Peter Wilt lets his sports' team support influence his emotions for better and worse. Here he reacts to Chicago Fire goalkeeper Matt Pickens giving him his 2006 US Open Cup championship medal

I tend to be an emotional person and need to work to avoid both highs and lows in my life.  I also tend to let sports results effect my mood inordinately.  The last week was a difficult week for me personally and professionally and the results of the soccer teams I follow all went against my desires.

I’ll avoid detailing the personal and professional downers except to say that they’re nothing anyone else doesn’t have to deal with on occasion.  I only mention it as it seemed to marry with last week’s soccer results which kept me down for an extended period.

I suppose sporting results, both good and bad, effect every sports fan’s mood to a degree.  Those reading this probably tend to be effected more than the average sports fan and more by soccer than other sports, so I imagine that these readers will commiserate with me a bit more than the typical person.

I had serious interest in four soccer results last week.  The matches and the results in order of importance to me:

UEFA Europa Cup Final, Fulham 1, Atletico Madrid 2:  The Cottagers are the only non-American team I’ve ever supported in any sport.  My Fulham fandom began in January, 2004 when Carlos Bocanegra left the Chicago Fire for Craven Cottage.  Since then Fulham has always had at least one American on its roster.  Fulham has never won a major trophy in its 131 year history and prior to last week had only competed in one other major championship game.  Fulham lost 2-0 to West Ham United in the 1975 FA Cup final.  Yet they seemed destined to win  the Europa Cup this year ever since Clint Dempsey’s special goal advanced Fulham past Juventus in the return leg of the last 16.  131 years without lifting a major trophy is a long time….in any sport.  Wait till next year!

Women’s Professional Soccer: Chicago Red Stars 0, Philadelphia Independence 1:  I left early. I rarely leave early.  But after 72 minutes of this match I could see where this game was going.  My WPS team – I’m a partner in the Red Stars - gave up an early goal (again), staggered through the first half and improved to frustrating in the second half.  We have an owners meeting tomorrow and we’ll be discussing the usual topics of financial and operational updates, but I imagine the topic of this talented team’s inexplicable poor record will also be on the agenda.

Major League Soccer: Chicago Fire 2, Kansas City Wizards 2:  There are two kinds of draws – those that feel like wins….and this one.  Brian McBride subbed in for Collins John at the half and scored a few minutes later to give us what seemed to be an insurmountable 2-0 lead.  It was the second time this year that the Fire captain started the game on the bench only to score soon after being subbed in.  That begs the question that Paul Gardner asked on Monday:  When a star forward scores off the bench, is it coaching genius or a sign that the coach should’ve started the forward in the first place?  Alas, Fire Goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra was caught off balance on the first KC goal and he left a rebound so wide open in the 90th minute that even Kei Kamara couldn’t miss.

FA Cup Final: Chelsea 1, Portsmouth 0:  I’m not proud of it, but as sports allegiances go, I’m also a bit of a hater.  While I passionately support the Wave, Red Stars, Fire, Fulham and White Sox, I also support whoever’s playing against the Cubs, Bears, Manchester United and…..Chelsea.  After winning the Premiership the previous week it was easy to support former Blues coach Avrum Grant and his relegation bound Portsmouth squad in Grant’s revenge match against Chelsea at Wembley in the FA Cup Final.  While the FA Cup brings memories of Monty Python’s philosophers football match -  Immanuel Kant was a real pissant - this match provided real hope for an upset as the clock ticked away.  In fact, Portsmouth had a 56th minute penalty to take the lead, but Kevin-Prince Boateng took it right down the middle (and earlier took Michael Ballack out of the match and the World Cup) and allowed Petr Cech to save.  Just three minutes later Didier Drogba’s 59th minute free kick caught David James flatfooted and the post finally yielded for the first time in six chances against Chelsea.

Throwing himself into his favorite teams has allowed Peter Wilt to enjoy their successes to their fullest.

The cumulative virtual effect of these four decisions along with the barbiturate effect of recent real world factors resulted in my morose mood that carried over to mid-week.  I wish I could separate these results from the reality of life, but long ago I allowed sports results to be part of my life.  The benefit of living life this way is that the victories send me on a high that is memorable and inspiring.

So while I may be down today, the same passion for my sports teams that made me despondent this week will allow me to love and live life to its fullest tomorrow.

Opening Day is special.  It is a day of renewal.  There is a sense of optimism that pervades every team. A sense that anything is possible and everyone is expected to be part of the festivities. It’s an annual holiday for all teams. Not every team gets to host the All Star Game, not every team gets to play in the finals, but every team does get an Opening Day.

I used to be obsessed with opening days in baseball. One year, I think it was 1981, I managed to attend five “openers”. The first was the New York Yankees spring training opener in Fort Lauderdale where I recall following Oscar Gamble’s Rolls Royce through the streets of south Florida afterwards. Then I hit the local hat trick of opening days - Cubs, Sox and Brewers. For the Sox opener, I organized a bus trip of fellow Marquette students. It provided good career training for someone who would be selling group outings for a pro sports team two years later.  And finally I managed to catch a minor league opener.  It may have been the Kenosha Twins – who sold pasties at their concession stands.

Last Saturday I hurried back from a Florida vacation to get to the Chicago Red Stars 2010 home opener with that same sense of excitement, possibility and optimism that accompanies each new season. While I have moved on from my day to day duties overseeing the Red Stars, I retain ties to the Red Stars as a team owner, one of four members of the team’s board, a member of the team’s charitable foundation board, a team consultant, a member of the WPS sponsorship committee, an alternate governor on the League’s Board of Governors and a season ticket holder.

After taking my wife home from the airport and unpacking, I stopped at the Milwaukee Wave office to pick up my game tickets and headed south for the 90 minute trek to Toyota Park.  On the drive down from Milwaukee, I received three messages on my BlackBerry – ok, I probably received a “few” more – but three that are pertinent to this column. One was from Alfredo Gomez that his daughter Miranda asked out of the game, because she was tired from a late night.  It sounded more like Fredo’s excuse to me, but he assured me that it was the Girl Scout overnight event at the Museum of Science and Industry that caused their cancellation!  Then indoor soccer legend Michael King texted me to say he was cancelling his trip from Milwaukee with his family, because something came up. This disappointed me, because I had gotten the ticket and food package for him and was looking forward to introducing him to Red Stars GM Marcia McDermott.

I was beginning to worry about the crowd,  and then I received the third message. It was Marcia’s pregame owners update where she tells Red Stars owners the starting lineup, expected subs, attendance projections and other information about the game. I was excited to see that Formiga would likely get some second half playing time and was encouraged by the projection of 4,000 to 5,000 fans.  I wasn’t surprised that highly touted rookie Casey Nogueira was listed as a sub, but later her father, Milwaukee Wave legend Victor Nogueira, told me that the non-starting status was the reason Michael King cancelled.  Michael knew Casey while he and her father starred for the Wave for many years.

Arriving at Toyota Park about 50 minutes before the game, I paid my $15 and pulled into the east lot near dozens of tailgate parties which were well under way beneath the sunny spring sky. I walked over to Local 134‘s party to find super fan Pott Rodriguez preparing beer bongs for thirsty fans. Though I certainly drank a lot of “what made Milwaukee famous” over the years, I had to admit that I had never ingested it this way.  Various fans got on their knees and chugged as Pott released the liquid.  I tried it and thought I did well not to spill any of the 12 ounce can of Miller Lite.  I was humbled later by my friend Colin Deval of  Match Pricks fame who told me that his first beer bong was an OE 40 oz.

I stopped at another tailgate party and talked to Chicago soccer gadfly Alfonso Mitchell about the incredible Patti Smith book “Just Kids” that I finished reading on the plane that day. It beautifully details the poet rocker’s relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe and the New York City art and music scene of the late 1960s and 70s. The Patti Smith Group was the first alternative music concert I ever attended.  It was in the Milwaukee Auditorium (later the first home of the Milwaukee Wave) on June 6, 1979 and opened my eyes to a new world of music that became the main focus of my life over the next few years.  The book is an engaging and fascinating love story that I highly recommend.

After selling Fonsos on the merits of “Just Kids” it was on to the will call window to pick up my credential and Michael King’s tickets. I figured the tickets were wasted, but at least I could use the $20 in Levy Concessions money.

Standing in the will call line I spoke with several old friends including former US Soccer Secretary General Hank Steinbrecher who was accompanied by his wife Ruth Anne and niece Ingrid.  Also had a chance to catch up with former Wave goalkeeper and Chicago Fire executive Yaro Dachniwsky.  What are the chances that two former Milwaukee Wave goalkeepers would be at a Chicago Red Stars game?!?  Yaro is now representing Chicago Red Stars exclusive healthcare partner Weiss Memorial Hospital in their partnership programs.  After picking up my credential I walked to the north gate past half a dozen sponsor booths and interactive areas including a popular Radio Disney sing along stage. These areas, which were inside the Toyota Park gates last season, played very well outside the stadium entertaining fans who arrived early and didn’t want to go inside right away.

