Sporting KC
What I miss about Sporting Kansas City: A commentary
Paradoxically, a lack of inspiration must be the fans and Sporting Kansas City’s inspiration.
As I sit here weeks after Sporting Kansas City’s 2024 season has completed – in my Sporting Kansas City sweatpants and an 816 t-shirt – I am saddened, still. And I have become something I don’t want to be: cynical. Yes, I have been a critical fan and pundit. But I have never been this jaded.
I love my side. I love being at Children’s Mercy Park (or Arrowhead) to see my team play.
I am an original ‘96er. A season ticket member since 2011 (though I missed few matches up until then). And I have been writing – and then podding – about Sporting Kansas City since 2004. I have gotten to know numerous Sporting players, staff, and fans in that time.
The truth is… the big picture (the macro stats) paint a dire picture for a once top-tier organization: missing the playoffs three of the last six seasons; a .367 winning percentage (70-81-40) over the last six seasons; 49 losses in last three seasons – the 3rd most in MLS; a 10-match winless streak in each of the last two seasons; ranking 25th, 13th, and 18th in MLS in “goals for” the last three seasons; ranking 7th, 10th, and 4th most in MLS in “goals against”; and finishing 22nd, 15th, and 27th in the overall MLS standings the last three seasons.
The patterns of play. The atmosphere. The off-field decisions. Are stale and partly misguided.
How sad – How justified – it is that I am jaded.
Neil Young once sang, “It’s better to burn out than it is to rust.” (from “My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)”, attributed to Jeff Blackburn). Has Sporting Kansas City burned out or rusted? To me, it’s all hydrated oxide.
But I am still here. And will be.
But I miss so much.
I miss…
The consistent wonder of efficient and productive team movement.
Anticipating what that special player is going to do next.
Players consistently winning micro moments.
When things like this were said about Sporting KC: “It’s the quality being shown from Inter Miami. The game is higher; it’s more congested. You have to have the technique; you have to have the ability to play the game two or three steps ahead.” Apple TV commentator Taylor Twellman, April 13, 2024.
Being confident that not only is a positive result possible, but likely.
That inner stirring of possibility.
“You pay for this, but they give you that.” Neil Young
I miss…
An environment that distracts opponents, brings them to their knees, as the electricity drives us to our toes.
Sharing thrills with those who get it.
Proudly showing the “Not soccer” people what they are missing.
A club anthem further uniting fans and players, one that distinguishes Kansas City from the pack.
A sustained ebullition of joy at matches.
Butts in seats. Sellouts. Actual sellouts.
Big playoff themed tifos.
When fans (the fair-weather AND the dedicated) were not alienated in the short term, certainly not over the long term.
My departed left and right-side Season Ticket Member neighbors.
“There’s more to the picture than meets the eye.”
I miss…
Sporting Kansas City being relevant on the Kansas City sports scene, relevant in their own league.
When barely making the playoffs or succeeding in a diluted US Open Cup weren’t the standards by which success – or an excuse for success – was judged.
An eager, at least semi-transparent, president who took fans along on the journey.
When my club could use boldness – almost brashness – instead of having to use excuses.
A Sporting Kansas City brass that hadn’t lost their way.
“And once you’re gone you can’t come back
When you’re out of the blue and into the black.”
Mostly, I Miss… being inspired by my club.
This club’s heart and soul have been rendered blushingly close to unrecognizable by even its more ardent supporters.
Paradoxically, then, a lack of inspiration must be our and the club’s inspiration.
“It’s better to burn out ‘cuz rust never sleeps.”
The recent roster moves and the words of Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes and, more so, the words of Sporting Director Mike Burns hold promise. They must deliver or they will be our “Johnny Rottens”.
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Robert, you’ve captured so well what I’ve felt over the past two seasons.
There’s an air of resignation and apathy surrounding this franchise which should scare the hell out of ownership. Angry fans are passionate fans; the passion has long since departed CMP. It’s become a stale, scripted environment. If the swaths of empty seats aren’t a strident call to bold action, I don’t know what else will be.
Your comment about the former president taking fans along for the ride is spot on. Today’s management is aloof and appears indifferent to the fans and the product. Is it any wonder that their attitude is reflected in the fan base?
I’m glad you can see a glimmer of hope in the comments and actions of the FO. To me, this is the same crowd that has guided the team’s descent into irrelevance. They’ve long ago spent the capital accumulated through the successes of 10 years past. Is this FO capable of succeeding in MLS 3.0?
