Flower City Union Announces Fan Ownership (And More on Fan Ownership)

The real leaders of the beautiful game are the fans. The fans help to make a club, and they're the very soul of all of it. And that's exactly why fan ownership is a brilliant option in soccer, giving the power to the people who make your club. All over the world, we've seen different versions of this introduced, and recently, a couple clubs in the NISA Pyramid have started fan ownership options! Just yesterday, Flower City Union started a WeFunder to give anyone a chance to own a piece of their club, to help have a say in the club!

Flower City Union is the latest club to have a future in the NISA Pyramid. They were founded last year in 2020, after the Rochester Rhinos went on a hiatus. NISA approved the club's application in December, and a little while later, the name "Flower City Union" was born. A couple months later, the club revealed their logo, and they continued to build when they announced that they would incorporate the Rochester Lancers and Rochester Lancers Women into their organization. So, as the next step in the club, they announced yesterday they are giving out fan ownership options for those who want to have a say in their club! The club has designated multiple levels of options, from $150-$5,000 or more.

To add to the topic of fan ownership, like we said in the intro, there has been many clubs to announce fan ownership. Most notably, FC Barcelona, are completely 100% owned by their fans, with over 100,000 people owning a part of the club. In Germany, the federation has a "50+1" rule, to give fans the complete and total ownership of a club. The most an owner can buy in a club is a 49% stake, as fans have to have 51%. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are great examples of this, as both clubs use this rule at the heart of their operations. Right in NISA, there has been a couple clubs to announce fan ownership! Most notably, Detroit City FC and Chattanooga FC have introduced this option. Both clubs have owners in multiple countries!

Hopefully more as Independent Soccer progresses in the United States, we can see more instances of this being implemented in clubs. Fan ownership brings a unique option to club operations, and really gives fans what they deserve. Stay tuned for more news on ISB, and maybe some more news on the fan ownership!