Tag: Alliance Council

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Meeting Recap: July 2016


photo by Karl Picard

By Karl Picard

July 22,2016

The July meeting was in the Sounders offices as The NINETY was being used.  With 20 people in attendance the room was quite warm for the 3 hour meeting (extended to get a bunch of old business done). We started off with a visit from Mikaela Purvis (Director of Fan Relations) to go over the renewal process and notifications the Club was planning to send out over the next month and half.  The highlights of the presentation were:

  • We discussed the Save the Date email which you should have received this week
  • An additional email will be sent around Aug 1st with the full information about the renewal process
  • This year’s auto-renewal: you won’t have to interact with Ticketmaster, Sounders are taking over that area.  You’ll still use the Ticketmaster login but the look and feels will all be Sounders based
  • You will be able to update delivery address, personal info, parking options, and credit card details
  • Accounts that opted for auto-renewal will have an option to verify their info, you don’t have to but you can change the payment plan and other items.  Sept 1st will be the first time they process payments, the amount will depend on your payment plan
  • For those who didn’t sign up for auto-renew, it will be a similar process as last year, with invoices available on August 1 and you will need to process your renewal either online through Ticketmaster, over the phone or at the match on 8/14 or 8/21 prior to the September 1 deadline.
  • All Alliance Members are automatically opted into the relocation process, Sounders FC just needs to process your renewal first in order to be eligible
  • Within the invoice for auto-renewal will be your opportunity to opt-in to a different ticket type other than mobile
  • Payments are the first business day of each month.  The options are full payment on 9/1, 50/50 or the 6 month plan
  • To better help Alliance Members with the bag changes Century Link will implement, those with packages of ½ season or more will get a clear bag, one per seat
  • Additional renewal events are being discussed for the month of August so stay tuned.

Council members were asked for feedback and we provided some in the areas that seemed confusing.  Overall the renewal process seemed much improved from an informational standpoint from last year.

Next we got some updates from our work groups.  The big stuff was the progress made on the Constitution, Articles, and Bylaws.  These were dealing with everything from Council election rules to GM stuff to proposing Alliance-wide votes or Alliance Council statements.  All of this work will need to be finalized in the coming weeks so we can get it out for an Alliance-wide ratification this fall.  Once approved, we’ll have all the changes the Council has worked on for as long as I have been a member in place.

Then it was onto making some changes to how the Council operates.  Moving away from the working groups (or at least for the initial efforts, they might still be used in some cases) to a structured schedule of Strategy Sessions with the Club.  This would allow us to focus in on areas where the Council can better engage the Front Office/Club and have the right people to get some real progress on issues/topics. The ultimate goal of this change is to have the Alliance Council take action and better represent the Alliance.

Another topic was regarding the nomination of Honorary Chairperson of the Alliance Council.  We may get to a point where we designate one annually, so we discussed ensuring Drew Carey is always recognized as the first Honorary Chairperson and the owner who brought us the whole idea of the Alliance.

One final personal note outside of the meeting recap, the Alliance Council is working hard to help improve the overall fan experience.  This year has been suboptimal, to say the least, in many aspects.  There are lots of cries for the Council to do something, and trust me we are working on it.  With really only 20 people working for you in a volunteer effort there is only so much we can do.  We get lots of folks on social media calling on us to get something done, if you want something done: join and help.  These developments that were acknowledged in the Club’s email were the result of a continued and cooperative effort between us and the Fan Relations Team. We are grateful for the open lines of communication between us.

Alliance Member Improvements 2016 MidYear

 

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Respect and Gratitude


By Stephanie Steiner

July 21, 2016

Years ago, I was in an Alliance Council meeting with Sounders FC front office members and their adidas™ representative at the time (I don’t remember his name).  One of the topics of conversation was disdain for the women’s jerseys.  He talked about how poorly women’s attire sold and listed that as the main reason their company didn’t have a huge interest in investing heavily in women’s jerseys or other attire.  Our response was pretty much along the lines of “Wait, wait, wait! We’re Sounders fans – do you know who you’re talking to? We buy a lot of stuff.” He was really diplomatic, but he never wavered from his message: Sounders women’s jerseys don’t sell either.  We had a limited conversation about why women don’t buy them, and he gracefully gave us the opportunity to engage further.

Earlier this year, after seeing that two MLS clubs had released women’s jerseys which were more representative of what an athlete would wear on the pitch, we re-engaged in this conversation. I posted a blog about it here. Sounders FO personnel and owners were very open to making changes, and I’m not even sure they were ever made aware of more authentic options.

