Oh No, Technology!

Tab Out, Roots Community Sale

What a week in the USL!

This week, my own Hartford Athletic fired their head coach after just under a year in the role. I'll let other more serious commentators talk about the move but I've been to the games and you feel it's hard when the team looks so good for 60 minutes just to give it up right at the end. Omid Namazi has a long resume that looks very good though, and the players themselves are quite good, so I’ll hope that just playing the players at the right positions will be enough to get us some good outcomes. Our next game is this Monday against Indy 11 and they’re back home next Saturday to play San Diego.

Excitingly, the Oakland Roots announced a stock sale! I’ll hold out for the details, but fan ownership has a long history of securing fan and local interests in a team, which is why it’s banned at pretty much every level of American sport. Stock sales can give fans and communities the ability to make critical choices about their team, like branding and organizational choices, team facilities and even if the team should move to a new city/be sold to other people. Most famously the Green Bay Packers, Inc. are a non-profit corporation that’s owned by the fans of the Packers, the main difference here being Green Bay Packers, Inc. is the sole owner of the Green Bay Packers, while US soccer federation rules require a primary owner with a certain net worth. This still leaves a lot of room to allow teams and community owners to set rules around things like voting power of shares, bylaws of the holding companies people are buying stock in, and other mechanisms to ensure fan and community interests are protected.

What I'll be looking for:

• What, specifically, people are buying shares of
• What is the voting power of this type of share vs the primary owner
• Transfer rules for shares
• Whether shares are salable, and how many any individual may own

I might even pick one up myself :)