Sounders, supporters still hashing out what Alliance democracy will look like

It was a busy weekend and early week at the offices of Seattle Sounders FC. The club is working on the usual list of offseason projects, such as player scouting, sending out surveys to season ticket members, talking with the league about the 2010 schedule. Along with these tasks the Sounders have also been talking internally about the future of the Alliance, Seattle's season ticket member voting association that was trumpeted by Drew Carey and initially embraced by both the media and Sounders FC fans.

Visit: Sounders FC Alliance page  

Contact a Council Member: SoundersCouncil.com

Sounders FC honored the original eleven Alliance Council members with Golden Scarves before the last home match of 2009. This week discussions have been increasingly heated as everyone tries to figure out what the next step should be in this 'sports democracy.' (Rick Morrison)

Last week when Sounders FC held their "Year End Celebration" a meager crowd showed up, and some of them might have been surprised to see that part of the night was a short recap of what Alliance members had voted on over the first season. While average members might have been surprised, some Alliance Council members were downright disappointed. Some of the eleven council members, who needed 25 votes from other season ticket accounts to earn their position, began talking with each other via email about their expectation that the season would include a general Alliance meeting. Some felt that the "Celebration" was not adequate, not the voting meeting they were expecting. I became a conduit for comments and complaints and eventually I read and then forwarded five members' comments directly to Sounders General Manager Adrian Hanauer.

There were strong feelings surrounding some of the comments I was sent. Some council members even felt a bit "used" at the whole Alliance idea, in what they were growing to see as merely a media ploy to keep Drew Carey on the front pages. Was this a true democacy? If so, why hadn't the group ever met face to face? Why did communications with the front office seem like they might be disappearing into a 'black hole?' Where was the year-end Alliance meeting where fans could voice concerns to the owners?

Said one Council Member, "We have met three times on the phone. If that is meeting in person with the ownership and FO, as they first described, well that is quite a stretch. How many times did Drew Carey say "you can't see fans being able to sit down with George Steinbrenner or Mark Cuban, well that is exactly what we are going to do here." Well we haven't even come close to that." The same member continues, "It isn't all bad. We are a little bit of a sounding board for a few ideas, and thoughts, but there is nothing that we can tell them that they couldn't gleen from five minutes on the boards/blogs."

A second Council Member added "I do think it's been worth my time.  Much of my time keeping up on the club was something I would have done anyway.  Being on the Council just helped to identify me as a go-to person for my constituents and friends.... as well as a few Alliance folks who found my email link for correspondences or in the stands.  I don't mind dropping an email occasionally to folks.  It's not as if the Sounders have demanded or even asked me to send out updates or email replies to folks.  I actually enjoy talking all aspects of Sounders with people. Lets be honest.  It's been a terrific PR tool as well.  The club is smart." 

Other Council Members, who fought hard to scrape together the votes to be elected, were restless. A third member stated "I have been fairly vocal about why I ran for the Council. It included issues like Transparency, Using the Beer and Food at the stadium to create greater connections to Seattle/Global Soccer, and creating a Green policy for a Rave Green team. The people that voted for me did so because of things like that. They saw me as a representative - likely they saw the Council that way as well."
 
"Unfortunately I have found that while the Council has been a great way to get access and opportunity (Planning the Supporters Summit kicked ass), it hasn't been the best way to get changes in club policy or practice so far. There are other ways to do that with Sounders FC, but I still think that the Alliance and Alliance Council have potential to do great things in American sports."
 
"Imagine a future when the Council and Alliance has half the significance that the equivalents in Barcelona and Real Madrid do. It would be a major story.  And it should be, a major corporation that would sacrifice even a bit of power to its fans/supporters/members would be fairly unique, and it would be more than just a token use of the word Democracy."

Still another Council member proposed: "The council should meet twice a year and vote on which Items the ENTIRE season ticket holder base get to vote on. The council selects the voting items. The Front office sends out an electronic ballot with the aforementioned topics. The results from the votes are final. The votes should be in a "Yes or No" format.
 
Now, stopping at this point would suffice, but I believe this system needs input from the front office. Therefore the FO gets one "Elite" vote and the SSFC council gets one "elite" vote. The tiebraker is the vote from the results from the Electronic ballot sent out to all Season ticket holders. 
 
Regardless of the system adopted, I believe the FO can use more structure and more rules for the SSFC council in 2010. Once again the media blitz and the shine have disappeared and 2010 we need something to continue to drive media interest. What a low cost way to do that than to make democracy in sports the real deal?"

In response to these ideas and complaints, Sounders FC front office's Adrian Hanauer, Gary Wright and Bart Wiley met this week and afterwards Wiley sent out the following reply to the eleven Alliance Council Members:

Council –
 
First of all thanks for your patience and flexibility as we continue to work on this Council idea. I’ve heard your comments and criticisms and will continue to work with you on those.
 As mentioned in an earlier email - and if the majority of you are in agreement - we will move forward with the following changes suggested by Council members.

• The 10, 2009 Council members will serve a 2nd year term in 2010
• Newly elected council members will serve 2 year terms
• 2009 voting will not be reset and votes will continue to be tallied
• Adjusting the way votes are tallied – account holders + their equivalent number of season tickets counting toward votes – we’ll make that change assuming you’re comfortable with it.

 
Other items –

• Joe Roth is scheduled to be in Seattle at some point in January – if that materializes we’ll get the date to you and plan a meeting with he and Adrian – and even if Joe does not come to Seattle you’ll sit down with Adrian, Gary Wright and myself
• Chewing on a Council Member Constitution that would be written by Council Members – more later
• Creative ways to continue to publicize Council and increase numbers
•  Again, I appreciate your patience / thoughts / ideas as Council evolves.  We’ll get this sorted out.

Council Member Dave Clark responded to the email: "I think that Sounders FC is making a ton of progress in giving the Alliance and the Council the attention that the most dedicated fans want. This whole thing is new, and an amazing opportunity to change the way things are done in American sports. It also takes a certain amount of risk from the organization, and patience from us in the fan community.
 
Will we ever have what Barca and Real Madrid have? Probably not. But that isn't my measuring stick.  I just want what most Sounders fans want, the best possible Club that can exist within MLS. The good news is that the Council, the Alliance, and Sounders ownership all want the same thing."