Mr. Sugarman,
After last weekend's game, I saw a photo of a Union fan who was at the Toronto FC at Philadelphia Union game who had painted a phrase that said something like "It's either Nick Sakiewicz or the fans.... Your Pick Sugarman." That is a super bold statement, and one that I frankly agree with. Think about the successful companies not only in sports, but in the world. When have you ever heard of a company where the consumers want their CEO gone? How come we don't see Tesla Motors customers asking for Elon Musk to be fired? Why don't we see people asking for Tim Cook to go? Why aren't Philadelphians asking for Don Smolenski to be fired? The answer is simple. Those CEO have not under performed nearly as much as the CEO of the Philadelphia Union.
Allow me to use my two semesters of Economics to describe my frustration in a manner that I hope will resonate with you. You can talk about wanting soccer to grow as much as you want; however, as a businessman, you brought an MLS team to Philadelphia because you saw the demand for it. You realized that this was an opportunity for you to make a good profit. However, I don't know how you aren't fed up with the underwhelming performance of your CEO. The last time there was any real buzz around this team was 4 years ago, in 2011, and that is simply unsatisfying, especially in the results-driven, what-have-you-done-for-me recently industry of sports. Now, let's back track to the economics of you bringing this team to Philadelphia. Everyone knew of the potential success this team could have. You had a rapidly growing supporters group in the Sons of Ben, you were in the 4th largest media market in the United States, and soccer is a fast growing sport in this country; you had the formula for success before you made the announcement at City Hall. Now, more than five years after the first ball was kicked, Philadelphia Union is not one of the most competitive teams in the league. Instead, your CEO has driven fan morale in the ground, and has people threatening to boycott games instead of you having sellouts game in and game out. If you think that the reason for the team's poor performance is because of the manager, I would like you to think about whose job it was to hire this manager, the failed manager before that, and the failed one before that. Just to wrap things up, you had a demand ready-made and you had the supply. All you needed your CEO to do was not mess up the supply on the field so much that your demand erodes; the fact that you have let Mr. Nick Sakiewicz mess it up this much is way beyond my levels of understanding and comprehension.
Don't misunderstand me here, Mr. Sugarman, I don't expect this team go out and spend millions like Toronto, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Orlando City do. However, with more and more money being put into this league, if you realistically expect your team to be competitive, your organization needs to run like a well oiled machine that is firing on all cylinders; not a rusty old Buick that has as shredded timing belt. So far, I have spoken to two people who have interned at professional sports teams, and I have heard of two varying responses. One of them, who worked at a minor league baseball team, could not have been happier with the organization and how it was run; on the other hand, I had a friend who interned for Union, and he was shocked by the disarray and the poor management of the organization. You are getting outclassed by a minor league team here Mr. Sugarman. The best advice my father ever game was "You are as good as the standard you hold yourself to; if things aren't going well, hold yourself to a higher standard." So, with my final remark, I ask you Mr. Sugarman, when will you start to hold yourself and your CEO to a higher standard?
Very Respectfully,
Rutvij K. Dave
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