From day one, thanks to minority owner Drew Carey, Seattle Sounders FC has pumped up Democracy in Sports. The recent hiring of Garth Lagerwey as President of Soccer and GM refines the powers of how that democracy works.
Hiring was never part of the Alliance Charter, owner Adrian Hanauer did clarify during today's conference call that retention will remain on the table. He said "when we started this whole process we made it very clear that we were going to have this vote of no confidence and the ability to recall a General Manager, but under no circumstances would we involve our fans, involve our Council, in deciding who we will hire to run different aspects of the business."
Lagerwey understands and embraces the concept, as well as Seattle's forty-year history as a top flight soccer club.
"I'm aware that the Sounders have been around since 1974 and I think it is foundational reason why they've been as successful as they have," Garth explained. "I think it's a really cool concept - Democracy in Sports. Certainly, my job is in jeopardy every how-ever-many years.
Hanauer and the ownership are working with the Alliance Council on refining the Charter and Constitution as pertains to the timing of retention votes (every four years, or every four years after hire/retention?) as well as defining how to recall the GM.
In a world with fantasy sports, EA's FIFA and other games, everyone thinks they know better than the GM. Lagerwey mentioned that will create more pressure on him, but that was also true as a player, a lawyer and as GM with Real Salt Lake, even without the vote.
"So we'll go through the dialogue with the Alliance Council and land on a good solution," Hanauer ended that portion of the call. Alliance Council voting/nominations are currently open.