DC United Owner Will Chang Continues To Relish Fan Interaction
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Chang Says He Interacts With Fans
Because Its Fun, OK In Soccer Culture |
MLS DC United Owner Will Chang has "continued to join the fans in the stands and in the parking lots, home and away, and has frequently said he will continue to do so now that he's the team's majority investor," according to Dan Steinberg of the WASHINGTON POST. Chang: "Many of the owners of MLS teams really don't do what I do, but I do it not because I have to do it or (because) I think it's my job to kind of integrate with the fans. I do it because it's fun. ... Jumping up and down in the stands is fun. And in the soccer culture, it's OK. It's OK for me to be out there jumping up and down with the fans. It probably wouldn't be in a baseball setting." More Chang: "The fans, when they first came in touch with me, they said, 'Oh, Will's a little crazy.' And that's fine. ... I've always integrated with the fans from day one, right? You've seen me out. The fans feel very comfortable. If I didn't do this, and all of the sudden I bought [former DC United co-Exec Chair Victor MacFarlane's] interest and I became the major shareholder of DC United and then I started going out, it would be awkward." Chang: "It's the same guy. It's the same guy who's gonna share a beer with you out there, it's the same guy who's gonna have a barbecue and the same guy who's gonna beat the drums out there. Nothing's changed. It's just I've got twice the headache." Chang said McFarlane sold him his share in the club last month because McFarlane "decided he had to focus in on his own business." Chang said MacFarlane "might not have a financial stake or a financial ownership of the team, but he certainly ... still has this emotional ownership of the team" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 6/2).
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