Today, I am proud and honored. I have learned that adidas™ and Sounders FC were able to make changes even this far into the production schedule.  The 2017 offering will include a women’s jersey with a more authentic neckline and cut. Making such a change happen after the jerseys were this far into the production cycle is no small feat, and speaks greatly to the respect that Sounders FC has for us and the concern we brought forward.  Alliance Council can’t fix everything, and there are days when I feel like we’ll never be able to fix enough – but this is one that women have complained about for years.  Some of the clearest explanations came in social media replies as the original blog was forwarded and posted:  “I’m tired of having to buy clothes to wear under my clothes,” and “Show me a team that ever entered the pitch dressed like that.”

Ladies, you’ve been heard.

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Meetings

Meeting Recap: June 2016

By Thom Kephart and Stephanie Steiner

New business at this meeting was a Supporter Liaison Officer resolution proposed by Paul Cox.  This conversation was tabled until we can discuss at greater length and expect to devote time to this topic in our next meeting. The goal of this proposal aligns with the goal of the Alliance which is to positively influence the game day experience.

We had a heated conversation about our productivity particularly around how we are representing the fan voice and progress within our work groups.  Pretty much everyone on the Council agrees that the Council as a whole is not producing enough for the Alliance; i.e. for you. Half way through the season and the Council is short on representatives who are striving to push for change. We are short on action oriented people. This is where you come in; If you think you can make a good contribution to the Alliance, nominate yourself for Council here.  To learn more about what is entailed, check out this blog and this link.

Sometimes our meetings feel like Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day, especially with our June meeting being devoted to voting on Constitutional changes presented in May. However, with repeated efforts we are able to move forward toward the greater good.  Why must we do everything twice?  The Constitution requires that every new Article or Bylaw (or every change – called an amendment), must be presented at one meeting and voted upon at the next.  This provides our Council members with the time needed for consideration.  Usually, there is discussion on the topics at each meeting, because people have ideas whenever they have them, not on a convenient schedule.

Our objective is to have the cleanest possible and most relevant version of the Constitution ready for the Alliance to ratify when we host the annual scarf vote.  The most important section is the addition of General Manager Vote and Recall – this section is not in the Constitution that was ratified in 2011.  Solidifying that work could be extremely important in the future and finalizing the Constitution has a big deadline.

If you’d like to read about some of the other things we’re working on, you can check out this blog.

We’d love to hear from you: hit us up on the comments, Facebook or Twitter.  You can also look back at the meeting minutes for past Alliance Council meetings.

 

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Baggage and Gaggage

photo by Stephanie Steiner

By Stephanie Steiner

May 20, 2016

I had the opportunity to attend a Sounders’ event this week, and I engaged several of the Front Office staff (different levels) in some pretty interesting conversations.  I’ve been known to take these casual opportunities to pitch the needs of the Alliance.  But this week was particularly interesting, as I learned something pretty damned important: Clear plastic bags (in 2017): are being mandated by CenturyLink Field. Guess what? CenturyLink Field actually tried to mandate them this year to match the Seahawks rules, and Sounders told them to pound sand (probably something more professional than that, but I would have used four-letter words).  CenturyLink didn’t give them enough notice, and didn’t give the Club enough time to provide any solutions, so the Club shut it down.

Then MLS put out the bag rules and the Club actually negotiated to not follow those rules here because we have a “really good” (quotes added because you know why) security system with inspections and wanding. CenturyLink Field said something along the line of “Forget it. If MLS has published rules, and SSFC does not follow them, then if anything ever happens no matter what it is, it’ll be 100% on the Sounders.” So Sounders adopted the new rules. Sounders’ verbiage with the announcement regarding 2017 does not specify that CenturyLink Field is mandating the clear bag rule because the powers that be want “to be good business partners with Century Link.”

Sometimes this crap just makes me nutty.  Actually, all the time.  I know they need to be good business partners – fine.  Is it so damned hard to say you have to do something that your fans are going to hate?  I wrote Taylor Graham a very nasty email that used the phrase “pain in the ass factor” many times.  I don’t understand how the relationship between the Club and CenturyLink Field could possibly be so fragile.  The Sounders are the biggest tenant.  The Sounders are CenturyLink’s customer, not the other way around.

Yet without these pieces of information, Sounders’ customers are left feeling like we are not important (I certainly did).  We end up feeling like this is one more thing to make our matchday more difficult, and most of us who have been active in this conversation were left thinking the FO didn’t care. Well it looks like they went to bat for us in a pretty big way. Why couldn’t they just say so? Isn’t the relationship with their own customers more important?  Seriously, if I don’t get those angry comments, I’m not going to be lonely.  I bet their customer service agents won’t either.  This doesn’t make the bag rule any easier to tolerate, but at least I can direct my contempt at the right target.

