Sounders FC Alliance Council

SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC ALLIANCE COUNCIL

MEETING MINUTES

4 December 2018 – 7.00 pm – Rave Green Conference Room

Present (15 of 18): Martin Buckley, Stephanie Steiner, Daniel Roe, Nicholas Biela, Todd Cowles, Ben Slager, Cameron Collins, Molly Wagner, Kelsey Gallo, Jesse Kilgore, Gilbert Ko, Chris Urquart, Lisa Angeles, Jeff Williams and Louis Garcia

Absent (3): Alex Eagleton, Darla Langdon, Jerry Neil

Via telephone (0): None

I. Call to order: Martin Buckley

II. Roll. Cameron Collins: 15 of 18 present.

III. Matchday presentation update: Todd Albright. Todd described some proposed changes to matchday presentation.

IV. Welcome and introductions: New Council members. Kelsey Gallo, Ben Slager, Louis Garcia, Chris Urquart. Each new member introduced themselves; described why they joined Alliance Council – and what they hope to achieve.

V. Recap of Executive Committee Nomination and Voting Procedure: Martin Buckley

VI. Nomination of Election Committee: Daniel Roe and Jesse Kilgore were declared by proclamation to be the members of the Election Committee.

VII. Nominations and Elections for Executive Committee.

President: Martin Buckley was nominated to be Council President and ran without opposition.

Martin Buckley was declared President of the Alliance Council for 2018-2019 Council Year.

Vice President: Stephanie Steiner was nominated to be Council Vice President and ran without opposition.
Stephanie Steiner was declared Vice President of the Alliance Council for the 2018-2019 Council Year.

Secretary: Nicholaus Biela, Darla Langdon and Jeff Williams nominated themselves to run for Alliance Council Secretary. After each candidate delivered thoughts on why they should be elected Secretary and Council asked questions, a vote was taken. Darla Langdon had prepared comments delivered by Stephanie Steiner. Nicholas and Jeff tied in the voting in the first round.

Jeff was elected Secretary of the Alliance Council for the 2018-2019 Council Year.

At Large Position 1 (focus on outreach): Todd Cowles, Nicholaus Biela and Darla Langdon nominated themselves to run for At Large Position 1. After each candidate delivered thoughts on why they should be elected and Council asked questions, a vote was taken. Darla Langdon had prepared comments delivered by Stephanie Steiner.

Nicholaus was elected At Large Position 1 (outreach) of the Alliance Council for the 2018-2019 Council Year.

At Large Position 2 (focus on social media): Molly Wagner and Darla Langdon nominated themselves to run for At Large Position 2. After each candidate delivered thoughts on why they should be elected and Council asked questions, a vote was taken. Darla Langdon had prepared comments delivered by Stephanie Steiner.

Molly was elected At Large Position 2 (social media) of the Alliance Council for the 2018-2019 Council Year.

The 2018-2019 Alliance Council Executive Committee is: Martin Buckley, Stephanie Steiner, Jeff Williams, Nicholaus Biela and Molly Wagner.

VIII. Proposed Bylaw 12 – Voting Procedure for Executive Committee: First Reading

This proposed bylaw was reviewed and modified by Council. This will move forward to Second Reading at the January 2019 meeting.

IX. Matchpass charitable donation process. Council discussed and reviewed several options for our annual charitable donation from Matchpass proceeds. RAVE Foundation was nominated as the charity to receive these funds.

Moved for a vote. Seconded. Passed unanimously by Council.

X. Other business

The next meeting will be 8 January 2019. This is a rescheduled meeting – so will not count for attendance purposes.

Workgroups and priorities for 2019. Council were asked to prepare for the January meeting and consider the workgroups that are of most importance.

Player recognition. Nicholaus prepared some additional material for review which will be shared with the Council.

