Timbers GM Gavin Wilkinson said the group will help MLS make bigger stridesTimbers
MLS' chief soccer officer committee -- composed of the top sporting exec from every MLS team -- has "improved communication, changed perspectives and led to a healthier environment between individual members and between teams and the league office," according to Sam Stejskal of THE ATHLETIC. The committee was formed 18 months ago, and MLS every few months "hosts every CSO for multi-day meetings" in N.Y. In addition to their quarterly meetings, the CSO committee also has a "dedicated Slack channel, an email chain and regular phone calls with the group." The increased communication has "helped them iron out ideas and keep important topics at the forefront." Instead of having a "slew of subjects fall by the wayside as happened in their prior, less frequent meetings with the league, CSOs now decide which issues are most important to them as a group, then take those issues to MLS for broader discussion." In previous CSO committee meetings at MLS HQ, GMs and league execs have "discussed topics as wide-ranging as homegrown territories, the value and future of academies, regular-season and playoff scheduling and designated player limits." They "don't get to make final decisions on almost any of those topics -- most of those fall to owners and their own, separate committees -- but they have more of an outlet to make their feelings known than they had in the past" (THEATHLETIC.com, 6/14).
