relationship with MSG is outstanding, we have now set the standard for television production. We fought and hosted the US Open Cup final, and played in the Open Cup final, we did that for our fans, we were successful in doing that. We have an ongoing stadium and practice facility development program, which is bearing fruit, will bear fruit pretty soon. We have invested a lot of money into it and will stay focused on that effort. Our sponsorship has gone from literally next to nothing when I got here in 2000 to now where we're just behind the LA Galaxy in sponsorship dollars, without our own stadium, and without a stadium we have very few physical assets. It's been a lot of good things. Development of Tim Howard, the transfer. Tim Howard was, and still is, the record transfer for an American to a foreign club. We're very proud of the fact that we developed him, signed him at a young age and moved him to a starting position in 2001.