Opportunity of a Lifetime - How Not To Ruin It?

I landed a domain some time ago for a new MLS Soccer team. I jumped on it instantly, as soon as the club was announced and couldn't believe I landed it. After pushing it under the rug for a few months, to allow things to develop, I'm ready to get things started.
So far I've started a Twitter account. In a few days I've racked up 30+ followers. One of which is the actual MLS Official account. of their 60000 followers I'm only 1 of 500 they follow!
They've already favorited my tweets and replied to me saying "Looking forward to every step of the way." When I tweeted at them saying I have a lot in store to help grow and support the club!
The team is 1 year away from their opening season which gives so much time for further growth. Not much has happened at all yet.

The most exciting part of all of this is that I have partnered with a fellow Supporter Twitter account who has 6,000+ followers, all dedicated club supporters. We will keep my account a 'website' twitter account and use his to push people to the website.

My plan is to open a forum for open discussion. Me and the other person will partner in it.
However, neither of us has much experience with the technical aspect of running a site (set-up/maintenance/etc).
I've had a lot of prior experience in the moderator aspect of it and have owned a few forums as well, always with a partner who has design/programming experience.
So, I have tons of ideas and ways to monetize this website, and with that much traffic at our disposal I think that will be a piece of cake. The problem is the actual execution.

My questions
Preferred platform? I'm looking to go with vBulletin, best option?
Design/Programming - Hire individual jobs or look for a partner to split potential profits?

 

Everyone seems to be favoring the xenforo forum software now: http://xenforo.com/ They can even assist you with some of the basics.

I wouldn't try to partner with anyone as far as designing / programming concerned. Just learn stuff as you go. At the end, you will be more equipped to whatever comes your way.

 

Hmmm I almost dont have a choice with that. I work 50+ hours a week and have only a few hours of spare time on my work days.
I'll take a look at Xenforo. Price point is definitely a plus!