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Episode 360: Has Providence sponsorship changed the Sounders' core values?
67 Plays2 years ago
Don't worry, we understand that almost no one really wants to be talking about things like sponsorships right now. But the Seattle Sounders' decision to join forces with Providence on a wide-ranging "partnership" that also happens to include the Catholic healthcare provider's name being prominently displayed on their jerseys has made completely moving on rather difficult. Fans remain upset and the Sounders are still seeking to calm those tensions.
In the last week, the Sounders have met with ECS, the Alliance Council and other supporters' groups to at least begin the process of coming to an understanding. Similarly, they asked to talk to us and, more importantly, our audience.
Jeremiah met with Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer Taylor Graham as well as COO Maya Mendoza-Exstrom at Longacres on Monday to sort of replicate some of those conversations.
This much was clear: the individuals who run the Sounders remain as committed as ever to championing these causes. In fact, they gave the impression that they want to put those issues even more front and center.
For some fans, we imagine this will come as comfort. For others, it's entirely fair to question the sincerity of that commitment given Providence's positions on those causes.
We hope this interview at least gives you some of the information you need to decide for yourself.
Note: This is the first of what will become a regular series of interviews. This is available to all subscribers, but we'll likely start releasing extended cuts for paid subscribers through Substack in the next few months.
This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you’re looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
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Transcript
Introduction & Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of No Sadietes is sponsored by Full Pool Wines, a Seattle-based wine seller who recently released their first book, 36 Bottles of Wine. The ethos of the book, a highly curated look at wine categories that provide exceptional value right now, should be familiar to full pool readers. But there's loads of fresh content, and since it's not trying to sell any wine through the book, there's a bit more of a sass factor.
00:00:21
Speaker
And there's food. Lots of it. Fullpool's unique writing styles applied to recipes like leftover Thanksgiving, turkey, schmaltz-a-ball soup, and pregnancy nachos. This book can be purchased through Sasquatch Books.
MLS Cup Victory Discussion
00:00:32
Speaker
Hey, this is Christian Roldan. And Jordan Morris from the Seattle Sounders Football Club. And you're listening to... There's no study at this. Come on! Hey, Ocean! Let's go! I want to say bye-bye! The Seattle Sounders have done it! MLS Cup win!
00:00:52
Speaker
important the KSA's genius. Here comes Rui Diaz through the middle to crowd it for Seattle. They have climbed the mountain and now are masters of all that they survey. Michael Odero leaves absolutely no doubt the Saldars rule the region. Seattle Saldars is convinced
00:01:18
Speaker
Seattle Sounders, the greatest MLS team in history. How does this one feel? This feels fucking awesome. The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle. And the hills the greenest green in Seattle.
Comedic Interlude
00:01:53
Speaker
I didn't know what it was. Is that what you young people call twerking?
00:02:01
Speaker
I have no idea. I don't know.
Community Engagement Initiatives
00:02:26
Speaker
Follow them on Instagram at wantsonscounter to keep up with all the upcoming releases or check out their website at www.watsonscounter.com. Whether you want to stop by for your daily coffee to go or sit down for delicious Korean inspired brunch, Watson's Counter has got you covered.
New Partnership Controversy
00:02:45
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Nos Adiates. So, I'm Jeremiah Shan. I'm here with Taylor Graham and Maya Mendoza-Extram who all let introduce themselves. We're gonna basically
00:03:01
Speaker
have a conversation about this, everything that's going on with the Sounders new partnership with Providence and sort of, I guess maybe, like I'm better term, recreate some of the conversations that you guys are having with supporters groups to sort of like get this out to a wider audience because I think a lot of people outside of the supporters groups and the Alliance Council also have a lot of these questions and so this is a good forum I think to start
00:03:27
Speaker
Tackling some of that, but yeah, I'll let you guys introduce yourselves and and kind of explain who you are
00:03:33
Speaker
Do you want me to jump in first? I'm glad to. Thanks for the opportunity first and foremost. My name is Taylor Graham. I am the chief marketing and revenue officer, although my official title is I'm a Sounders nerd. I love this club. I love this sport. I've been with the club for, gosh, since 2005. I think it was my first foray in understanding what this club stands for and have been here pretty much ever since.
00:04:03
Speaker
And good to see you again, Jeremiah. I very rarely get to come on these podcasts. I'm happy to be here. My role with the Sounders, the only one that's fun is I'm the chief operating officer for Sounders FC. And Taylor and I are co-pilots on a lot of things that are fun and coming, including this partnership. So happy to talk about it today.
00:04:27
Speaker
Gosh, I'm a lifer for those of you that don't know. I was born and raised. I think my first Sounders match I was one years old as a Vancouver Whitecaps match at the Kingdom and been with the club since 2014. And those of you who do know me know I'm a lawyer by training, but very happily moving to a lot of the other things inside the club. So happy to be here.
00:04:48
Speaker
Great.
Fan Reaction & Club Values
00:04:49
Speaker
Well, let's just kind of jump right in. So you get the announcement that Providence was going to be the sponsor happened about two weeks ago. Yeah, 10 days ago, something like that. And I don't.
00:05:05
Speaker
The reaction that we saw from the fan-facing side was pretty swift, pretty overwhelmingly negative from what you could see. What did you guys see and were you at all surprised by the volume of that reaction?
