Just a quick housekeeping note now that the Olympics are done …
The RSD podcast will return this week, probably with a quick test episode to try out a new publishing tool, then with a special guest toward the end of the week. Yes, it’s someone you’ve heard of.
The next big project will be available through Patreon. It’s the Ranting Soccer Dad Guide to Youth Soccer, which I’ll build up gradually, state-by-state. I had thought about doing it as a book, but I think it makes more sense to do it online where it can be constantly updated and enhanced.
And I’ll also have a post about that pesky old Fricker Plan.
We’ve been distracted by the drama. The politics. The personalities.
Not that the personalities aren’t important. The next U.S. Soccer president has to build bridges and trust. The right personality to do that is essential.
But we’ve failed to shed enough light where it needs to be:
Youth soccer.
Soccer has grown by leaps and bounds in this country in terms of viewership, sponsorship and just a general sense of “bigness.” Youth soccer has not kept pace.
Where we need more outreach, we’ve gotten more elite programs.
Where we need more kind introductions to organized play, we’ve gotten ham-fisted mandates such as the birth-year age-group switch, which U.S. Soccer is only now beginning to realize was a colossal mistake from idea to execution. There is no elite player-development reason for forcing the other 90% of the pyramid to have less fun playing rec soccer and perhaps — just maybe — advancing into elite soccer.
We’ve forgotten that every elite player starts as a rec player. It may be in organized U5 soccer. It may be playing on a tennis court in an apartment complex where the residents have marked out some makeshift goals.
We’ve focused on the Athletes’ Council — a group of good people getting their names dragged through the mud by tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorists. And frankly, they’re too focused on meeting amongst themselves. Heather O’Reilly didn’t need to fly across the Atlantic to talk with Shannon Boxx and Kate Markgraf. They should be out talking with state youth representatives.
The state youth reps have been forgotten. They’ve been upstaged by the athletes and the adult associations, some of whom have not covered themselves with glory in this process and may have frankly demonstrated that they have too much of the vote. Maybe USSF can bring in colleges and combine them into the Adult Council? Might help.
But it’s our fault. We, the media, have forgotten to talk about all this. All the reasons why youth soccer has been stagnant, both in terms of adding rec players and developing elite players.
So it’s up to you … well, mostly the Athletes’ Council. Leave your meeting room. Go to the bar. Talk to the states. See why they’re frustrated. Then vote accordingly.
While other reporters were out chasing down details of the Gang of Six (or Five or Four), I was at a U.S. Soccer Board of Directors meeting.
And what I can report from that meeting is that USSF board business is …
Boring.
Really, really boring.
If you read Twitter — and yes, the board members made it known that they’re aware of what’s said — you would think the board sits around discussing ways to prevent promotion/relegation from happening. Or ways to make sure Eric Wynalda is never employed. Or perhaps just taking turns swimming in piles of Soccer United Marketing gold.
Here’s what happened in the first, oh 150 minutes (minus a few minutes where I had to run out):
1. Sunil Gulati said he’s looking forward to the election being over. Carlos Cordeiro, sitting next to him, nodded his head slightly.
2. Gulati went over the USA/Canada/Mexico World Cup bid. He’s quite enthusiastic about it.
3. Gulati went over FIFA’s current thinking over changes in international competition. They’re combining youth tournaments — instead of a separate U20 and U17 tournament, we’ll see either U19 or U18. They’re leaning U18 because it’s easier to get players released. That also works for the U.S. because they often run into conflicts with college players now.
4. OK, THIS is interesting. FIFA is working a women’s Nations League, like the UEFA and CONCACAF men’s league. The goal is to keep women’s national teams more active. Gulati gave the example of Ecuador’s women, who made the 2015 World Cup and then went more or less dormant.
There’s a side discussion about SUM and whether it’ll have less stuff under its control as FIFA controls more rights. Gulati points out that other countries are in the same boat, and FIFA is backing off a bit for now.
5. Want to see a long presentation of marketing stuff being planned around the Women’s World Cup? Here you go. No word on what happens if the U.S. women don’t qualify.
6. A player development update turned into a discussion with Dr. Bob Contiguglia, attending his last board meeting as past president, asking about the process the federation went through before announcing the birth-year age-group changes that have blown up real good. Ryan Mooney answers and says nothing substantial for the first three minutes or so but then says it has spun off a longer discussion about better communication with members.
7. A participation study has shown that rec players tend to “lapse” at age 8-10, while travel players tend to leave at 11-15. But there’s a high interest in “unorganized” soccer, and there’s interest in an intermediate level between rec and travel. (Which some states do.)
8. Tax Reform Impacts. This goes on for a while.
Having fun yet?
9. USSF counsel Lydia Wahlke goes through a presentation on athlete safety, especially in the wake of what’s happened with USA Gymnastics. The federation was already doing a lot, including harassment training for every NWSL club last spring. This was a long but absolutely important discussion. I couldn’t follow all of it, and I started wondering how long these meetings would run if Wahlke and Kyle Martino are both involved.
10. Election update: The vendor overseeing the election is Plante Moran. We get the lowdown on who they are. I didn’t need to know that they were named one of the top places to work in Chicago.
A break. Finally.
11. Donna Shalala’s term as independent director is ending, and the Risk and Audit Committee needs another independent director to lead it in the interim. I think Val Ackerman ducked. Lisa Carnoy gets volunteered.
