This is kinda funny.* I went to the San Francisco Hilton on Mason and O'Farrell tonight to do some volunteer work for a local not-to-be-revealed soccer organization. Turned out the gig was cancelled and I hadn't gotten word. However, this is the venue of this year's USSoccer Annual General Meeting, where they elect officers and spend their federation's player-pass money on dinner and hotel. Since I had no work to do, I looked around the lobby and saw, and spoke with: 1) Bruce Arena -- he was waiting for his dinner party and was sitting by himself in the lobby. So I went over and said hi. I sat next to him and we shot the breeze --no joke-- for about 10 minutes. Not ten minutes, like, 2 minutes and exaggeration. Seriously, 10 minutes. Then, Bruce introduces me to: 2) Dr. Bob Contigulia, the big cheese of USSoccer. Bruce and Dr. Bob looked like they wanted to talk, or negotiate or something, so I excused myself. But within a minute, I was engaged in a deep discussion about what we have so much trouble getting fans to Spartan with: 3) Don Garber. My tet-a-tet with the Commish lasted about 5 minutes, after which he thanked me profoundly for my support of the league and he gave me his card. Then I saw, but did not speak with.. 4) Tony DiCicco (?) And then I drifted back to where Bruce was, and we said hi again, and as I was there, 5) Lauren Gregg came up to talk about a baby she just adapted. Whew! It was pretty cool. Except I started sweating. * all of the above statements are true, swear to Frank Yallop. I don't even know how to lie about stuff like this.
Very interesting scene today in San Fran... the MLS Commish aka The Don, the Federation Head Dr. Bob, The Bruce, and of course Tony D (should have talked to him a bit) and Lauren Gregg... Just being there with those people would have made for a lot of interesting stories/news/scoop and what have you. Since San Fran doesn't have an MLS team why go there when San Jose would have been a better sell... (in fact SF and SJ tried to compete for an MLS club but the "City by the Bay" dropped their bid and instead threw their support for the San Jose attempt, which of course became the Clash/Earthquakes) My interesting take would have been asking about the "San Jose" franchise and their long term plans since that is the one that generates a lot of heated discussion here. While they obviously wouldn't say anything major just something that there is a core group that holds tickets to the team (i.e. us) and that we're doing everything, at least on our end, to keep the team here. Too bad there aren't any games, men or women, on the docket this weekend--it would have been perfect timing... Cheers!
Yeah, it should be done in conjuntion with an MLS game... only (I've heard) there's a rift between the amateur side of the USSF and the pro side. The pro's have the upper hand, I believe, with 51% of the voting power. In fact, there's a movement within some of the regions to explore the idea of separating from USSoccer because they really don't see what's in it for their members (players and leagues). Can't say I really disagree, but it all sounds like a lot of politics to me.