00:05:29
Speaker
The club chose to announce and confirm this partnership at Renton High School that was very intentional. The starting point for this partnership was never a jersey or a jersey canvas. That opportunity to put their brand on our kit.
00:05:50
Speaker
Every single partnership conversation that the club has starts from a different place in terms of the organization We're talking to the moment that we're talking in and the opportunity and horizon that were that we're planning together and so from day one with with Providence their singular focus was was about community and
00:06:12
Speaker
And that driving factor was the key influencer in where and how this partnership was announced. With respect to the question about were we surprised about the sentiment, I think when I woke up on
00:06:30
Speaker
on Saturday morning following this announcement. My inbox was filled with a lot of the same inbound that the club received, that you received, that populated on the comments on our social channels.
00:06:45
Speaker
And when I took a step back from Saturday morning, I kind of grouped it into three different buckets. One, the first bucket was about values. It was about club values. It was about what this club has led in and continues to elevate as being a priority for every single piece of our focus. And those values that were brought up more often than less were about reproductive rights,
00:07:13
Speaker
were about support for transgender youth, and it was about support for marginalized communities in this state. And bucket number two that I heard was questions and curiosity and interest with respect to the wellness and mental health programming in partnership with the Renton School District. So curiosity, wanted to learn more, what's the plan? How do I get some specifics? And then I think bucket number three was about
00:07:41
Speaker
kind of just overarching questions. How did this partnership come to be? What was the process? What's the process to evaluate these types of opportunities? What were the driving factors? And so it was a lot of the things we kind of put into this kind of bucket of education about information. How do we provide more context? And so
00:08:02
Speaker
I am not surprised. The club was not surprised that our passionate fans stood up and continue to ask us if we're the same club we have been and always been about values. I think the volume was one
00:08:18
Speaker
that on Saturday morning we realized was maybe a little bit louder than we thought because the focus of the partnership launch was about the community programming, was about the wellness and mental health. And we intended to be able to address some of these questions of values head on. They didn't come up in the media. And we know you were going to ask them and you weren't able to be there. And so part of it is
00:08:42
Speaker
acknowledging that as that Friday announcement came out, we did not proactively address some of this stuff head on. And when there is a lack of context, sometimes we all assume the worst. I do it individually, we do it as an organization, we do it as a society. And so I think there is an acknowledgement that the volume is derived from the subject matters that were hit head on or not.
00:09:10
Speaker
And without that full context, our fans inserted, sorry, our fans stepped halfway to make sure that they were communicating directly with us. And I think the other thing that we take very seriously too is the inbound, right? I mean, Taylor just said this, but on that Saturday morning was having a conversation about the volume and specifically sort of thinking through what the inbound was for our staff. And a person in my family said to me,
00:09:39
Speaker
a pretty remarkable thing that you have an organization where your core constituents and your fans know exactly what your values are, know exactly how to articulate those values, and know exactly and care enough to hold your feet to the fire. What's your inbound like? So we quickly turned over the weekend to take care of our staff on the front lines. Our fans were obviously frustrated and upset, and I want to thank our fans because they took care of our staff as well in voicing those frustrations.
00:10:08
Speaker
But the quality and character of that communication over the weekend, adding to the conversation that was happening on social media, the first place we started on Monday coming back into the office was with our staff to make sure that our staff was in a good place, that we were having this same conversation that we were able to have with our supporters groups, and that we were doing some of this context work too.
00:10:31
Speaker
You know, we're sitting here at Long Acres right now, Jeremiah, and it's not built yet. And we're still disaggregated as a staff. And so the capacity to pull everyone together for Adrian to talk to everyone and talk through these same things with our staff was important. And that volume over the weekend was fairly consistent. So there were ways, as
Addressing Fan Concerns
00:10:51
Speaker
Taylor just framed, for us to sort of address that core constituency too.
00:10:55
Speaker
So you kind of alluded to this, and I'm curious, what was the internal reaction like? Because the sounders have a pretty clearly stated core values that have touched on a lot of these exact same issues that have been brought up, and I think that sort of made it a really easy connection for fans to say like, wait a minute, just the other day you said X, Y, and Z, and now you're partnering with an organization that seemingly is at odds with those values. But what was the,
00:11:24
Speaker
employees saying like, we're also confused? Or were they was it more of a buy in? I mean, what was the reaction internally like?
00:11:30
Speaker
I think is a mix to some degree, right? I think, as Taylor said, we fully expected to address head-on a restatement of our values as part of this rollout. Again, with the focus of the substance of the way in which we were delivering this partnership being about the collaborative work that we will do between providence founders and rent in public schools, at rent in public schools,
00:11:55
Speaker
but still be able to address head on these other two values. So for the staff that were working closely on this and certainly the staff inside of the team at Sounders FC that is charged with sort of on a day over day basis executing externally and consistently through our social justice framework, we felt like we understood what all of that context was. That piece of it though was not everyone inside the organization.
00:12:24
Speaker
that that's never a good place to be right to have a deficit and a wealth of information and I think that was one thing that we want again to start with on Monday to make sure that everyone's understanding of that context was the same and you know if we needed to state those values again the first people we are going to do that in front of was our whole team and our staff and be really clear we're not backing away from who we are aware what we've built and where we think we need to get to make this community a more equitable place for everyone.