Incidentally, Carnoy also filled in as treasurer for the purposes of validating registration fees so they can properly weight the votes. Cordeiro would normally do that, but he recused himself, sensibly.
12. AN OPEN CUP DISCUSSION! And it got quite interesting. They’re considering an amendment that would eliminate the Cup’s foreign-player restriction, which currently stands at five for pro clubs. The pro clubs don’t want that any more — in fact, NASL interim commissioner Rishi Sehgal was in attendance and spoke up to testify that all the pro leagues agreed on this. (Nice to know they all agreed on something.)
The lines of argument are surprising. It’s basically Gulati and CEO Dan Flynn vs. Shalala, Carlos Bocanegra and Don Garber. Gulati argues that the Cup’s credibility won’t be hurt by limiting the number of foreign stars, especially considering how many of them sit out until the semifinals or final, anyway. And Gulati says he wants to give U.S. players more opportunities. John Motta is on the Open Cup committee but says he didn’t really participate in this discussion because it affects the pro leagues, not the ones in his domain (USASA).
The amendments wouldn’t take effect until qualifying begins anew in August, so the motion is tabled.
13. Insurance. The USSSA had some concerns with the USASA’s proposal. Tabled to give them time to work it out.
14. Wahlke describes an independent ethics committee proposal. Gulati points out the Risk and Audit Committee has been doing a lot of this work but doesn’t object to it being formed. No one speaks in opposition. So that passes the board — I’m not sure whether the National Council (the big meeting, which will vote on the presidency) has to vote on it tomorrow.
15. Membership fees. They saved the most explosive item for last. Motta wants to cut membership fees in half — from $2 to $1 per player for adults, from $1 to 50 cents for youth. At-large member John Collins, who asks great questions throughout the meeting, points out that the National Council would have to approve this.
It’s safe to say Gulati is not a fan of this idea. Especially the timing of it, one day before a National Council meeting at which they’ll need to approve the budget. (Cordeiro points out it’s also one day before the election.) And Gulati is convinced we’re not losing players over 50 cents.
Gulati unleases his full sarcasm on Motta, with whom he traded the VP slot way back when (Motta beat him for the spot in 1998, Gulati won it 2000): “Want to withdraw it or see it defeated?” Motta wants a vote.
So they vote … sort of. A couple of people raise their hands in favor. Athletes’ Council chair Chris Ahrens is intrigued. He asks Motta for a specific use of the money (which is maybe a couple million dollars, all told) if they get it “back.” Motta doesn’t give a particularly good answer.
It’s safe to say this issue is going to come up again. But the argument to recommend such a change now isn’t persuasive. They take a final vote. Motta and fellow Adult Council member Richard Moeller vote yes, as does Youth Council rep Jesse Harrell — overlooked at first because he doesn’t raise his hand very high. Cordeiro abstains. Everyone else votes no.
And that’s the last order of business. We’re off to the “Good of the Game” segment in which members can talk about what they want. That’ll be part of the National Council meeting — actually, all my local club meetings end with it, too. It’s generally like the minute-long speeches in Congress hailing the accomplishments of a local chess club. But it can get testy, as it did in the National Council meeting a couple of years ago when people went back and forth with contrasting opinions on Chuck Blazer. And if Kathy Carter wins, I think tomorrow’s session will be a doozy.
This one had a lot of positives. Bocanegra praised the work on the SheBelieves Cup and related initiatives. Several board members bid a fond farewell to departing board members Shalala and Contiguglia. Several also summed up their congratulations to Gulati for 12 mostly good years.
But there was some talk of the election animosity. Contiguglia was philosophical — having been through tough times at USSF before, he reminds everyone, “this too shall pass.” Moeller lamented the palpable animosity at the hotel bar last night.
Ahrens was particularly pointed, saying criticisms of the Athletes’ Council were offensive. They’ve put a lot of effort into their duties, he says, only to see their integrity unfairly and inaccurately called into question.
Then Gulati lets fly. “I’d love to say only friendly things, but that wouldn’t be honest.”
He laments that the board (other than Motta and Contiguglia) has been accused in legal documents of being conflicted. (I turned to look at Sehgal, who had a face of stone.) He says the independent directors are truly independent. He didn’t know Shalala until Julie Foudy introduced them. He barely knew Ackerman or Carnoy.
He takes aim at Twitter — particularly, the fact that people who retweet nonsense. “A tweet by someone anonymous gets retweeted, and now it’s Encyclopedia Brittanica.” He jokes that his wife tried to take the tweet that he’s due $30 million-$50 million from the World Cup bid to the bank to see if she could some how use it for cash or credit.
“So much nonsense out there, and you should let people know that.”
And frankly, it was hard not to sympathize. Anyone who sat through that and doesn’t think these people are doing their fiduciary duty is … well, probably looking at it strictly through the lens of self-interest and one decision that didn’t go their way. If you think that’s worth burning down everything the board members and staffers in that room are doing, fine. Sign your name to it and make your case below.
No, that’s not an endorsement for anything in the election. It’s one thing to say the board could use some fresh ideas. So could MLS, for that matter. That’s all that needs to be said. The rest is overkill.
And I found myself wondering who would want to be on this board in the current climate. Who would voluntarily put themselves through this?
So tomorrow, someone is going to win an exhausting and often tedious volunteer position. And they will have skipped all the other exhausting and often tedious volunteer positions that people normally do to pay their dues. So the new president should walk before the board with the greatest humility. Maybe then those fresh ideas will gain some traction.
