Recap: Purposefull Stories: A New Vision for Professional Sports

On last week’s Purposefull Stories Webinar, 17 Sport cofounder Neill Duffy spoke with Oakland Roots’ CMO and Co-founder Edreece Arghandiwal and Chief Purpose Officer Mike Geedes. They spoke about the club’s commitment to a purpose beyond just winning games and making money, what role purpose plays in their day to day operations and how other professional sports teams can make the jump.

Below are key learnings from the webinar and the full recording.

Key Quote

“The misconception is that in order to make money you have to detach yourself from impact and purpose and helping people, and that is fundamentally flawed.” — Edreece Arghandiwal

Returning to Football’s Roots

Manchester United wasn’t always the global, billionaire dollar club that it is today. In fact, most professional clubs around the world started from humble beginnings as community driven teams that galvanized local pride and support. It was this passion that built the intense bonds between club and community. In that way, the Oakland Roots soccer club — with their tagline Oakland first, always — are revitalizing a form of community commitment that was long ago left behind.

Having Purpose doesn’t mean sacrificing quality on the field

“Winning is the only thing that matters.” It’s something that is often repeated in professional sports to justify shrewd transactions, hall of fame cases and less than stellar behavior. But winning can not be the only thing that defines your success or, for most, success will elude you. The Roots are committed to achieve success on the field and off, hand in hand, and refuse to sacrifice one for the other. It’s only in this way that a true legacy can be built.

We invite you to continue the conversation with us on our Sport 2.0: Slack Channel where we are bringing together the sporting community to discuss this topic and others like it.

17 Sport is the world’s first truly integrated sports impact company on a mission to build a positive future for the world through sport. We provide purpose led advisory, commercial and management solutions for brands, sports properties, athletes and non-profits wanting to manage their investments in sport in a more purposeful way. www.17-sport.com