XI. Adjournment

Moved. Seconded. Council votes unanimously to adjourn.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC ALLIANCE COUNCIL

MEETING MINUTES

November 6, 2018 – 7:00 PM – The NINETY

Present (13 of 17): Lisa Angeles, Nicholaus Biela, Nick Biesold, Martin Buckley, Cameron Collins, Todd Cowles, Alex Eagleton, Roberta King, Darla Langdon, Jerry Neil, Stephanie Steiner, Molly Wagner, and Jeff Williams.

Via telephone (0): None.

Absent (4): Michael Dollard, Jesse Kilgore, Gilbert Ko, and Daniel Roe.

I. Call to order: Martin Buckley

II. Roll: Cameron Collins: 13 of 17 Present

III. Farewell to the 2017-2018 Council: Council President Martin Buckley thanks all of the Council Members who are attending their final Meeting for their service. There are three current Council Members whose terms are up and they are hoping to get their votes to return next Council year.

IV. 2018-2019 Council Voting Procedures: Voting rules laid out for Council elections that will occur next month, the first Meeting of the Council year. These rules were first developed by Council Member Daniel Roe and then laid out by Council President Martin Buckley.  Here is a brief outline of the procedure for the vote:

• The order of elections will be 1. President, 2. Vice President, 3. Secretary, 4. Treasurer (if required) and 5. At Large positions.
• Nominations may be made advance or at the Meeting where voting is to take place. Alliance Council Members may be nominated to self-nominate for any of the positions upon which the Council will be voting.
• Two Council Members who are not standing for election to the Executive Committee will oversee the elections as the Election Committee.
• For positions that are unopposed, the nominee is elected unanimously. For positions with two or more candidates, each nominee will be given two minutes to speak to Council about as to why Council should vote for that candidate. If a nominee is not present, another Council Member may speak on their behalf.
• Whomever receives the most votes will be elected to that position.

A question was raised in Council about the role of the Treasurer. This position is not currently voted upon by Council and exists in the Constitution in the event that Council has a budget to manage. At that time, Council will elect a Treasurer.

A question was raised about the role of the At Large members of the Executive Committee. Council talked in the last several months about making the At Large members responsible for specific tasks. One of the At Large positions should be the social media person. The second At Large position will focus on Outreach. The goal for this person will be to focus on the Season Ticket Members in the stands, helping them to understand that they have more than a commercial relationship with the club.

V. Sounders Player Recognition: Player Recognition workgroup had a phone call to further discuss how to develop this. The voting process would take place by the Council as a whole. The rough plan is having the framework for how to enshrine people in place and once that is set and have Council has elected its inaugural class, a presentation will be made to the Front Office laying out the entire plan. This project needs to be put on a fast track to make sure it gets done.

VI. Other business

Alliance Stories: This project seems to have stalled. On a recommendation from Stephanie Steiner, the content that was written will be posted as longer form blog posts or stories on the Alliance Council website.
Community outreach: Darla gave an update on her conversation with the Front Office regarding this topic.
Garage sale: Four Alliance Council members supported this event.

VII. Adjournment: Moved. Seconded. Council votes unanimously to adjourn.

 

SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC ALLIANCE COUNCIL

MEETING MINUTES

October 2, 2018 – 7:00 PM – The NINETY

Present (12 of 17):

Martin Buckley, Cameron Collins, Todd Cowles, Michael Dollard, Alex Eagleton, Jesse Kilgore, Roberta King, Gilbert Ko, Darla Langdon, Daniel Roe, Molly Wagner, and Jeff Williams.

Via telephone (0):

None.

Absent (5):

Lisa Angeles, Nicholaus Biela, Nick Biesold, Jerry Neil, and Stephanie Steiner.