After my interview with SiriusXM FC today (thanks, Dunny and Janusz), I headed over to the hotel where all the action is at the U.S. Soccer Annual General Meeting to grab a good meal and see who was hanging around.
I found more than I expected:
Hard-core HAO: I’ve been wrong about a few things in this election. One of them — I assumed that because Arsenal’s women play Sunday, Heather O’Reilly would not be at this meeting. As I walked through the lobby, someone from a table (not the table with Kathy Carter mentioned below) that also included Shannon Boxx and Lori Lindsey waved to me.
My brain: “That’s Heather O’Reilly. But it couldn’t be. She has a game on Sunday.”
Yes, she does. And she’s playing in it. On Saturday, she’ll go straight from the meeting to the airport and fly across the Atlantic for Sunday’s game.
That’s how important this meeting and election is to her. And to a lot of people.
I guess I shouldn’t complain about my flight. (Which was actually pretty good.)
“Hey, Eric! You’re on TV!”: I snagged the table in the hotel sports bar in front of the only TV tuned to beINSport, which was doing its election coverage. I looked up at the screen and saw … Eric Wynalda.
I looked back across the room and saw … Eric Wynalda.
He seemed a little puzzled when I insisted to him that he was on TV at the very moment. Safe to say the interview wasn’t live.
Carter holds court: I stumbled into a room where Kathy Carter had apparently just finished speaking. Quite a few dignitaries (voters) were on hand, including John Motta and Kevin Payne. Don’t read anything into that — I still don’t know who’s voting for whom. Motta is clearly one of the big winners in this election — he gets along with everyone, which is very impressive. When I saw him in Philly, he was at a Wynalda event.
I did get to speak with her and was a little surprised to find she has been reading my work. I hope that doesn’t mean she’s reading Twitter. (Motta is a big winner; a big loser in this election is clearly Soccer Twitter, a web of conspiracies and miscellaneous b.s. Seriously. You’ve heard that the non-Carter and Cordeiro candidates are talking about some sort of solidarity statement, and I can confirm that such conversation is taking place. I wouldn’t be surprised if all eight candidates agreed on a statement blasting selected anonymous jerks on Twitter who keep poisoning the conversation.)
Coincidentally, I had listened to the Total Soccer Show podcast on the plane, which I heartily recommend. (The podcast, not the plane, though American Airlines has more leg room on a flight to Orlando than British Airways has on a flight to London.) They pointed out that she has a lot of good ideas in her platform that haven’t gotten a lot of attention. Maybe we’re too focused on asking, “So, SUM is really evil, right?”
Her campaign has had a few missteps. I can’t argue that she’s the best choice, and I can’t argue against people who say they want more of a change in the Federation. But this whole “evil Wasserman/SUM cabal” talk is, to put it mildly, overblown. If she wins, please put down the torches and pitchforks. Work with her. You might be surprised.
I saw Carter a bit later at a table in the sports bar with a few members of the Athletes’ Council. And Sunil Gulati.
Martino’s army: I wandered down the hall after visiting the Carter room and found the room where Kyle Martino has been talking for … I don’t know how long.
I found a misconception worth correcting here. A lot of us have been viewing Martino as a sort of compromise candidate who may win out as everyone’s “anyone but (Candidate X)” second or third choice. What I found in that room: Many people who passionately support Martino. He’s not their second or third choice. He’s No. 1. They love him, and they’re ready to fight for every vote.
And several state reps in the room said they’re looking for change. No one mentioned promotion and relegation. They said they were glad that the Trinidad debacle has helped shed light on the many issues within U.S. Soccer.
Remember the questions I posed to the candidates last week? I knew it’d be difficult to get answers when the candidates are all talking to as many voters as possible.
But I just got one set of answers from Carlos Cordeiro. The questions and answers are below, with no editing:
You’ve demonstrated a reluctance to do interviews. How will you adapt to the role of president, when you be required to do many press conferences?
On the contrary—since announcing my candidacy, I’ve conducted numerous in-depth interviews with journalists, including Grant Wahl and Brian Straus (Sports Illustrated), Joe Prince-Wright (NBC Sports), Ian Thomas (Sports Business Journal), Kevin Draper (New York Times), Paul Kennedy (Soccer America), Sam Borden (ESPN FC), Henry Bushnell (Yahoo Sports), Jonathan Tannenwald (Philadelphia Inquirer) and Michelle Kaufman (Miami Herald). These interviews are publicly available on my website.
In addition, I’ve provided detailed written answers to numerous questionnaires, including from the Athlete Council, Adult Soccer, US Youth Soccer, The American Outlaws, the US Open Cup, LGBT.soccer and ESPN. All of these Q&As are also publicly available, in full, on my website. I also participated in the candidate forum hosted by US Youth Soccer in Philadelphia on January 20.
Meanwhile, I’ve been traveling extensively across the country to meet directly with voters and members of our soccer community to listen to their concerns and develop solutions together.
A pillar of my campaign is bringing open, inclusive, transparent governance to USSF. If elected, this will include open and ongoing communication with members across our U.S. Soccer community, and I will continue to be available for interviews with the press. At the same time, it’s my hope that the spotlight will rightly focus where it belongs—on our players, coaches and referees.
Why hasn’t U.S. Soccer released its Form 990 and audited financials for the year ending March 31, 2017?