(It’s going to be far more challenging now than it was 10-15 years ago. Then, the league was glad to embrace success wherever it occurred. Now, it certainly seems as if the preference is for success in favoured markets, with the deck stacked to help ensure that — but that’s a different topic.)
“And once you’re gone you can’t come back.” Precisely. The passion and electricity may someday return to CMP, but it’s going to be different from those times you, and I, miss.
Nice article Robert. I agree with J.Wm.’s reaction. I had no joy going to the games this year and the KC Current became my new soccer passion. Great atmosphere, great soccer, amazing players, and an ownership group that is pushing the league to get better. I have no confidence that Sporting’s ownership, management or coaches will turn things around.
I’ve been gone from Kansas City for almost 5 years now (kind of hard to believe) and it makes me sad to hear how different the stadium feels now. I remember when it first opened and just how electric it feels. It certainly does feel like the ownership thought they could ride that wave forever, but the moves (or lack thereof) over these past few years have killed that momentum. I just really hope the damage isn’t irreversible.
I can’t really add anything regarding Sporting, but thinking about it I feel like this parallels a slow drift in the league’s appeal to me, too. Over roughly the same period the league neutered their website as a source of information and fan engagement (shutting down comments, removing written recaps, removing independent writers, dumbing down content to fanboy levels, now even requiring an account to read playoff coverage) while no other national-scale media really stepped up. It’s harder to follow the league now than it was ~7 years ago and I end up on places like Reddit instead.
Then the whole Messi circus came, for which I was initially excited but quickly grew disillusioned and cynical as I saw just how far the league, media, and even owners would go in favoring Miami at the expense of anything else. You all enjoying that big pulse of Messi money that got re-invested in the roster, or the wave of new fans filling CMP, after filling ownership’s pockets at Arrowhead?
Add to that playoff expansion (dilution), the USOC/Leagues Cup mess, and a variety of other things, and I’m realizing that my reaction to the league is now more often indifference rather than engagement. And that’s despite having the universal Apple package which I loved when it came out. It’s easier than ever for me to watch the league, but almost literally everything else the league (and Sporting) are doing are driving me away from wanting to do so.
Looks like you were right about Messi/Arrowhead. I was in the cautiously optimistic camp – and I suppose they could still step up with an amazing DP signing soon – but the perceived fluffing the rules for Inter Messi and then seeing them crash out to a 9 seed in the ridiculous playoff system is pretty peak MLS.
I honestly feel that one of the reasons for the growth of interest in NWSL (and WNBA) is partly a backlash toward all the greed. The women’s leagues still seem a little purer. Of course, it won’t be long before the VC money invades there too. Saudis already trying to sportswash in the Women’s World Cup.
As an LAFC diehard, I see you. The league salary cap rules make it really hard to build and keep teams going,just ask Jim Curtin. This is a cyclical league and SKC will be back.
It’s possible for cycles to be ones of mediocrity though – just as Chicago fans (common theme is Brian Bliss spectacularly ruining two OG franchises).
I think the apathy you are seeing in the comments here is a lack of trust in Ownership to invest when the timing is right – proven by earlier comments from Vermes and the lack of signings. Also, the coaching staff has been the exact same for 12 years; I’m not sure that’s been true at a single professional sports franchise anywhere in the world in that same time frame. The stadium experience is stale, the team is stale.
Basically we SKC fans are waiting for the club to Show Me the above mentioned topics will be different, instead of knowing that those things would happen.
Hey Rob, I too miss my STM neighbors to my left. We spent many seasons and hours watching great soccer, talking soccer, talking music, high fives for great goals, l loved being at the matches, I loved sitting next to my good friend. I became cynical a few years before you, you were a silver lining dude. I saw the KC Spurs play at Municipal Stadium in 1969. I was all in on the game of soccer.
I love the tactics, passing on angles, players ball skills, the fitness required to haul it up and down the field, great defense, the assist is more important than the finishing. Inspired fans – inspire players. SKC is indeed stale, the style of play, the age of players. How many times did I make the comment “Speed Always Wins”. The season was lather, rinse, repeat for too many years. SKC Management and coaches no longer put a competitive team on the field, at many positions we were always an injury away from regressing even more, each match fans were waiting for the wheels to fall off. It was a necessary player purge at seasons end. We need a defense with speed in front of our GK, we need a couple of finishers, the returning forwards are not those. I too am hopeful for the turn around, an infusion of youth, Top 3 in the division should be the objective, this will take a minimum of three years. I’ll make some matches in 2025, I’ll try to bring a silver lining attitude.