CHIVAS USA: HUNTER ON BOARD TO 'UNLOCK FAN BASE'.

Byline: BILLY WITZ

Staff Writer

CARSON -- Ana Estrada couldn't have been happier Sunday evening, sitting with her brother, Miguel, who was wearing a Mexico jersey, and her father, a die-hard Chivas de Guadalajara fan, as they watched Chivas USA put the finishing touches on a 3-0 victory over the NewYork Red Bulls.

"I think we need things like this to bring people together, to bring families together," the Inglewood resident said of her first Chivas USA game.

A couple sections over, Jeff Sussman had one eye on the action and another on his three kids, who had plenty of empty seats to roam around.

"Where else can you go and relax this like?" said the Manhattan Beach resident, who was taking in his second game. "It's so much better to get in and out of than Dodger Stadium and the Coliseum."

As the referee's final whistle blew, Tom Ramirez made his way out of the stadium with his son, pleased that he'd made the trip from Sun Valley for the first time.

"The stadium is beautiful," Ramirez said. "I've never been to a Galaxy game. I'd prefer to go to see Chivas. My friends, everybody at work, they talk about Chivas."

Besides leaving the Home Depot Center with smiles on their faces, Estrada, Sussman and Ramirez also had something else in common. They didn't pay for their tickets, getting them through friends with the club or through their jobs.

In its third season, Chivas USA has established itself as a MLS Cup contender -- a win over the Galaxy on Thursday in the usually well-attended Super Clasico would vault it into first place in the Western Conference. They've done it with an attacking, skillful brand of soccer that should be a hit with fans. But judging from the sparse crowds this season, the club has trouble even giving away tickets. Chivas' attendance is next-to-last in the league at 12,191 per game.

However, like all MLS teams those numbers reflect only the number of tickets distributed. Most crowds have looked like Sunday's, with the 27,000-seat stadium about three-quarters empty.

To address the matter, the club Tuesday announced the hiring of Shawn Hunter as its president and CEO. Hunter, a former president of AEG Sports -- the company that owns the Home Depot Center and the Galaxy -- is new to soccer, but he developed the marketing plans for the Colorado Avalanche and the Phoenix Coyotes when they were welcomed to town with near-capacity crowds.

"This brand has unbelievable potential and notice I use the word potential because we are far from where we want to be," said Hunter, who was also given an undisclosed stake in the club. "One of my jobs is to unlock the fan base."

Hunter offered no specifics on how he'd spark attendance, and wasn't interested in discussing what missteps Chivas has taken thus far. But he said the club would continue to emphasize its relationship with Chivas de Guadalajara, whose owner Jorge Vergara, is co-owner of Chivas USA.

Another question -- one raised by Estrada and her brother -- was now that Chivas USA is winning with just two Mexicans on its roster, will the target audience of Mexicans still come out to watch?

"There's no magic wand in my backpack," Hunter said. "At the end of the day, it's hard work. "

That Chivas USA co-owner Antonio Cue would turn to a former AEG executive -- and a non-Spanish-speaking one -- is, in itself, ironic. Cue, a flamboyant Mexican businessman, has made a point of good-naturedly distinguishing between the collaborative, less formal operation of Chivas USA and the rigid, business-like, AEG-influenced elan of the Galaxy.

"When you're older, you still go to school," Cue said Tuesday. "I was able to watch a lot of things in this league the last three years. We've learned. We made a mistake when we started the franchise. Then we fix it."

The mistake, which Chivas USA is still paying for, came when it arrived and rolled out a slogan it thought would appeal to Los Angeles' soccer-mad Latino market: Adios soccer! El futbol esta aqui!.

Then, fielding a largely Mexican squad -- a nod to Guadalajara's century-old tradition of never fielding a non-Mexican player -- Chivas USA proceeded to go 4-22-6 in its first season.

Chivas rated amongst the league leaders in attendance the past two seasons, but that was due in large part to doubleheaders it played at the Coliseum featuring Chivas de Guadalajara and its Mexican rival Club America in front of 88,816 in 2005 and FC Barcelona in front of 92,000 last summer. Without those games, the announced attendance averaged 12,297 in 2005 and 15,029 last season. This season it has fallen to 12,191, a 19 percent dip.

"I'm surprised there aren't more people here," said Claudio Reyna, the former United States captain after his visit Sunday with New York. "They have good players. You would think the way the play -- they try to play the right way -- a lot more people would come watch them. Then again, a lot of Mexican people like watching Mexican soccer. They might be sitting at home watching their teams."

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