00:12:54
Speaker
Amaya said staff was number one. I think those conversations on Saturday morning were indicative of needing to actively listen. And so what we committed to in the first 72 hours of that next week was to actively listen to some very, very key audiences. And the first audience was staff. And every staff's reaction is different. And it's reflective of our fan base.
00:13:22
Speaker
And then step number two was to find time to meet with Emerald City supporters leadership and members across the entire country. And number three was Alliance Council to be true to our principles of democracy and support.
00:13:37
Speaker
And so we committed to using those 72 hours to listen and to try to fill in some of the context and to acknowledge things that might have gone differently or could have gone differently or should have gone differently and to be accountable to those that are driving this club forward. So that's
Commitment to Values & Advocacy
00:13:54
Speaker
what we did in the first three days and it was humbling.
00:14:02
Speaker
Yeah, well let's talk about some of those conversations. If I have my timeline correct, by Monday you guys were already meeting with ECS and I don't know if that was, I'm assuming that was something that was sort of like in real time, like you guys made those appointments in real time, not like this was something that you planned a week ahead of time.
00:14:22
Speaker
and we're ready to deploy. I don't expect you to tell us who exactly was there or anything, but what was the tenor of those meetings and what was said and what did you come away from those meetings with?
00:14:39
Speaker
I want to thank ECS's leadership, and I mean this sincerely, because I think one of the things that was the most impactful, and Taylor was there, I was there, Adrian was leading these meetings really, and being really clear with sort of a lot of the background and answering a lot of the questions, and also our new president was there too, right? And I think for me, I think we have,
00:15:09
Speaker
I reflect mostly on the personal stories that were shared of feeling less included or feeling fearful that individual members of our fan base might feel like this is not a safe place for them to be a fan. That is something we have to acknowledge. Intent is irrelevant and that outcome is not okay.
00:15:33
Speaker
And we we need to now demonstrate that we are still that same inclusive fan base where it is safe to be and all are welcome to some specific members of the community that I quite honestly I don't know that that we often hear from through ECS and their vulnerability and authenticity and sharing their own story and their own feelings their own conflicts and
00:15:55
Speaker
sort of rationally reconciling in a profound way their personal feelings with understanding for the club and some of the mechanics of the deal. I felt really honored, honestly, to hear that. And I think it's something we've got some work to do for, to make sure those individuals feel
00:16:16
Speaker
like they still are welcome. I think the other piece that was really clear for everyone in that room with ECS was this context setting, this idea that we had some gaps to fill, that the way in which this was rolled out may have been very intentional from our perspective, but we missed some things. And in not filling in some of those details, it's very easy to assume the worst.
00:16:43
Speaker
And we allowed for that, essentially, right? And so we started to fill those details in. I think that was a second piece of this from that early conversation that was very obvious. And then I think, lastly, was a call to action for us to do something as an organization, right? OK. Right? We get it. You've reaffirmed your values. You're not moving away from those things. But now, what's next? And prove to us in your actions. And I think that was very clear and warranted.
00:17:15
Speaker
Let's get into some of that. We've talked around a little bit. What would you say those values are and what actions realistically can be hoped to come out of those? You guys did put out a press release where you sort of reasserted those.
00:17:35
Speaker
or some of those values, but I think it's good to hear them again, but it's also, I think what people really want, as you alluded to, is, okay, that's good that those are your values, but what's the action behind it?
00:17:51
Speaker
Sanders FC remains committed to make Washington State the safest and most inclusive place to play soccer, specifically for transgender youth, right? We don't back off that value through this partnership. And we are committed to the idea that women can choose their own reproductive health, it's their right to do so. And we don't back off that value. And this providence partnership is not asking us to.
00:18:16
Speaker
I think the thing that I was also reminded of through this process is the importance of having a social justice framework that serves as the strategy screen to guide consistent behavior over time, right? And so I am not asking for us to look backwards at our track record in this space to say that that is emblematic of anything but the past, but I will say that it is that consistent belief to stand for LGBTQ
00:18:45
Speaker
a quality and specifically to support transgender youth that we are not backing away from. There are typical times of the year where our platform turns to that advocacy, to that work. Then there's also work that we do behind the scenes 365 days a year through our social justice framework and each arena for change. I think we've got to be louder about some of those things in the short term.
00:19:12
Speaker
And I also think that one of the pieces for us, and certainly we can talk about the context more, but when we think specifically about the work we will need to do to support mental health for youth in our community,
00:19:27
Speaker
there is an intersectional and acute challenge for transgender youth in that space. And we are not shying away from that in this partnership, and we're not being asked to. And if anything, it gives us more capacity to share.
00:19:45
Speaker
the de-stigmatization of mental health specifically for that community and to ensure that there are resources available to youth in our community who are transgender and who have different challenges in the mental health space. Jeremiah, one of the things that gets me up every day and the reason I'm still here is
00:20:11
Speaker
This club, I think somebody said, leads with their chin in everything we do. And it's such an interesting, this is a conversation that's manifested, I'm even taking a step back to some of the March the 50th research that we've heard is that, what are the differentiators for sounders? And how can this club be a global soccer club that
00:20:37
Speaker
plays at the FIFA Club World Cup consistently, but also a community institution where our fans and our community want their club to stand up for more and expect their club to stand up for more. And so we believe firmly and are as convicted as ever in everything Maya said.