Here are a few other topics I was able to slide in:

Matchpass vs. Mobile Tickets – when the Alliance Council first had the conversation, we all thought mobile tickets were going to be optional. No matter the hot button of the day/week, it still does not outrank the number of requests to get Matchpasses back. I asked that they please allow STMs to opt-in for Matchpasses: please create a solution.  Well, I can’t say that the solution will be a plastic card, but I do feel like I’ve been heard. I don’t know what’s in the works, but I think something is going on.
Ross Fletcher vs. Keith Costigan – first, the Club is not ever going to make comments on human resource issues.  Get used to it.  I could get laid off today – and no one from the Front Office gets to show up at my office and demand an answer why. I hate that we don’t have Ross, and I never believed that it wasn’t a dollars and cents decision, and I said so (minute 1:18:30).  But aside from that – Adrian asked us to be patient, and asked us to trust the organization. There’s no reason we can’t talk about the broadcast. Well, we’re now in May – is the broadcast better? I hear from people all the time who don’t think so. I don’t think so. While I’m willing to concede that most people don’t pay as much attention and don’t care as much as the people I hear from, then aren’t we at the point in time that we should listen to the people who do care? This one isn’t going away until it’s solved or until we go away.  With this, I was able to segue into how they address the really passionate followers:

I talked about the Club’s attitude toward the “small group of passionate fans.” Those of us with deeper than passing knowledge, the avid followers who have been around for a while, the ones who read information and pay attention. I said the Club is terrible at addressing that group of people, and in my opinion they under-estimate the ripple effect of the passion (or its absence). They have access to multiple channels for communication, so they need to start using them.  The messages don’t have to be the same on Twitter as they are on Facebook or email. But for crying out loud – start talking directly to that group (us!) because when that group starts to check out, the impact will be felt now and for many years to come.  There will come a time when base prices for tickets are double what they are today.  I don’t want the Club to struggle to sell them.  I don’t want there to be a time when kids’ jerseys don’t sell because people stopped teaching their kids to make this their Club. I said, “You have an Executive Committee that you can access nearly any time, and a whole Alliance Council. Yet it very much feels like any time the organization doesn’t want to hear anything it doesn’t like, it just won’t ask the question – therefore, full steam ahead!”

I feel very strongly if they don’t better consider their fans when they make decisions, many of those fans are going to stop considering the Club when they make theirs. That will be a really expensive problem to solve.  Well, this week I learned that some of those mis-steps that I have blamed on the Front Office didn’t come from the FO.  I’ll still think it’s stupid that they didn’t just say so the first time.

The terrible photo of Roman Torres has nothing to do with this post.  But Roman is running around at practice in boots.  Soon, he’ll be running on our pitch.  That day will be a very good day.

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Clear Invasion of Privacy, Clear Slowdowns in 2017

photo from Amazon.com

May 13, 2016

By Eric Flatness

When we first began to hear rumblings of a new MLS-wide bag policy last month, the reactions to it were nearly universally negative, as moves to limit customer choice always are. Council refrained to make a statement on the matter then, and more discussion is needed before an Alliance-wide statement-of-record could potentially be made. But before this issue is forgotten and accepted, this piece needed to be “said:”

The Sounders fanbase is a diverse one, with many unique gameday rituals and ways to spend time before and after matches. Situated at the junction of Pioneer Square and SoDo, CenturyLink Field is perfectly located for fans who would prefer to bike or use mass transit rather than driving and hunting (or paying exorbitant amounts) for parking. The club itself promotes these alternate gameday modes in their weekly emails and at the stadium.

The way these fans experience gameday will now fundamentally change. Bikers will have to make tough decisions between packing what they need or keeping their things secure. Anyone who wants to attend a match directly after work will need to be willing to buy a clear plastic bag, so everyone can see all the valuable electronics and personal hygiene items they’ve got packed in. We’re looking at a significant “infrastructure” change for non-driving fans, and even for many who do. This new policy spits in the faces of all those who aren’t interested in or willing to commit to that battle and drive in one of the most traffic-congested cities in America.

It’s terribly disappointing that MLS has given in to the same fear that other American sports leagues have bowed to in recent years; the idea that large televised crowds are targets for the worst people in our society, that keeping that one deranged individual out of the building is worth the paranoia that turns more and more people away from live sports every year.

