U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) youve been put on notice! While the U.S. Womens National Team continues to fight for wage equality under your watch, youth soccer clubs attempt to recoup unpaid training compensation and solidarity fees. Inexplicably, you aggrandize a closed system, pitting leagues and cities against each other , crushing innovation, opportunity, development, and potential growth (see Principle of Promotion and Relegation , pg 66).

With all that I dont agree with concerning the American game, I wanted to understand what was happening among the innovators and the early adopters at the grassroots level. So off I went, zig-zagging across the country. I drained my savings account over the course of three months this summer while traveling to 13 cities, all for a soccer podcast I co-host; Flakoglost Futbol Pod .

During my travels I found that, when soccer is nurtured at the grass-roots or community level, it has the power to invigorate a spirit within us that is innately human selfless acts to the community yield substantial contributions. True, we sometimes hear about a frat boy mentality with soccer fans inside our borders. And rest assured, I saw doses of it. But with every location I visited, the majority of soccer supporters I met shared something in common: to be more than a spectator; to do more than just show up with an expectation to be entertained. By and large, the soccer supporters I met were conscientious men and women who appeared committed to their communities, and conversely proud to be representatives of their zip code, reiterating the point that soccer is more than just a game, its a conduit for social justice, equality, and self-expression.

Detroit (Detroit City Football Club)

The term supporter-built is common among the Detroit City faithful. Nearly 500 Detroit City soccer supporters raised $725,500 to renovate Keyworth Stadium. Nestled in the diverse Detroit community of Hamtramck, Keyworth Stadium was completed in 1936 during the FDR Presidency and the New Deal era. Fast forward to 2016, utilizing the MILE legislation (Michigan Invests Locally Exemption) Michiganders were able to renovate the public use facility thereby connecting local residents and the public school district with Detroit City FC. In August 2016, Detroit City FC began distributing some of the revenue sharing back to the supporter investors of the first community investment campaign in American sports history.