Episode 214: Uncovering the story behind "The Trust"

We're trying something a bit different this week. You've probably heard us talking about this story for awhile now, but we're finally ready to release Richard Farley's reported story on the Sounders Community Trust and how we got to the point that a refund was issued to Founders Club members.

There's a lot to unpack, but the TL;DR version is that 17 months ago the Sounders launched a USL team that would be 20 percent owned by fans. The ownership stake was a gift, but fans bought into the "Founders Club" by plunking down $250 that would go toward a "capital improvement project." Plans changed, though, and with no resolution in sight, the team refunded all that money.

Richard actually started reporting on this before the refund was issued, but talks to most of the key parties in this whole thing from Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer to S2 GM Andrew Opatkiewicz to SCT president Paul Cox. It's a fascinating tale and while we don't get all the answers we possibly wanted, we at least hope you come away with a better understanding for the whole situation.