In 2017 the restrictions will become even more prohibitive; only clear bags will be allowed inside (this is not directed by the MLS, but instead a choice made by our local decision makers, thank you very much!). The NFL made this change a few years ago; the Seahawks made an attempt to lessen the blow by giving bags that fit their guidelines to all season ticket holders. But the bags they distributed were poorly made, little more than sheets of plastic with a hem stapled to the edges. Mine fell apart in just over a single season of use.

The new policy will also be a problem for driving fans; cars will more than ever be targets for thieves now that they know fewer fans are bringing their valuables inside. And it didn’t appear to have a significant effect on line speed either; the fans don’t seem to benefit from this move at all.

Last year, a terrorist group attempted to exploit security at a Paris soccer stadium to set off a bomb with 80,000 people in attendance. The attempt came 15 minutes after the match, so when the man failed his security check, he ran away and detonated his suicide vest. Events like this one are likely the inspiration for more restrictive entry procedure, and yet there’s significant question as to whether these changes make anyone safer.

As one member of the Alliance Council, I wholeheartedly reject the new MLS bag policy and hope that the Council will be able to make it clear just how damaging this erosion of supporters rights is to the live sports product.

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Meeting Recap: May 2016

Photo by Karl Picard

By Karl Picard

The May Alliance Council meeting, which took place at The NINTEY with cardboard cutouts of Clint, Chad and Nelson (not pictured), watching over us, was begun with old business: reviewing changes we’ve been working on to the Constitution and Bylaws of the Council.  This work started last year and we are closing in on the final efforts to get it out to the whole Alliance to be ratified later this season.  This work is in no way sexy but it does pave the way for the Alliance Council to better represent the fans moving forward.

Many of the changes are simple like using ubiquitous language thought the document to allow for easier understanding and creating consistency throughout the Constitution. Other items are around the fact at times the Council is referred to as a corporation, which is incorrect.  Maybe at some point we’ll incorporate, but if we use the word “Council,” we’re accurate now and in the future. We are working on how to make those that purchase any ticket package (not just a full season ticket package) are included in the Alliance.  We’re also working to have an attendance policy for Council Members to ensure they are representing the fans that voted them in, and to ensure they are knowledgeable about what they are voting on by participating in Council business.

We ended the evening with New Business: specifically, discussion around the new bag policy which was released by MLS in late April, the mobile ticketing issues from the 4/30 Columbus game, and the overall customer service the Sounders have been providing.  While we didn’t get deep into specific details, a few members of the Council did discuss writing up some possible opinion statements or blog entries to get deeper into the items we’ve been hearing from fans and experiencing ourselves this season.  We will also continue to explore ways to influence the Club and specifically the front office to respond to the needs of the Alliance Members.

We’d love to hear from you: hit us up on the comments, Facebook or Twitter.  You can also look back at the meeting minutes for past Alliance Council meetings.

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Meeting Recap: April 5th, 2016


photo credit: unknown

By Eric Flatness

Tuesday, April 5 was the third meeting of the year for the full Alliance Council, joined by Taylor Graham as well as Kyle Sheldon (VP of Marketing) and Al Raitt (Gameday Presentation). The club staff at hand garnered much interest right away as Council members peppered the pair with questions about potential and insipient stadium changes, gameday signage and the logistics of showing video replay of controversial plays and decisions.

This meeting came in the immediate wake of the previous weekend’s home loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps, a match that featured two… let’s say “interesting”… penalty kicks for the away team. Raitt was able to clarify the policies that govern what replays are shown on the in-stadium video boards. The league itself has certain guidelines on what can and cannot be shown, and disputed plays are treated gingerly (likely with the intention of avoiding inciting the crowd.) It was brought up that many fans can now watch the plays via their mobile phones (using in-stadium wi-fi no less) and that gifs via Twitter and other social media can make the situation even worse. We were told concerns would be passed on to the league.

Raitt and Sheldon both addressed a noticeable change occurring at the stadium: the inclusion of the wrap-around video boards on the edge of the upper deck. The boards should be fully functional in May, and will include new gameday features as well as old ones (scoreboard) and likely some new advertising opportunities.

Most members of the council were pleasantly surprised with the increased speed getting through security lines since the first match, though it was noted that consistency was still an issue for wanders. Some had heard examples of people being asked to unzip jackets and take off hats while others had not been asked to do so. One problem that no one had was with the mobile ticketing-the new tickets seem to work exactly as intended.