The USSF Form 990 will be submitted to the IRS prior to the 2/15 deadline, and after it has been reviewed by the USSF Board of Directors.
By announcing her plans to start an independent commission chaired by mega-agent Casey Wasserman, did USSF presidential candidate Kathy Carter force a lot of people into a conflict of interest? And can Wasserman’s company force voters to back Carter?
My research tells me the answers are “yes” and “no.” Here’s why …
Let’s start with the conspiracy theory first. Could anyone force voters to do their bidding? The USSF bylaws say no.
First of all, it’s a secret ballot.
A good question came up yesterday — could a group such as the Athletes’ Council form a bloc and hand over all its votes to be cast by one person? If so, that would mean an outside actor could twist arms to hand all their voting keypads to the most trusted loyalist on the Council.
But the good news is that, as I’m reading the bylaws and from my understanding of reading all those past AGM transcripts, you can’t do that. This is from the lengthy Bylaw 302: Composition and Voting:
So unless there’s some quirk in the Bylaws I haven’t found, there’s simply no way to enforce any threats. A voter can say, “Oh, why, yes, I’ll vote for Kathy Carter,” then turn around and vote for Pat Buchanan.
(OK, no, not Pat Buchanan. The candidate has to be on the ballot, having gone through the declaration period and background check. Just thought I’d throw some Election 2000 humor into the mix.)
(UPDATE: See below. The “proxy” bylaw I’ve cited here may not apply to the Athletes’ Council.)
So let’s get back to the first question: Are some voters facing unfortunate conflicts of interest, given Carter’s call for Wasserman to step in and solve everything?
We need a quick disclaimer first. The existence of a conflict of interest does not mean that a person is corrupt. A conflict of interest is simply something that needs to be disclosed. For reasons having nothing to do with sports, I have to file all sorts of things having to do with my investments. In some cases, people involved must recuse themselves — see all votes relating to pro league standards and Soccer United Marketing in which Don Garber, Sunil Gulati and any athlete working in MLS step away. Conflicts of interests may actually prove useful in some cases — say, if you want to avoid jury duty.
And we should remember that people often vote against their own alleged self-interests. Just look at all the blue-staters who benefit from race and class privilege but have no interest in voting for Mitt Romney, much less Donald Trump. Or consider former MLSNet columnist Eric Wynalda.
Given all that, I think the Twitterati should avoid pro-actively abusing all the Wasserman clients on the Athletes’ Council. I’m mentioning names here only to show my work as I count numbers. (I’m also open to some crowd-sourcing … nah, you all never help me.)
No one here asked to be put into an awkward situation. The person who put them in that situation is Kathy Carter. I’ve reached out to her campaign for comment.
My current count, based on the most recent info I could find, is:
4 Wasserman (Richard Motzkin, Dan Levy) clients: Brian Ching (at some point in the past; not sure about present), Lauren Holiday (as of 2015), John O’Brien, Heather O’Reilly (as of 2015)
6 clients of other agents: Carlos Bocanegra (Lyle Yorks/James Grant Sports Group), Brad Guzan (also Yorks), Will John (JCN Sports Management), Jonathan Spector (SK Soccer Tours), Shannon Boxx (Josh Schwartz/Evolution, as of 2015), Christie Pearce (Carie Goldberg/Gold Standard Sports, verified current)
1 client of nobody: Chris Ahrens (verified current)
9 unknown: Stuart Holden, Angela Hucles, Lori Lindsey, Kate Markgraf, Leslie Osborne, Nick Perera, Gavin Sibayan, Lindsay Tarpley, Aly Wagner
Now bear in mind there are two people who probably won’t be in Orlando for the election. Heather O’Reilly plays for Arsenal and has a home game against Yeovil Town on Sunday. (Yes, I know they played two days ago, and HAO played the full 90, but that was the FA Cup — Sunday’s game is a league game.) Also, Leslie Osborne is a little tied up right now.
(Maybe USSF could consider a bylaw to allow new moms to vote by proxy.)
And it’s probably safe to say that even if Wasserman was truly an evil genius and had figured out a way to force people to do Carter’s bidding, he’s not exactly going to threaten Lauren Holiday’s financial future.
The MLS-affiliated people may be facing some lobbying efforts, of course. That said, it’s not as if Kyle Martino and Eric Wynalda need an introduction to them.
So I’ll say again — any vitriol directed at these people is misguided. They don’t owe a bunch of Twitter tough guys an explanation of how they’re spending their time the week of the election. They’re human beings who have volunteered for a position of responsibility in which they have to weigh different factors and make decisions.
There’s also no evidence to suggest Wasserman and his company are making threats. For one thing, I’m guessing they understand the voting process, so they know any such threats would be empty. For another thing, they’re people who have built up a lot of goodwill in the sport. Wasserman led the bid for Los Angeles to land the Olympics and is in charge of the organizing committee. His top two soccer agents, Richard Motzkin and Dan Levy, were in the business long before they joined up with Wasserman, and their reputations are terrific. (Yes, I’ve corresponded with each of them many times over the years.)
So, once again, we’re left with one person who should be answering questions right now. And that’s Kathy Carter.
UPDATE: This “abstract” posted recently at U.S. Soccer’s site implies that the Athletes’ Council could in fact hand all its votes to one person:
The part that isn’t clear to me: Are they talking about literally handing all the keypads to one person? Or are they talking about the fact that the 20 members of the Athletes’ Council are not required to go to the meeting. Typically, they have single-digit representation, with each vote heavily weighted. This year, we’re expecting 10-15 people to go. (See above to see why it’ll be no more than 18.)
