I Am A Pretty Big Deal

Here's a question for you to ponder (for a few seconds - I'm gonna answer it in the next paragraph): what do I have in common with Stan Kroenke, Bob Kraft, Malcolm Glazer, and Rocco Commisso?

The answer? Like those titans of American industry, as of today, I too own a stake in a European soccer club. I'm the proud holder of 100 shares in FC Pingzau Saalfelden (FCPS), known in its Austrian homeland as Pingzau. FCPS is in the third division of Austrian professional soccer, one of six teams in Regionalliga Salzburg competing for promotion to Austria's second division, 2. Liga.

Community ownership of sports clubs isn't a new phenomenon. Across the world, from teams as large and renowned as FC Barcelona and Real Madrid to local outfits like Congleton Town FC in Cheshire, England, supporters own stakes ranging from token to 100%. Here in the U.S., the Green Bay Packers have famously been owned by a community trust since 1923.

What makes Pingzau different is the ambition of the club's U.S.-based leadership team. CEO Mark Ciociola grew up in Wisconsin a fan of the Packers, so he knew about the community ownership model. Later, he became a season ticket holder of Real Salt Lake, immersing himself in soccer's supporter culture. When he looked around for an opportunity to invest in the game in the U.S. using a community-owned model, the price tag and MLS ownership rules proved a high barrier to entry.

So he went abroad.

Austria's first division, known as the Bundesliga, is the 11th-ranked league in Europe, and as such offers league members two entries into the Champions League and three into the Europa league. Compared to other similarly-situated countries like Turkey and Holland, the path from lower divisions into the Austrian Bundesliga is relatively easy. Not a cinch, by any means, but not a daunting gauntlet. So Ciociola and his partners, including Real Salt Lake's former head of marketing Trey Fitzgerald, chose the little alpine nation as their home.

My stadium is pretty damn picturesque

As Ciociola says, “We get to play in the same league as those teams spending hundreds of millions of Euros, and we can do it for much cheaper."

They also get to do it with a big name at the helm of the club. German international Christian Ziege became the club's head coach in Spring 2019. Ziege, who played for Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Liverpool, and Tottenham, in addition to earning 72 caps with Der Mannschaft, happened to be living in Saalfelden when the new owners took over the club, and his addition to the team is both a symbol of the ownership group's seriousness, and a media draw. As Fitzgerald says on the FCPS website, “Our single biggest recruiting tool, by far, is the sterling reputation of Christian Ziege. He is that DNA, that connective tissue.”

From the beginning, the Pingzau ownership's plan was to sell shares of the team to fans across the world. In particular, Ciociola and his partners hope to capitalize on the rapid growth of deeply invested soccer fans in the U.S. Pingzau's initial public offering is scheduled for April 24, but it's possible to get in now via the crowdfunded investment site Wefunder. The club is valued at $26.3m, so I'm holding a cool 0.000038% share. I also get two tickets in the owner's box in Saalfelden for a game of my choice each year, and a bitchin' pullover.

I'll get you tickets when we make the Champions League final (oh, yeah - it's "we", baby). And I'll try not to let my mogul status give me a big head.