We’d love to hear from you: hit us up on the comments, Facebook or Twitter.  You can also look back at the meeting minutes for past Alliance Council meetings.

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Meeting Recap: March 2016

Democracy in Sports photo from The NINETY

photo credit: Karl Picard

By Karl Picard

March 14, 2016

Our last Alliance Council meeting was on 3/1.  We had 15 members attend the meeting and one member that called in.  The meeting started with the AC chatting with Taylor Graham.  The main focus of the discussion was how things went for the Club America match, which was the first home game using the mobile app tickets and other changes.  Overall the feedback from the Council members, based on conversations with fellow fans and season ticket members combined with what we saw on social media, indicated entry and use of the app was pretty smooth.  We did share some isolated issues with Taylor as well.

Security at the Club America game was another matter we discussed, mostly around inconsistencies. This is an area that we are starting to hear more about and are making sure the Front Office is aware of fan concerns.

We also discussed the changes around MatchPass and the fact there are no longer points but rather random drawings or buy it now options for rewards.   They are also using the info gathered from the users of the app and mobile tickets to send targeted emails to Season Ticket Holders (STH). The direct messages were sent prior to the home opener, so you should have seen one prior to  the KC game.  We discussed how there are language options on the Sounders App, including Spanish. Fans who have set their phone to Spanish saw the app in Spanish. Many commented how this was a step in the right direction coming out of the November Annual Business Meeting.

The council spent time discussing app features with Taylor, including the ability to reach your ticket rep during games from the app’s MatchPass Profile page.   The “My Rep” area contains your rep’s email and phone number and even a quick way to add them to your phone contacts.

A question was raised to Taylor about the capping the resale of GA tickets via the Ticket Exchange. He clarified that capping GA resale is not in affect this year but that is being looked into for next year.

A few other items that we’ve made progress towards were around dynamic pricing and the women’s jersey.  The dynamic pricing was discussed and Taylor clarified that this practicehas been in place for a couple seasons now.  Craig Dillon on the Council called out that the ADA tickets seemed to be mis-priced as they were more expensive than those seats around them.  Taylor looked into the issue with the sales team and it has been resolved.  One note, Taylor mentioned that if you are a fan in need they will do all they can to accommodate you.

Stephanie Steiner brought up the subject of our women’s jersey, citing concerns we’ve received over the years regarding the neckline. This  issue got a lot of attention and you should read more about it on the blog.  (We appreciated all the feedback we got via social media around this subject too!!) The Club and adidas™ have heard our concerns and we will keep pushing on this subject to create positive change.

After finishing with Taylor we moved onto the work groups for the year.  The following list captures the areas we are currently focused on but we’ll continue to refine as necessary as the season progresses:

  • GM Recall and Alliance Council Membership Eligibility – finalize the Charter, Bylaws and Constitution so they can be voted upon in 2016.
  • Support Group – clarification on the bylaw and how Support groups are recognized
  • Visibility Group – social media, blog, outreach and charity involvement to ensure the Alliance Council Members know what is happening and that we are positively impacting area charities.
  • Scarf Vote – ensuring the tradition of our Scarf Vote continues for 2017
  • Kit/Jersey – working with the Front Office to ensure fans have a stake in kit designs
  • Annual Meeting – end of year business review operations
  • Seating Expectations – addressing the sit vs. stand concerns voiced by STMs with the FO and Stadium Operations
  • Women’s Attire/Jersey – working with the Kit/Jersey team, but focused on ensuring there are more options for female fans.
  • STM giveaway – explore options to provide to season ticket members including the traditional scarf vs other items

If any of the above areas are of interest to you or you feel like you have something you want to address as part of fan and game day experiences, we encourage you to run for council. The voting and nomination site is up for the Alliance Council; the more people we have the more change we can impact.

That’s all for March.  Continue to provide feedback via Twitter, Facebook or comments on this blog (scroll down to “leave a reply”).

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No Cleavage in Soccer

By Stephanie Steiner

March 2, 2016

#NoCleavageInSoccer is a hashtag I started tweeting aggressively last year when the television correspondent assigned to one of our away matches was a bit (cough!) underdressed. Q13, get your shirt together. I felt then, as I do now, that such a display was disrespectful to players and fans of the sport, many of whom are women and girls.  The value they bring to soccer is not their cleavage, and in my opinion, such a display doesn’t send a message of equality, respect, or unity – and I was vocal about it.

Last night, the Alliance Council had the opportunity to bring our concerns about the Sounders FC’s women’s jerseys to the front office (not the first time, and there have been complaints about them for years).  I followed up this morning with the letter (below) and the images of our women’s jersey compared to NYFC’s women’s jersey.

