Sporting KC Co-Principal Owner Michael Illig
Opening remarks...
Today is a meaningful day for Sporting Kansas City. Sporting Kansas City is stepping into a new era. For nearly two decades, this club was defined by stability and an identity that became part of who we are. That era gave us trophies, traditions and a strong foundation. And now comes the responsibility to raise the standard, to push this club forward and to earn back the trust of our supporters. We knew this hire would be the single most important in the history of Sporting Kansas City. That is why the process had to be thorough. Over the past six months, we evaluated 14 candidates. We brought four of them to Kansas City. And we measured them against 61 criteria -- everything from roster building and cap management to youth development and academy integration to analytics, sports performance and leadership. We owed it to this club and to our fans to be thorough, objective and uncompromising. Out of that process, one candidate rose above the rest and that is David Lee. His record speaks for itself: Identifying and recruiting talent, building winning rosters, developing players and shaping cultures that sustain success. He brings a modern age in analytics -- applying data in every decision we make -- identifying and recruiting talent, improving player performance and wellness, planning rosters with discipline and strengthening pathways that connect our academy, our second team and the next generation of talent to the first team. With David leading our soccer operations, we enter this new chapter with clarity and ambition. Our philosophy remains grounded in who we are: collective effort, relentless drive and a deep bond with Kansas City. But we are also committed to evolving. We will modernize how we scout, develop and prepare players. We will strengthen the pathway from our academy to Sporting KC II to the first team. And we'll build a roster to not only compete in MLS, but across every competition we play: Open Cup, Leagues Cup and Concacaf Champions Cup. David will also lead the search for our next head coach. That coach must embrace our identity, commit to developing players and use every available tool, from analytics to sports science, to build a culture that can deliver championships. We will be deliberate and we will not settle for anything less. To our supporters, we know these past seasons have not met your expectations or ours. We hear you and we feel it too. And we promise this: we will work every day to earn back your trust, to bring pride to Kansas City and to keep painting the wall. So with that, it is my honor to welcome David Lee and his family to Kansas City. He has complete responsibility for our soccer operations and he has our full support. This is a new era for Sporting Kansas City: ambitious, accountable and determined to raise the standard.
On earning back the trust of supporters...
The messaging hasn't met the results in the prior season. We're saying different things and meaning them. And I think we need to deliver on those things. In our world, you can't have trust without transparency. I think from us sitting up here, you're going to have a lot more transparency as to what and how we're doing things.
On the length of David's contract with the club...
To build the future, you have got to bet on yourselves and bet on him and that's what we're doing. It was a no-brainer. We believe we have the best guy in the league sitting right here today. Just like when you have a great player, you want to lock him up for as long as you can and that's what we feel like we've done here.
On the commitment from ownership...
In terms of any availability of any roster category -- DPs, TAM players, U-22's -- as we've done in the past and will continue to do. He'll have our complete support to invest in each of those silos how he wants to.
On the importance of 2026 for SKC...
It's huge. Our league was founded after the World Cup in '94 and it was a tremendous launch pad for the founding of our league. We look at the impact the World Cup will have not only to our league, but also to our city as a massive moment. If you look at the roster flexibility we have now, it was intentionally designed that way because we anticipated things happening at the league level that would allow a new roster investment model to take shape. So when we were awarded the World Cup and the conversation at the league level started happening around what we should do as a league to change or modify that, I wanted to make sure that the roster was flexible to do so. Here we sit today flexible to do so -- probably not in the circumstances we anticipated -- but being relevant and winning next year while the World Cup is here is important.
Sporting Kansas City President of Soccer Operations and General Manager David Lee
Opening remarks...
