Three years ago,
the Chicago Fire gave Section 8 the goal of doubling their season ticket holder
numbers. If they met the goal, the Fire would pay for a supporters bus
to an away match in Columbus. The
leaders of Section 8 took up the call, effectively marketed ticket sales for
the club, and in just one year, Section 8’s season ticket holder membership
almost tripled, from 400 to 1,180. As a
result, the front office got more money from ticket sales, the Fire’s home
games got a better atmosphere, and the supporters got to travel to their
closest rival for cheap.
To repeat a
common line from the Barclays Premier League (England’s top soccer division), supporters make the league
possible. This is no less true in
MLS. From Seattle’s Emerald City
Supporters to Kansas City’s Cauldron to Houston’s Texian Army, the supporters
sections are the heart that directs the lifeblood of MLS - the fans. There are many
variables that can make a supporters section efficient and effective, or render
it the complete opposite. One of
the most important aspects is the relationship between the supporters club and
the front office.
I spoke to
Pattrick Stanton, Vice-Chair of Section 8, the Chicago Fire supporters group,
to gain a little insight as to what goes into one of the league’s most
successful front office-supporters section relationships. Stanton made sure to note that, at first, the
relationship with the club was not at all good.
In fact, the front office viewed Section 8 as a bunch of hooligans. Granted, violence
and disruptive behavior has been a major problem for soccer in the past
(most notably in England in the 1970s and 80s), and still is an issue in some
parts of the world. It took a lot of
work by Section 8 to convince the front office that they not only weren’t
hooligans, but that they were an extremely important part of the atmosphere at
Fire games and an invaluable cog for the club as a whole.
So what changed
all that? Part of it was a new board for
the club. This board invited the leaders
of Section 8 to dinner to get to know them and help make the dialogue flow as smoothly as possible. Since that initial effort to make sure the
relationship with Section 8 was workable, the communication ties have only improved.
Emails are exchanged constantly, and a
lot of effort has been put forth by the supporters to show the front office
that if relations were good, Section 8 could be an invaluable asset to the
club. As former Section 8 chair (and
founding member) Ben Burton told me, this communication is key, not only to
work out problems, but to help both the front office and the supporters section
grow. It wouldn’t be the same if the
front office was completely against Section 8, nor if they were in Section 8’s
pocket; by discussing disagreements, they can help see each others view points
and use that to make things run more smoothly in the future.
Having such a working, cordial relationship
with the front office creates an “I scratch your back and you scratch mine”
situation. For example, since Section 8 is not allowed to have a
profit at the end of the season, they take whatever money is left over (after
they pay for banners and road trip costs) and
donate it to the Chicago Fire foundation, which makes “significant
contributions to enhance the lives of disadvantaged youth throughout
Chicagoland.” Symbiotic benefits like
these are only possible if the front office and the supporters section like
each other (or at least get along).
Another example
of this is the work that the front offices, the supporters sections, and the
American Outlaws (the supporters group for the United States national team) do
in support of both national and club soccer.
Every club this year came out with “Club and Country” scarves, which
Pattrick admits can seem a bit shallow (“hopping on the World Cup/media
bandwagon”), but they did a lot to increase sales for the club (and, by
extension, increase the funds available for MLS clubs to improve the quality of
the league) and get supporters a lot more excited about soccer
Of course,
extensive communication doesn’t only exist in the front office-supporters group
variety. Pattrick says that there is a
lot of coordination between the supporters clubs of two teams when they play
each other, to the point of having “supporters matches” between members of the
supporters sections before the actual game.
Beyond that, the supporters sections have had to somewhat “unionize” in
the recent years, to make sure that MLS doesn’t take full control of what goes
on. While some clubs (like the Fire and D.C. United) have great relations with
their supporters groups, others (like Philadelphia) don’t. The current policy is the first strike
(instance of bad behavior by members of the section) is a warning to the
supporters section, the second strike is a ban. Ben says that the supporters
sections would prefer to police themselves and use their own methods to keep
the “bad apples” out.
Clubs do their
fair share of communicating, too. One
thing they’ve started to do, according to Pattrick, is share “negativity lists”
to keep disruptive individuals out of stadiums across the country. Pattrick likes this, but he wishes that they
would share positive advice, too. For
example, a club with weaker home support (like Colorado) could ask a team with
fantastic home support (like Portland) for some advice on how to better the
atmosphere in their stadium.
It is, as Ben
told me, a case of everyone striving towards the same goal. Clubs want to increase the bottom line, and
supporters want to create a better atmosphere for the team. The two are obviously not mutually exclusive. And, as the folks in Chicago have found out,
creating an open and constant dialogue with the people in the front office can
work wonders for all involved, and greatly improve the MLS scene.
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