Carolina Dynamo News Release - www.carolinadynamo.com

Monday, February 11, 2008

GREENSBORO, NC -- The Carolina Dynamo made three announcements to officially kick off their 2008 campaign, headlined by the unveiling of plans to expand Macpherson Stadium to 7,000 seats as part of a multi-million dollar project that also includes a two-story field house. The Dynamo also anounced a partnership with Greensboro Youth Soccer and two sponsorship deals.

The press conference opened with the first announcement coming from Dynamo General Manager Scott Zapko. Zapko said this is something the Carolina Dynamo and Greensboro Youth Soccer (GYS) have been working on since Macpherson Stadium was built back in 2002. Just before the 1st of the year Dynamo management and Greensboro Youth Soccer executives came to terms for a licensing agreement that allows GYS to use the Dynamo name and essentially bring the Carolina Dynamo under its umbrella. Zapko and Joe Brown, Vice President and Head Coach, will both continue to run the USL franchise but will also handle the sales and marketing of Bryan Park and Greensboro Youth Soccer as whole.

Dr. Steve Lucey of GYS was on hand to make the most exciting announcement of the day. Lucey is a partner at Sports Medicine and Orthopaedics Center in Greensboro, a member of US Soccer’s medical staff, a GYS Board Member, and a corporate partner of both the Dynamo & GYS.

"On behalf of the board of directors of GYS, we are very excited about this new chapter in the relationship with the Dynamo," said Lucey. "We would like to announce two things in this new relationship. First, we are renaming the boy’s side of our club the Dynamo. So, moving forward we will have the Twisters on the girls’ side and the Dynamo on the boys’ side. Second, we would like to announce the launch of our capital campaign for facility improvement at our Bryan Park Complex."

The plan is to expand Macpherson Stadium to 7,000 seats. The six-year-old stadium now holds 3,000 fans. The $2.5 million project would add seats behind both goals and a two-story field house with locker rooms and a hospitality area. GYS and the Dynamo will be working on the formation of the fundraising plan for the construction project.

"Our vision is clear. We want to be a soccer association from the recreational, challenge, classic, and professional level. This stadium will not only host our senior Dynamo teams, but we also will bid for ACC, NCAA, MLS matches, US National Team friendlies, as well as foreign team exhibitions, such as Liverpool from the England and Necaxa from Mexico, both of which have already played in our stadium," said Lucey. "These events will allow our families, as well as the triad community, to enjoy quality soccer. And it will strategically allow us to create revenue to reinvest in the club. This will allow us to keep costs low and reach out to Hispanic, African-American, and other key minority demographics that we want and need in our association. In addition to an improved stadium, we will also be building a wonderful indoor facility. We will have winter training, foul weather training, indoor soccer leagues for our youth and adult teams here. It will be on field six directly behind our GYS offices."

“This is something extremely exciting for both parties, this will take both GYS & the Dynamo into a new era," Zapko added.

The Dynamo gets an immediate attachment to the some 3,500 GYS participants, and can now offer the business community more comprehensive grassroots marketing opportunities that last year-round. By bringing the two parties together it gives both organizations the chance to use each other's strengths to run more efficiently and provide better opportunities for the children that participate

The second announcement named Adidas as the new and exclusive equipment supplier of the Carolina Dynamo. It was a natural fit for the Dynamo and Adidas to partner, especially since Adidas has been such a loyal support of Greensboro Youth Soccer.

To go along with the Dynamo moving into a new era, a new title sponsor was also announced. Parks Chevrolet of Kernersville will be the new title sponsor of the Dynamo and have their logo placed on the front of the Dynamo uniforms. Both Parks GM, James Berry and Emily Parks, Parks Marketing Director were on hand to unveil the 2008 home jersey.

"We are very fortunate to have had the support of Corporate America and have always had an extremely large business partner in the community on the front of the Jersey," said Brown. "We are pleased to announce our partnership with such a fine company Parks Chevrolet."

The Dynamo season kicks-off on May10th with a doubleheader. The Dynamo Women face the Carolina Railhawks at 5:30. The Dynamo men face the Nashville Metros at 7:30. For more information check out www.carolinadynamo.com