Alleged Sexual Harassment at NYCFC

But they should be able to talk about the steps they are taking to prevent something like this from happening in the future or for helping mend the culture to encourage individuals to say something, etc. That's been what John has been trying to chase down for a while now, not necessarily specifics about the actual incident. Which, as you mentioned, they are very unlikely to be able to say something for legal reasons.

My point (and the point of others) is that John is asking the wrong people. Just because they are the only people you are allowed to talk to doesn't mean they're the right people to answer these kinds of questions.
 
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My point (and the point of others) is that John is asking the wrong people. Just because they are the only people you are allowed to talk to doesn't mean they're the right people to answer these kinds of questions.
And my point is he's asking the right people (in your eyes). They are stonewalling him.

IMO, he's also asking the right people, since any changes being made would also affect them going forward. He hasn't asked Ronny, nor Keaton, about the actual incident that happened. If you wanna say he shouldn't have asked Keaton after a game, ok, fair.

The incident that happened involved a former player and two staff (at the least) according to the Athletic article. According to the statement provided by NYCFC to a few outlets, the incident included, to some degree, several former players and staff.

If changes were to be made from a policy and culture perspective, the players and staff would be subject to those changes and that would be communicated to them. The questions have been to a current player and coach if there had been any communications around those changes that the club said they made.

I don't see any issue with that whatsoever.

If I joined a company in January and this company had a serious accounting issue from two years ago just uncovered, and they made changes to policies and hotline numbers, etc. But they didn't tell anyone what those changes were. I would not think it would be inappropriate for them to ask me, working in accounting but not part of leadership, what those changes were, since those policies would be affecting me.
 
If I joined a company in January and this company had a serious accounting issue from two years ago just uncovered, and they made changes to policies and hotline numbers, etc. But they didn't tell anyone what those changes were. I would not think it would be inappropriate for them to ask me, working in accounting but not part of leadership, what those changes were, since those policies would be affecting me.

Devil's Advocate, just curiosity here...

Why as fans, whose only connection to the club at its greatest may be purchasing season tickets, should we know about what the NYCFC is doing regarding an investigation, new reporting policies, etc? I understand the news angle in terms of reporting. RSL was called out because their owners made racist comments and MLS is forcing a sale of the team. Are employees and contractors of the NYCFC paid a living wage? Do they have good insurance for their employees? What besides the product on the field should be cared about by fans? But more importantly, what about the organization should fans be allowed to know about besides what they're paying for (which is soccer)? Maybe I'm a fan of LIFO inventory accounting, a diehard LIFO fan. But NYCFC uses FIFO, should that alter my view of the club? Do some fans still grapple with the human rights issues of UAE ownership?

If this took place at Apple, as someone who buys Apple products, should I know what their HR policies are/changes to them? (I'm also a shareholder and there may be legal and financial ramifications of lawsuits against the firm...but that's another story).
 
Devil's Advocate, just curiosity here...

Why as fans, whose only connection to the club at its greatest may be purchasing season tickets, should we know about what the NYCFC is doing regarding an investigation, new reporting policies, etc? I understand the news angle in terms of reporting. RSL was called out because their owners made racist comments and MLS is forcing a sale of the team. Are employees and contractors of the NYCFC paid a living wage? Do they have good insurance for their employees? What besides the product on the field should be cared about by fans? Do some fans still grapple with the human rights issues of UAE ownership?

If this took place at Apple, as someone who buys Apple products, should I know what their HR policies are/changes to them? (I'm also a shareholder and there may be legal and financial ramifications of lawsuits against the firm...but that's another story).

Because professional sports teams should be role models and leaders in the communities they play in. Being leaders in the community means acting the right way, and acting in a way that doesn't embarrass the community. This is a giant black eye for NYCFC because as a professional sports team, they have a responsibility to the community to act a certain way.
 
