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Houston Dynamo fans showed up in numbers, and showed their distaste in the current ownership group in a recent survey of MLS fans by The Athletic. Nearly 2,300 people filled out the survey with 148 people identifying themselves as Dynamo fans. This was the third highest number of any fanbase, only behind Atlanta United and Seattle Sounders fans.
Those fans who took the survey cumulatively crushed the Dynamo’s Gabriel Brener-led ownership group, giving it a 1.68 average confidence rating — the lowest mark in the league by a full point. To go along with the low confidence at the top, Dynamo fans gave the roster the lowest average rating in the league at 4.46. Houston’s composite score of 12.5 was the lowest in the league, 3 points lower than the Vancouver Whitecaps who were second lowest. According to The Athletic, the Dynamo score was actually worse than 2021 expansion club Austin FC, a team with zero players on their roster.
MLS Fan Confidence
| Team | Ownership | Coaching | Roster | Composite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Ownership | Coaching | Roster | Composite |
| Houston | 1.7 | 6.3 | 4.5 | 12.5 |
| Vancouver | 4.2 | 6.4 | 5.2 | 15.7 |
| Real Salt Lake | 2.9 | 6.6 | 6.7 | 16.2 |
| New York Red Bulls | 5.8 | 5.1 | 5.6 | 16.4 |
| Colorado | 2.6 | 7.5 | 6.5 | 16.6 |
As some solace for Dynamo fans, Brener finished third in the voting for worst owner in MLS. Colorado Rapids owner Stan Kroenke and New England Revolution owner Bob Kraft (who have been known to spend much more time and effort on the NFL teams they own) finished with a much higher vote total than the Houston ownership. New Dynamo coach Tab Ramos did not register enough votes for the best or worst coach in MLS rankings. This is quite fair seeing as Ramos has only coached two games in the league.
This survey is by no means statistically relevant, however it paints a picture of the Dynamo ownership that has frustrated many fans for years. The bad part, a lot of Dynamo fans don’t thing it will change any time soon. Said one fan in the survey, “This ownership group is atrocious. They have no interest in improving the team, they have no interest in fan engagement. They’re just waiting on appreciation of their investment to sell it to the highest bidder.” So, where do we go from here? It’s definitely an uphill battle to get a chunk of the fanbase back on board, but with the hiring of Tab Ramos, hopefully the ship is beginning to find it’s course.
Be sure to check out the whole article on The Athletic to see all of the results from the survey including how fans feel about promotion and relegation, expansion, and the job Commissioner Don Garber is doing.