After having one of my four season tickets scanned, I walked into the stadium and saw two of my favorite Red Stars fans – Laura Rissover and her young daughter Jane. At the previous Saturday’s Fire game I had given Jane my 50/50 raffle tickets which she told me didn’t win (I buy 50/50 tickets at almost all Fire and Red Stars games and in a dozen years, have yet to win). I told Jane that she was going to bring luck today, so we went in search of a 50/50 raffle seller. After 10 minutes of searching all we found were two more people — IWSL President Flo Dyson and longtime Chicago soccer supporter Sue Ruby — who were also in search of 50/50 raffle ticket sellers.  I finally found a seller, but had parted with Jane by then, so when the numbers were called in the second half, I was hardly surprised that I didn’t benefit from any of Jane’s good fortune.

Nic Buchel, Jim Kogutkiewicz and Colin Deval in the back row and Robyn Vinje and me in front at the Red Stars game last Saturday.

I had an easier time finding the new Suncast Ball Toss promo tent where I ran into a crew of friends from the Highbury Pub in Milwaukee.  For $10, I purchased six balls to try to throw into targets at halftime on the field.  I kept one and gave the other five away.  Two thrown by my fellow Highbury Pub crew went in and a young boy I gave a ball to in the front row went in as well.  I gave my last ball to the same young boy since he did well with his first attempt.  His second toss went in – and then out of the target.  The Red Stars selected winners from those that went in the target and two of my balls were chosen.  Later, I distributed the prizes of T-shirts, scarves and buttons to the good tossers.

Along with the Highbury crew, I hung out in section 134 with the Red Stars supporters group Local 134.  My friends from the Highbury include Jim Kogutkiewicz and Colin Deval, writers of the Match Pricks blog.  The Match Pricks are also very entertaining soccer commentators on ESPN 540′s “Soccer Saturday Presented by the Milwaukee Wave“.  We invested Michael King’s Levy Dollars – and a few George Washington dollars – in a round of Miller Lites and hot dogs which were user friendly priced at $1 apiece!

Soccer supporters Jason Kekeis and David Racis, aka Capt. Chaos, who shares his drumming skills with the Chicago Storm, Rockford Rampage and Chicago Fire, tried with limited success to get the Local 134 supporters to chant, clap and cheer on the Red Stars, who were equally unsuccessful on the field in the  first half.  Red Stars goalkeeper Jill Loyden saved a hard Tina DiMartino shot in the 4th minute, but the rebound fell to the feet of Saint Louis Athletica’s Lori Chalupny.  Chalupny, a USWNT stalwart took full advantage and finished the chance.

Peter Wilt and Capt. Chaos (David Racis) drumming up support with Chicago Red Stars supporters group Local 134.

The Match Pricks bought more dollar dogs and more beer and we continued to try to liven up the section, but the efforts were to little avail.  Red Stars forward Ella Masar made several dangerous runs including one where she recklessly dove for a cross narrowly missing both the ball and the right goal post.  The Red Stars couldn’t seem to create any full chances until late in the half when Cristiane drilled a blast from the top of the box off the post to Hope Solo’s right leaving the home side with a 1-0 halftime deficit.  During the first half, visitors stopped by our perch in section 134 including Red Stars GM Marcia McDermott who mentioned that Red Stars Superfan Katie Ibarra, who was sitting one section away would be conducting a special halftime interview of Red Stars Coach Emma Hayes.  The star high school goalkeeper handled her interview over the stadium sound system as flawlessly as she protects the Joliet Catholic Academy goal.

At halftime I saw two of my favorite Brazilian Red Stars supporters, Debbie Pacchioni and Camila Bodini.  Camila, who helped greatly with Cristiane’s acclimation to Chicago last season,  recently moved to Italy, so it was wonderful to see her during her two week return to Chicago.  I then went up to the Red Stars suite where I ran into USWNT Head Coach Pia Sundhage.  We discussed the first half and the previous week’s Red Stars loss at Sky Blue and agreed that the potential of the team was far greater than the early returns.

Also in the suite were two fellow Red Stars owners, Arnim Whisler and Jack Cummins, as well as an old friend, Jerome de Bontin, who calls the Chicago area home, but recently served a term as President of AS Monaco.  The man who brought Freddy Adu to the principality of Monaco and I spoke about our mutual friend, longtime Amherst soccer coach and athletic director Peter Gooding who has served the sport longer and more deeply than I could ever hope.

Whether it was Coach Emma Hayes halftime talk or her substitution of Casey Nogueira into the lineup at left mid pushing Kosa Asslani into Ella Masar’s forward spot, the Red Stars had a new energy at the start of the second half.

Milwaukee's Erin Benson saw her first professional outdoor soccer game last Saturday, got a free scarf and became a Chicago Red Stars fan.

I heard a fan shout my name from the stands and saw that it was Milwaukee Wave season ticket holder Mark Benson who was with his wife Kris and their daughter Erin.  I left the pretensions of the suite – and free beer – several minutes into the second half and visited the Bensons who were attending their first professional outdoor soccer game.  Erin was excitedly telling me about all the different positions she plays for her soccer team when Red Stars rookie Casey Nogueira settled a cross inside the penalty area, curled a gorgeous right footed shot around Solo’s outstretched left arm and inside the far post for her first professional goal to tie the game.  We both missed the goal and stared impatiently at the video board for a replay that never came.  As you can see from the video above, it was a great goal to score whether it was her first or not.  As I left, I told Erin I was giving her my Red Stars scarf, because she brought us luck.  Seeing her brilliant smile get even bigger was one of the highlights of the day.

I moved from the Bensons to the Hacks who were sitting in the last row of section 125.  Nicole saved a seat for me next to her mom, Vivian, who I hadn’t seen since her husband Al’s wake two months previously.  We both enjoyed talking about the game and the new look Red Stars.  She was taping and didn’t want to know the score of the the Fire vs. DC United match, which was being played simultaneously, so I teased her with vague versions of the Twitter updates I was receiving.

I left the Hacks late in the match to find the Highbury crew.  On the way Casey Nogueira missed a point blank shot over the goal that would have likely won the match and made her an instant Red Stars hero.  I also went past a concession stand that was out of everything…except hot dogs.  So I rejoined the crew with another round of dollar dogs just in time to see a furious Red Stars extra time scramble for a winning goal that never came.  Even with defender and team captain Kate Markgraf moving well into the box in front of Solo, the Stars didn’t align that night and the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Red Stars Super Fan Katie Ibarra poses with Red Stars and England National Team midfielder Katie Chapman

We sat in the northeast stands finishing our final dollar dogs of the night and waited for the, 5,100+ fans to file out of the stadium.  We shouted at Ella Masar as she ran up the stairs for an autograph signing while ignoring our supportive cheers.  We then turned our attention to Red Stars players signing autographs along the sideline wall. I yelled out to 20 year old Swedish phenom Kosa Asllani who looked at me blankly as I took her picture.  I spoke briefly with new Red Stars equipment manager Scott Emmens who was helping coordinate the autographs.  I joked with him that he was no Billy Barmes.  He played along, but had no idea who I was.  I then noticed England international Katie Chapman signing autographs not far from where Katie Ibarra was standing, so I told the star high school goalkeeper to move near the world class midfielder, so I could take a picture of the two Katies.   I’m no Robert Mapplethorpe, but I know a good photo op when I see one (right).

From there, I snuck my Milwaukee brethren into the Toyota Park Stadium Club for some soccer VIP shoulder rubbing.  The entry into the Stadium Club is always delayed for first time visitors by the requisite stop at the Chicago Fire’s two trophy cases.  Note to New York Red Bulls, that’s two cases, not two trophies.

Post game in the club is always fun after a good match.   There are plenty of old friends to talk with including fans like Joe Pakovits and Tim Schulz, internet media members like John Schulz and Enrique Fernandez, and Toyota Park staffer and Red Stars fan David D’Andrea who appreciated the Red Stars scarf I gave his wife for their anniversary.  There is also a mix of soccer royalty (Pia Sundhage and Victor Nogueira), Red Stars staff (Marcia McDermott, Pat McNamara, Greg Zaskowski, Alyse Lahue, Carrie Sear and David Quinn), Red Stars players (Marian Dalmy who addressed the crowd and Karen Carney) and Red Stars coaches Emma Hayes, Denise Reddy and Nathan Kipp.  Arsenal supporter Colin Deval was in Gunner heaven seeing former Gunner Katie Chapman, talking to former Gunner Karen Carney and being recognized and hugged by former Gunner coach Emma Hayes.  My postgame highlight was holding Lucas, the two week old baby of Red Stars Director of Sales Greg Zaskowski.

The Highbury crew’s Nic Buchel, also an Arsenal supporter, received an added bonus by getting to meet his childhood hero Victor Nogueira - though he was surprised by the nonplussed attitude of the world class goalkeeper.  Victor and I discussed the Red Stars coach’s decision not to start his daughter in only her second professional game.  Even though he’s a soccer professional, he’s also a soccer dad.  He supported his daughter’s case by stating that Casey should have started, because she is on the national team.  I asked him how many national team players he thought were on the Red Stars.  After he replied “three or four”, Victor seemed a bit surprised and a little more understanding, when I told him that the Red Stars have 12 to 14 national team players on their roster.  I told him that WPS is the EPL of women’s soccer and in any case, his daughter will likely be starting soon enough.

Even though the Red Stars failed to take a full three points for the second time in as many matches this season, there was a feeling that the Red Stars got the better of the play in both matches.  As we walked out of the stadium, this knowledge fortified the enthusiasm we brought into Opening Day and kept the Opening Day optimism train chugging beyond the first home game.

