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The Wisdom of Football Crowds
December 6th, 2007
Every since James Surowiecki articulated the principle in his book The Wisdom of Crowds companies have been trying to tap into the collective knowledge of their organizations to improve business functions or spur innovation. However, with a few exceptions, most have failed to engage their employees or customers in any meaningful way - or at least in any way tied directly to the bottom line.
Will Brooks, however, is betting his company on it.
Specifically, he’s betting that thousands of passionate engaged (and yes, sometimes crazed) fans can run a sports team better than a handful of expert coaches and professional managers.
The company is My Football Club and it’s a U.K.-based football (soccer) club started by Brooks, a former sports writer for the BBC. Late last spring he proposed the idea of a fan-owned, fan-run football club, in which the each of the owners would have an equal say in the day-to-day management of the team. The twist is that the club has over 53,000 owners.
Yes, that’s more than fifty three thousand individual owners (the actual figure is likely higher), each of whom paid £35 (about $70) for an annual membership, giving them one share and one vote, and an equal say in team selection, player transfers and the running of the club.
So far the experiment in mass-management is working. Twenty percent of members login to the website every day, posting thousands of messages and debating issues such which players to recruit to how to increase attendance at games. Using forums on the club’s website the members recently voted to purchase a controlling stake in Ebbsfleet United Football Club. And though the deal isn’t finalized yet, some members independently raised £1300 to buy Ebbsfleet new goals and equipment as a good-will gesture to the team.
Time will tell whether the wisdom of fans will translate into a winning team, but this is good one to watch.
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January 25th, 2008 at 8:30 am
[…] trendwatching: crowdsourcing the arts, and luxury beds Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download In this trendwatching podcast, Nora Young looks at two projects: Sellaband, where many people buy shares in a band in order to fund recording sessions (via Springwise), and MyFootballClub, where thousands of people manage a soccer team in the UK. (via Fringehog) […]
June 8th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Italy to win European football championship.. They won the world cup with practically the same team. si predict Italy to win again
July 6th, 2008 at 3:14 am
@Euro Football Betting
spain win
January 19th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
thanx for the sharing, Interesting article.. keep it up that way mate
cheers mate
January 29th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Great information - i like football much i got my own blogs about football do visit me at premiership2008.co.uk
February 8th, 2009 at 4:23 am
I have to admit mass managment sounds absolutley crazy when you consider some of the crap people shout at the game from the terraces. On reflection it’s probably not a bad idea to get the fans veiws. But to have them run the team !!.
Should be interesting..
February 12th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Очень хорошо написали, все в тему и ничего лишнего, ваши сообщения всегда интересно читать
February 20th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Haven’t you already posted this? I’m sure I’ve seen it before.
March 2nd, 2009 at 1:57 pm
appreciate the info guys, thanks
April 11th, 2009 at 3:10 am
most wanted
May 20th, 2009 at 4:59 am
Зачем вводить такое мнение, что всё исключительно так? Я считаю, как можно раскрыть данную тему.
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Thoughtful post and well written. Please write more on this if you have time.