I. Call to order – Martin Buckley

II. Roll – Cameron Collins: 12 of 17 Present

III. Council Work Sessions

Retired & Notable Player Recognition:

• Key questions include: Who do we include? (1970s to the Present?) How do we honor them? Where do we honor them? When do we honor them? What is the process for deciding who to honor?
• Nicholaus Biela submitted a framework. Dan, Nick, Jerry, Roberta, Alex, Molly, Cameron in the group. Discussion was held in the Facebook group on how the recognition should be carried out. The group liked the idea of a Hall of Fame type structure that would be presented by the Alliance. The group looked in to how the other local teams deal with honoring players. Council will start off developing the process and then sell the Club on recognizing what we are working on once we have decided on procedure.
• How is this different from the golden scarf? How do we differentiate between this and what the club does? What is the dream scenario? Ideas the Council put forth included: a ring of honor similar to the Seahawks, stars on a walk of fame type thing, bricks honoring the individuals. The key ideas are to look in to big ideas, find a solution that is accessible and visible to the Sounders fanbase. Another option mentioned was bricks from the March to the Match to the stadium where you walk over the names of the legends, making them a part of every march.
• Council can make opinion statements honoring players. That provides a level below a Hall of Fame type honor.

Alliance Business Meeting 2018:

Council President Martin Buckley had a call with the Front Office to start working on the meeting. The Club is currently looking at other potential venues that are somewhere in the 200-300 person capacity range. It will likely be held during the FIFA break, most likely the 13th or 14th of November due to the other events going on that week.

2017 meeting: At the end of the year, everyone received a survey from the front office. It had two questions…. 1) did you attend and how was it? 2) if you didn’t attend, what would make you attend? 5% very satisfied, 10% somewhat satisfied, 80% did not participate, 3% were somewhat unsatisfied, 2% were very unsatisfied. Last year we primarily streamed it and had some in people present in person. There were 70 seats for the general public that were given out by a lottery. Every single person who applied was offered a seat, yet there were people who didn’t show up, leaving open seats. The #1 complaint was that people wanted it in person, but the people who complained either didn’t request a seat or didn’t show up.

The only exception in the attendance numbers year by year was an uptick in the year of the Schmetzer announcement. At that time there were also locker room tours, autographs, and other such events. Those types of events are now separate, as they have become part of the summer celebration. The Club has committed to doing that event moving forward. The Alliance Business Meeting is now just about the business of the alliance. The fun event is during the summer.

Questions for the Council and Club to consider: how important is in person attendance? How important is streaming? 3x to 4x the in person attendance watched online. Streaming is important because people can also watch it after the fact. What if there is a memento for the people who win the lottery and get to come to the meeting?

10 Years of the Alliance:

Interest from the Council in moving this forward seems to have dried up. If there are multiple articles, there can be a longer form text with photos/videos in a timeline. Molly Wagner will still be interviewing former and current Council Presidents. She has been interviewing Paul Cox. Next, she will interview Stephanie and Martin. If any Council Members have input or comments, engage on the TEAMS site. If we do not get more content, we will not be able to carry out the project, so the Council must lean in to get it done.

Recognition of Council Members:

One of the things to propose for the new council come December, we need to start finding a way to reward those who do work. At that time, Council will revisit some of the previous ideas proposed to do this.

IV. GM Vote:

A lot of people voted online and in person when the vote launched. Voting then slowed down, but jumped again at the next home match. Council wants the club to push the vote before the next match and during halftime, as well a use a push notification on the app.

V. Next Alliance Council Meeting:

The next Council Meeting is the week before the Annual Business Meeting. Should we have a meeting or reschedule like we have in the past? The Council says yes, there will be a meeting next month. It will be the first Tuesday of November. The following week will be the ABM. December is the start of our new business year.

VI. Adjournment

Moved. Seconded. Council votes unanimously to adjourn.

Alliance Council Meeting November 6th 2018

By: Stephanie Steiner

The meeting started with Martin Buckley, President, acknowledging those who are leaving council (Nick Biesold, Mike Dollard, Karl Picard, and Roberta King) for their contributions to the Alliance.

We then discussed recruiting for council members: we need people who are doers, project manager type people.  Does anyone know people who could be good candidates?  Martin and I have both reached out to Supporter Groups and other volunteer organizations (this year and in the past), and they are challenged with the same issues we have: lots of people join, but few people contribute effort. Martin followed up on those conversations recently: no change. If anyone knows of people who would make good candidates: Gary Wright has volunteered to be a closer (and he’s amazing – we are so very lucky).