The generational growth of soccer in the United States is exemplified by the Hack family, Nicole, Vivian, Allison and Al.

I’ve often talked about how too many Americans expect an instantaneous soccer revolution, when in fact they should recognize that the sport has instead undergone a phenomenal, yet deliberate, EVOLUTION over the last twenty years.

That point was driven home to me recently in the person of longtime Chicago soccer supporter Al Hack who died suddenly Valentine’s Day morning.  To me, Al represents a generation of Americans who helped escort soccer from the dark ages of the sport in the 1980s to today’s relatively enlightened era in which soccer plays an important and relevant part in the lives of the majority of Americans.

It was at a soccer game of course where I first met Al – a Chicago Storm indoor soccer match at the UI-C Pavilion – four years ago.  I knew Al as a Chicago Fire and Chicago Red Stars fan, but mostly I knew him as the jovial and loving father of two soccer passionate girls.  One of his daughters, Nicole, was the founding leader of the Chicago Red Stars supporters’ group Local 134.

Al’s soccer-loving path reflects the evolution of both the size and the nature of soccer’s generational movement into the American mainstream.   He was a conduit of soccer’s growth in the United States.  Like so many other American men he was first introduced to the sport through interaction with immigrants and opportunity to connect with his children in a youth soccer program.  Al coached his daughters Nicole and Allie for a total of 13 years.  He didn’t know a lot about soccer, but he loved sports and he loved his daughters, so when the Tinley Park Bobcats needed a coach, Al stepped in.

Through soccer he was able to connect with his daughters.  Before you knew it, Al was taking the girls to Chicago Power professional indoor soccer games at the Rosemont Horizon.  Some of Nicole’s fondest childhood memories were attending those Power games with her dad.

Al and Nicole didn’t go to the games by themselves.  Al worked for 33 years at the Andrew Corporation in Chicago’s south suburbs.  Many of his co-workers were European immigrants who brought their passion for soccer to Chicago with them.  It was one of those co-workers, Jake Setter from Germany, who first introduced Al to soccer and went with him to pro soccer games…first it was Chicago Sting games, then Chicago Power games and later Chicago Fire games – at Soldier Field, Cardinal Stadium and finally Toyota Park.  Jake and Al were later joined by fellow co-worker and Scotsman Ian Brown and then by Al’s former Chicago Fire ticket sales rep Nick Zahos.

Like so many other new Americans, the immigrant friends knew the sport well and were more than happy to share their knowledge – and opinions – with Al.  Through long discussions and debates over many beers at many soccer matches, Al learned the sport and gained a passion for it.  A passion that he passed on to his daughters.  That transference of passion in sport from father to child had been occurring in American sports for more than a century…but now with Al’s generation it was happening with soccer.

His daughters played throughout their youth.  Allie also played some in high school and excelled in gymnastics, too.  Nicole continued with soccer in high school and continues to play recreational indoor and outdoor soccer today.  Al and Jake attended the World Cup at Soldier Field in 1994 and longed for the day Chicago would get an MLS team they could support.

Al used the Fire to provide a social connection for his whole family.  His wife Vivian and their daughters also attended soccer matches along with Al, Jake, Ian and Nick.

“Obviously, Allie, my mom and I were also his soccer buddies,” Nicole said.  “He thought that soccer would keep us together as a family and I must admit it was working.  The brick I bought my parents that’s in front of Toyota Park says ‘A red heart can never be broken’, and our hearts may be hurting right now, but it will never be broken.  My dad was my ultimate soccer buddy,” she said.

Al became a veteran of attending soccer matches.  He no longer coached, but he had gained much knowledge from his coaching, his years of watching soccer and debating it with Jake, Ian and Nick.  He wasn’t content sitting quietly in the stands.  He was vocal and even joined Section 8 on occassion to provide colorful support to the home team.

Al and Vivian Hack

The last time Al and I spoke was a couple weeks ago at the Section 8 Chicago Annual General Meeting.  He wasn’t one of the younger attendees, but he certainly was one of the youngest at heart. Vivian told me at the wake how much he enjoyed our conversations.  I can say the same, because he always was laughing and always made me feel better about whatever was going on at that time.  She then provided me with great praise by telling me that my spirit reminded her of Al.  Surely, no higher compliment could be paid.

After many years of supporting the Fire, a professional women’s team came to Chicago.  His daughters, all grown up by then, were thrilled and Al was thrilled.  Again, he committed to supporting the team with Red Stars season tickets for his family.

To me, Al’s life seemed to center on his family and soccer.  It was only at his wake where I realized the fullness of his interests and the scope of his impact.  Long lines of mourners snaked around the funeral home for more than five hours to pay tribute to this wonderful man. The lines wound past dozens of images that showed his love of Walt Disney World, the White Sox and the Eiche Turners as well as the love I already knew he had for the Fire, Red Stars and family.

While Al has passed, his wonderful memory lives on in all who were fortunate to share a beer, a cheer and a laugh.  His individual legacy will live on in Vivian, Allison, Nicole and his countless friends, but he is also part of a generation whose legacy was largely unforeseen 20 years ago.  A generation that transitioned and translated a foreign sport to their kids and helped make it a part of the fabric of American culture as much as Walt Disney World and Valentine’s Day.  Thank you Al and thank you to the millions of others who joined him on that successful journey.

photo by Jamie Francis/The Oregonian

Davis was recently drafted as a goalkeeper by the Chicago Red Stars, recently graduated from the University of Portland, recently completed a national team training camp (with the U-23’s), and recently was kind enough to sit down with me and talk about it all.  I actually talked with Davis before the WPS draft, and do not have any particular insight regarding her role with the Red Stars.  In other places she seems to have said the right things—“Obviously it’s been my dream since I was a little girl…I know Chicago is an awesome city… it’s a huge sports town.”

But my interest, motivated partially by my academic life studying human development, is more in Davis as a profile in what it means to be a young American player full of potential who also has this “real life” thing to figure out.  I’ve known Davis indirectly for a few years, just enough to be aware of her reputation around Portland as intense, engaged, and thoughtful—both on and off the soccer field.  And I have a long standing curiosity in thoughtful perspectives on what it means for American soccer players to go pro.

For most, it’s not about the money.  Though I have no idea exactly what Davis will earn, it won’t be much.  The average WPS salary has been quoted as $32,000, but that average includes minimum salaries of $40,000 for national team players and a few international salaries such as Marta’s reported $500,000.  So the average player actually probably makes more like $20,000.  In other words, significantly less than the typical college graduate who isn’t an elite athlete.

For many, there would be other options.  Davis has been a serious student, and holds academic ambitions beyond her undergraduate degree in theology (with minors in education and social justice)—maybe law school, maybe graduate work in ethics.  She feels called ultimately to some sort of human rights work.  But that is tough to combine with professional soccer, even in the low-paid world of WPS.  If you want to go pro, soccer kind of has to dominate your identity.

Davis, however, doesn’t seem like the type of person to let any one thing define her.  She is passionate about soccer, but she also lit up when I asked her about the signature line in her email—a quote from mid-20^th century writer, monk, and social activist Thomas Merton: “We have what we seek, it is there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us.”

“Merton is just my man” Davis explained.  “Theologically and spiritually, I just connect with his line of thought and where his heart’s at.  But also, for my own self, in life and in soccer we are constantly searching for what we are, who we are, and our identity.  But I think that literally all the answers are already there.  It’s just a matter of it being revealed in us.  And learning to trust ourselves a little bit.”

“There’s so much insecurity that comes around, especially in sports. It’s just you’re constantly being measured, and questioning yourself, and compared to this person or that person, in this constant pursuit of something.  So for me it just grounds me to remember, ok—it’s already there.  Just work with what you’ve got.  Don’t look too much around at other people…I love that quote.”

Learning

It’s been an eventful year.  In the summer of 2009 Davis got called up to the full US National Team for a training camp, and shattered her jaw in a collision while playing in an exhibition with the U-23 team.  In the fall she helped lead a good Portland Pilots team to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, losing at that stage after being sent on the road for the second year in a row to UCLA—the school from which Davis transferred after her freshman year.  In the winter she graduated from UP, and in January she was drafted.  But hovering around it all is the fact that in June of 2009 her father committed suicide.

Davis has been remarkably open and peaceful about losing her father, who she calls her best friend.  As she told her hometown paper in July, her Dad had been struggling with depression for many years and “he was kind of just too tired to do it again.”  And as she told me when I asked her if she thought her Dad was important for telling her story, “I think it definitely matters to the story…he still influences me every day…We primarily communicated through emails because he was a little bit deaf.  But he was a brilliant guy, a lawyer, an English major.  So we connected intellectually.  And he was always a source of comfort, and affirmation, and perspective.”

When I asked about him getting tired, she explained, “yeah, he struggled with depression and he had an addictive personality.  But he just stopped taking his medicine…something was off.  But he and I were pretty open with each other.  I knew his demons; I knew what he struggled with.  Did I ever expect that?  No.  Not really, just because he would always come back around.  He would always find a way to make sense of things.”

