Photo by Ron Soliman
The Union lost again this weekend. In fact, they missed the playoffs this year for the first time since 2017. Here’s an easy way to avoid feeling bad about it.
Stop being a fan.
Really.
Here’s how.
Stop asking the club to listen to you about players, about the coach, about the jersey (really). Stop believing your protest during friendlies actually matters, that your ticket makes you deserve a seat at the owner’s table, that your feedback is valid.
The hubris. The audacity.
Stop believing that your insight into the transfer market has merit, that you see the angles and could make the deals, that the star player you pine for is all that’s missing from a championship. Stop making demands, calling for heads, cosplaying ownership.
Oh, and here’s a relevant one: stop believing your favorite player wants to play his whole career in your city, for your team.
Stop being – or maybe stop thinking – like a fan.
Start being an owner
Now, start being an owner.
Start realizing MLS is about value instead of jewelry, start getting comfortable with the idea that genuine leadership steadiness is a ballast against the league’s built-in parity, start prioritizing important things like sustained growth over unimportant ones like the results of the last match – or that it’s only the last match that matters. Start understanding that money talks but value sings, that your ticket is a revenue stream and all streams flow into the profitability ocean, start understanding that the loudest voices are almost always the ones that are the best to ignore.
Start coming humbly to the negotiation table, knowing that finding the next great player more than likely means actually finding and not following, start realizing that while stars make the headlines, it’s teams that earn the trophies.
Start realizing that there is no “easy button” for earning silverware.
A results business
Speaking of silverware, all fans want is to win. That’s what it’s all about after all, right? A good record is trash without a trophy.
It’s those pesky owners who don’t care about that stuff, isn’t it?
Stop.
Fans want to win and owners want to win. Fans focus on wins because they’re an easy outcome to measure. Owners – at least the good ones – don’t focus on wins because they’re noisy. Owners instead focus on inputs, things they can control, from which – if done correctly – outcomes are more likely to flow.
But not always.
Because even with the right inputs, with otherwise perfect inputs, outcomes aren’t guaranteed.
So it goes.
How many breaks had to go the Eagles way for them to beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl – along the way too, with that last gasp pass against Atlanta that gets completed more often than not, the injuries against San Francisco that made that game a scrimmage, Nick Foles in general? The next time around, if Jalen Hurts doesn’t slip, pass interference isn’t called, do the Birds win a second against the Chiefs? Speaking of slips, does anyone want to revisit the penalty shootout of MLS Cup from two years ago? Stevie G against Chelsea?
All of these are instances of chance atop a foundation of process. Fans focus on the former, owners focus on the latter – and both feel the pain of the loss.
The choice is yours
Being a fan is fun though.
You can yell, you can scream – at opponents as much as the team you support. Especially in Philadelphia.
When you’re angry, you can threaten to never watch again, to cancel your Apple TV+ subscription, to quit your season tickets along with your place in the “I’ve been here since…” hierarchy. You can come to the comments section in your vintage, no logo, 2010 “but bought in 2009,” gold-striped kit and vent with furious and righteous indignation.
Do it.
It’s part of what makes this site great.
But be mindful of a second truth: mostly, owners don’t care.
Loud and angry fans come with the territory for disciplined owners, and fans like these are a dime a dozen. Fans who quit? They’re even cheaper – replaced faster than you can say, “Sign a striker” – and especially cheap in supporter’s sections, where average turnover is rampant.
For owners, of course revenue matters, but the revenue of a vocal minority, your revenue – the angry fan – is irrelevant.
(As an anecdote, ownership asked a group of the most loyal Union fans what they thought of the BY/U jersey before it was released – the one with the lighting bolts, the award-winning one, the best selling Union kit of all time. You know what they thought? They hated it, said it didn’t feel like a Union shirt… As the saying goes, “if you listen to the fans, pretty soon you’ll start sitting with them.”)
But again, being a fan is fun – so keep being a fan if you want and you’ll always be angry about the last game.
Or start being an owner, and finally begin to see what’s been built on the shores of the Delaware – right in front of your eyes. You’ll be shocked to find it’s one of the most sustainable franchises in the history of American soccer, and one that just had a tough season.
or you could be a supporter
Interesting article. I don’t agree with all (probably most!) of it, however I appreciate the perspective.
