While soccer is an incredibly popular sport, there are plenty of corners of the game that are operating on shoestring budgets. Even regular funding is hard to find, so when money is really needed solutions seem impossible. It’s reasonable to complain that the situation is unfair, but challenging circumstances demand revolutionary thinking. Crowdfunding has emerged as a last chance solution to funding issues in the soccer community. It’s funding projects that have been ignored by the more established sources, revolutionizing the sporting landscape.

What Do You Do?

Last week, MPLS City announced on social media that it’s trailer, full of items used for their match day setup had been stolen. For a club this size, it was a massive hit. Dan Hoedeman described it as a “gut punch,” but so much more than just stuff to be replaced. “It went past just the dollar value of the things, though that obviously is really impactful, it was an emotional loss. We acquired that stuff over the years of growing this club brick-by-brick. It may be silly, but that stuff had meaning. Our first branded banner, the first merch racks we could afford, our original branded tent. Those were important to our game day but also were important milestones in our growth.”

Hoedeman described it as a “what do you do? moment.” So the club created a crowdfunding drive on gofundme.com and shared it on social channels. And within 24 hours, the club had surpassed its goal of $15,000. Dan was blown away by the response: “when times are tough you turn to people who care and there are a lot of people who care about the club—and we met most of them online…it showed just how special the soccer community is that people far and wide donated, spread the word, and shared their love.”

Getting Down Under

The rise of the Shea Butter FC and Diaspora United podcasts is no secret in soccer community. By bringing Black perspectives to the women’s game, the pair of podcasts have grown dramatically. Listeners have grown to love the unafraid and outspoken voices of the two shows. So much so, in fact, that when the hosts mentioned that a lack of funding would keep them from attending the Women’s World Cup, one of their fans decided to take matters into their own hands.

Shea Butter FC recording a podcast with Protagonist Soccer earlier this year.

“The GalPalSports account (Lesley and Emily) wrote a thread on twitter describing their plan ‘to create a media hub to share World Cup stories, podcasts, and video content.’ They said that they shopped the idea around to several media outlets who were excited about the idea but did not want to provide funds and wanted to retain creative control. They also realized how few people were going to the World Cup to cover it. While reading the thread, I saw that some of the journalists from Diaspora United and SBFC mentioned that they would still like to attend but funding was an issue. So, I figured why not try to help. The worst that could happen if the fundraiser failed is what was already going to happen if we didn't try at all.”

The fundraiser did not fail.

In fact, it crushed its goal. Morgan, who created the fundraiser, described the result. “I posted it a little after 9pm EST on a weeknight and it hit $10k by midnight and $25k by the morning. It was so heartening to watch the woso community pull together like that to support some common goals (growing the game and supporting players and journalists).” Sylvia, one of the hosts of SheaButterFC, responded via social media to the success: “Every single dollar, every single kind word. Y'all have me sobbing in my room. I had to call my mom and dad to let the joy out. When I collect myself, I will try to thank each and every one of you.”

Lesley Rider, one of the founders of Gal Pal Sports, spoke with me about her reaction to the fundraising success for the two podcasts. “I was so excited to see SheaButterFC and Diaspora United start their fundraiser, because no one can cover the Group of Death like they can. The support they gathered showed that people *want* coverage, and are willing to pay to make it happen.” But could the success of that crowdfunding effort be replicated for GPS?

“I was a little hesitant to start a fundraiser for us to go, because there was definitely a part of me who was not sure people would actually contribute to send us, so I was pleasantly surprised! But it’s been an incredibly validating experience, and it’s made me believe that people actually want to hear from us for this World Cup.” The GPS fundraiser has brought in over $13,000 in funds to send them to Australia.

A Necessary Solution

Crowdfunding is the workaround that empowers the creators and clubs in undeserved portions of the soccer community. Should individuals have to come together to solve problems with their own money? Probably not. In a perfect world, there would be more investment and funding to make crowdfunding unnecessary. However, we live in an imperfect world, and crowdfunding is a necessary solution to fill the gaps.

Morgan’s fundraiser to send their favorite podcasters to the World Cup came about because there just isn’t enough investment in women’s sports. “Being a fan of women's soccer (and women's sports generally) can be so frustrating. The lack of investment touches every aspect of the game…The same can be said for media investment - how do we grow the game when large media outlets won't dedicate sufficient resources to covering the biggest women's international soccer tournament that only happens once every 4 years? Additionally, soccer and media coverage of soccer in the US suffers from a lack of diversity. As Black journalists, SBFC and DU provide an important and necessary point of view. They're also talented, invested, and fun as hell and the players deserve journalists like them covering the game.”

That point of view is going to be on display in the content funded by the fans. Sylvs, one of the members of Shea Butter FC has big plans and multiple goals. “Our goal is to highlight Black players and fans. We also just want to tell the story of this World Cup. The journey of the different teams, the celebration of debutants like Haiti, the possibility of Brazil winning it all for Marta, and other, lesser known stories from players throughout the tournament. We also want to explore some of Black Australia, as it doesn't seem to be something people are talking about much. We also want to share our own experiences as fans and media, especially with a few of us going to our first World Cup. Mostly, we want to enjoy amazing football and share that out with people in the form of content.”

GPS’ Rider sees the crowdfunding as a win, but one she hopes isn’t necessary in the future. “Crowdfunding made this possible, so I’m in favor, but I’m looking forward to the day that no team has to ask for contributions to get where they need to go. It’s time for sponsors to get wise to women’s sports.”

But it is still necessary. Currently the Jamaica Women’s team is using crowdfunding to try and gather the funds to play in the World Cup. So far, the team has raised $74,000. Is it right that a team should have to raise funds to attend a competition it earned the right to play in? No. But crowdfunding will no doubt play a role in filling gaps for a deserving group of athletes.

- Dan Vaughn