I just returned from the George and Dragon soccer pub it Seattle. Joe Roth, Adrien Hanauer, Brian Smetzer (current Sounder Coach) and others. The place was packed with overflow crowd outside. The event was covered by local TV media. I was even asked to interview for KOMO TV (ABC) as well as KING TV (NBC). I am flattered that they asked me. I think I was standing in the right place at the right time wearing my Celtic kit and my supporters scarf so they figured I was a hardcore fan which I am! Of course Drew Carey showed up and walked in wearing the Emerald City Supporters Scarf and waving it high in the air. The special annoucement is that he indeed is part owner of the Seattle MLS franchise. One of his stipuations is that the fans will own a small piece of the team very much like the current FC Barcelona model. The fans will have the opportunity to become members of the club. Fans can pay in (an mount to be detrmined). In return, fans would get T Shirts, discounts on tickets, special events etc. Every 4 years the fans or club members will have a vote on who should be the team chairman. If the chairman is doing a good job I imagine they would vote him to remain in his post, if not then the fans would have the opportunity vote someone else in. Drew seems very excited to be part of Seattle MLS. He is a great evangelist for soccer and will be a great evangelist for our Seattle team. He is going to be interviewed at halftime on Monday, Night Football tonight and he will probabaly go into more detail about what I posted today. You will hearing a lot more about later on today and the big press conference is tomorrow! Stay Tuned! Greg
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team Thanks for the info. Couldn't make it to the announcement, but these proposals that Drew Carrey set forth sound damn good.
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team That Barcelona model sounds sick. So if that sounders coach was there do we imagine that we have the seattle sounders in mls contrary to some recent reports?
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team Great! Hopefully they let him plug MLS Cup this week. Could you imagine if MLS Cup could get plugged with 15 million people watching?
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team Um...you know that ESPN / Disney / ABC are owned by the same people and that the MLS Cup is on ABC...right? The shocker would be if MLS Cup wasn't being pimped on ESPN... BTW...I like the part ownership idea...a lot. Could help create, and keep, hard core fans.
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team Does this mean he won't be renewing his suite at HDC ?
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team Everybody knows that. Been watching ESPN all day today. Not a word about it.
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team It was not covered nationally only locally. They will probably pick up on the story later.
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team No more blow-up dolls for the Riot Squad either, I guess.
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team Why would Seattle need so many owners? Is it to keep investment costs at a minimum, or because they're planning on averaging over 60K at Qwest and want as powerful an ownership group as possible? Anywayz, check this out... http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/thebigblog/archives/125783.asp?from=blog_last3
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team A marching band? That's uh... unique. Will they play some sort of fight song, or will they limit themselves to Gary Glitter, like the pep band in Houston?
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team So does the price to buy into the club vary with the value?
Likes: Drew Carey as an owner.... potential to own a bit of the team Dislikes: marching band... Suggestions: Drew Carey buys beers for everyone in the "fan ownership group" Question: How soon til Kasey Keller asks to be released from the bench and Fulham? Question: How soon til Seattle gets a World Cup Qualifier?
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team - Hanauer: Because he's the one behind all this movement, he's been running a soccer team already and has connections. He'll be the Kevin Payne of this team. - Roth: Because he's the big money (as far as this operation is concerned, he's the main financial player). - Allen: He's even bigger money, but the main thing is he owns the stadium they're playing in, and is the reason why they'll be getting a good rent deal. - Carey: Because he wanted to invest in an MLS team, and this was his best opportunity in the near term to do so.
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team We had enough out on the field playing for us this past season, thank you very much....
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team who's hating on marching band in here??? No need for something that drastic. I Like the owner/fan club model.
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team Dunno, but I remember in an interview ESPN did with him during the height of Beckhamania, in the middle of a Galaxy match, he sounded strongly pissed off that they would be taking broadcast time from the match to talk to him as a "celebrity". Right then I wondered how long his genuine liking for the sport, and no "BS" [] attitude, would survive what was going on with LA. Maybe the answer was, "Not so long"
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team I think the marching band idea is goddam hilarious.
1) IIRC Keller was not benched by Fulham's coach. He lost his spot due to injury, and he is still recovering from that injury. I think he is hoping to be available for selection starting in January if things go okay, but I haven't been tracking him. 2) Seattle MLS won't begin play for another year and a half, so he would probably want to play out his contract with Fulhama nd then see how things look next winter.
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team I'd like it best of all if Drew led the band
He probably won't get it back, though, because the other keeper Niemi has found his form. I checked out Fulham's fan site and most thought that while he was playing he was pretty solid, but that he's their backup now.
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team Me too. Perhaps he was just joking, but it sounds fun if they go for more of a Stanford marching band thing than a serious drum beauty approach. Considering the #1 complaint against Seattle is the atmosphere that an over-sized stadium will have, a marching band sounds like a nice way to kick things up a notch and keep the place from feeling like a library.
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team That would be great for about three games before it got old, unless he did something different every game.
Re: It's official! Drew Carey part owner of Seattle Team Heh it'll be midly amusing if they're trotted out for half-time entertainment and promotional events only. If they're playing during the action and drowning out the crowd, though.... The Great ECS-Marching Band War of '09, anyone?