Finding a way to make sense of things is not always a specialty of elite American soccer players.  From a young age our players are tightly programmed, carpooled to suburban club teams, shuttled around the region with state teams, targeted for college scholarships.  Davis actually remembers being frustrated as a 12 year old when told by her coaches that she would have to either switch from field player to goalkeeper or find a new team—until her Dad confronted her in the kitchen: “You have the talent.  Use it.”  She explained “he helped me realize what was inside me, like the Merton quote.  My dad was amazing at extracting things out of me, and saying: ‘Look, you have it too.  You can do this.’”

By age 14 Davis was playing goalkeeper with her first in a series of youth national teams, soon to be travelling the world at the pinnacle of US youth development: Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Russia, and more places that opened her eyes.  But even on those trips the system is tightly programmed.  I’m regularly amused by US Soccer web features celebrating their various travelling teams finding the best Starbucks in Shanghai or the perfect hotel pool in Egypt.

But Davis tells me it depends some on the team.  She admits the players often joke about travelling to amazing destinations only to hole up in the hotel for weeks, but she also remembers fondly a trip to Brazil with the U-20’s where head coach Tim Schulz encouraged the team to soak in the culture—to go to the beach, hike in the rainforest, visit the market, and see true passion for the game: “Soccer can be just absolutely beautiful as a game itself.  If you break it down technically it is almost like a dance or an art.  Having the ability to participate in that is like being able to make music, in a way.  When I think about soccer like that I think about Brazil.”

Promoting the Ronald McDonald House (photo by Will Crew, on espn.com)

And when I think about soccer at its best I think about a game that can open minds—which is one reason I’m amongst the odd group of serious American fans who like college soccer.  When it is done well I like the idea of sports being combined with education, and I like how a player such as Davis seems to have used her college experience to genuinely explore ideas and identities.  She started at UCLA, attracted by the prestige of the place.  But it wasn’t for her—“I made the decision to commit to UCLA when I was like 16 years old.  I mean how much do you really know about yourself when you are 16?”  So when she transferred to Portland she immersed herself in soccer, in school, and in the community.  She’s particularly proud of taking the lead on a successful initiative for the team to adopt a room at the local Ronald McDonald house—where they had an ongoing tradition of student-led volunteer work.

It’s all led her to feel a commitment to something beyond soccer, maybe in combination with soccer.  But that path is less clear and seems more challenging to make sense of.  Beyond college, it is hard to think of soccer players who genuinely combine the game with serious intellectual engagement—though they may be out there?  But for Davis, perhaps thanks partially to the hard-won perspective garnered from an eventful year:  “It’s pretty simple when it comes down to it.  I honestly believe I have a talent for soccer.  A gift for soccer.  I’m in a place right now that’s pretty special.  I have opportunity before me.  My capacity to continue to get better is still there.  I’m not at my peak yet.  And in the same right, I think that I have a gift for the academic world too.  I have a desire in my heart to continue my education, to continue learning.  I think that I have tools necessary for that.  Have I arrived?  No.  Have I arrived athletically?  No.  Who knows if I ever will arrive either.  It’s more the capacity for the pursuit is there.”

Pursuing

Davis looks like she was made to be a goalkeeper.  She has square shoulders that frame a tall athletic build at once compact and lithe.  In her goal box she conveys an air of being simultaneously commanding and fraught, as if she cannot let the ball cross the line because she realizes the stakes.  As if she sometimes wonders what life would be like if she was not made to be a goalkeeper.

There are many perks that come with being a great soccer player, but opportunities for identity exploration are generally not among them.  In fact, in the study of lifespan development there is a term for what happens to adolescents who commit very young to a particular identity—such as that of an elite athlete.  We call it foreclosure, and it is generally considered a bad thing.

There is also an idea that in contemporary Western society the identity exploration of adolescence no longer leads directly to a relatively settled identity in adulthood.  Instead, there is a whole other stage of emerging adulthood—a period of continued exploration necessitated by greater educational expectations, increasingly eclectic career paths, delays in the age at which people start a family.  This “new” stage is full of exciting opportunities, but it can also be full of anxiety and uncertainty.  And I have an untested theory that it can be particularly challenging for elite athletes whose success and focus through their youth offers little help in exploring other domains of their potential.

Davis recognizes the challenge, but is more optimistic than me: “Soccer is amazing, and I have an extreme amount of goals in that.  But there’s this whole other side [of academics and intellectual engagement].  Can I do both?   I’ve had coaches in my life that have told me no, absolutely not.  There is no way to be an Olympian and try to get a masters or a doctorate.  And for me that’s heartbreaking.  I feel like they are so much both a part of who I am that I want to do both.  And I know that in the past people told women’s soccer players, you can’t be a mom and have a family on the full national team.  And then people like Joy Fawcett, they totally just shattered that.  They were like, yes we can.”

So when I ask Davis about who of her US Soccer predecessors she particularly admires it is not necessarily the goal scorers or the goal stoppers—it’s players such as Christie Rampone.  Davis explains, “Being into camp last year and seeing the way that she functions as a mother, and as an elite athlete, and just the integrity that she has is amazing.  It’s absolutely amazing.”

But it is also interesting that it is hard to think of examples of players—male or female—who’ve balanced anything other than soccer and family, no matter how amazing that particular balance may be.  There are, in fact, ways in which excelling at soccer requires a single-minded focus that precludes the types of intellectual engagement towards which Davis could be inclined: “It’s ironic because part of what I’ve learned to be successful in soccer is to just not think.  But it’s such a part of who I am, it’s been a challenge for me to keep things simple and turn it off.  Because I can analyze and over-analyze anything in the world.”

So for a player such as Davis is “the draft” an opening, or is it just another step in “turning it off?”  Will she get a chance to genuine explore the possibilities of emerging adulthood, or is she destined to struggle with the necessity of identity foreclosure?  By going pro Davis is living the dream of many young players—but is it her dream?

She thinks so.  “I love it.  And I think that when you love something you stay with it.  Regardless of what it gives or takes.  Just like a relationship.  And I think that it’s good for me to remember that I do love the game.  Regardless of what’s going to happen.”

The seven hard working former Chicago Fire executives pictured above averaged about seven years each with the organization. The institutional knowledge and relationships they took with them when they left was significant.

A key for successful chief executives is to surround themselves with talented, hard working people with good character. Any success I’ve had is attributed to hiring experts at the department head level who can do their jobs better than I can. Early in my career, I performed just about every position in an organization, which helped me understand the challenges, opportunities and necessary resources for most positions in a sports team’s front office.

Due to a shallow pool of experienced soccer executives in the U.S. in the 20th century, it used to be difficult finding qualified front office candidates with a soccer background.  To supplement talented soccer experienced executives, I would hire those with impressive sports sales background from second tier or minor league sports where creativity and proactive salesmanship were critical to success.

When the Chicago Fire was originally staffed, we hired from minor league baseball, indoor soccer, MLS, USL, soccer retail, CFA (a Latin soccer and music promotion company), the Auditorium Theater and the White Sox (no minor league jokes please!).  We also emphasized knowledge of the local market to minimize the learning curve of the market.  Almost all of the department heads were previously known to me or recommended to me by people I trust.

As soccer has grown in participation and support, the pool of talented executives with soccer backgrounds has grown.  I now prefer hiring from this pool rather than non-soccer execs as those with a connection to soccer are more likely to stay in the sport and not use it as a stepping stone back into a sport in their comfort zone.  When we assembled the Chicago Red Stars staff last year, we drew almost exclusively from a pool of soccer experienced executives while keeping true to our goal of hiring talented, hard working people with good character.  That being said, I had no soccer background, short of supporting the early ’80s Chicago Sting, when I was hired by the indoor Milwaukee Wave from the minor league hockey Milwaukee Admirals in 1987 and I have stayed in soccer ever since.

I tend to hire people I have worked with personally or are recommended by people I know and respect. For those seeking positions in professional sports, this validates the axiom that “who you know” is important, but “what you know” and how you go about your job is also important or you won’t get the recommendation or the job.

Retaining a good staff is just as important as assembling the staff in the first place

Just like any job, there is a learning curve in sports administration and sales.  The first three years of any job generally have increasing awareness, knowledge and relationship building, whether it’s an entry level position in ticket sales or the President of the team.  The learning curve plateau’s a bit after the second year, but you never stop learning or building a network of contacts.  That experience and the relationships become more valuable and more difficult to replace over time, adding to the importance of retaining talented staff.

