Wednesday, February 3, 2010
An Open Letter to the Sounders FC Front Office, Alliance Council, and Supporters Groups
A big part of sports fandom is nostalgia, at least to most of those who have a genuine passion for their teams. In many cases, it is the team they grew up pulling for, for whatever reason, and they still do so today. It is a mistake to think of nostalgia as "good memories;" it would be more accurate to understand them as powerful memories, good or bad. Watching and enjoying sports provides many of us with a plethora of these powerful emotional memories, which in turn feed the nostalgia that keeps it all coming.
The Sounders, although claiming a history back to 1974 through various iterations, are in reality a brand spanking new sports entity. Sounders FC have been fortunate to connect immediately with many supporters in the region. The chord has been struck, for a variety of reasons that have been explored at length over the last year.
What we have here and now in this city, with the Sounders and their supporters, is a unique opportunity to get things right. Sports fans and supporters are consumers of big-time and professional sports, yet they are the most abused and overlooked party in the equation. Owners, commissioners, and players have been all too willing to abuse this largely unrequited love for their own personal gain. Fans and supporters have played their part in allowing this to happen.
In the American soccer community, there is a stated resistance to repeat these old habits, and at the forefront of this movement is Sounders FC and its supporters. We have the opportunity to create a community in which the supporters matter, and the club’s entire organization listens—really listens—rather than just pretend to listen. Thanks in large part to Drew Carey’s ownership, the apparatuses have been put into place for an ownership-fan relationship unique in American sports. The Alliance Council, the active and vibrant supporters groups, and a front office that purports to want to listen to the supporters are working together to see Carey’s vision through to reality.
Like Carey, I have long envisioned the "club membership" model in American professional sports. (I would like to see public ownership, but that may be a pipe dream, so this is certainly the next best thing.) I would like to see "club members," or season ticket holders, be treated as true shareholders in the interest of the club. Again, the nominal apparatuses are in place for this to happen with the Sounders, so let's continue to make this happen! Let's not put up with the same old excuses, the tired obfuscation from alleged "businessmen" who tend to hold too much sway within sporting organizations.
I am encouraged by what I have seen in my first year as a Sounders FC supporter but I am also struck that we are only partway there. This process may take a few years. In fact, in my efforts during the inaugural season, I always had it in my head that this is all "Project 2011" giving us all 2 solid years to really get our stuff together and become one of the great sporting clubs on the planet. Coincidentally enough, 2011 will be rocking when Vancouver and Portland join in. Let's give them something the really be jealous of!
Seattle is a town of innovators and has been for an entire century. We revolutionized air travel, computers, and coffee, just to name a few. Now, let’s revolutionize sports fandom in America!
Jake Reeder
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Ken Wyatt for Sounders FC Alliance Council
Ken Wyatt is gathering votes to be on the Sounders FC Alliance Council and is hoping to be the first person to represent the North End of Qwest on the council.
Ken played soccer as a youth in Yakima and has been a supporter of the sport his whole life. He is a season ticket holder with his fiancée and, early in the 2009 season, joined the leadership council of the newly formed North End Supporters. You may have seen Ken sporting his green devil horns, banging a drum in the March to the Match, and chanting at the top of his lungs in the north end of Qwest.
Season ticket holders get one vote per account. If you held season tickets in 2009, your vote from last year carries over to this season's tally, but you also get a vote for 2010!
It’s time to add a north ender to the Alliance Council. Please vote for Ken Wyatt!
Thank you!
Please cast your vote at https://eballot.votenet.com/SeattleSoccer/login.cfm.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Haiti Needs Our Help!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Say Goodbye to Seba!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Le Toux to Philadelphia
Saturday, November 14, 2009
MLS Cup Weekend Events
Thursday, November 5, 2009
SSFC vs Houston Away Game Viewing Party
5105 Ballard Ave. NW
Seattle, WA 98107
206-420-2737
www.ballardloft.com
(all ages welcome)