Sounders FC Alliance Council

Democracy in Sports: the Meaning Behind the Words

May 3, 2015

By Stephanie Steiner, Alliance Council President

In February of this year, Alliance Council was invited to SSFC headquarters to meet with Adrian Hanauer and to be introduced to our new General Manager and President of Soccer, Garth Lagerwey for the first time. During the evening’s conversation, Mr. Hanauer introduced the topic of the General Manager Vote and asked us to collect our thoughts and make a recommendation on the right thing to do regarding the timing of the vote. In reading the Charter, we realized the ambiguity of the language included there. So here we are, only two and a half years following Adrian Hanauer’s landslide vote of “confidence,” facing questions we weren’t expecting so soon, if at all: Is it the right thing to do for the Club to hold a GM Vote every four years on a set schedule no matter what? Could it interfere with the Club’s ability to hire the best General Manager possible, if the candidate would be facing a vote within a very short time of accepting the position? If the candidate is the best and confident in their abilities, would that scheduled vote even matter to the person? What is the Alliance actually expecting or wanting?

At the March Council meeting three weeks later, we created a work group to take on the task of debating the conversation surrounding the GM Vote topic, collecting ideas and opinions, and we took those to the general council meeting in April. After that conversation, the ideas grew and the extended list was shared with our SSFC Liaison, Taylor Graham at the end of April – and the ideas grew even further. It is easy to see how each time we add a different perspective to the conversation, new ideas emerge as to how to solve the same challenges and our opportunities to satisfy our Alliance members get better and far more interesting.

Our challenge has been to get to the Alliance at large. In the coming weeks, you will see these questions in social media. Please take the time to answer them in the comment sections of that media format, or send us a direct message: SSFCAlliance@gmail.com

Democracy in Sports: What does it mean to you?

What would “Democracy in Sports” need to provide such that the Season Ticket Members could influence the direction of the Club?

In a perfect world, what does “Democracy in Sports” mean to you? How would it function?

With regard to General Manger Vote of Confidence – No Confidence, do you believe a new General Manager should have a minimum amount of time to prove him/herself in the position before facing a vote? If so, how much?

In the context of “Democracy in Sports,” what can be done to make this your Club and not just a product you are consuming?

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Go Sounders!

May 7, 2015

By Karl Picard, Alliance Council Member

This is the first in a series of Alliance Council meeting recaps. For more information about the Alliance Council, click here.

At the May 5^th Alliance Council meeting we met with Maya Mendoza-Exstrom (Sounders FC General Counsel and Executive Director of the Rave Foundation) and Petyr Beck (Publisher at Documentary Media). Maya has been involved with the Sounders since she was a baby going to games, with her father as General Counsel for A-League/USL Sounders, and now she works with the MLS club. She has also played and coached in the area at several levels, really just being part of the soccer fabric around Seattle.

Maya and Petyr are building a book around the history of the Sounders with the proceeds generating funds for the Rave Foundation as it’s first fundraiser. The focus is not your typical history of a sports team but rather around the relationship between the community and fan base that has developed from the 40 plus years of Sounder history. Petyr was actually a roommate of Adrian in college and has been around the Sounder legacy for his whole life.

The book will contain lots of full-page photos depicting Sounders related interactions around the community, not just in the stadium or at games but from bars and events. The book will contain quotes, memories, and a few short essays, but will mainly be driven by the photos. They are looking for the community to help them in this effort by offering pictures and stories; anything that reflects the soccer community and its influence on the Sounders and soccer in the region. The best stuff will likely come from a personal perspective, from being at the stadiums to viewing parties to events. We’ll have more to come on how to share those experiences, but get your photos and stories together.

Maya also talked to us a bit about the Rave Foundation and their efforts around equity and access to the game of soccer. How do they influence urban areas and deliver the game to those who can’t afford the youth leagues in the area, similar to what the NBA has done with basketball. They are looking to build tennis court size fields in neighborhoods and areas of the City that are field deserts or which do not have quality places to play that are open and accessible without having to rent the field. She also mentioned they are planning small-sided, pick-up street soccer events throughout the City.

The last hour of the Council meeting was dedicated to ongoing business, mostly updates regarding progress about the General Manager Vote conversation with the Club. The previous week, Stephanie Steiner had met with Taylor Graham to discuss several options we had come up with to manage the GM Vote as well as outline concerns expressed by the Alliance which needed to be addressed in conversation with ownereship. Taylor took back all of the documents after review and the request and will bring them to Adrian Hanauer.

Additionally, all work groups which were present gave updates regarding their tasks:

SG Work Group: Mark Nesterhoff, Dan Roe, Brendan Vaughn, and Stephanie Steiner held a conference call to outline questions for the Club.

EOY Business Meeting: Kristina Vaughn was told its too early to discuss the EOY BM – we disagree. We only have five more regular council meetings before we are at the EOY Business Meeting. She will revisit the conversation.