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denime
08-30-2008, 07:34 AM
Johnston: Social experiment

Few will argue that the ideals of democracy and professional sports exist on opposite ends of the spectrum. Rarely does the front office saunter down to the turnstiles on match day to poll the paying public on its overall happiness with the state of the club.

Instead, business decisions are made with relative anonymity in mahogany boardrooms that sit high above the field of play.

That is until now. An interesting social experiment is playing itself out on the Thames estuary to the east of London. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estuary)

Ebbsfleet United, an English minor league club which plays four divisions below the Premier League, is owned by a 30,000-member fan base that pay an annual membership fee of 35 GBP to keep their stake in the club.

Included in that annual fee is a voice and the right to exercise it at any time. For example, when an unidentified club makes a 140,000 pound offer for a top 19-year-old striker, as is the case with Ebbsfleet United at the current, (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article4625521.ece) the 30,000-member board of directors must come to a unanimous decision to either 'yey' or 'nay' the move. The membership fee also gets each shareholder a say in the starting 11 each week.

Ebbsfleet United should be applauded for bringing the concept of sports ownership into the modern age. The backwater franchise embraced the undeniable truth that sports franchises exist entirely on interest from the paying public, and without that entity every field of play would be overrun with tumbleweed.

Read more (http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/blogs/2008/08/29/johnston_tfc_democracy/)

Draracle
08-30-2008, 10:41 AM
Manchester United fans had an opportunity to do this, I believe, when their club when public. Instead of fans lining up for shares, the IPO was bought by the uber-rich.

I would fully support this kind of ownership, but it is highly unlikely and would require significant organization amoung fans to create a buying group. (each fan trying to buy his/her own stake would never compete in securing at 51% share) But can you imagine at team so completely in the hands of its customers? What could be done for victory instead of profit? Alas, the best we can hope for is something like Chelsea or NYY -- a benevolent billionaire more interested in success than a bottomline.

bee dubya
08-30-2008, 12:23 PM
I think it's an interesting idea in theory but I don't think it will work in practice. How exactly do you get 30,000 people to agree on the sale of a player? You vote on who should be in the starting XI? Do the 30,000 watch each practice? Do they get injury reports? Who decides when subs are made - are there buzzers on each seat?

Like I said, it's an interesting idea but I really don't think it's going to go very far.