There are several ways to ensure retention of good staff:

• Fair compensation. Few executives in sports make as much money as they would make performing comparable roles in the “real world” due to supply and demand for jobs in sports, so you are able to underpay relative to the real world, but good employees who are responsible for revenue can justify increased pay. Teams who reward those employees will earn their loyalty and keep them on board if the other parts are done right.
• Annual reviews with career goal consultation. Plan career growth with staff members by discussing honestly their opportunities for growth both inside and outside the organization.  In my eight years with the Fire, I never fired an employee.  There were several who left the organization with mutual agreement when we agreed after open communication that they had gone as far as they could in the organization and would be best off working elsewhere.
• Promotion from within (start with promotion of qualified interns and volunteers). You already know first hand their abilities, style and adaptability to the organizational culture.  At the time I left the Fire in 2005, I had ten direct reports.  The ten averaged more than six years apiece at the eight year old team.  Five of the ten were original members of the Fire’s inaugural season staff in 1998.  Six of the department heads had received at least one promotion within the organization and four of those six actually had two promotions.  Not only does internal promotion help build a team culture in the front office, it also sends a good message to the rest of the organization that good work will be rewarded.
• Establish regular communication. Regular communication methods includes an open door policy in my office – not only to welcome staff in to talk things over, but also to prevent staff from feeling that there are secrets being discussed (I must admit that due to the close quarters in the Red Stars “world headquarters” doublewide trailer, I’m forced to close the door to the office I share with our GM during certain meetings out of courtesy to the rest of the staff, so they aren’t distracted by my meetings).  I manage by “walking around” (if you’ve gotten this far in the column, I encourage you to click on the previous link and read it).  As the Fire President and GM, when I had ten direct reports I relied greatly on email (100-200 incoming and outgoing/day) as well as phone communication (I believe in the efficiency of more calls of shorter length), weekly reports from department heads (not too detailed, include past and future week tasks and questions), weekly staff meetings (department reports and questions) and weekly department head meetings (issue discussions) to keep on top of all organizational issues.  While often difficult to maintain that level of communication, it was imperative to fostering loyalty and effective operations.
• Respect all staff. For example, at staff meetings don’t just ask department heads for reports and ideas (ask account executives, interns and the receptionist for their feedback, too).  At the Fire we encouraged Maria Gabino, our receptionist, who was one of half a dozen bi-lingual staff members and lives in the Hispanic community, to sell tickets to her friends, neighbors and businesses around her.  She was successful and eventually built her clientele to a base of selling $100,000 in sales per year.  This earned her additional commission that afforded her the ability to stay on as the “face” of the Fire for people walking through the door for the next decade.  Stability in that position may not seem important, but in addition to the ticket sales she promotes, her network of relationships and positive demeanor reflects well on the Fire to this day.
• Create a culture of transparency, trust, empowerment and sense of ownership with honest and open communication.  Let staff members know how their role fits into the bigger picture, praise them in public and when necessary, critique them in private.  Give staff responsibility for their departments and provide the necessary resources to succeed.  Allow department heads to create their own department budget and hold them accountable to it.
• 

  Current Fire Head Coach Denis Hamlett and Peter Wilt getting away from it all on Lake Michigan

  Have fun. On a daily basis we tried not to take ourselves too seriously.  Professional sports requires many hours of work in what can become a high pressure environment, so it’s important to keep things loose.  Chicago Fire staff meetings usually included staff trivia contests, stories about brushes with greatness and once even an Elvis karaoke performance to settle a wager.  Once a month the Fire staff would have a fun activity.  They included an annual sport fishing trip on Lake Michigan for half a dozen staff members, a mini-golf tournament in the empty office space across the hall from our offices in the One Mag Mile Building, a bus tour of Chicago’s gangland past, retreat to a suburban park district for a day of athletic events, outings to other Chicago sports teams, road trips to all of the Fire’s away championship games and many, many postwork happy hours.  After all home games we tried to keep the staff together to unwind and share stories of the day either at the stadium or a nearby pub.

All of the above points are examples of creating a culture that promotes mutual respect and encourages support for common goals that lead to success.  They certainly aren’t the only ways and my management style isn’t for everyone, but over the years it has worked well for me.

Next week, I’ll take a look at the unique challenge of assembling and retaining a good team on the field in MLS.

Peter Wilt writes weekly for Pitch Invasion

Editor’s Note: Chicago Red Stars President and CEO Peter Wilt returns for his third weekly column on Pitch Invasion, pulling no punches as he grades the first season of the league his own team plays in.

Sunday’s Women’s Professional Soccer All-Star victory over Swedish powerhouse Umea ended WPS’ first season and that makes this a good time to reflect on the inaugural year and analyze WPS’ progress.  I decided to grade the league in six categories of on and off field performance (mostly off) and give you my thoughts on the League’s inaugural season, particularly with my own experiences with the Chicago Red Stars in mind.

Following are my grades for WPS’ 2009 report card:

ATTENDANCE/RELEVANCE:  C

Probably the most disappointing grade for me personally.  WPS’ average attendance of 4,684 fell within the range of 4,000 to 6,000 mentioned widely as a goal by the League prior to launch for its first season.  It was on the low end of the scale, however, and included novelty bumps from each team’s inaugural game — such as14,832 at the league’s inaugural match at the Home Depot Center.

Viewing attendance figures through the prism of the bad economy makes this grade seem a bit harsh as the economy certainly contributed to lower than desirable attendance figures.  All sports, even including the NFL, have suffered at the gate in the past year, but surveys showed that fans think WPS ticket pricing is reasonable, so I’m not certain how much we were affected.

While the attendance numbers are critical, the more important issue with any team or league is its relevance in local markets and nationally as that will ultimately determine future support and success — more so than past attendance.  WPS and individual teams certainly put a stake in the ground and built their relevance nationally and in the League’s seven markets in 2009, but it does not appear that either the number of emotionally connected fans or the depth of that connection is large enough yet to be deemed a success.  Boston, Washington and Bay Area were able to carry on connections from WUSA, while Saint Louis, Los Angeles, Chicago and Sky Blue (the NY Power’s home base of Long Island is a different market IMHO) started from scratch.  Based on social media attention and observation at games and team events, it appears that a solid number of fans in each market have become passionately connected to the teams and players through WPS.  There are also a decent number of people in each team market who have become connected casually to their local teams.

The depth of support and passion among those that are attending the games is impressive, but the breadth of that support needs to grow.  Anecdotally in Chicago (and I believe this is true throughout WPS), it does not appear that the Red Stars have become an ingrained part of the Chicago soccer culture despite a strong mixture of traditional and new media and grass roots marketing.  That growth will likely occur over time if WPS and teams maintain their focus and continue to provide quality entertainment and strong marketing efforts.  League-wide attendance did trend upward from week 17 through the playoffs in week over week averages.  In Chicago, each of the final five home games had higher attendance than the previous game, culminating with 7,959 vs. Los Angeles in our season finale.  The late season growth is likely due to several factors including more lead time for groups and promotions, better weather, more word of mouth promotion and an improvement in the economy.  It is also worth noting that the League believes it has learned some lessons on scheduling that will be implemented next season in order to make attending games more convenient for fans.

NON-TICKET REVENUE: C-

Starting a professional sports league in the worst economy of our lifetime — tough.   Starting a professional SOCCER league in the worst economy of our lifetime — really tough.   Starting a professional WOMEN’S SOCCER league in the worst economy of our lifetime — are you kidding me?!?  Well that was the reaction I got from a lot of people.  The bad economy certainly impacted ticket sales a bit, but I think the impact on sponsorship and ancillary stadium revenue was much stronger.  Corporations were all in cutback mode for sponsorship, not frozen or even expansion…and the new kids on the block were often left holding an empty bag.

It hit the League and the teams.  WPS, working with Soccer United Marketing, earned some great partnerships with Puma, EuroSport and Fox Soccer Channel early on and later with MedImmune, the US Coast Guard and several others to create a solid foundation for future years.  Similarly, teams all fell short of initial projections, but made up ground as the year went along.

The poor economy hurt merchandise, concessions, parking and camp revenue also.  The bright side for WPS is that as the economy improves, these are all categories that will likely grow.  Camp revenue was down nationally due to the economy, but several teams including Sky Blue FC and the Red Stars did well with their camps.  In Chicago, nearly 500 girls went through the Red Stars camp program in its inaugural summer.  The good word of mouth we’re getting on the camps means we’ll likely double and even triple this important revenue and marketing area in the next couple years.

FAN EXPERIENCE: A-

While I personally thought we would have higher attendance, the people that did attend really enjoyed their experience and felt they received value for both the cost of their ticket and their time.  The fans were more engaged in the action on the field than I anticipated and the teams all did a very good job managing the balance of sport and entertainment. WPS restricted the amount and types of promos during game action and teams created activities and attractions for fans of all ages.

Access to players, coaches and staff was as good as any League I’ve ever been associated with, the stadia all provided intimate settings with great sightlines and attention to customer needs was a priority throughout WPS.  Most teams have the beginnings of passionate supporters groups, including Local 134 in Chicago, Marta’s Maniacs in Los Angeles and Laclede’s Army in St. Louis.  Jock rock was avoided in most venues as the crowds provided the sound track with loud cheering for individual plays if not the organized cheering of large supporters sections.  Efforts were also made with varying degrees of success to diversify the audience by marketing to young urban men and gay and lesbian and ethnic communities.

Crowds that are small relative to MLS and other sports made getting in, out and around WPS games convenient for fans.  High and low end hospitality areas, tailgating and fan fest areas at many venues provided plenty of reasons to arrive early and stay late as well. Minor league baseball impressario Mike Veeck visited a Red Stars game at the end of the season and came away impressed with the overall fan experience.  This is high praise from someone who understands fan experience as well as anyone in sports.  WPS teams need to improve getting the message out regarding the overall fan experience in order to get more people to arrive early, stay late and enjoy the full WPS experience around the game itself.

QUALITY OF PLAY:  A-

WPS rosters were filled with virtually the entire 2008 Olympic gold medal winning U.S. Women’s National Team, the three 2008 FIFA Female World Player of the Year finalists and the best players from Brazil, England, France, Australia, Japan, China and several other nations.  While Leagues in Sweden, Germany, France and England could claim one to three good teams, WPS was unique in having seven teams filled with national team players.  The Red Stars, as an example, could field 13 players with full national team experience representing seven different countries…and that’s the team that finished in 6th place.  WPS certainly achieved its goal of parity as any team could defeat any other on a given day.

