NSC Stars want to follow their role models

Amos Magee's first two seasons coaching soccer in Portland, Ore., made him wonder if he had ever left Minnesota.

Helping coach Portland's development league team required Magee to summon his experiences as head coach of the cash-strapped Thunder, the former pro soccer team in Minnesota. Magee was traveling in vans, selling tickets -- even working as public address announcer during a match.

"I wasn't in Kansas anymore, but Kansas was still in me," Magee said.

Opening night this season, the Portland Timbers' first in Major League Soccer, brought the payoff as portions of a sell-out crowd arrived 30-45 minutes before kickoff and instilled a buzz.

"I was like, 'You're kidding,'" Magee said.

Soccer enthusiasts in Minnesota still are dreaming Magee's reality. The second-year NSC Minnesota Stars have made gains in the standings and at the ticket office this season and have been granted three years of stability and financial backing by its owner and league, the North American Soccer League.

NSC Stars CEO Djorn Buchholz, who spent six years with the Thunder, vowed to make the franchise attractive to a potential owner. But teams such as MLS-bound Montreal, which the Stars play host to at 7 p.m. Friday at the National Sports Center in Blaine, remain the envy of the Stars.

Those aren't just words. The team's "Scarf on the Stars" promotion earlier this year was inspired by Seattle. And Buchholz has studied the way Portland and Montreal attained MLS status. The primary goal, Montreal owner Joey Saputo said, is establishing relevance in the market.

Saputo said Montreal's march toward relevance, and ultimately MLS, began with a 2002 relaunch as a non-profit organization with three ownership groups each contributing $1 million over five years.

With a secure near-future, the team saw ticket sales grow from 1,500 per game to 5,000 and sponsorship money balloon from $300,000 to $700,000 in five years.

"It's hard to build confidence without stability," Saputo said.

Buchholz believes "the 2011 version of the Stars is like Montreal in 2001 or 2002 " albeit on a smaller scale. The Stars averaged 1,405 fans through their first six home games. Sponsorships for this season lagged, Buchholz said, in large part because he did not come back to the franchise until December.