00:21:00
Speaker
Our experiences with that are all personal. One personal story that I was able to reflect back on was what happened on May 4th, CCL final. The pinnacle of Sounders history and being able to play with the hopes of being able to win a CCL title for the first time, sold out stadium. And we had some conversations on that match day about how to approach a singular sign that was in the Brahmin.
00:21:29
Speaker
The outcome of that process and conversation and dialogue was everything in this club. I think that day was exemplary of this club in every possible way. It was a message of commitment to excellence. It was a message of commitment to making the state of Washington the most inclusive space for everyone, regardless of gender or gender identity.
00:21:58
Speaker
Same club, we're the same club, and we know that ultimately results are gonna drive our success, but hopefully just through those conversations with individuals who represent organizations, we were able to acknowledge some things that we maybe might have done differently when we launched this thing, but the North Star is the same North Star. We are not changing.
00:22:27
Speaker
We're not changing. In fact, we probably need to be a little bit louder. That's one of the challenges that we've heard from Adrian and that he spoke to these groups, which is, OK, ultimately we're going to be judged by our action, but we're not backing down. In fact,
Impact of Sponsorship on Image
00:22:41
Speaker
we probably got to do more. And so now let's start building out those plans. And are the full plans developed today for the next month, the next two quarters? No, it's not.
00:22:51
Speaker
And over the course of time, the club will be held accountable to the results and the wins and losses that we have and everything we do.
00:23:01
Speaker
But the goal is the same. And for people that don't know, and correct me if I'm wrong, but the incident you're referring to was at the Champions League final. ECS had a sign that said protect trans youth. CONCACAF officials asked for it to be removed. And the Sounders effectively said, we're not going to ask them to do that. And the sign remained up. And I assume that's the story, right?
00:23:30
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's the subject matter that conversation brought that I'm talking about. And there were conversations and
00:23:38
Speaker
we are proud of the outcome of what happened. And the only way to get to the outcome where the club can show up in the 365 manner that Maya just talked about, or show up at a big club moment the same, both and, was the outcome that we're proud of. And it comes through dialogue, it comes through conversations, it comes through having the ability to be able to knock on the right door to say, this is important to me. And that's what happened with
00:24:07
Speaker
with a lot of fans even just Even just having someone feel comfortable enough to put up their hand and say Taylor Hey, I want to talk about this. This is this feels different like I'm getting mixed signals We heard a lot of questions about mixed signals between these two things the fact that
00:24:28
Speaker
individuals are feeling comfortable knocking on another individual's door to be able to articulate that hopefully is reflective of the way that we aspire to work. And so yes, back to your question of the sign that was in the bra men that's been there every day and every match since May 4. We're proud of that sign. We're proud of that message. We're proud of those values. And we're going to continue to live those and on a day to day basis. We expect it to be bigger.
00:24:59
Speaker
That's our expectation. It's probably going to be made bigger. That's probably a fair expectation. And I guess this all sort of like gets to maybe the core of this issue, which is, you know,
00:25:16
Speaker
the fact that the announcement of a sponsor would elicit this kind of reaction has to be a little disarming, right? No matter who the sponsor, the sounder's signed up with the sponsor that's causing all these questions to be asked. That itself is an issue, right?
00:25:42
Speaker
I had a reason, I will do a shameless play, I had a reason to be in a room at the end of last week after going through all of this for another reason entirely and another context with Mary Harvey, who runs the Center for Sport and Human Rights out of Geneva and is a former US women's national team player, one of the 90 winners.
00:26:02
Speaker
In that context we were talking through something else and she said two things that I think are how I've processed all of this. One, every grievance is a gift because it does mean people care and so yes, it's never great to receive criticism for anything that you put out there in the world as an organization, as an individual, but it's pretty darn great when in the context that Taylor is describing,
00:26:29
Speaker
we can have a constructive conversation about it and be better as a result of that. So treat every grievance as a gift was, again, Mary Harvey's one of my North Star people, so I was like, okay, that's good. And the other thing she said in this other context was, you know, every time that you are questioned or challenged, it's a chance to reaffirm, double down and restate your beliefs. If anything, that's what this has given us, right? And I don't think
00:26:58
Speaker
It's incongruent to hold both of those things at the same time, right? This dialogue with fans and to restate our beliefs and launch a pretty transformational, pretty awesome partnership with a group of local leaders and a local company that's rooted in Renton that want to do really good things in the community through and with soccer.
00:27:21
Speaker
We know soccer makes things sticky, we say it all the time, but I think that's where I am today, is this idea that we've got to continue seeing every grievance as a gift. This won't be the last time that the organization makes a decision that we think we've launched or done in the right way where people are questioning and we've got to remain open to the conversation and improve.
00:27:45
Speaker
the way in which we approach those announcements going forward. And at the same time, let's not lose sight of and let's not unfocused on the fact that this is a pretty momentous and important partnership for the organization that we're really excited about. And we've got to do both. We've got to do both. And we can do both better in the future. But that's personally where I am. And it was maybe very serendipitous that this other conversation happened.
00:28:12
Speaker
Um, but yeah, let's reaffirm our values. Let's double down. Let's be louder about what those things are and let's launch this launch this partnership. So, or did you, I don't want to cut you off Taylor.