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Because professional sports teams should be role models and leaders in the communities they play in. Being leaders in the community means acting the right way, and acting in a way that doesn't embarrass the community. This is a giant black eye for NYCFC because as a professional sports team, they have a responsibility to the community to act a certain way.

Is the use of land for a soccer stadium that would only be utilized at most 30 times a year be better for the community than affordable housing, a school, hospital?

In most cases, charity by a for-profit organization is just for tax writes offs, goodwill, and positive PR.
 
And my point is he's asking the right people (in your eyes). They are stonewalling him.

IMO, he's also asking the right people, since any changes being made would also affect them going forward. He hasn't asked Ronny, nor Keaton, about the actual incident that happened. If you wanna say he shouldn't have asked Keaton after a game, ok, fair.

The incident that happened involved a former player and two staff (at the least) according to the Athletic article. According to the statement provided by NYCFC to a few outlets, the incident included, to some degree, several former players and staff.

If changes were to be made from a policy and culture perspective, the players and staff would be subject to those changes and that would be communicated to them. The questions have been to a current player and coach if there had been any communications around those changes that the club said they made.

I don't see any issue with that whatsoever.

If I joined a company in January and this company had a serious accounting issue from two years ago just uncovered, and they made changes to policies and hotline numbers, etc. But they didn't tell anyone what those changes were. I would not think it would be inappropriate for them to ask me, working in accounting but not part of leadership, what those changes were, since those policies would be affecting me.

I think things could go in circles forever with this conversation and no one is going to change each other's opinion. But I appreciate the different perspective.

Do you know if the same question was asked of Ronny Deila?
 
I think things could go in circles forever with this conversation and no one is going to change each other's opinion. But I appreciate the different perspective.

Do you know if the same question was asked of Ronny Deila?
I don't remember the exact question asked to Ronny Deila in a pregame presser, but I believe it was very similar.
 
I don't remember the exact question asked to Ronny Deila in a pregame presser, but I believe it was very similar.

Any memory of what he said? I searched for it on Youtube, but didn't find anything.
 
Any memory of what he said? I searched for it on Youtube, but didn't find anything.
It was basically something along the lines of he wasn’t here when it happened, although again, the question was along the lines of changes that have recently occurred, and not about the actual incident itself. It was basically a non-answer which I get and I think was expected.

I can find it later, I’m busy multitasking with another virtual community board meeting tonight.
 
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It was basically something along the lines of he wasn’t here when it happened, although again, the question was along the lines of changes that have recently occurred, and not about the actual incident itself. It was basically a non-answer which I get and I think was expected.

I can find it later, I’m busy multitasking with another virtual community board meeting tonight.

Nah - don't waste your time -- thanks for the response!
 
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Fair, although I don't see what's "gotcha" about it. And again, yes Keaton was uninvolved in the incident, but the question wasn't about the incident, it was about the changes the club said they were making, which, if they were making, Keaton (and all other players and coaches) would be aware of.

I'm not sure why asking Reyna this question would be helpful because he hasn't been with the club this whole season and I assume would be completely unaware of any changes the club was making.

All attempts to ask members of the club to provide those details, before this question was asked, were ignored. Until after this question was asked.

I understand criticizing the timing of the question and whatnot. While I get that people don't like that, I'm not sure what chance this question would have to be asked until perhaps the CCL pregame presser, since everything has been ignored since then. I just don't see how asking this question to Keaton (or any player) is unfair, lame, or lazy. In fact, isn't confirming something one party has told you and affects another party, with that party, not lazy? (i.e., club says they are making changes, which would affect players and coaches, so look to confirm with them)
You are right, it’s not really a gotcha question but... the defense about it being asked is that no one from CFG will talk so we have to ask a player about something that relates to this significant sexual harassment story from a time before the player was at the club after a tough playoff loss... so it seem like a misplaced gotcha question to me.

Are we pretending that the question is really just that people are interested in general employee sensitivity training?
(DeGrozz, I believe, has made this point.)

I just think it’s kind of a lame question at a really dumb time. If you really want to ask the question at least ask a player who has been around since the incident happened.

