You may have heard about the guy in England who started a website that aims to sign up 50,000 people to give 35 pounds in order to buy a soccer club that will then be run on a day-to-day basis by all the members. If not, take a look at these links... http://myfootballclub.co.uk/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6639407.stm While the revenue-generating aspect of this is brilliant I'm not so sure about the rest of the business model. Read the FAQs on his site and you'll see what I mean. They actually intend to have over 50,000 people vote each week for the line-up and tactics of each game. They also plan to force votes on every single transfer. That along with other restrictions on club management means the product on the field is unlikely to ever match the investment made by the members. I think there is a real possibility in buying a club the way this guy is going about it (as evidenced by the 15,000 members he's gotten in a short period of time) but I would prefer as a member to have less control of the day-to-day. Members would still have much more say than other clubs. Just not too much. Unlike the plan above, I would prefer a cap on the number of members. The reason for this is we would not be conducting some sort of science project like this guy is. Instead, I would want a return on my investment in the form of quality on the field and equity in the club. Anyone else interested? PM Me. I'd like to hear from everyone interested but I could really use the help of web developers, solicitors and other business folks.
This is an interesting venture. I, like you would rather leave picking the squad and other day to day operations up to a couple of well qualified coaches, who are at practice every day watching these players. I can't see a player having to sit on the bench because 50000 people didn't like his haircut or something.
New article out there: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0608/p01s03-woeu.html?page=1 And the registered member list is up to 33,629. Would this work with a USL team in America?
I like this idea, but I would do what the cleveland indians did, and just make it a public team with shareholders. I mean, it could be possible to get 1,000 people to invest a minority shareholders. They could invest like $500, or $1000, or even less depending on their costs. Then, they could elect a board of directors that would run things accordingly. Eventually the team would pay off dividends to the shareholders. Different than an actual corporation however, is that even if it takes 5-10 years to begin getting returns, you still have something you are clearly a part of. but when you think about it, this guys idea could easily work, but I agree that the team shouldn't be micro-managed through this system.
I think it would work with people on bigsoccer alone. $100 to spend. You start with an NPSL club and work your way up. I'd like to give it a go.
I accept! I own the domain for Panicfc.com... nothing but a placeholder, but we could run with that. I'm looking to move, so that's the next step in the equation. If you guys are serious, send me a PM with your email and we'll get started.
To continue or discussion, I was hoping we might discuss how something like this would best be structured. Would there be divisions for marketing, operations, finance ect. and then be a head of each department that does all the research and then notifies the members of what options there are? Would it be nice to offer members the ability to concentrate on specific areas. Since this would be a collective effort, efficiency would be necessary. Not to get too far ahead of the current situation, however I can't help but think about these things.
First check out what they are doing in UK: http://www.myfootballclub.co.uk/faq.php Now, the question is, how do we translate that into American business law?
I have a few lawyers, and to be honest I was working on something like back in 1998. I lost some of the stuff in a computer crash, but its not farfetched. Problem is locale and I need to make money right away. More later
The link helped a lot. It seems that over here we would be creating a new team, instead of buying one. I'm pretty sure there is a way to structure it like a corporation so that members are shareholders, and that way, if the team was ever sold (Which if it was profitable to the point where we could sell it for a lot, I would rather pay fanchise fees to MLS and have an MLS team) the shares would be purchased from the members. When the next year rolled around, we would just issue new shares to create more operating revenues. Also, the online voting membership would expire in 1 year, so in order to gain access again, the people would have to buy another share. Also, providing a game webcast would really be a great selling point for members. They could view all games from anywhere. I'll calm down now...cause I might be way off base with how this might work.
dude! shhh.... yep all that is in the plan. Different levels of membership gain you different access.
Just stumbled onto this. I have signed up for the English 'myfootballclub' team already but your idea sounds better to me. Are you open to new members?! Heck, I could be part owner of a team in the UK and the US! Move over Glazers....
this does sound pretty awesome, I am totally in. Should we start a new thread over in the Soccer in the USA forum, or maybe in the USL forum?