Ask Adrian Hanauer about all of the success his Major League Soccer team has had both on and off the field in its inaugural season, and he answers the question with his own questions.
"How do we work hard enough to maintain it and build off of it? And how do we avoid becoming complacent? How do we keep the appropriate level of paranoia within the organization?" Hanauer asked. "Those are the things that hit me, but also a high level of gratification and satisfaction with how the team has been embraced by the community."
Spoken like a person with a major stake in a sports franchise, in this case Seattle Sounders FC. And Hanauer has a lot invested, both as minority owner and as the club's general manager.
Sounders FC has been wildly popular with fans in its first season, setting MLS attendance records, selling merchandise like no other team in the league and establishing Seattle as a major soccer city.
On the field, of course, the club has also been a winner. Sounders FC captured the U.S. Open Cup earlier this season and plays at Houston in the second leg of a first-round playoff series Sunday against the Dynamo.
Not that the players are happy just to reach the postseason. They want more.
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