A Radical Idea...

Feel free to tear this apart. But hear it out first.

Let's put our money where our mouth is.

There are lots of examples these days of people funding their new ventures through social networking. It's the same thing people have always done, but it's a thousand times more efficient today with the social networks. Entrepreneurs all over the country are funding start-ups this way.

So, what if we helped pay for the club we want?

What if we could get this snowballing, and supporters all over put in a reasonable $100 or $200 each? What if it spread to include perhaps as many as 4,000 or 5,000 people over the course of the next few months. This venture could find itself sitting on a fund as near as makes no difference to a million dollars. Hopefully an amount like a hundred or two, for example, would be a reasonable ask. I'll admit: I'm still rebuilding out of the rubble of a quite unexpected and completely unwanted divorce. But I could find a hundred bucks to throw in for something like this.

This idea might be far-fetched, but not by much. We all give a bit to charity here and there. Some of us tithe at church each Sunday; some of us even come close to the 10%. Lots of us give back to our alma maters, at least in the form of alumni memberships and whatnotelse. Some of us probably cough up a few bucks every four years for whichever muppets are parading along the presidential election circus.

It would remain to be decided how this venture would be structured thereafter:
- would the raised funds be contributed directly to the club?
-would it only be a contribution?
- or would it be in return for something, similar to an ownership share like the Green Bay Packers arrangement, so that our present owners all own their majority shares, and (for example) 1% of the owning of the team belonged with the group who put up their own dough?

It's possible something like this might not be legal; it's probably legal under regular, public law, but it may get frowned on by the wizards at MLS HQ. Heck, maybe the OC brain trust might not like it much, either. But we're not trying to Wall Street them (the movie, not the place); this isn't a hostile takeover, it's supporters who want a soccer team, and want it enough to try and help make it happen. We won't offset the amount from the state tourist tax, which takes in its lion's share* each year from the hotel taxes right here in Orange County. We wouldn't even offset the amount the City of Orlando would kick in, in the from of land and right-of-way and land improvement and whatever else they're likely to take responsibility for over there next to Parramore Ave. But it'd matter, and it'd help, and maybe it'd even change some minds, and get the casual fan out to a match. Then they can realize what supporters already know, that when this game is at its best, it leaves grown men breathless. If you've ever found yourself with that feeling, even when it came from a weeknight pickup game at a public park with a group mostly of strangers, then you already know you count yourself among the converted.

That's the idea. Where does it go from here?



*pun entirely intended.

 

What about the aspect that this would only be a small part of the overall picture? Does that change the validity of it much, possibly? The idea, however raw still, is that it'd be a small part in all likelihood, but still reasonably substantive to add to what the big money people are doing. But it wouldn't (not remotely) be the sole source of funding, fwiw.