So the Atlanta Silverbacks have offered the Supporters Trust a 49% ownership stake in their soon to be Atlanta District Amateur Soccer League team. The Trust needs to raise $6,000 by September 11. "The money we invest in the Reserves although going to the ADASL for fees and gameday use, will be credited as overall investment in the Silverbacks club and count as the first money toward fan ownership in the larger Atlanta Silverbacks FC (NPSL) club, with additional discussions with the Trust about %'s this offseason to begin some % of fan ownership THIS COMING NPSL 2017 season, and working on a longer term plan and goals to get to a sizable investment portion." Let's put our money where our mouths are, and let'show there's a better way for soccer in the USA! https://www.gofundme.com/2kzvcuj8
Except it isn't a better way. Fans don't really want to own a team. I mean, they want to do the cool stuff about owning a team. They want to say they own a team and pontificate about how much more epic that make them than common fans. They want to design crests and badges and scarves. They want to fire the coach twice a month and decide who plays left back. They want to tweet and have their picture taken. But they have neither the pockets nor the stomach for actually running a club. They don't want to do the icky stuff like cash calls and payroll taxes and HR and deciding who'll do the books and running an intern program and figuring out the travel situation. Or, barring that, hiring the right people to do all those jobs. Fan ownership is a pipe dream. You can't do it on any sort of scale for any appreciable length of time. Because most clubs in this country are money-losers and you discover pretty quickly that beers and scarves are safer investments than the actual working capital a club - even an NPSL club - needs to survive. You want to own a club? Raise the capital, put the smartest people in charge and have them actually do it 70 hours a week from January to December. That's owning a club. Not the play-acting Strat-O-Matic bullshit most fans want to do.
NonLeagueAmerica @NonLeagueUSA Hearing rumors @ATLSilverbacks had to give away home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs because of another Park conflict.
Atlanta SilverbacksVerified account @ATLSilverbacks 21h21 hours ago We're excited to host the @ussoccer U-17 team in a friendly on Saturday! Hope you can join us! 11:00 AM Silverbacks Park Free Admission
David Kilpatrick @DrDKilpatrick 8h8 hours ago Atlanta Silverbacks FC Trust trying to buy 25% of their club, & will have a seat on club's BoD. http://asfctrust.org/
Atlanta, GA ( July 11th, 2018 ) – Thursday’s NPSL Southeast Conference Semifinal between the Atlanta Silverbacks Football Club and Asheville City SC will be played at Blessed Trinity Catholic High School in Roswell, GA. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 PM. Due to usual scheduling conflicts with facility management, the match would be played in the afternoon were it to take place at Silverbacks Park. Team ownership decided the match should be at a more accessible time for fans attending and watching live. The Club would like to thank team athletic trainer Preston Bazemore for facilitating this change of venue with Blessed Trinity to allow a better situation for our players, fans, and viewers. We look forward to seeing the red and black faithful Thursday night! Secure your tickets to tomorrow’s semifinal today!