I couldn't be more thrilled to be the President of Soccer Sperations and General Manager for this incredible club. I have worked my entire career to have an opportunity like this and I'm truly grateful to Mike and the wider ownership group for their belief in me to lead this club into the future. I had been part of New York City FC for 12 years and it was always going to take something really special for me to leave that club. And that is precisely what exists right here. The reasons why I believe this is the right opportunity for me start with the very, very proud history that Sporting Kansas City has. They've won championships. You can feel it when you walk around the stadium, you can feel it when you walk around this training facility. The history of success, in a league that is only 30 years old, is unique. You can see the moments where they have painted the wall and that is really, really something that sings to me and one of the reasons why I started to be really interested in this opportunity. As Mike mentioned, the results over the last few years haven't been what this club, this organization, this fan base desires. The opportunity to be part of that turnaround, to hopefully lead that turnaround and bring this club back to the glories that it experienced years before, is another part of the reason why I wanted to join. I like building things. I like creating short, medium, long-term strategic plans and working with people to enact those plans. And that's exactly the opportunity that I have here. I mentioned people. As I spoke to a number of people as I went through this process for this role, one of the most consistent things that I heard was what a fantastic group of people existed here at this club already. There is no one person that can do this job alone. I am here to lead. I am here to lead from the front, but I need great people around me that can help me do what we need to do to get this club back where it belongs. And so hearing about the amazing people that work behind the scenes, the players, the staff, the people at the stadium, the incredible fans, was something that meant I really, really, really wanted to come here. I wouldn't be here without Mike. In every interaction I had with Mike throughout this entire process, his belief, his commitment, his desire to do everything possible to get this team back to where we both want it to be was ultimately the reason why I said yes to this project. I am so thrilled to have ownership's support and Mike's support for what we are going to do in the short, medium and long term to get this club back where we belong. And ownership stability, support and everything they've given to me through this process has been unbelievable for both me and my family. Beyond all those factors, the number one reason I am here is because I want to win. I would not be here if I didn't believe that we had an organization, the support and everything that we could possibly need when you walk around these incredible facilities to make sure this organization wins. We know that will take a lot of work. I am ready for that work. But I want to win. I have been fortunate enough to win and lift an MLS Cup trophy. This organization has an even longer history of winning trophies. And there is nothing that makes the challenging days that you have -- and in pro sports, there are challenging days every single year win, lose or draw -- that make it more worth it than when you win and lift trophies. How we do that? Mike mentioned modernizing our sporting organization, investing in analytics, ensuring our pro player pathway is developed and integrating players from our academy, revamping how we scout and ID and recruit players to this amazing organization. I'm going to have to get under the surface and look at all of those different disciplines to try to make sure we do everything we can to move this club forward. We have a lot of work to do. I am really excited to get to know everybody connected to this club that is so ingrained in this amazing community. Me and my family who are here today can't wait to make Kansas City our home. Today is the beginning of a brand new era for Sporting Kansas City and I cannot wait to get going.
On leaving NYCFC for SKC...
I think they were very different propositions. You go from a global football conglomerate with 13 clubs around the globe to a highly passionate, committed local ownership group that want this club to succeed. That was something that really attracted me. I'd spent 12 wonderful years at New York City and I do want to make clear I loved my time there. I was really happy and I wasn't looking to leave. it was this opportunity that really struck me as something that I didn't think I could pass up. I truly believe this is the best job in the league when you look at every single factor that this club has from facilities to ownership. And so that, for me, was the main reason why it piqued my interest and the more conversations I had, the more interested I got. Ultimately, when I first got the phone call from Mike to say that I was the guy that they had picked, it was a very happy evening in our house.
On his background in analytics...
I'm going to date myself a little bit, but a long time ago my start in soccer was as a performance analyst. Typically, at that time, data and statistics was still relatively in its infancy, but it was using information, writing scouting reports, video analysis. That was my starting point in soccer. I did that for probably five or six years in professional organizations. That's how I originally joined MLS and New York Red Bulls. In New York City, slightly different. I came onto the player recruitment side. And I think what we have done, or what we've tried to do in New York, that I'm excited to bring here is we try to create an evidence-informed environment. How are we making decisions? What information are we using to help make those decisions? How can we create models that can help us make better decisions? Over the last 10 years, the advent of analytics has grown. It is going to grow even further with AI and we're going to have to figure out how we can be ahead of the curve in innovation. But I really want to make sure that we use information and data to help make more informed decisions throughout the entire club. That can be academy, that can be first team.
On hiring an analytics staff...