While some teams took a little time to mesh and some games saw more fouls than scoring opportunities, the typical WPS game was free flowing with end to end action, gorgeous goals and often featured segments with ten or more passes being strung together.   Europe’s Kelly Smith, Sonia Bompastor and Carre Jonsson all brought class, Brazilians Marta, Cristiane and Daniela provided flair and young Americans Tasha Kai, Lori Chalupny and Megan Rapinoe added personality and skill.  The high level of play kept fans attention riveted to the field.

WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM WUSA?  A-

When I was in grammar school, I never liked to go first.  Whether it was demonstrating something in gym or answering a teacher’s question in class.  Giving it a shot after someone else failed always gave me the benefit of learning from the first person.  The same can be said of all of my pro soccer experiences.  My predecessors with the Milwaukee Wave and Chicago Power were rather underwhelming, the Chicago Fire had the benefit of studying the lessons of MLS’ first two seasons and WPS was able to go to school on three years of WUSA shortcomings.

WUSA spent too much money on traditional advertising, stadia, staff and players and avoided working with MLS and other established soccer organizations.  Many of their owners were disengaged from their teams, many of their team CEOs had little pro soccer business experience and much of their promotional efforts were misguided.  WPS’ business model was based on not repeating these errors. In general, I’d say WPS succeeded in keeping true to the new curriculum.  Engaged owners?  Check.  Reduced and more efficient spending?  Double check.  Work with MLS, USYSA, AYSO, WPSL, W-League and any other soccer related acronym?  Check.  Hire more experienced soccer execs?  Check again.   We weren’t perfect in this area though:  Rules of engagement on the player side changed regularly in WUSA and despite warnings from those who went through it the first time, WPS was unable to totally avoid this trap.

OFF FIELD ENDEAVORS:  B+

This category is a compilation of several including ownership, marketing, communications and operations.  Ownership in WPS is very different from WUSA.  In addition to being a traditional franchise model as opposed to WUSA’s single entity, the team ownerships are mainly individual or groups of successful businessmen who have personal connections to soccer.  WPS owners as a group do not have the net worth of the corporate cable giants that owned WUSA, but they do have the interest, knowledge and passion for the sport that was missing in WUSA with the major exception of the Washington Freedom’s John and Maureen Hendricks who are the sole WUSA owners to invest in WPS and represent the best of both types of owners.  WPS’ See Extraordinary marketing campaign was on message, professional and distributed well economically to its target audience both online and through Fox Soccer Channel.

The League’s commitment to online marketing paid dividends as it mastered Twitter earlier than other pro sports leagues.  WPS also effectively used Facebook, its own team and League websites and its own social media web site to get the word out in an interactive and viral way.   Commissioner Antonucci, a former Yahoo! executive  made online marketing a focal point of the League and her lieutenants Rachel Epstein, Karyn Lush, Rob Penner, Amanda Vandervort and Jill Coy effectively designed and rolled out the League’s online marketing and communications strategy.  Weekly insider emails which have become a staple of team to fan communication provided informative content unavailable from traditional media and the standard Sunday Fox Soccer Channel time slot provided destination viewing to the nation’s soccer base.  The League’s partnership with EuroSport gave fans of WPS teams an easy way to buy merchandise online and via catalog.  Efforts are near completion on a national retail partner that will provide in store access to WPS merchandise as well.

Reducing budgets from the WUSA days risks a negative impact on brand image.  For the most part, I believe WPS maintained a professional image at both the League and team level via its online branding, by hiring young talented staff and making the game day experience pleasant without being ostentatious. Except for promising the best women’s soccer league in the world, which it delivered, I believe WPS promoted modest expectations and in most cases over delivered.  Community interaction of players and staff with the public was kept on message and generally impressed stake holders.  Staff and players are communicating effectively with the public.  The main challenge is to increase the opportunities for that interaction.  That can be done with even more appearances (teams were very good with this) and larger and more experienced sales staffs.

SOCIAL IMPACT:  N/A

Please don’t confuse the term “Not Applicable” with “Did not happen” or “Failure” or “Success”.  There is no doubt that WPS players are de facto role models, give young girls aspirational heroes and advance the cause of equal opportunity for women in sports and sports business.  My point in calling this category out as a non-gradeable category is that I believe WPS needs to succeed as a business based on its entertainment value, marketing  and on field performance not as a social cause.

This doesn’t mean that there isn’t real value or benefit to providing opportunities for women and goals for young girls to admire and aspire to emulate.  It just means that as a business, WPS needs to stand on its own legs and not be considered a charity that is supported BECAUSE it provides the added social benefits.  It should be mentioned that WPS teams and players were active in many charitable and social endeavours including Greenlaces, the environmental awareness non-profit founded by Chicago Red Stars defender Natalie Spilger.

OVERALL, AKA SUSTAINABILITY:  B

WPS laid a tremendous foundation for a sport that has proven to be difficult to sell during the best of times muchless the worst economic time of our lives.  As heavy as the lifting was for the first season — and at times it felt like we needed Vasiliy Alekseyev — year two will be a greater challenge in many ways.  The novelty bump will be gone (though I suspect it wasn’t as great a bump as MLS or other leagues experienced) and the League will need to innovate and keep up an aggressive and energetic start up approach through an improved 2010 economy.  If not, the energy from a new endeavour will be limited to the expansion franchises in Philadelphia and Atlanta.

WPS will not “make it” in 2009, 2010 or 2011.  “Making it” in this case is about sustainability and that merely requires keeping enough teams in existence for the League to be around for future generations.  The League has not yet proven its business model operationally, but it has set a base line that allows adjustments to be made in order to work toward profitability much like MLS did in its early years.  If you’ve followed WPS this year, please feel free to provide your grades and feed back in the comment section.

Last week’s column on customer service received some great comments and helped unearth a terrific blog post from my friend Magda Walczak on the effectiveness of customer service at shoe company Zappos.  Next week’s column will be a Q&A with  Portland Timbers Director of Soccer Development and Assistant Coach Amos Magee.  Amos’ experiences give him a unique perspective on all levels of soccer in the United States.  I think you’ll enjoy reading his comments.  Finally, if you’d like to follow my Tweets, my Twitter name is @RedStarsCEO.

Chicago Red Stars meet their fans

Editor’s Note: Chicago Red Stars President and CEO Peter Wilt returns for his second column on Pitch Invasion, considering the critical role good customer service plays in winning fans in American soccer.

One of the basic tenets of the soccer management philosophy I discussed last week was the importance of providing good customer service.  It seems rather self evident, but surprisingly few businesses in general and few soccer teams in particular seem to properly navigate the intricate world of customer service to the point that they create an organizational culture of it.

Responsiveness to fan complaints and over delivering on fan experience is an inexpensive way to build fan loyalty and turn fans into advocates who will advertise your team for you.  Advertising budgets for American soccer teams are never sufficient to provide the necessary depth and breadth to reach and retain the potential audience in a meaningful way.  Good customer service not only retains existing support, it also builds the fan base virally via positive testimonials from the fans themselves.

There are two general categories of good customer service: 1) providing proper response to the inevitable negative fan experience and 2) exceeding fan expectations when interacting with the organization.

Recently I happened to experience both with the Chicago Red Stars.

An unfortunate reality of any business that deals with the public is the likelihood that from time to time, your customers will have negative issues with their experience.  The team’s response is an opportunity to win over a fan. . .or lose one for good.  Being a tenant at Toyota Park, the Red Stars are once or even twice removed from issues involving parking, concessions, merchandise, security and guest services.  This indirect relationship to the fan experience is problematic, because we have less than regular communication with these contracted employees and thus have less influence on their actions and treatment of our fans.

I’ve experienced this dynamic both at Soldier Field (as President and GM of the Chicago Fire) and Toyota Park.  At Soldier Field, Fire fans reported countless incidents of verbal and even physical abuse by stadium security and ushers.  Our tenant relationship with the stadium was further distanced by the contracted manager who then contracted with separate security and usher firms.  Unlike Toyota Park management, Soldier Field management did not have a soccer culture and had a difficult time understanding or accepting soccer fan behavior and expectations.

It took years, but through the Fire’s sympathetic direct response to its fans and brokering enough meetings and relationships with supporter group leadership, security and stadium personnel, we created better understanding, albeit tenuous, with the various parties, which ultimately minimized the negative experiences for Fire fans.

Cardinal Stadium, Naperville

I’ve also had the opportunity of the preferable situation of operating a facility directly when the Chicago Fire played two seasons at Cardinal Stadium in Naperville.  Not coincidentally, I believe the best customer service our fans ever experienced was during those two seasons.

Positive and negative fan experiences

The first example I’d like to provide is the Red Stars final home game on August 2nd, which resulted in our largest crowd of the season (7,959) at Toyota Park.  Unfortunately, the larger than usual crowd led to a seating problem.  It forced us to open additional seating sections on the day of the game and several of our staff members gave mixed messages to Toyota Park Security and Guest Services.  As a result, at least one fan was rudely told by a security guard to leave the newly opened section he and his family were ticketed for, because our staff had mistakenly told the security guard that the section was closed.  When the fan went to the guest services booth, they were less than sympathetic and told him to go sit anywhere.