00:28:25
Speaker
I can never follow Maya. But Alliance Council asked about scale. They asked, hey, what are you guys hearing? How loud is it from what angles? And an individual asked, am I in the vocal minority here? Help us understand perspective. And so we talked through what we heard. And it's much of what we're discussing right now.
00:28:51
Speaker
it doesn't matter whether it's one voice or ten voices or a thousand voices or a hundred thousand voices because if there are voices of concern that I am getting mixed signals and you know I don't feel as safe and I don't feel like I belong as much and I don't feel like I can express and be myself as comfortably today as I was yesterday those are things that we have to solve for and account for if we're going to deliver on our mission which is to make
00:29:20
Speaker
Washington, the safest place to play, and being a part of this club should embody that. Our Matt's Day should embody a sense, a place of belonging and self-expression and comfort and safety. And it's different for everybody, right? And so part of it is a question of scale, but part of it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether it's one person or more. The subject matter is just as important.
00:29:48
Speaker
The other part of this is, I don't want to put you in a position where you're having to speak on behalf of an organization that's not represented right here, but what's been your feedback that you've received from Providence in all this? I would imagine they weren't planning on waking up on Saturday and find out that
00:30:10
Speaker
reading a lot about what a horrible company they are, or these perceptions about them. What has been their reaction through you, and has that been eye-opening at all?
00:30:25
Speaker
What they did with us is the same thing we did with Alliance Council and ECS is They listened right and they think even kind of taking a step back one of the things that Adrian shared With with these two groups with these three groups our staff with Emerald City supporters and with Alliance Council was hey Let's take a step back and talk about the journey that got us here. Let's talk about
00:30:48
Speaker
the priorities for the club that have led us to this place. Let's talk about choice points and why we continued to go forward and why we still feel like this partnership is the one who's going to be able to empower us to live our mission and deliver against that mission. So the four things we heard from Adrian were, number one, which is about who is going to be able to provide exceptional care to our athletes.
00:31:16
Speaker
to our locker rooms, plural. The locker rooms look really different than when I was playing. You have some. You have some. That's true. I'm not going to go back and hear you say, but even in the early days, we actually have a physical space where we can change. No, but in 16-year-olds working next to 36-year-olds and older,
00:31:39
Speaker
the needs of the locker room are different. And one of the things that Adrian talked about was how do we continue to deliver exceptional care, physical care and mental care to our athletes that need different things at different times. And that was one of the driving factors for this partnership because we believe that Providence Swedish is going to be able to deliver against that.
00:32:02
Speaker
We've heard that from the care that they're providing other sports teams in market. And so that was criteria number one. Criteria number two was every single conversation from day one started with how can we deliver on a mission and let's get specific and do that. Let's start in Renton with wellness and mental health.
00:32:23
Speaker
And so it's emblematic that we're in Long Acres right now because this community means a lot for both of us. And we believe that together in partnership with them, we're gonna be able to do things that we could not otherwise. Part of coalition building is bringing people to the table that can deliver on the things that you're not. We're a soccer club and we acknowledge that first and foremost. Number three was,
00:32:49
Speaker
individuals matter, right? When you're sitting and looking in Adrian's eyes, and you're having a conversation about this club, it feels it feels one way. And it's true, it's reflective of the care and the heart that he's put into this every single day since he's been a part of this organization. That same commitment of care from the individuals at the Providence Swedish side has been ever present every step of the way I can't wait for
00:33:19
Speaker
for Dr. Arpond to be able to dive into some of the mental health programming because when you hear a subject matter expert speak the way he does and in the way he does, it just, there's trust that's built in terms of, we're gonna be able to do this. We're actually gonna be able to deliver on the goal of making progress in the Renton community through these programs. And lastly,
Clarifying Partnership Intentions
00:33:47
Speaker
Adrienne kinda addressed it head on is,
00:33:49
Speaker
There is a financial component to this. This is a business partnership. Business partnerships are responsible for driving our mission. That's both value-based and business-based, both and. It wouldn't be fair to not acknowledge that as part of this.
00:34:09
Speaker
The choice was that this partnership is going to empower our club to be able to enrich lives, unified through soccer, and to deliver on our mission in a way that we, in a better place than we would have before. Create moments, enrich lives, unified through soccer. Through this partnership, we believe firmly that we're gonna be able to deliver against that more now than ever.
00:34:36
Speaker
So I guess one of the other elements that's going on here is people have really strong opinions about Providence for a variety of reasons. I think there's concern that religious organizations are having more and more
00:34:53
Speaker
of a monopoly over healthcare choices. There is an element of profits driving decisions at the healthcare level. And then there's all these kind of related things about access to abortion, access to trans care, the way that they approach LGBTQ issues. And these are things that I don't know that it's
00:35:22
Speaker
the sounder's job to change anyone's mind about Providence. But do you feel like ultimately those elements, do you feel confident that those concerns can be put aside essentially?
00:35:43
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I guess I don't know the right way to phrase that, but those seem to be the things that we're hearing and how do you go about kind of like balancing that out, I guess is the way to put it.
00:36:00
Speaker
Well, I think we heard those things directly, right? And whether and if this ecosystem that is healthcare is not a problem that I want to ever have to solve,
00:36:14
Speaker
I don't even want to solve your Vox Media problem, right? But I think that the reality is that that ecosystem is one that's felt acutely by members of our community differently, right? And that is not any one healthcare institution. And so that's very real, right? That's in the background here.
