A compact Scottish soccer team strives for 'Wrexham'-scale aspirations.
Every night, Ewing gets emails informing him about a new investor from a distant place - maybe Los Angeles or Australia - who has just supported his small Scottish soccer club, the Caledonian Braves.
He's amazed, sharing these moments with CNN Sport. "It's like, 'Wow, I can't believe it,'" Ewing, the club's creator, exclaims.
The Caledonian Braves reside in Motherwell, a town near Glasgow, and compete in the Scottish fifth division with a team mostly filled with amateur athletes. They play in a stadium with a capacity for 500 spectators. Despite their humble surroundings, the club's mission of creating a fan-owned team rooted in diversity and community has attracted investments exceeding $300,000 from over 1,000 owners worldwide, well surpassing its yearly expenses of about $58,000, according to Ewing.
The list of investors includes an NBA player, an NBA coach, and a players’ union executive as well as soccer players from the US' National Women Super League (NWSL). Investors from 49 states have put their money into this endeavor, leaving only Wyoming on the list.
Ewing challenges the idea that a community club must be connected through geography. "A community can be a shared ideology and shared values, and it can be global. The internet, social media, and our app that promotes fan engagement make it possible," Ewing believes.
'Shared values'
Having been to Scotland and walked through its historical lands, Mujtaba Elgoodah, one of the club's main investors, describes his adventure as "incredible."
An NBA manager for the 2022 champions Golden State Warriors and now a part of the National Basketball Players' Association's executive team, Elgoodah didn't grow up with soccer, but was hooked when he visited the Caledonian Braves in freezing Scotland in February.
"It was so incredible - the intensity, even picking up some of the local slang," Elgoodah recounts.
He took notice of the Braves' organization on social media and broke ground with his business partner, Nassir Criss, an experienced entrepreneur and venture capitalist, to find investers who shared their admiration for soccer and community spirit.
Elizabeth Ball, Kristen Hamilton, and Hailie Mace, world-class soccer players from the Kansas City Current, joined their efforts, contributing their knowledge. Isaiah Covington, a Boston Celtics performance coach, got involved too, having spotted the Braves on social media.
"I didn't grow up with soccer," Covington recalls, "But my nieces and nephews play it now. It's the fastest-growing sport in the US, and the most popular choice for people under 30."
Though still less popular than American football or basketball, soccer is thriving in the United States. It has increased by nearly 300% in the last 40 years as a high school sport alone.
"You see celebrities owning football clubs... it's becoming the new trend," Hamilton says. "That's really powerful for people who can't afford an NFL team but can own a small football team."
The Braves' vision of creating a popular football club with help from passionate fans symbolizes the American entrepreneurial spirit, Criss contends.
"What are we going to do with this new concept of a small soccer club and turn it into a global franchise with passion, resources, and community?" Criss wonders.
Changing perspectives
With money flooding into soccer, the relationship between fans and owners often feels antagonistic. Owners are seen as commodifying clubs or using them for sportswashing. Fan ownership presents itself as the ideal solution.
Even though a relatively uncommon model in England, particularly in the English Premier League and Championship, the Braves are not the first to pursue this aim. They were founded as a company limited by shares, with fans being able to invest in them. They plan to file their first corporate records in October. Ewing has tried this approach before, founding it in 2019 and then disbanding it before it ever operated.
Fan ownership is gaining momentum in Scotland, with fans becoming major owners at clubs like St Mirren, Motherwell, and Heart of Midlothian in recent years. While multiple top-tier clubs, like other popular teams Rangers and Celtic, have fans among their minority owners.
In the world of German soccer, the idea of fan majority ownership is deeply ingrained, allowing fans to have a say in how their clubs are managed. This is a model Ewing hopes to replicate in the future. However, managing various opinions and expectations can be tricky.
Fan ownership isn't a walk in the park. It's about coordinating numerous voices into one coherent direction. Ewing confesses that managing these expectations has been a tough task; people often believe they can make quick decisions like "let's do this, that, and the other thing."
"Despite the best intentions, it may not be as simple as that," he says. "The main thing for me is that people enjoy the ups and downs of being a part of this."
The Braves utilize an app and a Discord channel to build this community and give fan owners a say in the club's future. Fans were even involved in choosing the team's name, logo, and stadium name - Alliance Park.
The popularity of such a model is growing, with potential investors getting excited about the opportunity. When the Braves are mentioned online, many people express interest and ask how they can get involved.
Ewing's journey began with Edusport Academy, established in 2011 to help young soccer players from France develop their skills and learn English. The academy's first team gradually participated in Scottish soccer leagues, ultimately breaking off to form the Caledonian Braves in 2019.
As the Braves continue to evolve, their goal is to move up in the leagues while ensuring long-term sustainability for the organization.
"We're changing the narrative that you have to be someone like Tom Brady, Matthew McConaughey, or Ryan Reynolds to own a football club," says Ewing. "Instead, you can be anyone, no matter where you're from, and for as little as $100."
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Source: edition.cnn.com