Election process for Executive Committee: Dan Roe began this, Martin has finished it. The process includes a committee just for elections: if you’re interested you can volunteer that night. To qualify, you must be able to count votes and you can’t be running for any of the offices.

Executive Committee At Large Positions: we need them to focus on social media and outreach.

Treasurer is listed in the Constitution, but we presently have no need for the position. If there were a need for the position, we’d add it.  There are no changes to the roles of president, vice president, and secretary.

Updates from work sessions:

Player Recognition (Nicholaus Biela):

• the group had a call and decided that the whole council would vote on the process.
• Rough plan: create the enshrinement inaugural class and then bring the whole plan to the front office.
• Martin: we need to hustle, this conversation is three months old.  The front office is looking to do this next year and if we don’t present them with a solution they’ll create one without us.
• Nick: We’re discussing similar possibilities as what other stadiums have: glass plaques, bronze, etc.  Figuring out which, and how to do things is still in conversation.
• Martin: We’ve got to get ideas in front of the F.O. now. Include them in the idea-building.
• Me: Be open to change and creativity. It’s possible they have access to things we haven’t seen, like perhaps something museum-like that is interactive and teaches, or is mobile and can move to an expanding location.  What if it’s a touchscreen and can teach people about a player instead of just a static image?

Annual Business Meeting (Martin Buckley):

• Meeting is November 13th.
• Format is live and streaming from The NINETY.
• As of 11/6/18 RSVPs are full and there are ten on the waitlist.
• RSVPs went to a form and waitlist clicks through to an email address.  Highest attendance at a meeting ever was for Brian Schmeltzer’s promotion to Head Coach, the worst kept secret ever 🙂
• Approximately 1300 attended that meeting.
• There were 2500 on the live stream last year (2017), plus additional views later.

Discussed complaints about visibility of the meeting. One person attending the meeting had received the Beyond the 90 email with the meeting announcement (previous week).

• No one had received any notification of the meeting prior to the going to waitlist.
• Several examples of the communication being inconsistent across platforms.

Annual Business Meeting Flow (subject to change):

• GM Vote Results
• Alliance Council Review
• Adrian – Owner’s Review
• Bart – Business Review
• Garth – Team Review (might also include coach Brian Schmetzer)
• Questions and Answers

Ten Years of the Alliance Project (Stephanie Steiner):

• we need to give up on this as a rich content project, we simply don’t have enough content and buy in.
• What we do have is really good: thank you to everyone who contributed their work.
• We need to take all of that content and post it into the “stories” section of our website and come up with a different hash tag.
• Nicholaus: what if we set tickler reminders for the social media team to repost “on this day…” kind of tweets and stuff?  <- brilliant idea, we should do that.
• By setting this apart from a ten year anniversary, it can continue to grow and then just keep going with stories in the future:  it’s no longer one anniversary, it’s representative of any moment that’s meaningful.

Community Outreach (Darla Langdon):

Darla reached out to Kimberly Aigner to see if there was a list of Community Outreach events for 2019 yet.  We know it’s early. We’re not going to pressure her to reply.  We don’t expect any list until next year.  Martin Q: did any AC members participate in their events?  Darla: no.

Garage Sale (Jerry Neil and Cameron Collins):

This went very smoothly, council members greeted and helped guide Alliance members.  Line was around the corner.  Limit of five items per customer.

Recording of the Live Stream of the 2018 Alliance Annual Business Meeting.

This event was held at The Ninety on 13th November 2018.

18 October 2018

By Martin Buckley

Alliance Council are reaching out to the broad Seattle Sounders fan base to look for insightful questions that you want to be asked at the Annual Business Meeting.

Representatives from Club Ownership, Front Office, Playing Staff and Alliance Council will be present at the meeting.

The call for questions was closed just prior to start of the the Annual Business Meeting.