New York Red Bulls defender Todd Dunivant readily acknowledges that he does not know much about the stock market. However, on Thursday morning, when Dunivant, along with teammates Amado Guevara and Taylor Graham and assistant coach Des McAleenan were on hand to ring the opening bell at the NASDAQ stock market, he hoped their presence would boost the index.
"We were saying that since we're Bulls, that should be good luck for the market today," Dunivant quipped.
With their faces and signatures on a large, flat screen monitor overlooking New York's Times Square, the three Red Bulls and McAleenan received a tour of the venue and opened the day's trading action on the U.S.'s largest electronic stock market. With the type of luminaries including rapper Ludacris, members of the New York Yankees and New York Jets and radio host Howard Stern, it was a special experience for those who were involved.
"It was amazing," Graham said. "You watch it on television growing up and in college and we go in this morning and see all of the different celebrities that have been a part of it ... and then here we are, the New York Red Bulls representing our team and our organization. It just shows the dedication that Red Bull has in terms of getting the exposure out of our team and our players in the New York area."
Dunivant and Guevara both gave short speeches as well.
"I just tried to cover the fact that soccer is so big around the world and you saw that in the World Cup and you saw that here with our reception when Barcelona came with 79,000 fans [last Saturday], so I was trying to say that's the kind of thing we're striving for here and Red Bull management and ownership is committed to bringing that," Dunivant said. "It was exciting."
However, some of the players joked that they were less enamored with their appearance on the screens.
"When I was giving my speech, I could see myself and that kind of freaked me out a little bit, not because I saw myself on the screen, but because of how I looked - I looked awful," Dunivant said.
"I didn't shave, I needed a haircut, all these things. My mom will be a little disappointed with that but it was still fun. I'm a soccer player, I'm supposed to be grimy."
Still, McAleenan called it a "neat" experience to go behind the scenes and see how the exchange works and Graham, whose mother and father happened to be in town and also attended, said it was a memorable experience.
"That's where the ball drops in Times Square for New Year's Day and sure enough, there's my mug and my Hancock right there so it doesn't get much better than that," Graham said.
"For me personally, it was a tremendous honor to be there representing the New York Red Bulls," Guevara said. "It was a great experience and I was very happy to be a part of it."
And to top it all off, Dunivant's prediction was correct: the NASDAQ finished up 8.07 points (0.38%) Thursday.
