- Built the best training facilities in the league
- Planned and broken ground on the first NWSL-specific stadium.
- Convinced Debinha to come to freakin Missouri instead of sign with Arsenal.
- Created a fanbase out of nothing.
Not perfect-- Ashton certainly seems to have some issues-- but pretty damn good.
The mega wealthy, even the "good ones" are usually not the best people...as was brought up with Kang re: her DeSantis donations. No one is saying that. But new ownership in this era of the NWSL has been almost entirely positive and I'd expect similar benefits in Portland where we have a built in supporter culture. That doesn't guarantee lack of scandal or even winning soccer, but I am very confident it would mean more attention for the club, fans, and players. As long as it's not the Saudis, let's get this show on the road.
1) The lease is a real mess. The new owners aren't going to want to be beholden to Peregrine, but to split out the lease (and all the appurtenances thereto, like concessions and staffing) is a furball. I can see how that alone could difficult and time-consuming to work out - if it CAN be worked out - and
2) The league has made it absolutely clear that it will not step in an pressure Paulson to make a deal. So there's no real "push" from anyone who matters.
So I totally see why this could be taking forever. What WOULD be nice is some sort of updates every so often: "We met on XX and YY, talked about this, having difficulty sorting through these issues, got this resolved..."
And as for KC, well...my point is simply that you can have all the good intentions and the "best training facilities in the league" and end up with a crap team fighting over the Wooden Spoon.
That's my point; that sport is REALLY difficult to get right unless you're Lyon and have a metric crap-ton more money that everyone else.
I hope that this deal goes sooner rather than later, and that the new owners a good, smart people. But I don't "expect" anything beyond that hope. We know nothing about the new owners, really, and we'll have to just wait and hope they are ambitious and smart and decent people.
And as a note, I'd say because we have a supporter culture may actually end up being no help or even worse.
If you recall it turned out to be a negative issue with Paulson; he ran head-on into the TA when he tried some of his pet notions that the long-time fans haaaaated. He had to back off, and he never really got over that, being the thin-skinned rich kid he is.
Attention? Sure. But not really positive attention, and the result was a lingering low-level hostility that flared up in bursts of "GWOut" up until Paulson really shit the bed.
So.
Lots of issues, lots of complexity! But also lots of hope and patience needed to see out this whole thing and get beyond the Paulson Era.
The KC owners have, since returning to KC:
- Built the best training facilities in the league
- Planned and broken ground on the first NWSL-specific stadium.
- Convinced Debinha to come to freakin Missouri instead of sign with Arsenal.
- Created a fanbase out of nothing.
Not perfect-- Ashton certainly seems to have some issues-- but pretty damn good.
The mega wealthy, even the "good ones" are usually not the best people...as was brought up with Kang re: her DeSantis donations. No one is saying that. But new ownership in this era of the NWSL has been almost entirely positive and I'd expect similar benefits in Portland where we have a built in supporter culture. That doesn't guarantee lack of scandal or even winning soccer, but I am very confident it would mean more attention for the club, fans, and players. As long as it's not the Saudis, let's get this show on the road.
Easier said that done, particularly because:
1) The lease is a real mess. The new owners aren't going to want to be beholden to Peregrine, but to split out the lease (and all the appurtenances thereto, like concessions and staffing) is a furball. I can see how that alone could difficult and time-consuming to work out - if it CAN be worked out - and
2) The league has made it absolutely clear that it will not step in an pressure Paulson to make a deal. So there's no real "push" from anyone who matters.
So I totally see why this could be taking forever. What WOULD be nice is some sort of updates every so often: "We met on XX and YY, talked about this, having difficulty sorting through these issues, got this resolved..."
And as for KC, well...my point is simply that you can have all the good intentions and the "best training facilities in the league" and end up with a crap team fighting over the Wooden Spoon.
That's my point; that sport is REALLY difficult to get right unless you're Lyon and have a metric crap-ton more money that everyone else.
I hope that this deal goes sooner rather than later, and that the new owners a good, smart people. But I don't "expect" anything beyond that hope. We know nothing about the new owners, really, and we'll have to just wait and hope they are ambitious and smart and decent people.
And as a note, I'd say because we have a supporter culture may actually end up being no help or even worse.
If you recall it turned out to be a negative issue with Paulson; he ran head-on into the TA when he tried some of his pet notions that the long-time fans haaaaated. He had to back off, and he never really got over that, being the thin-skinned rich kid he is.
Attention? Sure. But not really positive attention, and the result was a lingering low-level hostility that flared up in bursts of "GWOut" up until Paulson really shit the bed.
So.
Lots of issues, lots of complexity! But also lots of hope and patience needed to see out this whole thing and get beyond the Paulson Era.
When we'll see,