Theoretically, the Athletes’ Council could just have one representative in the room, and that person would cast every Athlete vote by default.
I don’t see any record of that happening in past meetings, where the Credentials Committee report usually mentions how many Athlete reps are present. (In 2017, it was six.)
From a practical point of view, I can tell you this:
There is a push within the Athletes’ Council to have more members attending this year.
There may be people pushing the Council to vote as a bloc, but there are also people who have made it clear they’re not going to pushed around.
And here’s another word on keypads:
Each person will have their own clicker and can do whatever they want to with it. It is a secret ballot – unless someone is watching over their shoulder when they push the buttons
— Illinois State Soccer Association (@ILStateSoccer) February 5, 2018
With one week to go in the election, we’re all talking about many things.
Not many of those things have anything to do with ideas or qualifications or anything like that. It’s mostly screaming that if (Kathy Carter, Eric Wynalda, anyone but Wynalda) is elected, we should all move to Canada or Mexico. Or it’s a bunch of rumors of shady politics.
So my goal in soliciting questions to pose to the candidates in the final week was simple. Let’s take advantage of this opportunity to talk about issues and so forth. We were doing that for a while, and then we just … stopped.
I didn’t get much response. Perhaps I should’ve included a truck portraying Kyle Martino and Hope Solo as Kang and Kodos. But a couple of people did get in touch, and so I’ve added their questions to the list below.
I will contact each campaign to see if they can give some answers. Each candidate’s answers will be a separate blog post.
Don’t hold it against a candidate if he/she doesn’t respond. We’ve got a week to go, and they’re surely on the phone nonstop with actual voters right now. But I’ll make an effort.
Here goes …
ALL CANDIDATES
Paralympics
What will you do to work with the 7-a-side program (for athletes with cerebral palsy or brain injury) while it’s not part of the Paralympic Games program?
Can anything be done to start a 5-a-side program for visually impaired athletes, a sport that is in the Paralympic Games? Have you already had conversations with athletes about doing this?
Futsal
Most conversations about futsal in this campaign have focused on using it as a youth development tool. But we have a men’s national team and a couple of budding pro leagues. What’s the next step for building out the game at the elite level?
NWSL
Name three things that can be done to improve the women’s league.
Women’s national team
Will you try to negotiate both the MNT and WNT collective bargaining agreements at the same time?
Hypothetical: You’re negotiating with the WNT. They ask for 24 players to be put on full-time salary with restrictions on the number of “floaters” who can come into camp. The coaching staff has warned that they need flexibility to call in players who are impressing in the NWSL and Europe. What’s your next move?
Should (or could?) U.S. Soccer put the women’s national team’s media rights under a different contract than the MNT/SUM contract so we can see exactly how much revenue the WNT is generating?
Youth soccer
Hypothetical: Let’s say the state associations, backed by a national movement of parents and coaches, ask USSF to standardize leagues throughout the country, folding the Development Academy and other elite leagues into a clearly defined pyramid with promotion/relegation and more local play (less travel). U.S. Club Soccer, predictably, gets very upset. What’s your next move?
Will you tell Development Academy clubs to let their players play high school soccer? Do you see any sort of compromise (say, letting kids play their junior and senior years)?
Open Cup
Hypothetical: You’re trying to sell the Open Cup as a separate TV property. The best bid you have is from an online streaming service that just launched a year ago. They’re offering four times as much as any traditional broadcaster. What’s your next move?
Should the Open Cup run a fall-to-spring schedule that isn’t tied to the summer leagues (NPSL, PDL). If so, would you favor a separate Summer Open Cup for those leagues?
Promotion/relegation
Would you be open to a modified promotion/relegation system in which clubs can’t be relegated below a specific floor (for “major” clubs, D2; for other fully professional clubs, D3)?
Hypothetical: You get a conglomeration of leagues to agree to set up a pyramid. MLS says it will not participate. The top league in your pyramid applies for D1. The task force recommends approval. MLS lawyers up. What’s your next move?
The team that didn’t qualify for the World Cup, causing Earth’s magnetic poles to reverse
Was hiring Bruce Arena a smart decision?
Did you support the decision at the time?
Do you believe that Bruce Arena should be hired again for some other role by US Soccer?
ERIC WYNALDA
Some lawyers and others with experience in the nonprofit world and with NGBs are skeptical of your idea to turn USSF into a lending bank. How would you respond?
Will you please, please stop saying “international calendar” in reference to the fall-to-spring calendar that isn’t used in half the world? (Sorry, pet peeve of mine.)
HOPE SOLO
Where did you hear the incorrect statement that U.S. Soccer coaching licenses are not age appropriate? (The purpose of this question is to find out where she’s getting misinformation like this and whether she has taken steps to find better sources of info.)
If you win the presidency, you will be in the position of defending the federation against a grievance you filed. What’s your next move?
KYLE MARTINO
In your Progress Plan, why would any club created after 2024 be “non-league”? What happens if we have major demographic and climate shifts?
Why move all of U.S. Soccer to New York and not just have a satellite office?
CARLOS CORDEIRO
You’ve demonstrated a reluctance to do interviews. How will you adapt to the role of president, when you be required to do many press conferences?
Why hasn’t U.S. Soccer released its Form 990 and audited financials for the year ending March 31, 2017?