As far as Reyna goes... You are right that he would have nothing to say about NYCFC policy now. Just thinking that he held a significant position at the time the incident that is at the root of “the question” happened.
 
Are we pretending that the question is really just that people are interested in general employee sensitivity training?
(DeGrozz, I believe, has made this point.)
I cancelled my season tickets last year because of COVID. Outside of the health & safety issues of attending sporting events, I don't think I will be getting them again if the club doesn't show they have made changes on this issue.
 
You are right, it’s not really a gotcha question but... the defense about it being asked is that no one from CFG will talk so we have to ask a player about something that relates to this significant sexual harassment story from a time before the player was at the club after a tough playoff loss... so it seem like a misplaced gotcha question to me.

Are we pretending that the question is really just that people are interested in general employee sensitivity training?
(DeGrozz, I believe, has made this point.)

I just think it’s kind of a lame question at a really dumb time. If you really want to ask the question at least ask a player who has been around since the incident happened.

As far as Reyna goes... You are right that he would have nothing to say about NYCFC policy now. Just thinking that he held a significant position at the time the incident that is at the root of “the question” happened.
Again, I get why some people think it’s a lame question to be asked at that time.

I’m not sure where there is still confusion about how why this would need to be asked to a player or coach who was around when the incident happened, because again, the question was about what action has been taken since this summer when this whole thing broke and had nothing to do with details about the incident itself.

ETA: this has gone in circles quite a bit and now this thread isn’t quite about the actual subject anymore. I’m more than happy to continue any discussion with anyone on this particular item through DM
 
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For those of you who don't regularly listen, you may be interested to listen to the latest episode of Blue City Radio (Ep. 303 link). They have Pablo Maurer on to discuss the article.

Also, FWIW, after the ESPN article but before the Athletic piece came out, I wrote to my account rep to since that's the only person I really correspond with occasionally, and it was escalated to COO/Chief Legal & Administrative Officer who wrote a lengthy response. It was mostly information that has already become public through both articles, but there were a couple additional small details about harassment training, etc. On the one hand I'm glad to be listened/responded to, but on the other it is a strange juxtaposition to what I've heard about media access (themes that the Outfield writers and even NYCFC_Dan NYCFC_Dan highlight in this thread)
 
If this took place at Apple, as someone who buys Apple products, should I know what their HR policies are/changes to them? (I'm also a shareholder and there may be legal and financial ramifications of lawsuits against the firm...but that's another story).
If this took place at Apple, as someone who buys Apple products, should I know what their HR policies are/changes to them? (I'm also a shareholder and there may be legal and financial ramifications of lawsuits against the firm...but that's another story).
Yes, definitely, 100%.

I know you say you’re just playing devil’s advocate, but this is awfully cynical, especially the part where you compare an internal investigation of sexual harassment to the choice of an inventory accounting methodology.

You are a customer and they are, essentially, a high-profile business that claims to care very much about their place in our community. Any member of that community, whether a customer or not, has a right to ask these questions and have them answered.
 
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Yes, definitely, 100%.

I know you say you’re just playing devil’s advocate, but this is awfully cynical, especially the part where you compare an internal investigation of sexual harassment to the choice of an inventory accounting methodology.

You are a customer and they are, essentially, a high-profile business that claims to care very much about their place in our community. Any member of that community, whether a customer or not, has a right to ask these questions and have them answered.

Yeah, it's not the greatest comparison. But what I'm paying for is the team on the field, their performance, and how value experience for my season tickets.

How many people dropped season tickets to the Washington Football Team after their sexual harassment scandal?
 
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Yeah, it's not the greatest comparison. But what I'm paying for is the team on the field, their performance, and how value experience for my season tickets.

How many people dropped season tickets to the Washington Football Team after their sexual harassment scandal?

I am sure it was a non-zero number. As it will be a non-zero number for NYCFC. Will they lose half their season ticket base? No. Will they lose a few people? Yes.