Last night I started watching the LA Galaxy/DC United game recorded on DVR. I haven’t gotten to the point that Beckham actually gets in, but I did noticed this:

…a group of United fans — known to sing loud and long during every match — hung a huge banner that read “We sing better than your wife,” a reference to Beckham’s pop-singing wife, Victoria.

Its nice that media are noticing the supporter groups in the stands, but it would be a lot better if they understood how those fans are different, and possibly revolutionary, in American sports. In no other sport, save possibly college football and basketball, are there organization like soccer supporter clubs.

Originally posted August 5, 2007 here. 

A few years back, the Mariners started fighting a war with scalpers who tried to make a few bucks on the winning record of the club. They hired off duty cops to bust scalpers, but ended up with a long legal battle from what seemed to be a straight forward case (here and here).

Anyway, imagine if an army of Mariner fans rose up and played interference for the Mariners against the scalpers. No way that would ever happen, that fans who bought their tickets fair and square would interfere with the labor of folks who are trying to make a buck on the team. I mean, I love the Mariners, but who do I care that they aren’t making all the money they can?

Well, the Red Patch boys care in Toronto:

Last week, members of the Red Patch Boys started to post links to tickets being sold on cragslist and EBay for the Galaxy match. The idea has been an attack on scalpers by making false claims on tickets and even posting on Craigslist to make it clear Beckham will not play in this game. Even now, as it has become increasing clear that if Beckham enters the game it will be short lived, scalpers are looking for upwards of $125 per ticket for what is normally a $15 seat. The scalpers have been fighting back with claims such as:

Contrary to the scare tactics that are going on on this site, LA Galaxy have confirmed that Beckham IS travelling to Toronto. He’s resting for tonight’s game, so should be revived for Sunday.Don’t believe the sour grapes of those that don’t have tickets!!!

We have no idea if these tactics are working but the Red Patch Boys are passionate about their club and the cry has been to have real fans in the stadium, not Beckham glory hunters. It’s also interesting to note that (while not to the extent of this game) this battle with scalpers has been an ongoing fixation for the Red Patch Boys. Toronto FC sold out every ticket for every game before a minute was played this season so scalpers have been out in force since April.

This is the kind of buy-in you get when you accept that there are going to be a certain percentage of fans who really really love the team you happen to own. When you allow them to be creative, take ownership of their passion, they start to actually help you out. They bring new folks into the fold and they protect the team.

Originally posted on August 3, 2007 here. 

I’ve been toying around with this idea for a week or so. I posted it at Big Soccer and got a bit of a response, but not really what I was looking for.

I’ve found threads of it here, here and here. But, I think I nailed it down tonight when I was mowing the lawn:

What is the most defining difference between professional sports in the United States and in the rest of the world?

It isn’t that most of the world plays soccer, while we play baseball and football. It isn’t that most of the world plays in relegation/promotion leagues while we play in closed leagues.

The defining difference is the connection to the fan and the community around the team.

In Ireland, the Cork City FC management gets together regularly with the team’s fan club. I’m not talking about a spokesperson or a giant stuffed Orca, but a real deal meeting between the chairman and manager of the soccer team and their fans. In the middle of the season.

This face to face relationship does have a parallel in American sports, but it only happens in so-called amateur ranks where college and high school coaches face their supporters in public and less than public forums. But, our professional organizations are often times distant from fans. Most coaches, manager and owners answer to their fans through the mediation of the media, sometimes.

In terms of ownership, fans have their hands in teams oversees in a manner that is not only largely unknown in the United States, but not even allowed. Cambridge United and FC United of Manchester (founded after American Malcom Glazer bought the original Manchester United) are only two of many directly fan owned teams.

The very idea of a Supporters Trust, which raises money specifically for a professional sports organization, to keep it afloat and competitive would be foreign in America. If the Mariners were going bankrupt, they would be sold and moved to Tampa Bay before a group of fans got together to raise money for them. The very concept of public funds for stadiums is a political battle that few politicians want to fight.

Even though many point to the Green Bay Packers as the best example of a fan owned team in North America, outside a handful of minor league baseball teams and Canadian football teams, the phenomena is largely unknown. In baseball its not allowed for corporations (fans would organize as a corporation) to own teams and non-profits can’t own teams in any leagues.

The one league that does allow corporate ownership, the NBA, has a few teams that actually sell stock. But, vast fan ownership of that stock and some sort of community building up from that ownership? I haven’t seen it.

So, this post is a spill over of thoughts I’ve had regarding what Major League Soccer should do differently. Screw Beckham, he’s great to get people to glance at soccer again, but to really get people connected to the sport, you have to get them connected in a way that no other league in the United States does.

So, know that I have this down, I’ll write some more later.

For the past few days I’ve been toying with this idea of starting this blog. Finally thought of a name today (after the documentary series) so I thought I’d just put it up and see if that leads me to more inspiration.

Basically, I’m trying to explore the relationship between fans and their professional clubs. I’m mostly going to write about the MLS, because there is a strong tradition of fan/club ties in the soccer world and because the MLS seems to be turning a corner. That corner could be turned in a very nice way, I theorize, if the MLS embraces its fans in a way no other Anglo-American sports league ever has.

So, the theme of this blog, for now, is to be the opposite of Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, a very good blog and book that paints on the dark side of fandom. Instead of pointing to examples of “Fans gone wild,” I want to point to and explore the good side of fan based communities and how they can enhance the sport and league. Generally speaking.