00:36:33
Speaker
I think the thing that is most important for us as an organization is that whoever we partner with doesn't ask us to behave any differently as an organization and that is true with this partnership.
00:36:49
Speaker
We are all very aware of the values. Sounders, FC wants to be able to stand on a platform and expouse that we want to advocate for. And the capacity for us to do that, as Taylor said, through a louder voice, through a bigger mandate, through all of those things is one of the things we're always going to look at in a partnership. It's that values alignment. And I think that's what
00:37:15
Speaker
I get really excited about because I do think we have the capacity inside of this partnership to first and foremost. Sit and listen with written public schools, which is in this particular case is the most important leg of the school and respond to needs.
00:37:33
Speaker
And all of the stuff that Dr. Arpan and the Providence platform have worked to be well, which is targeted specifically for students, all of it tells us that we can fit some holes in Renton Public Schools. We've got to start with describing what those holes are and identifying where we can plug in.
00:37:53
Speaker
Then we've got another layer of work to do, which is to evaluate what else is missing after we plug all the holes and how do we create a more resilient system. The K through 6 and then the middle school through high school ecosystem and mental health are totally different.
00:38:11
Speaker
The Sounders are really good at delivering on some of the things that support mental health in the in the intervention That's the most level of remove right the work that we do to build many pitches at schools often involves outdoor learning spaces Which are the quiet spaces outside that serve as both outdoor classrooms, which we know improve students mental health at that elementary school age but also quiet spaces at recess which are really important for teachers, so I
00:38:36
Speaker
We're doing some of that work, whether we know it or not, in a social-emotional learning context. And we're not the experts at the middle school or high school level. Renton has some acute needs. They also have delivery points. And the really neat thing is that those delivery points are inside of the Providence ecosystem too, right? So HealthPoint is one of those additional service providers that Renton works with specifically to identify one-on-one supportive mental health resources.
00:39:02
Speaker
They don't have enough mental health resources. In fact, there are, I think, 30 to 50 kids that have already put their hand up and rent in public schools to say, I could use some outside care, and there aren't resources for those things. That's something that could be delivered right away, right, a one-on-one intervention.
00:39:20
Speaker
And I think then the other piece of this becomes how do you work collaboratively with Renton and with others inside of the Providence ecosystem to bring other care to the table. And I think one of the pieces for us in this will be the relationship that Providence has with Seattle Children's. And so the work that Seattle Children's is doing through the gender clinic
00:39:48
Speaker
to provide gender affirming care, to provide mental health consultations and both hormonal and transition opportunities for youth is really important for us to sort of lean in and learn a little bit more about how that entire ecosystem works and if it's a way for us as an organization to expand our capacity to help.
00:40:08
Speaker
Right? And that's really, really when we start digging down on all of these things, what this partnership allows us to do, and it's something that Providence wants to lean in with us on. And so digging a little bit deeper into that, you know, like I learned this in researching the story, but so Providence is a nationwide
00:40:35
Speaker
or healthcare system. In some places, it's an insurance. In some places, they just run hospitals. In Western Washington specifically, they essentially bought Swedish, and so they're known as Providence Swedish in Western Washington. Providence
Ongoing Community Role & Reflections
00:40:53
Speaker
Swedish operates under sort of one model of care, but Providence in general operates in another model of care.
00:41:01
Speaker
Which creates some confusion about what the brand is right because it's you know like a lot of people have One experience with Providence Swedish Providence is what's gonna be on the shirt and like in Texas being a prob like being Providence is very different and I guess this gets to the idea of like
00:41:24
Speaker
The reason any organization wants to advertise is because they want to align themselves with what you guys are doing. And we saw this term thrown around a lot during Qatar. But this idea of sportswashing and just having these, if our brand can be associated with this other brand whose ideals are one way, it will at least make our brand look like we're
00:41:50
Speaker
we're that same way without necessarily changing any behavior. And I guess the question is two part one is, is there a concern on your part that this is sort of like a sports watching situation? And secondarily, is there a realistic hope that the way Providence does business will be at all impacted by all of this attention and all of sort of like this conversation that we're all having?
00:42:20
Speaker
The term sports washing was something we heard directly from individuals as part of this conversation for sure. You asked a question, are we concerned about the sounders being sports washed right now? The answer is no. Part of that, there's a lot of reasons for that. Number one is this isn't the first time
00:42:41
Speaker
that this Providence Swedish organization has invested in delivering their product and growing their business through sport. They've done that through the Seattle market. They've done it through the Pacific Northwest market. And so there's something about investing in sport that companies want to be able to be a part of.
00:43:07
Speaker
That was long before some of these conversations came up. And so when we talked to our peers who have had partnerships with Providence Swedish and understanding how they started and what they were able to deliver against, the starting point was all community first.
00:43:27
Speaker
And so that comes back to the people second, which is, do you trust that? Do you trust that as the perspective, as the why behind this? And from the individuals we do, from the organization we do. And they're proud of a lot of the work they do with Swedish in the LGBTQIA space and community. They are encouraging and empowering us to continue to lead in this space.
00:43:55
Speaker
and to be the sounders. And so, no, the answer, I don't have any concern in this space, partly because of talking to peers who have been in partnership with Providence Swedish for long periods of time. And part of it's through, we have a better sense of where we want to go and what that community programming is and what this mental health and wellness programming can look like in Renton.
