Carolyn Kindle Betz and the Future of MLS in St. Louis
I have to admit, I went full soccer geek when meeting Carolyn Kindle Betz, who leads the majority-women ownership group of the St. Louis team that will begin play as an MLS expansion outfit in 2022. I told her I was from Kansas City and grew up as a fan of the indoor Kansas City Comets who loved hating the rival St. Louis Steamers and guys like Daryl Doran and Slobo Ilijevski.
And I thanked her for providing the financial backing for a St. Louis MLS team that a younger me who’s a Sporting Kansas City fan might be able to hate as well—in a good way, of course.
St. Louis is one of truly great soccer cities in the U.S., rife with a cultural history surrounding the sport. Many of the players on the 1950 U.S. World Cup team that beat England came from St. Louis, including Harry Keough, Frank Borghi and Gino Pariani. And the city isn’t just about history, either; St. Louis club teams continue to produce some of the U.S.’s top players, including Becky Sauerbrunn, Tim Ream and Taylor Twellman.
So when Kindle Betz and her fellow bidders won an MLS bid, the response in the city was loud.
“It was so exciting,” she told SI.com. “I mean, people were just, there's really no word to describe it other than it was: 'Finally we're bringing soccer home. I can't wait. How do I buy season tickets? I get to experience history with my grandkids and my kids.' The region has been super supportive, and I think to use the word ‘exciting’ is an understatement.”
Kindle Betz, who’s part of the billionaire family that owns Enterprise Holdings, got involved with the St. Louis MLS bid—which includes Jim Kavanaugh, part of the earlier attempt—as part of the family’s civic efforts to frame St. Louis as a genuine international city.
“I think in a very positive way, there were a lot of lessons learned [from the unsuccessful bid],” she said. “And so I think when we were wrapping up some other bigger projects that my family had been working on, it was, ‘O.K., there was a lot of excitement around this, so maybe we should go figure out why.’ Not being a soccer family, by the way. And it was interesting whether it was sort of anecdotal, just social media, different ways. St. Louis fans really wanted a professional soccer team.
“And so we started the research and the journeys and the phone calls. And what we found out was, MLS is a great league that's just on the cusp of becoming something huge. And so what a great opportunity for us to get involved, you know, right now and be able to experience that growth with them.”
Kindle Betz says the most common question she gets from fans is: What is the team’s name going to be? She doesn’t have an answer just yet, though she did say that “Steamers”—with all due respect to Slobo and Doran—wouldn’t be the choice.
“We opened it up on our website and we got over 6,000 names,” she said. “It took a little while to sort through. There were some common themes in there. So really right now it's just working with MLS, I'm trying to make sure we hone in on the specifics of what names would be truly iconic and unique to St. Louis. Then from there the colors, the crest. So we're hoping to be able to unveil all of that in the next couple of months.”
Make no mistake, it is no small achievement that MLS St. Louis will be the league’s first team to be owned mainly by women. Kindle Betz is clearly proud of that, and she thinks it could be an example for other pro sports teams as well.
“First of all, I feel very fortunate that my family can do this and is in that position to be able to explore a professional soccer team,” she said. “But second, I mean, my family is eight women, when it's all said and done. Even the women are having women. So I think it's just been a great opportunity for us to really take the successes we've had—and that's defined in a multitude of different ways—and really be able to showcase the leadership opportunities that are out there.
“You know, you have three of us that work for the business,” she continued. “You have some that have started their own small successful businesses. You have some that are incredible community leaders. So it's really just being able to find out what you're passionate about and continue that drive, continue forward, and at the end of all the hard work there's a huge reward.”
When ask if they were considering owning an NWSL team as well, this is what she said: “You know, I think at this point I've got to get some holes dug and some steel going in the ground. I think right now in order to really make sure we have a very successful 2022 season, that has to be the main focus. But certainly we're up for suggestions and any ideas.”
That stadium, which will open in the Downtown West section of St. Louis, is set to be ready for the team’s opening MLS game in March 2022.
“The land, it was on and off access ramps from a highway,” she said, “so being able to close those down and actually start digging up those ramps was a big deal for our team. But I think it was also a big deal for the city too, because it's: 'Hey, St. Louis, we're really doing this.' So we look forward to a more intense, more robust groundbreaking. But for right now things are going as planned.”
Kindle Betz said she has already been part of two MLS owners meetings, and her first response was that she felt welcomed by the group of mostly billionaires, who are competitive but also in business together as a single-entity league.
Jeff Curry/USA Today Sports
Where will MLS St. Louis be on the spectrum of MLS owners and their desire to spend heavily (see: Atlanta, LAFC, L.A. Galaxy, Toronto) or conservatively (Dallas, New England, Colorado)? Kindle Betz said that decision hasn’t been made yet.
“I think we need to bring in a team that has a lot more background and knowledge,” she said. “So a sporting director, technical people. And the reason why I say that is because when you're not familiar with the sport and what the fans want, it's pretty hard to make a decision you feel good about. So I think once we start having that sporting side develop, and then we sit down with the ownership group and really talk about, you know, what is the philosophy of this team? I think that answer will just sort of organically come to us.
“But I think it's too early in this process to say 'we're going to be this team' or 'we're going to be that team.' The only thing I can confidently say is we have to do what's best for the St. Louis fans. And they will dictate a lot of how the philosophy of the team rolls out.”
