In February, we sent out survey to 107IST Members about the relationship between the 107IST and the Front Office.  Relations right now are in a challenging place and a survey is a good way to understand where members are at and influence actions the 107IST takes.  We want to share the results of the survey with you. Thank you for taking the time to share your perspective!

Key takeaways from the survey:

Trust is very low with the Front Office.  

• 85% of respondents don’t trust the Timbers and Thorns Organization (Front Office) to be transparent with supporters
• 83% of respondents don’t trust the Front Office to hold employees accountable for their behavior
• 88% of respondents disapprove of the Front Office halting meetings with the 107IST Board.  

There is caution about NWSL and MLS’s willingness to act if the Front Office violated league policies.

• 17% approve of the NWSL’s handling of the league’s abuse investigations, 33% are neutral (3 on the scale of 1-5).  Only 20% think the league will act if violations are found and 27% are neutral
• 35% of respondents think MLS will act if violations are found and 35% are neutral

The next question asked about the importance of the demands the 107IST made to the Front Office are to you.  Thoughts on what is important can change over time, so this is a good temperature check to see where supporters are at:

• All the demands continue to be important
• Player safety is the most important consideration and the implementation of a player approved safety and accountability plan is top of the list
• Transparency continues to be an area of concern; vetting personnel, disclosure of who is leading investigations, demonstration of player involvement in hiring of coaching staff, and other areas
• Most of you do not believe the 107IST’s demands are met. This highest agreement comes from the Thorns hiring of a separate general manager at 38%

Many of you took the time to provide comments which we appreciate.  

• Very few respondents said the 107IST to stop protesting
• Midway through the survey, response window, it was announced a meeting was on the calendar and some of the respondents shared that they were encouraged by this shift.
• Very strong sentiments about ownership and front office changes
• Responses were mixed on keeping protests at the same level or escalating

The word cloud below represents the responses of the 107 respondents who offered their thoughts in a freeform box.  The more words are used, the larger and closer to the center they will appear.

Survey background:

The survey was open February 16th-23rd and all 107IST members received an email link to the survey.  357 members responded to the survey, approximately 10% of the membership.