00:44:22
Speaker
And we are invested in this space, in this community specifically, and we intend to deliver on that. And so, yeah, that's my quick answer.
00:44:40
Speaker
That's okay. So the second part of that question is related to the Providence end of it. Like you alluded to, they've been involved in sports for a long time. Their sponsorship of the Timbers home stadium goes all the way back to 2014. In Oregon, that's one of the places that they have insurance, for instance. I think it's just in Washington and Oregon, which does kind of
00:45:09
Speaker
As a consumer or as a newsgather, it was also very hard to exactly get my arms around why are people so frustrated about this company. Again, I realize that you guys maybe can't speak to this, but I feel like I should ask it again just to be clear. Do you have any sense of how
00:45:34
Speaker
this whole thing impacts the way that Providence might, are they looking at the way their model of care is set up? This seems like a drop in a bucket in some ways to affect something that big, but have you gotten those conversations? Is there something coming out from them saying, everyone's misunderstanding what we do,
00:45:59
Speaker
or we know we have work to do in this space or those kind of things.
00:46:06
Speaker
I think one of the things that going back to that first 72 hours and to what Taylor just said with respect to the human beings that we're dealing with from day one in this partnership through today in terms of the number, the frequency, and the level of direct context that in the organization sort of looking eye to eye across the table. The very first thing all of those individuals, all of our counterparts have said is we are happy to make someone
00:46:34
Speaker
Available right like let's let's have this conversation and I so I think all of those questions you're asking and all of those about that big bucket you dropped everything into our answerable. I like I said earlier I am not an expert in health care certainly.
00:46:51
Speaker
Certainly we did our due diligence on the values propositions that we've talked about. Certainly we focused this partnership in expanding our ability to go into a mental health capacity that otherwise we would not have as an organization. A tool in our tool shed to support our entire social justice framework.
00:47:12
Speaker
But in terms of those specific questions, you know, I think that's what we've consistently heard too is these are some of the questions that are out there. It'd be really great to hear from Providence on this. And I will say that to a person, there are people in that organization at every level said, yes, no problem. Let's have that conversation as a next step.
00:47:33
Speaker
as we continue to sort of build this out and move forward and so whether that is as you know Taylor said the expert internally on mental health and youth mental health in this market that's working here and knows every single data point in science you know science-based care sort of data point that we need to look at or it's the
00:47:49
Speaker
the team that operates at that global level and can sort of talk through the mechanics and differences between markets and types of business. I think those resources, that's something we've heard that is a need and a want and one that I think will.
00:48:07
Speaker
we'll be able to sort of take back, you know, in this partnership too, and make sure that we're continuing to Taylor's first point, continuing the dialogue, right? Because this is going to be our long-term partner, right? This is part of our Saunders family, and we are excited about it. And so let's meet those needs of filling in some of that detail and keep moving forward together.
00:48:27
Speaker
and to hear from Providence, Swedish directly about them not wanting the sounders to change. In fact, they are empowering us to be the best version of ourself and so the message is important, the messenger is important too.
00:48:42
Speaker
Yeah, so I think a good place to close on this might be a potential action item, which I think that's a thing that people do in meetings. And there's two parts to that. One of them is, what are some actions that Sounders fans can expect to come out of this?
00:49:02
Speaker
Or maybe not come out of this, but what kind of action items can sounders fans expect from the sounders in relation to this? And then on the other side, I know you guys were asked by ECS about what
00:49:21
Speaker
You felt was an appropriate way for fans to show their frustration or to make sure their feelings are known And so yeah, I guess the action items like what do you what do you guys what do you all intend to do and what do you feel like is a Appropriate way for fans to sort of like push this forward or hold you accountable. Maybe I'll tackle the the second question first and this
00:49:48
Speaker
This club has always been one that's given a voice to every single member of the Sounders community. And there are formal processes to be able to do that. Sometimes it's just picking up the phone and calling somebody affiliated with the organization. Sometimes it's providing feedback to Alliance Council who is empowered and challenged to represent the entire Alliance and all of the Alliance. Sometimes it's actually joining Council.
00:50:17
Speaker
and representing those who vote you onto that space. And so there are the ethos of democracy and support hopefully is living itself in real time, whether it's through the qualitative access to be able to provide information or it's the willingness and interest to want to get a little bit more into the nitty gritty, to see some of the stuff that's coming in advance of when it's getting announced, to pull them into the trust tree and to provide that context and hopefully fill in
00:50:47
Speaker
the lack of light and fill it with lightness instead of darkness. So I think that's number one. My hope, maybe this is Taylor speaking right now, is that we are a club committed to action, right? We are going to be held accountable to action over periods of time. I think we talked about this before. Hopefully,
00:51:16
Speaker
the track record of this club and being able to deliver against that is something that we can instill some confidence back into our fan base in a moment like this. Where we can kind of take a step back, understand that not all the information is in front of us right now. We might not agree 100% with everything that's in front of us, but
00:51:42
Speaker
Hopefully there's trust that the club is still the same club that they were, that we are, and we're gonna be held accountable to that at some point. And so action is sometimes passive and sometimes it's active, right? And so it's a little bit of both here. But the community programming and what's to come on that front, I'll kind of pass it to you.