From: Stephanie S
Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2016 10:07 AM
To: Taylor Graham
Subject: Women’s Jersey Feedback

The criticism is that the neckline is ridiculous and objectifies women – entirely unnecessary when we’re in a conversation about jerseys. Please keep cleavage out of soccer – soccer is for girls too, and their worth is not their cleavage. We don’t believe this jersey is an example of the equality direction in which Sounders FC has been heading.

This jersey came from the Club – if adidas ™ can produce one with a normal neckline for NYFC then they can produce one with a normal neckline for us: [photo inserts]

Thank you for being willing to forward this on.

My letter was indeed forwarded, and in less than an hour, I had already had a reply: Of all of the other teams that offer a women’s jersey, NYCFC is currently* the only team that does not have our current neckline or last year’s scoop neck.  Their women’s neckline pictured is only available in the kit pictured [higher neckline].  These concerns will be addressed with adidas™.  

*a few weeks ago, a Vancouver Whitecaps women’s jersey was seen in social media with a high neckline like that of NYFC, but at the time I wrote my letter, I was not able to find it on MLSstore.com, nor were the contacts in the Front Office able to find it.  It doesn’t look like any other clubs were offered the higher necklines – and we don’t know why.

I want to thank Sounders FC for taking our concerns seriously and for being willing to address them with adidas™.  This matters to us, and I’m both happy and proud that it matters to our Front Office representatives and our merchandising team.

I’m not a small girl.  I’m not young. I’m not “maturing.” I have anatomy I’m proud of at times and other times, I feel preyed upon. But at my age, I’ve got the benefit of time and wisdom, and both good and frightening experiences behind me.  One of those was just Monday morning.  Yes, really – even at my age, even in my career path, objectification and demeaning behavior creeps into professional environments.  Let’s keep that out of soccer, and let’s keep that away from our girls as long as we can – at least until they’ve got the personal skills and strength to deal with it.  If a woman wants to show off “her girls,” great – there are plenty of tee shirts to choose from. There is only one jersey – let’s keep it as authentic as possible. The Club has never released a jersey for the team with a plunge neckline, cap sleeves, and a short midriff. Men’s jerseys in the proshop aren’t relegated to these options. We already know “women’s cut” jerseys are poor sellers, because the adidas representative told us so – women reject these.

Being inclusive is important. Standing up for equality matters.  Following through with integrity is our responsibility.  We can’t get to everything that we’d like to accomplish on the Alliance Council; we don’t even come close.  But today was a good day.  I know jerseys are designed years in advance – I hope changes can be made that impact the 2017 jersey for women and every jersey thereafter. Below are only a few of the endless reasons why.

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Meeting Recap: February 2016

Tweet credited to Likkit Pocinwong

By Stephanie Steiner

February 20th, 2016

This was the first meeting with our new attendance bylaw in effect – four people called in.

We started our meeting with a presentation from Taylor Graham, Mikaela Purvis, and Megan West to cover mobile ticketing, Matchpass rewards, the new mobile app, account representative restructure, and voting.  The news:

  • Sounders invested heavily and built their own app.
  • Matchpasses for entry and pre-printed tickets were going away – entry was mobile only.
  • Matchpass points were going away. For a loyalty program they never really worked, and were a cause for constant frustration.  Charitable support was more aligned with the brand and with the priorities of Sounders Season Ticket Members.
  • Voting: delayed. All efforts being focused on start of the season. Once everything was ready, Primary Account Holders would be able to designate voters from within the app itself. As of this writing, it appears as though voting is still not yet turned on. Primary Account Holders will be able to vote now and start designating voters as soon as it is. The FO is concentrating their efforts on making sure mobile entry works to get people through the gates before they take on anything else.
  • Mobile App: heavy investment into communication with STMs and entertainment options.
  • Account Managers: restructured and reassigned by “neighborhoods” within the stadium. Since they’ll know which seats are vacant on matchday, they can go sit within their sections and be available.  Neighborhood parties being planned.
  • Buy It Now option within MatchPass to generate funds for charity, 1/3 of those funds directed by the Alliance Council to a cause.
  • Mikaela Purvis, Megan West, and Taylor Graham will partner as liaisons to the Alliance Council going forward.

It’s important to note that although several Alliance Council members had been beta testing the app for a little over a week by this point, this is the first we’d heard of ticketing being moved to mobile only.  The November meeting with owners included conversations about mobile ticketing, but not from any perspective of “only.”

