3 ms·

Makes me wonder if we could somehow crowdfund an NFL competitor where every team was owned by the fans. Probably not feasible, but I find the idea romantic.

lgregg 8y ago
It could work, but you would need a big initial buy-in to get it off the ground. You'd likely need at least 6-8 teams initially and venues for them to play since the NFL has banned it. I could see this working well at a minor league level because the players wouldn't really be sacrificing much, I think, but I'm not certain. You'd also have to figure out the costs for gear, staff, and etc. You'd also have to figure out logistics for management, I imagine a trust would be the best middle ground. My best friend is from Cork City in Ireland, Cork FC is fan-owned which runs out of a trust. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FORAS_(football_supporters%27_trust) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FORAS_(football_supporters%27_... Side-bar: I am curious if MLS has banned fan-ownership. Edit: Unsure, seems like 4th Tier league allows fan-ownership. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fan-owned_sports_teams#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fan-owned_sports_teams... Second Edit: Reading [2], it seems like it'd be possible to have a European fan-ownership structure except that the team would own shares from MLS to have the team rights. [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Soccer_owners https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Soccer_owners
- cozzyd 8y ago
  American Football is probably dying. Too dangerous. MLS might be a better long term investment.
  - lgregg 8y ago
    I think three team soccer would really take off in United States. If Americans really do love reality TV and drama, then it might just be a match made in heaven.
geodel 8y ago
I think market value of NFL teams in aggregate is about $60 billion. Anything which come close to that number looks big, bad, serious business to me, quite opposite of romantic.
- retbull 8y ago
  I believe it would be much smaller initially. Later the larger organization would be worth a crazy amount but hopefully not end up in a world of corruption. :/ You might be able to do something like this with eSports teams or streamers.

lgregg 8y ago

It could work, but you would need a big initial buy-in to get it off the ground. You'd likely need at least 6-8 teams initially and venues for them to play since the NFL has banned it. I could see this working well at a minor league level because the players wouldn't really be sacrificing much, I think, but I'm not certain. You'd also have to figure out the costs for gear, staff, and etc. You'd also have to figure out logistics for management, I imagine a trust would be the best middle ground. My best friend is from Cork City in Ireland, Cork FC is fan-owned which runs out of a trust. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FORAS_(football_supporters%27_trust) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FORAS_(football_supporters%27_... Side-bar: I am curious if MLS has banned fan-ownership. Edit: Unsure, seems like 4th Tier league allows fan-ownership. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fan-owned_sports_teams#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fan-owned_sports_teams... Second Edit: Reading [2], it seems like it'd be possible to have a European fan-ownership structure except that the team would own shares from MLS to have the team rights. [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Soccer_owners https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Soccer_owners

cozzyd 8y ago
American Football is probably dying. Too dangerous. MLS might be a better long term investment.
- lgregg 8y ago
  I think three team soccer would really take off in United States. If Americans really do love reality TV and drama, then it might just be a match made in heaven.

geodel 8y ago

I think market value of NFL teams in aggregate is about $60 billion. Anything which come close to that number looks big, bad, serious business to me, quite opposite of romantic.

retbull 8y ago
I believe it would be much smaller initially. Later the larger organization would be worth a crazy amount but hopefully not end up in a world of corruption. :/ You might be able to do something like this with eSports teams or streamers.