Only one group of supporters will be raising the Supporters’ Shield come #DecisionDay on Sunday. And if it’s not the estimated 100 or so New York Red Bulls supporters expected to make the trip to Toyota Park, then the Shield will stay in its case this weekend.
RBNY and FC Dallas are tied for the best record in MLS going into the final matchday of the regular season, but the Red Bulls have the edge on goal differential. And that edge was enough to fuel the decision to ship the trophy to Chicago for New York's tilt at the Fire (7 pm ET' ESPN3, MLS LIVE).
"The Supporters’ Shield Board, working with the two teams, decided [the Red Bulls] hold court,” said Kevin Zelko, a member of Sounders supporters club Gorilla FC and president of the Supporters’ Shield Board. "We let the group talk it out and came up with this solution.”
The Shield, won by the Seattle Sounders last year, was created by MLS supporters and, as such, the trophy and its management lies with them. Specifically, those responsibilities lie with the Shield Board, consisting of three members from the national Independent Supporters Council (ISC).
What made the logistics even easier to iron out this year was the fact that the 26-pound, $15,000 silver Shield was most recently living with Zelko, who served as its caretaker in Seattle and managed its busy schedule. During the 12 months the Shield was in their possession, Sounders supporters used it to fundraise, to build soccer culture and “to let every Sounders fan touch it.”
It was prominently displayed on Zelko’s coffee table when it wasn’t making the rounds among Sounders supporters groups or climbing atop Mount Rainier, a trek that Zelko, who is a cancer survivor, leveraged to raise $45,000 for the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
"We did one event where we auctioned it off, “Host the Shield for a Weekend" and that raised $1,000 for Seattle Cancer Care,” Zelko added “It made it to a lot of youth soccer events … and once it was used at somebody’s memorial service. A Sounders fan passed away and his group had a memorial party and the Shield was there with them."
It’s a unique trophy, with each winning club’s name engraved on the silverware. The tradition of presenting it on the day a club clinches only started back in 2013 when the New York Red Bulls, then coached by Mike Petke and captained by Thierry Henry, hoisted the trophy at Red Bull Arena. The Sounders won it on the final day of the season last year, also on their home field at CenturyLink.
It worked out smoothly the last two years. That may not be the case on Sunday if the Red Bulls don’t do the business in Chicago. If that’s the case, the Shield stays under lock and key and makes the long, winding trip to Frisco, where FC Dallas supporters groups will determine when it gets unveiled, perhaps during the upcoming playoffs.
So wouldn’t it be convenient to have a duplicate made to ship to multiple venues for exactly these scenarios?
“We discussed having replicas,” said Jeremy Wright of the Timbers Army’s 107 Independent Supporters Trust (107ist). "We liked the idea of one Shield, and investing in quality and making something that lasts and something that moves around."
“The Seattle Sounders asked to make a duplicate just as the previous team [the Red Bulls] had and the [Shield] Board said ‘No,'” Zelko said. “It does make it quite powerful that there is only one Shield."