After they left, we approved our minutes from the November 2015 meeting and then went around the room and briefly highlighted for each other why we nominated ourselves for the the Alliance Council.  We held our annual elections:

President: Stephanie Steiner (unopposed)

Vice President: Kristina Vaughn (unopposed)

Secretary: Cameron Collins (unopposed)

All three of the above are on the Executive Committee – President and Vice President are automatic.  Also elected to the Executive Committee were Martin Buckley and Daniel Roe.

We then moved into a conversation about our workgroups, we changed the names of some and added a few more.  I left one off inadvertently (women’s attire), but since it’s already been created we don’t need to vote it into existence – it already exists, we just need someone to lead it.

We have far more workgroups than our twenty-three members will be able to manage, we will have to prioritize them as the season goes. Our groups are:

GM Vote – write our language into Charter and Constitution

Member Eligibility – Do we want to charge people to join the Alliance? Is $125 too much or too little? What about S2 season ticket holders?  Partial Seasons?

Supporter Group recognition

Alliance Council Visibility – blog, social media, Pre-match table: all included here

Community Outreach – also included here is charity partnership

Scarf Vote

MatchPass – program has been entirely restructured, not sure what will be needed here

Kit (we are done with jock tag thru 2017, next chance to be involved is 2018)

Annual Meeting Questions – does this need to be a workgroup or just take volunteers at the time?

End of Year Meeting – already have a full team here

Season Ticket Holder Giveaways – scarf or?

Presentations from the FO – doesn’t need to be a workgroup, can just work with Stephanie to get onto the agenda when the agenda can accommodate the time

Constitution & Bylaws – rewrites, what language and concepts should change – get out to Alliance for a vote in ’16

Budget – build awareness of the Alliance Council, members stop spending own money

Seating Expectations – will discuss all issues related to seating in stadium.

Women’s Attire – Sounders attire still not right for women fans

Our last conversation of the meeting was about Season Ticket Members’ request for greater transparency, specifically the request that we publish our votes by member. The greatest complaint was about the number of people who have abstained. In the end, we have decided not to publish the votes.  The reasons surrounding that are that we are not a governing body, we don’t get to decide what the Sounders do.  We can merely make recommendations.  And our members have been harassed – sometimes even from other council members.  We had a lengthy conversation regarding the desire for more information and more perspectives being made available to the Alliance.  It’s too early to say if that will result in more views being expressed in the Opinions section, I hope so.

That summed up the first meeting.  We got feedback later from our call-in members that the Batphone worked fine, so that’s good.  We moved it up and down the table to keep it near the person who was talking – not always convenient, but not impossible to maintain.

And then a week later I went to bed and forgot to turn my phone off.  Like any girl from Italian lineage, when a phone keeps blowing up into the wee hours of the morning, I got up and went downstairs with heavy heart to learn the dreaded answer to the only question that could cause an iPhone to dance explosively across the countertop: Who died?  Luckily, I learned no one had.

What happened instead is that last December, some ditzy broad (who looks exactly like me) thought it would be an awesome idea to introduce season ticket members to the Alliance that they’re a part of. What a novel idea – an introduction!  That introduction went out in the season ticket member packages that also introduced the words mobile only.  I turned my phone off.  I went back to bed.  I did not sleep.  In fact, I didn’t for several nights.  Most of the mail that came in was absolute vitriol – not helpful in any way, shape, or form.  I answered those emails anyway, at least with “I’m sorry this is frustrating,” and an explanation of when the Alliance Council was informed of the decision.  After a few days, we (the Alliance Council) learned that we had an inaccurate talking point at the Front Office that declared the Alliance Council had vetted or enthusiastically endorsed mobile only or something like that.  There were several emails along those lines – I got that corrected.  We didn’t endorse the decision.  Several council members tested the app, that’s it.  Mobile only remains another story.  A couple of the emails that came in outlined the impact of the decision to go mobile only and the authors requested that their emails be elevated to the proper personnel for replies.  I was copied on those, and I’ve shared them below because I think they’re helpful to everyone.

I can’t help but be reminded of how far we’ve come in three years.  Yes – only three years ago, my group still had to deal with tearing paper tickets out of a giant book.  The rest of the stadium had been moved to these cool new plastic cards.  I made this huge color coded grid for the whole season (still do), rounded up as many people as possible, and we headed to brunch at Senor Moose in Ballard where we’d dive into awesome sopes de tinga with horchata lattes, and start separating our tickets and parking passes by person.  Some people drove in from Spokane for it.  Ticket trades had to be completed a week in advance so that the paper tickets could be dropped into snail mail.  Remember snail mail?  I forget about it too.  Sounders hadn’t even created tickets by pdf for us yet.

