By Drew Olson Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Feb 12, 2007 at 3:57 PM

The Wave's effort to reach out to Milwaukee's growing Hispanic community did not begin with the "Stars of Mexico" exhibition slated for Tuesday night at the US Cellular Arena.

And it won't end there, either.

"This is something we started awhile ago and intensified last year by hosting the All-Star Game and bringing a Mexican team in," said Mike Lafferty, the chief operating officer of the Wave. "This is something that we need to keep chipping away at. We realize it's not going to happen overnight. We've got to build relationships. We've got to build trust within the community. It takes time."

From the outside, the match seems logical. The Wave and the Major Indoor Soccer League are selling a sport that is hugely popular in the Hispanic culture. But, the team has been criticized in the past for not doing enough to "reach out."

"When I first started here (in 2004), the big knock on the Wave was that we had Hispanics on our team, but we don't have Mexicans on our team," Lafferty said. "That's a fair question. We had players from Columbia or Venezuela or Brazil. They spoke Spanish. They spoke Portuguese. But, people in the community said they were not from Mexico. Well, that was a fair question.

"In order to address that, we started the Wave Armada, which is our developmental team. Many of the young players on that team are Mexican. We're giving them an opportunity to play here and develop. The best of the best are asked to come and train with the Wave.

"Now, the next step was bringing a Mexican team back here and adding some big-name players. We've got seven legends from Mexican soccer playing in this game. And the kids with the Armada have met them and trained with them and two of the guys will play in the game. These young guys are getting a chance play with their heroes and they are thrilled."

Adolfo Rios, Alberto Garcia Aspe and Luis "El Matador" Hernandez -- all recently retired members of the Mexican national team - will be joined by Missael Espinoza, Benjamin Galindo and J.J. Hernandez for the game, which will be televised live on Time Warner Cable, and at appearances throughout the area.

"This is our reaffirmation to the Hispanic community that we care about them as a fan base," Lafferty said. "Short of signing two or three Mexican players, this is what we're capable of doing. Now, if someone asks ‘Why don't you sign two or three Mexican players?' it's the same reason that we haven't signed two or three Japanese players or Bolivian players. They aren't available.

"We don't go by nationality when we build our team. We don't go buy country. We just try to get the best players available. But, the Armada is important for us because our league is expanding by at least three teams next year and there will be a need for more players."

Looking for players is the job of Keith Tozer, the Wave's vice president of soccer operations and coach. Lafferty is looking for fans to watch those players and corporations to buy sponsorships.

"We're 26 percent ahead of our revenue from last year," Lafferty said. "I could tell you about attendance. You want attendance? I'll give you attendance. You want people in the building? I'll put people in the building. That's not how you run a business.

"Our revenue is up this year. Last year we grew by 23 percent. If we have one more year like that, I'll be happy. It doesn't happen overnight."

Tozer, a fixture on the summer camp and charity circuits, agreed.

"Soccer is 24-hour, seven-day-a-week job to sell," he said. "The biggest thing that's difficult for teams in our league is that teams in the NFL and NBA have hype on a continuous basis, even when there are no games. They get daily reports when there are games. They get reports after games. They advertise, because they want to be partners with the media and get that last 10 percent of fans through the gates. We don't have that luxury.

"We rarely get stories that aren't game-related and that hurts us because of our schedule. We may play one game a week. If we're on the road, it means two weeks when we don't get a lot of coverage. It's hard to keep any momentum going.

"After winning so many championships and running camps and doing charity things, we're still trying to figure out the magic potion. How do you sell it? You literally have to knock door to door and try to sell the game. That's one of my frustrations after all these years: what is it going to take for us to be a bigger blip on the radar?"

Targeting the Hispanic market is one step, but the Wave doesn't intend to abandon other constituencies like families and the soccer community.

"I tell our staff that we have to try to be all things to all people," Lafferty said. "That's just how it is. It doesn't happen overnight." 

Drew Olson Special to OnMilwaukee.com

Host of “The Drew Olson Show,” which airs 1-3 p.m. weekdays on The Big 902. Sidekick on “The Mike Heller Show,” airing weekdays on The Big 920 and a statewide network including stations in Madison, Appleton and Wausau. Co-author of Bill Schroeder’s “If These Walls Could Talk: Milwaukee Brewers” on Triumph Books. Co-host of “Big 12 Sports Saturday,” which airs Saturdays during football season on WISN-12. Former senior editor at OnMilwaukee.com. Former reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.