KATHY CARTER
Is it a conflict of interest to have the head of SUM, Don Garber, serving on the Board as long as it’s been in its current (15-member) configuration AND serving as the chairperson of the Nominating and Governance Committee? If not, why not?
What happened to SUM’s site? It’s now redirected to a page on the quasi-independent MLSSoccer.com.
Would MLS expansion fees be cheaper if new owners did not get a share of SUM? Is there any way to untangle that relationship?
Would MLS be in good shape, financially (either profitable or running a loss only because it’s investing in future growth), if it were separated from SUM?
Plenty of people who understand how SUM helped save professional soccer in 2002 question whether it’s still necessary in its current form (co-mingled with MLS) today. How would you respond?
MIKE WINOGRAD
The plan to build a physical training center in each state sounds costly. Some state associations already have similar facilities. Would you simply cooperate with the state to share the space? In general, how would you pay for this plan?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Sunil Gulati take a stage as quickly as he did at the U.S. Youth Soccer gala. It was as if he felt an internal clock ticking as he tried to unleash 20 years of institutional knowledge while a bunch of youth soccer families waited for their dinners.
His hourlong session in Philly was similar. Unfortunately, that’s not posted online. But his speech at the gala is available (see above).
How much of this is the mere venting of someone who’s furious about being attacked on his way out of a long (and, we have to say, accomplished) tenure in office, and how much of it is a reality check on the other candidates and their backers? I’d say roughly 33% of the former and 67% of the latter.
Let’s check out his claims.
The tone of this election: “disappointing and disgusting” (1:15)
You wouldn’t guess that if you saw all the candidate sessions and the U.S. Youth Soccer forum with all eight candidates. (Which, as you know from Twitter, I did.) Everything was civil. The most pointed attack was from Hope Solo, who said Kathy Carter and Carlos Cordeiro have had their opportunity to make change and they have not. Bare-knuckled politics, this is not.
But some of the discussion around the election has been nasty, and Gulati specifically referred to The Truck — somehow left in front of the Pennsylvania Convention Center with neither a demonstration permit nor a special parking permit, according to the helpful city officials I contacted. He says it’s disgraceful. It is, but my understanding is that it’s actually backfiring on some of the more strident candidates, even though they’ve either (A) not claimed credit or (B) actively said “no, I didn’t do that.”
“At the last (Annual General Meeting), things seemed to be pretty good.”
In his hourlong session, Gulati went overboard in talking about how smoothly everything has run for the last 12-20 years. (See my post about it and search “roundup of transcripts.”)
Here, his basic point is half-right. Some issues are bound to have more light shed on them when we have an election. A lot of people are frankly ignorant about USSF in general. But he has a point that some folks who are now suddenly experts on everything USSF should be doing better were awfully quiet a few months ago.
Transparency
Gulati seems shocked that this is suddenly an issue, and he’s happy to compare USSF to any other similar federation. How many have independent directors, he asks? (Not many, but the USSF search committee landed on far too many people who have some sort of tie to Gulati, Columbia, etc. You’d think they could at least get someone from the West Coast.)
He’s on slightly firmer ground when he talks about open board meetings (they have them, but they go into executive session far too often). He says they print every word of meetings, which is true for the National Council meeting (the big one, with everyone) at the AGM but not true for the board meetings, which have minutes that don’t really tell us much. He could’ve mentioned the AGM “book” with all the reports, which is usually released to the public at some point, though it’s a little hit-or-miss.
And they publish financial statements, as required by U.S. law but not required in many places elsewhere in the world. Yes, though we’re still waiting on the statements for the year ending March 31, 2017.
I think Gulati has a point here, but I’m willing to admit I’m a little biased because I’ve been frustrated by the sheer volume of people — mostly anonymous folks but also some candidates and their reps — who claim not to know something that’s right there in plain view on the USSF site.
Of course, the biggest transparency question is in regards to ….
Soccer United Marketing
“Everyone is conflicted in one way or another” may not be the best way to open this segment, but he’s absolutely right. By design, the National Council consists of representatives of all the state associations, and the board consists of representatives of the various councils.
He gives the history of SUM that we heard in a few other places in Philly — rewind to 2003, when IMG wanted out as the USSF marketing company, and SUM (formed in 2002 to save MLS) stepped in.
He says the agreement to renew SUM has been approved unanimously by the board three times. I’ve started to look into this. There’s an old trick — so old that I saw it in the very first board meeting (local hospital board) I ever attended as a journalist — in which the board has some debate but agrees to record the vote as unanimous. I have no evidence that USSF has done this, and I also haven’t heard from any disgruntled board members asking about SUM, and to my knowledge, no one else has. (There were reports that some board members wanted answers about how the Klinsmann contract was handled, a completely different issue, so it’s not as if the board is totally closed off to outside communication.)
Promotion/relegation: Changing the rules on people for undetermined benefit
This is at the 5:50 mark. And he’s right. I wish we’d have more discussion on potential ideas to phase into pro/rel, but I’m not sure how to make that happen. Maybe after the election, when we either have an open pro/rel advocate as president or the pro/rel-minded owners realize they’re going to need to work with the new “establishment” to make it happen.
No, the MLS summer schedule isn’t the reason Qatar is hosting the 2022 World Cup
Nor is it why Morocco could win the World Cup rights for 2026. He also points out near the end that whatever FIFA could complain about within U.S. Soccer can’t be fixed in the four months that remain in the World Cup bid campaign.