Fortunately, I found out about the incident via this Big Soccer thread and was able to take action to both make the fan feel better about the Red Stars and reduce the possibility of similar incidents in the future.  This type of online intervention is somewhat risky for sports executives as it opens them up for online wars or criticism if not handled properly.  But the risk of not intervening was greater.  We could have lost not only the fan’s support, but also that of his family, their friends and colleagues who would hear about his experience.

Internally, we made a point of addressing the issue directly and immediately, which turned a potentially negative message about the Chicago Red Stars into a positive one.  I’ve found over the years that posting on Big Soccer or other soccer forums can effectively resolve contentious issues, clear up public misunderstandings and answer legitimate questions by our most engaged fans.

The second customer service example is quite self serving, but I believe this fan’s email accurately describes the work the Red Stars put into creating a fan friendly culture and shows the tangible benefits of treating fans with courtesy and respect:

Dear Peter,

I wanted to write to you to share our experience with the Red Stars this year.  Having grown up playing soccer, I have always loved the game.  When my oldest daughter began playing at age four and I began coaching my appreciation for the sport grew even greater.

This spring we were invited by a friend to join his daughter and go to a Red Stars game.  We had been to Toyota Park for a few Fire games and watched the USA Women play China a couple years ago.  However, watching a team representing Chicago was even more exciting.  This year we went to four games and our daughters loved them all.

The primary reason for writing though is to commend your staff on two specific experiences we had this year:

1) After one game, I noticed that the Red Stars were having a number of camps.  However, none were near our home on the North Shore.  So I called and talked with Kate Westfall.  She could not have been more professional and nice.  She suggested doing a private camp with a couple players and our daughter’s travel team.  In a matter of two weeks she was able to organize the best sports camp I have seen (and I used to organize these types of camps in a prior life!).  Every girl and parent that attended the camp was amazed the quality of coaching, the character of the players and had most importantly had such fun.  Kate was able to get Frida, Caroline, Natalie and Karen to come on various days.  These five women (including Kate who filled at the beginning of one of the days) were incredible ambassadors for your organization.  I would expect every person they meet will soon be going to games!

2) I had heard that the Wilmette Wings U11 girls played on the field and one of the parents on our daughter’s team asked if I would make a call and see if our girls could play on the field.  I was referred to David Quinn.  Working with him was also great – he was responsive and very helpful.  The girls got to play on the field before the game last week and the look on their faces when we walked down the ramp to the field was priceless.

These two members of your staff are true professionals in my experience and definitely went above and beyond my expectations.

Finally, the players attention to the girls after the games has made the entire Red Stars experience an incredible summer for our daughters.  After the last game Natalie came over and gave our daughter a hug and said “Julia I saw you cheering for us and I had to come over and say thanks.”  That is what sport is all about!  Julia also wrote a birthday note to Frida but when she learned it was not her birthday she was embarrassed and did not give it to her – but it too was so cute and full of innocent adoration.

Sorry for the long email, but I thought you might like to hear about one fan’s experience this year.  If I can ever be of assistance please do not hesitate to ask.

Regards,

Robert J. Birdsell

President & CEO

Cristo Rey Network

Importantly, Rob mentions that “I would expect every person they meet will soon be going to games!”

Gaining a reputation as a responsive organization that truly cares about its fans doesn’t happen over night or with a single effort or event.  It doesn’t ever “end” either.   It’s a process and a culture that develops over time through consistent, honest and fair actions and communication with all team stake holders.  It grows with good experiences for fans and importantly with organizational response to bad experiences.

The result is a team and organization that fans, sponsors, media and observers all feel good about and willing to support and even evangelize.  And that is something that no advertising budget can buy.

I received much positive feedback last week from fans and soccer administrators alike on my first column.  If you would care to read more on the subject of sports management philosophy and find out the genesis of many of my core beliefs, I’d encourage you to read the Pat Williams book “Marketing Your Dreams: Business and Life Lessons from Bill Veeck Baseball’s Marketing Genius”.  Bill Veeck was a hero of mine growing up and his influence on me is tremendous.

I’d like to finish this week’s column with a link to Ryan Stephens’ tremendous article on fan relations.  Ryan does a great job contrasting the traditional management philosophy of trying to control a team’s fans versus the idea of influencing, facilitating and protecting a team’s brand.  The column seems to embrace several of the ideas of my management philosophy including tenet #1: The Fans are in Charge.

Peter Wilt

Editor’s note: We write about the supporter experience a lot here at Pitch Invasion, but what’s the view like from the other side of the fence?  We’ve invited Peter Wilt, the President and CEO of the Chicago Red Stars of WPS and former President and CEO of MLS’ Chicago Fire to write a weekly column on his experiences as an executive in American soccer and on the business of the sport.

I have been fortunate to start or restart five professional soccer teams in the United States and have been rewarded with six championship rings in three different professional soccer leagues.  I managed the MLS Chicago Fire from its 1997 inception through my unpopular (at least in my household) dismissal in 2005 a year prior to the team’s move to its new stadium, Toyota Park.  The last several years have been dedicated to launching the Red Stars, Chicago’s first professional women’s soccer team.  The Red Stars ground share of Toyota Park with the Fire allows me to work at (or near anyway) the stadium whose development and design I led.  I continue to be an ardent supporter of the Chicago Fire.

Pitch Invasion has invited me to write a weekly piece on soccer business in America. I anticipate most of the weekly posts will be anecdotal and will share lessons learned from my own experiences. I also hope to write occasional pieces that are a bit more in depth and feature analysis of specific data and will also have interviews with various personalities in American soccer.  If there’s a  topic you’d like me to cover in the future, please mention it in the comments or send it to me at pwilt@chicagoredstars.com.

My first post describes the ten pillars of my soccer management philosophy, which will help provide perspective for my future posts and put them in context.

1. FANS ARE IN CHARGE. While professional soccer teams have an ultimate fiduciary responsibility to the investors in the team, I believe two important factors steer decision making towards the premise that soccer executives should work for the fans.  First, professional sports teams are a community asset that represents the community in a fashion unlike any traditional business.  The investors are (usually temporary) caretakers of this asset for the fans.  Secondly, what is good for the fans is usually good for the organization and investors.  If the fans are happy, engaged and supportive of the team, they will spend more money, watch more game broadcasts and promote the team better themselves.  Fans, and I am one also, ultimately cheer for the badge, the team it represents.  They don’t cheer for the organization or the owners.

2. WE ALL SELL. Sometimes it seems that everyone wants to get into sports, but few want to get into sports sales.  The truth is that EVERYONE in sports needs to sell their team and their sport, whether it’s in the traditional sales sense or not.  Of course ticket and sponsor sales staff sell, but it’s important for all staff to keep their sales hat on constantly whether they’re in operations, marketing, accounting, team administration or communications.  Hiring staff with this mindset and indoctrinating this mentality creates a culture of sales that pays dividends directly and indirectly.

3. TARGET THE SALES AND MARKETING EFFORTS. The market place is huge and cluttered and soccer teams are always short of resources, both human and financial.  While there may be some incremental sales and value to a general audience sales and marketing plan, the preponderance of resources should be used to sell to those who are ALREADY economically and emotionally attached to the sport (the soccer community).  An exception to this is with a startup, which needs to establish a brand in a community at large in order to gain credibility and relevance with media and corporate decision makers.

4. BUILD A GOOD STAFF. It sounds simple.  Hire hard working, talented people with good character – move all others along. I also believe in the importance of a diverse staff and promoting from within.  I like to hire entry level employees from an intern pool, because we have had the opportunity to see their skills, work ethic and passion first hand.

Peter Wilt with Chicago Fire supporters

5.  BE A GOOD LISTENER. This is more than a management skill.  It is an important way to learn ways to improve your business and to help reach agreement in negotiations – whether it’s a sponsorship deal, a youth soccer club partnership or a trade with another team.  If you know what the other party wants – and you’re able to put yourself in their shoes – you’ll be much more successful in creating agreements that are positive for all parties.  Paying attention to fans is another way to benefit by being a good listener.

6.  TRANSPARENCY IS GENERALLY GOOD. If you believe in your organization’s integrity, intelligence and decision making ability, you should not only have no fear of the public seeing into your organization, you should welcome it.  There are certain caveats to this such as privacy needs for many personnel, financial and health issues.  But in general, providing insight into an organization’s decision making invariably improves fan relations and fan support.  Transparency, i.e. public explanation of decisions and situations, takes away the mystery and allows the team to provide context into its decisions.  It also engages the fans in a positive manner that allows them to gain understanding.

7. PROVIDE GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE. Like common sense, good customer service is something that everyone thinks they have, but surprisingly few actually do.  Good customer service is the cheapest and best form of advertising and business retention.  Customer service is a process and a culture that develops over time through consistent, honest and fair actions and communication with all team stake holders.  The result is a team and organization that fans, sponsors, media and observers all feel good about and willing to support and even evangelize.

8. MAKE FAN(atic)S NOT SPECTATORS. Getting people to ATTEND soccer games in the United States is difficult.  Getting them to CARE deeply about the sport, team and League to follow on their own is even more difficult, but long term is more important.

9. CREATE EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS. The best way to get people to care about the local team is to provide opportunities for personal contact with the team (players, coaches and staff).  This can be done in person one on one, in small and large groups and virtually via countless online social marketing tools.

