US Sports Fans Want To Buy A Team

In an idea similar to the Myfootballclub.uk's successful effort to purchase a European football club, some guys here in the good ole US of A are trying to gather sports fans together to purchase a professional sports franchise of any type. Its called Project Franchise and it wants sports fans of all types to give $5 bucks for a share in a sports team yet to be purchased. They aren't trying to buy a MLB, NBA, NFL, or NHL team yet, we all know those cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but they are trying to buy into a minor league baseball or hockey team, NBDL franchise, or Arena League team.

With your 5 bucks, you get a vote in the running of a professional sports team ("team name, colors, coaches and lineups all the way down to condiments at the concession stand"), which is pretty much every fan's dream, right? Seems pretty cheap to me but also just a little bit dangerous if they aren't careful because the British version wanted a donation of 70 bucks for 1 share and each person could have just 1 share so that block voting did not occur. Lets hope this rule exists here.

Also, they'll have to get tens of thousands of donations to get enough to purchase a team. 50,000 people with 5 dollar donations means just $250,000 and I wouldn't think that'd be enough, but what do I know.

We'll see if these guys can figure out these kinks as it goes, but right now they just want people to sign up for their mailing list if they are interested in the idea or there is a facebook group you can sign up with.

Its an interesting idea and we encourage you to sign up and see what happens, I mean, the worst thing is you get your 5 bucks back and you don't own a team. Nothing wrong with that.

From Project Franchise

20,000 Soccer Fans Now Own Team

In a story we've been following here for awhile, the MyFootballClub.co.UK people have finally successfully purchased an English Premiership Football team. The site allowed soccer fans to pay £35 each for a share in a team to be purchased in the future. Yesterday it was announced that the group had purchased Ebbsfleet United PC, a Blue Square Premier team that is currently in 9th place and just 1 promotion away from reaching Football League for the first time in team history.

The new owners of the team have a 51% controlling stake and each member of MyFootballClub will vote on whom the team should buy to move the team forward in the future and other ownership matters.

Crazy what can happen when a group of fans get together to make a change in sport. The fans are the ones that really put the money in the player's pockets, it seems only fair that the fans should be able to make a decision as to how the team is run. These people took that idea and ran with it.

If only this could happen here in the States. Imagine if a group of NBA fans got together and pooled enough money to purchase the Seattle Supersonics to keep them in Seattle, or if a group of MLB fans pooled their resources to purchase the Chicago Cubs? How much better or worse could either one of those organizations be run? Certainly, neither could be run as poorly as they are now.

Here's to hoping one day, us fans in the United States wise up and realize that we can do something like this and keep teams out of the hands of the Dan Snyders of the world. Individually we are weak, together, we are strong...or something like that.

From BBC Sport

MyFootballClub.com Close To Purchasing Soccer Team

Remember that website we discussed a couple weeks back, Myfootballclub.com? This was the site where you could pay 35 British pounds a year, or 72 American dollars, for a share in an English Football (soccer) club. Basically, you will be a part owner in a team, and be able to vote on all decisions in running the squad since everyone who owns the team will have an equal ownership share. You will be able to vote on "team selection and new signings to kit design and beer options in the club bar".

Well, they're close to actually achieving their goal. They've blown through the £500,000 mark for contributions and now are in the process of looking for a League Two or Conference level club to purchase. From the Independent:

More than 53,000 people declared an interest in MyFootballClub when the website went live on 26 April. Brooks is coy about how much he has raised so far, but he is thought to have amassed more than £500,000 already, only a fortnight after beginning the fundraising stage of his mission. In the first 24 hours, £250,000 was raised: if all 53,000 pay, he will have £1.4m with which to approach a club.

Amazing huh? This takes the American Idol model of the fans picking the winner to a whole new level! If the fans own the team, they can vote on whether or not controversial players would be signed, what food was available at the stadium, what beers are available, the team uniforms, the team name, its the ultimate fan experience...all for 72 bucks a year!

This has to happen at some point here in the states...although with the tight ownership controls in the NBA, NFL and MLB it is all but certain not to happen with those sports. One could hope that maybe the NHL or MLS would be receptive to this sort of fan interaction and ownership at some point but I'm betting this would only fly with minor league baseball teams at this point in America...which is a shame. We're the home of capitalism dammit, if a group of people have the money and someone is willing to sell to them, they should be able to do so freely without the other owners pulling the whole "best interest of the league" clause. I just want to see this happen.

From The Independent UK

Want to Own Your Own Soccer Team?

If so, then sign up with MyFootballClub. This website was set up by Will Brooks, a man with a dream, a dream to own a soccer team...and he wanted to share this dream with everyone he could because he certainly could not afford it on his own. Basically, you sign up and pay $72 bucks American (35 British Pounds) apiece and you will get membership in a trust that owns the football club after it's been purchased. You'll get an equal say in team selection, player transfers and the overall running of the club. The Vancouver Sun states:

"They started collecting dues when they hit their membership target this week; $215,000 poured in during the first six hours..." and "Four teams have already approached [Brooks] for negotiations..."

This really is a pretty good idea. Why this hasn't been thought of for teams like the Nashville Predators or some other failing team in American sports, I just don't know. I doubt it would fly in the tightly held ownership groups of American sporting leagues...but for a minor league team or even an Arena league team, this would be fantastic.

The sport is supposed to be for the fans, why not see what happens if you let the fans own the team and determine how it should be run? We already have millions of bloggers out here stating how things should be run, billions of fantasy sports leagues, why not get a group together and own a team? I'd love to see it happen, wouldn't mind being a part of it too. I might send in my $72 bucks just to get in on this...and I don't even like soccer! I know my first vote will be to get some hot Japanese women to show up and kick the ball around like they are above.

Link to MyFootballClub.com
Link to Vancouver Sun