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I no longer live in the Delaware Valley, but I gave up my season tickets long before I moved. I couldn’t justify the investment of time, energy, and money under this ownership. I still watch every match in far away timezone and follow the club. No judgements for the folks that love going down to Chester and enjoy the match day experience. Especially taking the family and making some memories.
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And yeah… winning a trophy does take some luck… but this club is 0 for 4 in finals. That’s more than bad luck. It’s a design flaw. Their model reached its limit. And to their credit it nearly worked! But ownership didn’t make the necessary investments and adjustments to put them over the top. Does that same model that failed to delivery silverware have what it takes to win something in a more top-heavy league?
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I’ve accepted this ownership’s model. I have no ability to change it. But folks aren’t wrong for wanting more. Especially the folks paying $7 bucks for fries and and $30 bucks to park, while their season tickets have continued to increase in price. The Union are no longer a cheap day out for the family. They have the right to piss and moan about the shortcomings of this model.
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They don’t throw parades or hang banners for owners. Remember that.
Be a supporter? that’s a novel idea… Yell, cheer em on and be happy to have the team in Philly.
What the Fuck did I just read?
This is a really good essay and it’s fundamental to being a pro sports fan. Have fun talking and speculating but also have the perspective that the talk is for fun. Fans buy a ticket to see a soccer game. And that’s a good thing but thankfully it’s not a job. It’s for fun. It shouldn’t be a job for a fan. A fan’s choice is to spend time and money on an entertainment product or not.
I’ve just moved to Philadelphia from DC and was a DC United season ticket holder and Barra Brava member before our group went inactive. I’ve adopted the Union as it’s lots of fun and I’m friends with some other fans.
The point is that I’ve had this discussion with other DC United fans. There are still DC United fans who get animated about why that team doesn’t win like in the 1990’s. For perspective, the Union have it good now that the organization has built the best homegrown system in the league. While this season was a bummer, there will be more talent and the Union aren’t still finding metaphorical broken pipes behind the wall that are leftover from when they were about to be contracted due to an unsustainable stadium problem.
The Union will be back. I’ll add a jersey to my Union merch collection that includes a scarf and ball caps for my young sons. I’ll probably get a jersey for my wife too. Hopefully the new road kit looks sharp.
And I’ll come back to the stadium next year and have fun and make sure to get as much fun out of my ticket and Apple TV subscription as possible. I’m also having fun learning the Union’s tactics as they are both unique and effective.
Good read, Chris. A little too close to the truth with MLS, which can never stop crowing about market value and sponsorship revenue growth – a sporting ‘culture’ brewed in an MBA course on entrepreneurship.
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I do think, though, that the temperature of the fans/supporters is important to the value and even bottom line for the Union. In this city, attention spans for teams outside the big four can be very short. Those record sell out crowds were set on the fumes of the 2022 run, which was one hell of a great season. This one has been the opposite. A pratfall after several seasons among the league’s elite. Grow too dull and people stop watching and paying for tickets. I know franchise values are rising, but those values don’t pay salaries and other bills.
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I’ve been trying to figure out why I’ve been so bored by the team, when I followed it through so many other squalid seasons with far more interest. Is it just the let down? Is it just the stale state of the whole league? Too much running in place. I don’t know. This was the first season in many I didn’t bother coming down for any matches.
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I really hope the team makes some interesting moves. Something to get my attention. I’d really like to be more invested in my local team.
While I understand the perspective you’re offering, I find the article a bit condescending. It doesn’t provide much evidence that ownership is prioritizing the club’s success on the field, focusing more on profits, which isn’t necessarily the same objective.
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For example, the statement: ‘You’ll be shocked to find it’s one of the most sustainable franchises in the history of American soccer, and one that just had a tough season’ seems to selectively highlight recent seasons while overlooking the first nine years of the club’s existence. It also sidesteps concerns about the team’s reliance on veterans nearing the end of their careers and young players who may be promising for MLS but aren’t attracting transfer fees from abroad.
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I still have faith in Ernst, but I’m more skeptical about ownership. I’m not planning to protest, but I am leaning towards watching matches on TV instead of investing in tickets, parking, and merchandise, especially when the future feels like a return to the old days. I believe that kind of shift from fans should be something ownership takes seriously.
I think a better idea might be to just stop being a Union fan or thinking like an MLS owner and just watch the European leagues along with the international games.