00:52:06
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's sort of twofold. One is the through line is stay the course and continue to do the work to do the right thing for kids in the community. So the extent to which any of that can be accelerated is a question we get to ask ourselves now in terms of when we can share. But we're still not going to go before our third leg of this stool is ready to do that. And I think that's really important for folks to sort of
00:52:34
Speaker
hold is that that's a piece here. I think then there are some other pieces, as I said earlier, where there's a lot of work in all four arenas for change that we do as an organization 365 days a year. In fact, we choose not to be loud and proud about it in every single respect. This is one area where I think we've got to be clear, more clear and equivocal, and I think our team has certainly taken that to heart. I think our staff has certainly taken that to heart.
00:53:03
Speaker
And I think the other piece for me that is important is the piece we sort of just talked about is the right way to ensure that our missing chair here and our partner is brought to the table to sort of be open in dialogue. You know, we get some opportunities to convene some people around this sport starting very soon for those that are not traveling to Morocco on the end of February. And so, you know, that fan base coming together, those opportunities to sort of
00:53:33
Speaker
community with each other in that shared space through soccer and have that conversation, I think we've got to look at those opportunities coming up. And I think what Taylor said is also true, right? I think there's some short-term accountability here, and I think there's long-term accountability, and I think I'll go back to
00:53:50
Speaker
My new my new maxim from Mary Harvey, but every grievance is a gift and the fans have been candid and authentic and Constructive in those grievances that are gonna make us a better organization That's that's what the Sounders FC is right every single one of us that goes to work well I will go to work here at Long Acres every day and
00:54:13
Speaker
You know, that badge that we wear over our hearts, it's not just, you know, coach that recognizes his opportunity to be a steward of this club. It's not, Adrian didn't start, you know, his investment in this club to make a ton of money. He did it to be a community investment. Our ownership is committed to this club to be a community investment. And everybody who comes to work for this club has that badge over their chest and is committed to make this a community investment. And that's not something that will
00:54:41
Speaker
go away with one decision, but every decision is, you know, we're responsive to history in the next 50 years of this place. And we take that seriously. Well, I appreciate you guys taking this time. I hope.
00:54:55
Speaker
listeners found this valuable. I'll just end with my own bit on this. None of us got into this to have long conversations about sponsors, but I do think there is some value in reaffirming values. Personally, it's a little bit of a bummer to have to have these conversations in the way that we're having them.
00:55:21
Speaker
And I'm sure that you guys feel the same way. I think, from my perspective, I certainly trust the individuals. I like all of you. I believe that your hearts are absolutely in the right place. And at the same time, I've heard a lot of people in the healthcare industry that have
00:55:39
Speaker
Sort of like shake been shaking their head at this whole thing like they don't quite get it either like they're they're like Providence does have a reputation for being you know, not necessarily the best partner in the community to you know, they've they've definitely
00:55:56
Speaker
frustrated a lot of people with their billing practices and with their models of care and so my hope is that you guys have and i think you guys are hearing all that and i think you're you're being responsive to it i just would hope that there's like a real chance to
00:56:14
Speaker
come out of this and feel good about the sounders and feel good about the partnership and feel like these things are all aligned and I don't really have a question related to that, I just felt like it was important to sort of share those sentiments. But I really do appreciate, like I have no doubt at all that you guys are, that your hearts are in the right place and that you're genuine in your belief and I do think that there's something to be said that
00:56:41
Speaker
All indications are that the sounders are the same organization they were it just starts to become a question of You know like where are the like? Can we really like I don't know I don't know I don't know where I'm going with that, but
00:56:56
Speaker
It's an interesting conversation to be having. I think it is kind of a neat thing that we can have these conversations about a soccer team at the same time. And it's interesting that a soccer team gets held to these standards that even matters. When the Seahawks partner with a healthcare provider, I don't think people ask if the healthcare provider is aligned with their values. But I also think that's what makes this under special and hopefully that's one thing that comes out of this.
00:57:25
Speaker
Yeah, I echo that. I think that's one of the things that we talk about every minute of every day, is making sure that we authentically represent the community in which we serve. That's number one. Number two is, this is actually probably the perfect mechanism to be able to have these conversations. Because one of the things we heard, which is, how are you going to get your, how are we going to
00:57:51
Speaker
How are we going to contextualize all of these conversations that we had over multiple hours with these groups? And what are the next steps in bottling this and getting this out there? It can't be done through a press release or a tweet or a post or a video. It's done through long-form discussions. So thank you for the opportunity of even being able to be here. And it's going to be done on a day-to-day basis.
00:58:15
Speaker
on a match-to-match basis, on a quarter-to-quarter basis, on a season-to-season basis. And so, my closing thanks, because this isn't gonna provide all the context, but hopefully it's more context for those who want to better understand the process that went into this, the conversations that are happening in real time, and the intent behind
00:58:44
Speaker
how and why this came to be and why we still are extremely excited about what this can do for our community and the Renton community specifically. Because the needs are the needs are real, and the stats are scary. And we we're going to do our part. Well, it seems like a good place to end this. Maya Taylor, thank you for for taking the time. I'm Jeremiah Shan. This is no Saudi at this. And remember, you're never alone.
00:59:16
Speaker
Green Douglas spur where the water's cut through. Down to wild mountains and tangents you flew. Canadian Northwest to the ocean so blue. It's Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll On, Columbia Roll On.
00:59:53
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!