Here are the questions and answers I promised you (answers are from the Front Office Staff):

Hi Rob,

I appreciate you reaching out to both Alliance Council and myself. I apologize for the delayed response as I wanted to ensure I was provided you all of the answers that you requested. First of all, I want to thank you for taking the time to provide us feedback regarding our mobile app. I believe that some of the new features of the app provide you with a viable ticket solution and can ensure you we have taken precautions to make sure your concerns are addressed.

 Rationale for change? Business decision, cost, convenience

There were multiple reasons why we decided to make a switch to a mobile platform, cost was definitely not one of those. Integrating mobile tickets into the native app experience provides more flexibility for fans. The app will improve the ability to manage seats in the way that works best for each fan. Whether you’re sharing a seat with one person the entire season, splitting between multiple people or deciding last-minute on what to do with your tickets, the app will provide an improved solution to help with those needs. In addition, MatchPass rewards will also be available in-app, so fans can redeem rewards and manage tickets within the same location, anytime, anywhere.  In addition, we are excited the app will continue to support news, videos and additional content and can serve as the first-choice for fans when looking for the latest from Sounders FC.   

 Are you looking to enable an Opt-In for physical tickets or enable “print at home” with “matchpass and season tickets” privileges?

Similar in the past, you will be issued a MatchPass, instead of a physical MatchPass, you will receive a digital MatchPass that you can manage through the Sounders FC app. You will still have the full functionality of My Account Manager, now even easier to access through the Sounders FC App. My Account Manager gives you the opportunity to print, forward, resell or donate your tickets. Therefore, if you prefer not to use mobile for entry, you still have the ability to print.

 Will you enable contest entry for each ticket purchase?

No, for the history of the MatchPass program, all enter to win contests have been one entry per account. This allows for all season ticket members to have the chance to enter for prizes. If you do not want to take the chance of the enter to win, there is also a buy now option to secure a spot where all of the money raised will be donated directly to charity. I strongly recommend you check out the new MatchPass informational video on the matchpass.soundersfc.com website for more information and to check out the cool rewards already posted.

 The MatchPass loyalty program has completely changed this year. There is no need to swipe at concessions or the pro shop or work to earn points, so you do not need to provide your kids your phone at concessions. With this new program, we want to simply reward you for being a season ticket member, not to have you to worry about earning enough points to redeem. We hope your phone doesn’t die getting to the match, but just in case if it does, we will have Sounders FC staff available with phone chargers to get you some battery to get into the match. If you do not want to charge your phone, you could also visit the customer service window located on the NW corner of CenturyLink Field for assistance with your tickets.

We had some issues with the Android launch, which is most likely why your wife was unable to log-in. However, we released an update Wednesday evening, which should fix those issues. Therefore, if you would like both you and your wife to have the ability to scan into the gate, you can designate her a couple of passes to download onto her device, so you do not have to swipe through all 5 passes at the gate. Below are some tutorial videos, just in case if you need them, to explain how to share a season pass with your wife or simply download the passes to your phone. In addition, you can add those passes to either Android Pay or Apple Wallet, so you do not have to worry about downloading them on matchday or using Wi-Fi or data.

Share the Season: http://www.soundersfc.com/mobilize/manage-season

Download to phone: http://www.soundersfc.com/mobilize/get-all-passes

If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to reach out me directly. I would be happy to walk through this with you, so we make sure you have a great matchday experience. If you would like to read any more information, I would recommend checking out the STM Benefits Website or the Mobilize Website for more information. Thanks again for your support and look forward to your response.

Later follow up:

Thank you for your email! One thing I do just want to note is if you save your season pass to your “wallet” on the phone, you can actually delete the app afterwards. As long you as you have the default setting, the pass will update itself to the next home match on its own. Also, the wallet doesn’t use Wi-Fi or Data, which should help the battery issue. 

We do still have our Sounders FC Pub Partnerships, and expect to expand them for the 2016 season! We are working on creating a form of Season Ticket Member ID for those who do not have access to smartphones.

Again, I really do appreciate this in depth feedback. If anything else comes up or still does not work (Android should have gotten an update after you sent this email).

At the March first meeting, we will have Taylor Graham and Bart Wiley coming in to discuss some of the hot button topics (Mobile only, variable single match pricing, etc.).  We can’t reverse their decisions, but we do want to know how they’ll take care of people – I’m confident there must be an answer, so what is it?