10.  BE AUTHENTIC. Don’t try to be something you are not, whether as an individual or as an organization.  It’s much easier to be yourself and more effective.

I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts, perspective and experience with you on the business of soccer in the United States and hope to add discussion via the comments section as well.

Despite being the antithesis of the stereotypical geek — Peter is gregarious to the max — his twittering, blogging, facebooking and forum-posting is becoming legendary in the world of American soccer.

Unlike the football brass in England, Peter’s every word is not plastered all over the papers by default. Instead, it’s through the drip-drip-drip of blogs and tweets that the Red Stars CEO plans to get the word out about his team to fans, whether he’s tweeting about his latest signing or twitpicing his “beer goggles” incident.

On the morning of March 10th, one of the leaders of the Chicago Red Stars supporters’ group, Local 134, tweets that she’s got confirmation of the details on the bus down to St Louis for the club’s inaugural match.

Minutes later, Red Stars CEO Peter Wilt “ReTweets” the news to all his followers:

RT @nikhak: Details for bus to Red Stars match on April 4th in St. Louis confirmed: http://tinyurl.com/ddb7y5
2:58 PM Mar 10th from txt

An earlier exchange in the day saw Wilt twittering back and forth with one of his own players, as he “ReTweets” her own update on her way to LA.

RT@nspilger: In stretch limo on way to airport. Ballers! http://twitpic.com/1z3wy . Safe travels to FLA Red Stars! C u @IYSA expo March 21!
4:01 AM Mar 10th from TwitterBerry

And this tweet from Wilt comes directly after his update that he was responding to my questions about the Red Stars focus on new media.

Listening to Mirror in the Bathroom on XRT whilst reply to @TomDunmore for new @PitchInvasion article on promoting Red Stars w/new media.
3:10 AM Mar 10th from TwitterBerry

I was asking Peter about this as the Red Stars have probably made a more extensive effort to reach out to fans through new media such as Twitter, blogs and more traditional web communications tools like forums and regular sites than any other professional club in the world.

Wilt believes this has been a success.

Tweeting and blogging has worked as two-way communication, which has both allowed us to get our brand and messages out to interested audiences and importantly has allowed various audiences to connect with the Red Stars and tell us what they want and don’t want. Twitter is an invasive medium that allows us to reach a small and targeted audience in a very direct way. Blogs allow us to craft messages creatively, address specific issues and provide information in a much more detailed fashion than traditional media.

Our audiences are receiving little if any information on the team or League from traditional media, so we must fill the gap online. Fortunately, our main targets – kids and young adults – live online. If we had to rely on traditional media support and traditional advertising, we’d be sunk – no one would know about us and we wouldn’t register on anyone’s radar.

New media has allowed the Red Stars to become relevant to thousands of people before we’ve even kicked a soccer ball. We are hopeful that this will translate into a larger initial audience, which will then virally spread the team’s messages and grow our audience from thousands to tens and even hundreds of thousands over time.

This marks quite a change from the last professional soccer team Wilt launched in Chicago. Almost twelve years ago now, Wilt headed up the launch of MLS’ first expansion team, the Chicago Fire, who were armed with a six figure marketing budget to make a splash in Chicago’s saturated sports market.

In 1997, we relied on a massive traditional marketing campaign to brand and promote the Fire. We spent close to a million dollars plus leveraged media in 4Q97 on TV, radio, print and outdoor. The “Jimi Hendrix Stand By My Fire” campaign blanketed the market and literally bought the team credibility.

Without the resources for a similar campaign with the Red Stars, and thanks to the spread of the internet in the intervening time, new media is the affordable path to creating buzz.

In 2008 and 2009, new media applications allow the Red Stars to be more efficient with a MUCH smaller advertising budget (less than 10% a decade later) and a much smaller sales staff – one person in sponsor sales and four full time (plus two split-time) in ticket sales. Specifically, we use bulk email blasts, individual email communication and on-line ordering to streamline the sales procress. The team and League website, blogs and plethora of on-line forums and social networking sites have become our platforms for promoting and branding the team.

This means a constant stream of updates, and one that it is starting to become a focus of WPS league-wide.

Does this stream-of-consciousness tweeting ever become a problem, in terms of TMI or simply over-saturation?

The danger of over Tweeting and blogging is similar to over-saturation of any medium. Too many messages can dilute the message and cause your audiences to skip messages altogether. It’s important that we expand the audience we are reaching – increasing our email database, adding Facebook friends, Twitter followers and Red Stars website hits. Part of that is managing the flow of information. We try to limit our email blasts of the Red Stars Insider to one per week. While our hard core fans may want more information, sending it more than that will result in subscribers not clicking through or unsubscribing.

Similarly, use of Twitter, blogs and SN sites needs to be managed thoguhtfully as well.

I’ve regretted posting internet forum messages, Tweets, blogs and emails just as I’ve regretted verbal and hand written comments. I try to read and reread my posts before sending, while keeping in mind the perspective of every potential reader. Nevertheless there are times I have offended people, published private information and put others in difficult positions. I try to avoid that, but if you communicate often enough, you’ll likely make bad judgments occasionally.

The Red Stars efforts extend beyond Wilt, as they have encouraged all their staff to get into blogging and twittering, with much of the emphasis coming from their original Director of Online Marketing Amanda Vandervort, who was a few months plucked from Chicago to head to the WPS head office and take this new media energy league-wide as Web Coordinator.

This emphasis in WPS marks a considerable difference in marketing focus from the efforts of the previous professional women’s league in America, the WUSA. Marcia McDermott, now Red Stars General Manager and once a coach in the WUSA, explained the change with new media a “point of emphasis” in WPS.

Social media was not emphasized in the last league, but I don’t think there was the same technology then. We had a website, but it was pretty limited in its interactive nature. It was more about creating content.

Of course, it’s not the technology itself that drives this interactivity — engaging the grassroots takes a strong and deliberate effort. Whilst WPS drips with social media almost to the point of over-proliferation, MLS’ efforts have been sadly half-hearted in new media thus far. Given their own limited space in traditional media, it seems like a massive opportunity lost for the men’s professional game in the U.S.

As an example, take the grandly titled and loudly announced “The Commissioner Speaks” blog on the MLS site launched last year (and folks, it’s not really a blog if it’s just a static page though, is it?): this hasn’t been updated since September 5th and it reads like a press release edited to death.

It should be said that a few MLS teams do have decent blog presences (props must go to DC United’s Behind the Badge), but for the most part, they have pretty sorry efforts. Given the resources they could muster and the interest there would be in new media efforts given the paucity of traditional media coverage, it’s a baffling state of affairs. Expansion teams Philadelphia and Seattle have shown the buzz that can be created online to help them do that most important of things: sell tickets.

Existing MLS teams might have larger marketing budgets for traditional media than nascent WPS teams, but in these trying  times, surely they could learn a lesson from @redstarsceo in grassroots marketing.

He was not kidding. Prominently seated at the announcement of the team’s name yesterday were over a dozen young girls curled up in Chicago city flags, with their blue and white stripes and four red stars each representing a historic moment in the city’s history.

Then, as music from Chicago blared appropriately and confetti was fired in the air, the name and logo of the team was announced: the Chicago Red Stars, their logo derived from that Chicago city flag. They will begin play in April 2009.

Civic pride, something Chicago is not short of, is the identity the team wants to build upon in an even more direct way than the previous soccer team Peter Wilt founded in this city, the Chicago Fire.

The logo was deliberately designed not to scream only “women’s soccer”, but to have a meaning that would appeal to a broader constituency and to that Chicago civic pride.

The Red Stars, Wilt said, intend to reach beyond the traditional women’s soccer audience: to embrace young adults, ethnic communities, the gay and lesbian community, traditional soccer supporters and the corporate dollar.

Without a large marketing budget, the Red Stars will focus on developing an organic online presence, led by Peter Wilt’s revealing blog, building from the ground up. And ticket prices will not scare anyone away. Season tickets start as low as $99 – under ten dollars a game, for the team’s matches at Toyota Park, also the home of the Chicago Fire.

Inevitably, the question of how the new WPS league differs from the previous women’s professional league in the United States (the WUSA) was raised in the press conference that followed the announcement. General Manager Marcia McDermott, who experienced the WUSA firsthand, said that the league’s business plan was leaner and smarter than the WUSA, which attracted good crowds but sank as it had overreached itself on expenditure.

Meanwhile, Wilt expressed his pleasure that, compared to the skepticism which had surrounded the launch of the expansion Chicago Fire in the nascent MLS, he’d already received strong support from across the city for the venture. The packed crowd and considerable media presence at the announcement bodes well for the team’s launch, as does admirable assistance from MLS both league-wide and in this case, from the cooperation of the Chicago Fire and Toyota Park.

And hiring as Head Coach Emma Hayes, formerly the first team coach of England’s omnipotent Arsenal Ladies, represents quite a coup.

League-wide, progress amongst the existing seven teams (an eighth franchise, Philadelphia, will join the league in 2010) is widely varied. The resurrected Boston Breakers seem to be set to go, for example, but concerns surround a couple of other teams, still lacking names and key staff ten months from kick-off.

In Chicago, though, those thoughts were far from everyone’s minds. The champagne flowed whilst Wilt welcomed every attendee personally, smiling kids ran around still wrapped in their Chicago city flags, and local supporters embraced the nation’s latest professional soccer team, the Chicago Red Stars.