He’s right.
(I’ll skip the bits about whether to pay the president and what a “soccer person” is. He says little on the former, and he’s justifiably snarky about the latter.)
Now we’re getting to what he calls his fact check, starting at the 8:20 mark.
Gulati disputes claim: No one ever called Jonathan Gonzalez
He says Tab Ramos talked at the convention about how many times they talked, and he says Christian Pulisic called Gonzalez at Gulati’s request. He concedes USSF may not have done enough but blasts the idea that no one ever contacted Gonzalez.
He’s surely right by the letter of that statement, but most reasonable people aren’t saying USSF had no contact with Gonzalez.
Gulati disputes claim: We have “utter chaos in the states”
Gulati says USSF used to have a grievance or appeal every few weeks, and we haven’t had as many lately, which is a credit to the federation as a whole. From the available evidence, he’s right — if we’re defining “chaos” strictly as grievances and appeals. I’d make the case that “the states” are in chaos because youth soccer is in chaos.
Gulati disputes claim: In the Development Academy, we shouldn’t have the same restrictions on substitutions as we have in the rest of the world
This is an odd one in this list because it’s not a “fact.” That’s an opinion. He scoffs at the idea that the Development Academy should have more freedom of substitution than we have in pro-level games. I could frankly see an argument either way. North Carolina’s legendary women’s coach Anson Dorrance has pointed out that he has a lot of players who’ve made a commitment to play for him, and he thinks he should be able to spread out the playing time.
In any case, again — that’s not a “fact.”
Gulati disputes claim: USSF is out of compliance with 13 FIFA statutes
Wynalda actually said “bylaws or statutes.” In any case, Gulati says this is simply false, and in a few cases where we are out of compliance, it’s because we would be out of compliance with U.S. law.
“We’ve made it clear we’re not going to violate American law.”
The example he gives is training compensation and solidarity payments. “We’ve spent a lot of money with a lot of lawyers,” he says, and player reps have made it clear they will sue youth clubs who try to claim compensation.
This is one of those cases in which it’ll surely help to have new people at the table. Gulati’s surely correct on the facts here. But it doesn’t mean there’s no solution available.
Gulati disputes claim: “Heard from a self-confessed TV expert that 50% of our revenues come from TV.”
Easy to check, he says. It’s closer to 15-20%. “That’s only a several-million dollar error in the budget,” he quips.
No, it’s not easy to check, even if USSF’s accountants made every possible best-faith effort to explain it. How do you separate “sponsorship” money? How much sponsorship is predicated on TV appearances?
So I’m not sure I buy the notion that we can put a hard number on it. But I also have a hard time buying the notion that TV is “50%.” The Wynalda campaign is, as always, free to contact me to explain this figure.
Gulati disputes claim: “The board has little actual business acumen”
This one is also somewhat subjective, but I think Gulati makes a very strong point here. The independent directors in particular have plenty of business experience.
Side note: I’ve heard the claim that “business acumen” from Goldman Sachs and so forth is irrelevant because we’re talking about a nonprofit here. OK. But the board also includes, as Gulati points out, a former university president.
In fact, under Donna Shalala’s leadership, the University of Miami was ranked the most fiscally responsible nonprofit in the country, as I just learned. (Google is fun!) I wish I’d known that when someone talked my ear off about this topic.
Gulati disputes claim: “USSF needs a membership services department”
You may argue, but I’ve heard from several people within U.S. Soccer who aren’t necessarily Gulati loyalists than up to 90% of what candidates say USSF should be doing are things USSF is already doing.
Maybe that’s exaggerated. But I have little doubt that the next president will be surprised to learn that some of his or her campaign points have already been addressed.
Gulati disputes claim: “We need multiple pathways that we don’t have now”
He claims they’re still sending scouts to ODP. How effective they are is anyone’s guess.
The finish
Gulati finishes by asking people to ask questions of the candidates. Hard questions.
He’s right. And we’ve got a few more days. Send me your questions, and I’ll ask.
In one week, U.S. Soccer members — from big-shot board members to little-known delegates from far-flung state associations — will descend upon a hotel just outside Disney World and Sea World. They’ll have two days of preliminary meetings and a welcome event at Hollywood Studios. (I have not yet inquired about Fastpasses for Toy Story Mania.)
Then on Saturday, it’s the Big Vote. Eight candidates enter. One takes over the presidency from Sunil Gulati.
And we still have so many questions left unanswered. So many ideas that haven’t been fully vetted. So many vague statements.
So let’s come up with a list of questions — some for all candidates, some for specific candidates. Then I’ll see if I can get them answered.
You can leave them as comments here. You can email me. You can hit me up on Twitter.
Here are a few to get us started:
ALL CANDIDATES
Paralympics
What will you do to work with the 7-a-side program (for athletes with cerebral palsy or brain injury) while it’s not part of the Paralympic Games program?
Can anything be done to start a 5-a-side program for visually impaired athletes, a sport that is in the Paralympic Games? Have you already had conversations with athletes about doing this?
Futsal
Most conversations about futsal in this campaign have focused on using it as a youth development tool. But we have a men’s national team and a couple of budding pro leagues. What’s the next step for building out the game at the elite level?
NWSL
Name three things that can be done to improve the women’s league.
Women’s national team
Will you try to negotiate both the MNT and WNT collective bargaining agreements at the same time?
