At the urging of Rachel Abrams, I revisited the large complex stakeholder diagram I had created over Thanksgiving break. She suggested that I once again look it over, and see if anyone could be removed, and what that might do to the system. Previously, I had focused on stadiums and media as the gatekeepers, but then I wondered, isn’t it really the Owners of the teams, previously only a tiny blip on the diagram, who are controlling all of this?

I started by drawing the current system - A fan roots for their team, who is dictated by owner, through trading and signing, and how much $ they owner is willing to spend.

Often, fans find their teams mismanaged by the owners, who place the $ in front of winning. To supplement this, and give themselves a feeling of control over winning and losing, fans turn to fantasy football, where they are able to make similar decisions that directly impact the outcome of the game. But, this leaves us without the fundamentals of fandom, including the emotion of cheering for a team, and a tribe to cheer with.

So, as I left for Christmas break, I asked myself a simple question - what would the system look like if owner’s were removed from the stakeholder ecology and fans were given the ability to run their own teams? 

Its a question thats certainly worth consideration over break.