Not many clubs would make a signing for which they are forced to immediately beg for forgiveness. Even fewer would actually keep that player around anyway.
But that’s what the North Carolina Courage did in December when they brought Jaelene Daniels back into the fold after the defender returned from a brief retirement.
“We are very sorry to all those we have hurt, especially those within the LGBTQIA+ community,” the Courage said, acknowledging the impact of signing a player who had refused to play for the U.S. women’s national team when it featured rainbow numbers for Pride Month.
Daniels repeated that act on Friday when she opted out of the Courage’s Pride Night game against the Washington Spirit.
Suffice it to say, not every fan will agree with the beliefs of all of their players. But Daniels is a unique case: a player who appears to be actively harming her team’s business outlook and locker-room chemistry, while simultaneously failing to boost its on-field performance.
Many of the club’s fans felt Daniels’ return was an affront to them personally. Some of them have decided to stop giving the club their money.
According to Soccer Stadium Digest, the Courage currently rank 10th out of 12 NWSL teams in attendance. Their average of 4,621 is down eight percent from last year and, according to WUNC, that is down from an average of 5,875 in 2019, which was good for fourth out of nine teams.
There is, of course, no single explanation for this phenomenon. But it is a notable outlier in a league that has seen a 20 percent growth overall in attendance from last season to this season.
Daniels’ return immediately led to a condemnation by the club’s official supporters’ group, The Uproar, who said that the signing was “unacceptable.”
And at least anecdotally, some of the club’s biggest fans said the organization’s decision to bring Daniels back made them question whether they wanted to support the club financially.
“For me, the biggest sticking point [for renewing season tickets] was the re-signing of Jaelene Daniels,” Courage fan Jessica Turner told WUNC. “They knew that there had been issues in the past with this player, very publicly… And they decided to go with that knowing that there is going to be backlash, knowing that there is going to be a whole section of our fanbase that are going to feel harmed by this and are going to feel like the club doesn’t support them.”
Merritt Mathias, one of the Courage’s veteran leaders, openly questioned the club’s decisions and hinted that she understood – and agreed with – fans who opted to stay away because of Daniels.
“There are reasons why people aren’t here and haven’t wanted to spend their money or beliefs and that is up to them,” Mathias said in May. “If this gets out there, I am a part of the community that has struggled with some of the choices that this club has made.”
Speaking to fans directly, she added: “If you don’t like one player, then there are 25, 26 other ones to choose from. Find someone you love.”
This all seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through to keep one player on the roster. One would hope, at the very least, that Daniels was exceptionally helpful for the Courage on the field.
Not really.
Daniels has been a regular contributor, having appeared in all of the Courage’s games this season before Friday. But according to American Soccer Analysts’ Goals Added metric, which measures the overall impact a player has, Daniels ranks 252nd out of 267 NWSL players for the 2022 regular season.
The Courage struggled to explain Daniels’ actions after Friday’s game. Head coach Sean Nahas admitted it had been a “distraction.”
“I don’t necessarily have to agree with what people think and what they choose to believe,” Nahas said.
Club captain Abby Erceg said she understood fans deciding to stay away, but lamented how that decision ultimately hurts every Courage player.
“I think the offseason in particular gave us a lot to think about,” Erceg said. “I’m kind of with Merritt. We’re desperate to have our fans back. The fans, the stadium, the community that we’ve created here over the past five or six years has been really really special to the girls.
“I understand that the fans want to take a stand for the players and the fans want to have their voice heard as well. And we appreciate that, but when we can’t get fans into the stadium it hurts them, it hurts the players, it hurts the club and at the end of the day, it’s the players that suffer.”
When she opted out of playing for the USWNT, Daniels was really only harming her own personal on-field prospects. After all, these were just friendlies and this is the USWNT we’re talking about: there will always be high-quality players eager to step in and fill any on-field void.
But Friday was something different. This was a player, already at odds with so many teammates and fans, opting out of a crucial regular-season game when she was fully capable of playing physically.
Daniels, of course, is entitled to her beliefs. She said at the time of her signing that “my love runs deep for all.”
But the Courage, as a private entity, are under no obligation to maintain the status quo. Regardless of what metric you use, it’s difficult to argue that Daniels is making a positive impact.
“Of course we want the fans back,” Erceg said. “But at the same time we need the club to hear what the fans are saying as well, because they’re the ones that are paying the ticket prices.”
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