Hypothetical: You’re negotiating with the WNT. They ask for 24 players to be put on full-time salary with restrictions on the number of “floaters” who can come into camp. The coaching staff has warned that they need flexibility to call in players who are impressing in the NWSL and Europe. What’s your next move?
Youth soccer
Hypothetical: Let’s say the state associations, backed by a national movement of parents and coaches, ask USSF to standardize leagues throughout the country, folding the Development Academy and other elite leagues into a clearly defined pyramid with promotion/relegation and more local play (less travel). U.S. Club Soccer, predictably, gets very upset. What’s your next move?
Will you tell Development Academy clubs to let their players play high school soccer? Do you see any sort of compromise (say, letting kids play their junior and senior years)?
Open Cup
Hypothetical: You’re trying to sell the Open Cup as a separate TV property. The best bid you have is from an online streaming service that just launched a year ago. They’re offering four times as much as any traditional broadcaster. What’s your next move?
NEW! Should the Open Cup run a fall-to-spring schedule that isn’t tied to the summer leagues (NPSL, PDL). If so, would you favor a separate Summer Open Cup for those leagues?
Promotion/relegation
Would you be open to a modified promotion/relegation system in which clubs can’t be relegated below a specific floor (for “major” clubs, D2; for other fully professional clubs, D3)?
Hypothetical: You get a conglomeration of leagues to agree to set up a pyramid. MLS says it will not participate. The top league in your pyramid applies for D1. The task force recommends approval. MLS lawyers up. What’s your next move?
ERIC WYNALDA
Some lawyers and others with experience in the nonprofit world and with NGBs are skeptical of your idea to turn USSF into a lending bank. How would you respond?
Will you please, please stop saying “international calendar” in reference to the fall-to-spring calendar that isn’t used in half the world? (Sorry, pet peeve of mine.)
HOPE SOLO
Where did you hear the incorrect statement that U.S. Soccer coaching licenses are not age appropriate? (The purpose of this question is to find out where she’s getting misinformation like this and whether she has taken steps to find better sources of info.)
If you win the presidency, you will be in the position of defending the federation against a grievance you filed. What’s your next move?
KYLE MARTINO
In your Progress Plan, why would any club created after 2024 be “non-league”? What happens if we have major demographic and climate shifts?
Why move all of U.S. Soccer to New York and not just have a satellite office?
CARLOS CORDEIRO
You’ve demonstrated a reluctance to do interviews. How will you adapt to the role of president, when you be required to do many press conferences?
KATHY CARTER
Is it a conflict of interest to have the head of SUM, Don Garber, serving on the Board as long as it’s been in its current (15-member) configuration AND serving as the chairperson of the Nominating and Governance Committee? If not, why not?
What happened to SUM’s site? It’s now redirected to a page on the quasi-independent MLSSoccer.com.
Would MLS expansion fees be cheaper if new owners did not get a share of SUM? Is there any way to untangle that relationship?
Would MLS be in good shape, financially (either profitable or running a loss only because it’s investing in future growth), if it were separated from SUM?
Plenty of people who understand how SUM helped save professional soccer in 2002 question whether it’s still necessary in its current form (co-mingled with MLS) today. How would you respond?
Found something interesting while cleaning out the basement. Pictures below.
Coincidentally, Grant Wahl has a crucial interview with MLS commissioner and SUM CEO Don Garber.
Soccer United Marketing's role in US Soccer has been a flashpoint in the USSF presidential election. So I asked SUM CEO Don Garber 29 questions about SUM https://t.co/mJyX6ZTQbg
Garber says that from the time the first agreement was done (2002?) to 2022, SUM will have paid the Federation $300 million. That’s a cool $15 million per year.
But Garber cites those numbers in response to USSF VP and presidential candidate Carlos Cordeiro calling for a “commercial committee” headed by an independent director to oversee such deals. He also cites the USSF board minutes that show Garber and anyone else affiliated with SUM (say, an Athletes’ Council member currently employed with an MLS club somehow) recuses himself from any vote on SUM. (Even so, Sunil Gulati said the SUM deal has been approved and renewed by a unanimous vote of the non-recused members of the Board.)
That probably doesn’t completely absolve SUM and others of all conflict-of-interest questions. What additional steps need to be taken are in the eye of the beholder. Should Garber simply remove himself from the Board after roughly 18 years? Do we need an accounting of what SUM has done for the women’s national team? Do we simply need to give non-MLS clubs a shot at Division 1 somehow, whether they get a piece of SUM or not?
In any case, the book below is obviously taken from early in SUM’s life. Superliga will never die …
The amendments wouldn’t take effect until qualifying begins anew in August, so the motion is tabled.
Not many of those things have anything to do with ideas or qualifications or anything like that. It’s mostly screaming that if (Kathy Carter, Eric Wynalda, anyone but Wynalda) is elected, we should all move to Canada or Mexico. Or it’s a bunch of rumors of shady politics.
He’s on slightly firmer ground when he talks about open board meetings (they have them, but they go into executive session far too often). He says they print every word of meetings, which is true for the National Council meeting (the big one, with everyone) at the AGM but not true for the board meetings, which have minutes that don’t really tell us much. He could’ve mentioned the AGM “book” with all the reports, which is usually released to the public at some point, though it’s a little hit-or-miss.
Then on Saturday, it’s the Big Vote. Eight candidates enter. One takes over the presidency from Sunil Gulati.
Duresport.com 