smsupers

With a year under our belt and after numerous discussions, the following changes were proposed and adopted by current Council members and Sounders FC ownership.

The 11 current Council members will serve a 2nd term ending in November of 2010

Newly elected Council members will serve two year terms

One vote per season ticket holder account will continue

2010 voting will not be reset meaning 2009 voting tallies will continue into 2010

After the 2010 season, Council voting will be reset

Council members elected in 2010 will continue to serve into 2011 as per the newly adopted two year term distinction

full Sounders FC article

These adoptions are fairly insignificant with the glaring exception of the decision to stand by the ‘one vote per account’ rule. Every four years each member of the Alliance — Sounders season-ticket holders — is armed with one vote as we determine whether or not to retain the current GM. The Alliance, in theory, also influences “the direction of the franchise.” How this influence is exerted comes down to populism (if enough people are upset, obviously the front office will act), the efforts of supporters groups and the Alliance Council. In my mind, the latter two parties are responsible for making sure the direction of the club accurately reflects the desires of its supporters before their is mass unrest. As it stands, unless you purchased your ticket yourself, you do not have a vote every four years — nor an Alliance “membership.” Even if your partner attended every match in the seat next to you, because you purchased the pair of season tickets, they do not vote.

Many favor a change that would truly give each Sounders season-ticket holder a vote. For those who attend every match and live the same lifestyle as all of us to not have the same vote is mind boggling, and not democracy. It sounds eerily like some other representation system, you know, the democracy where money speaks. I know it’s not like the woman who purchases 22 tickets receives 22 votes. However, if the intention is truly to get an accurate and complete representation of faithful Sounders supporters — and I believe it is — let’s get as many of them voting as possible, not just those with the funds to purchase a membership or their tickets in the preseason.

Obviously, the challenges likely lie in the infrastructural headache of verifying which of these tickets are regularly used by the same person or if a person is regularly using the same group of tickets to attend every match. And if this even possible.

Solutions:
“Just buy your own tickets,” you say. Yes, this is a positive I see in the current system. It encourages people to get their tickets squared away early and decreases the demand for tickets from people who have purchased in bulk. However, as willing as the Sounders ticket reps may be, the fact of the matter is we’re talking about a sold-out season for a major sporting team where it’s not always possible to get tickets with the group you’d like.

My next idea would be that for groups purchasing a grip of tickets, the Front Office make it an option for the purchaser to assign tickets (along with each ticket’s vote) to specific people, have them physically come to pick them up and prove identification, then give them a vote for the season.

Am I making something out of nothing or does this issue give you pause also? How well do you feel the Alliance is succeeding in representing our voices?