That is something that we've spoken about through the interview process. I think it's something that we don't have right now and so that is definitely a short- to medium-term plan to ensure that we can build out a staff to deliver the data analytics level and capability that we really want. I think that we have the support of the ownership group to go and do that and invest in that to make sure that we can use it most effectively.
On the qualities for a future head coach...
We're kicking off that process now. I'm very conscious I'm officially on day two on the job. I've got experience hiring head coaches as a CSO in New York. We've hired three coaches: two external and one internal promotion. I think the qualities that we're looking for are you need to be a leader. As a head coach, you are the person alongside myself that will lead the day-to-day environment at the training facility and lead our players. We want somebody that's committed to playing the way that we expect the team to play. So we're going to have fundamental principles that we aspire to play in attacking, high energy, creating lots of chances, possession-based soccer. So we're going to look for a coach who can deliver against some of those principles of play. You mentioned Kerry (Zavagnin) as interim head coach. I had a conversation for the first time with Kerry after I arrived yesterday. We've said if Kerry is interested in the role permanently, then he will go into the process that we will run. But we will run a deliberate and clear process with clear criteria of how we're going to make a decision on who we think the permanent head coach should be. If Kerry's interested in that role, then he will be part of that process, absolutely. He's been part of this club for 25 years. He's an absolute legend here and so he deserves the opportunity if that's a route that he would like to go down.
On assessing the roster...
I've done a lot of analysis from a distance. I'm now getting to know the staff and the players on a more personal level. I think it is going to come as no surprise that the roster needs to be improved. The roster needs to get better and it will get better through the next transfer windows. That is a clear objective for me and for us and for the staff is to improve the roster. I think there are good pieces in the team. When any new person comes in, you get the opportunity to show a different side for each player and they get the opportunity to impress somebody else. I'm looking forward to having more conversations with our players. I think there is a wide range of qualities that we're going to look for. Most importantly, for me, is going to be people and players that want to be part of this organization. This organization is going in a direction and we need the players bought into that direction. If they're not then they're probably not the right fit for us, even if they're an excellent player. There's going to be positional characteristics based on the positions that we need, but we'll go through all of that when we have some more time post-season.
On his short-term objectives...
If I look at my first four to six weeks -- and I had a meeting with the staff this morning to explain -- there's a lot of learning I need to do. Anytime you come into a new organization, I need to be able to understand what's happened and the reasons why things have happened. I will probably ask a lot of questions of people to understand what processes are in place already. We obviously have Decision Day coming up in just under two weeks. We're then going to have player option decisions that we need to go through. I think the first thing is to give a clear direction of where we are heading to both staff and players that remain here. And then the work starts. We have staff that we need to hire. We have departments, potentially, that we need to build. And we have players that we're going to need to sign. All of those things are labour and time intensive and they are going to take my full focus and energy over the course of the next three to four months until we get into preseason in January of 2026.
On his priorities...
Coming to a decision on permanent head coach is decision number one, because I think that could change some of the profiles and players that you might be looking for in January. It will not change entirely. I've always gone through a process where we involve the head coach always in player recruitment decisions, but the club has to own those decisions. I have to sit and own the player decisions and that is done in collaboration with a coach. I think the starting point at first is we have a roster. They all have options or contract decisions that may need to be made. We have to start with that. And when we get through those decisions, probably in the next two to three weeks, then we will be able to then figure out that leaves these holes in the roster and then we can prioritize based on the positions that we need and how important we think those roles will be. It's still slightly too early to prioritize this position versus that position, this profile versus that profile, but we're going to get there really soon and we've already started that work.
On the timeline to build the roster...
I think we can do it quickly. One of the hardest jobs in MLS in my position is to move players on who have a guaranteed contract. Normally, those players that you want to move on are not hugely desired by other teams in MLS or in the outside world. That is not the case we have here. We have a number of players that are either out of contract or in options and that gives us some uncertainty for the players, for sure, but a lot of flexibility going into 2026. It's another attractive part of this role and this job at this moment in that I get to step in, make those decisions, and that should -- based on the decisions we make, which are not final -- enable us to have more flexibility going into January. Now, depending on the number of positions we need, it is very difficult to sign potentially the number of players that you may need in one transfer window. But I believe we can make this roster better in January and that will be the goal. We need to make this roster better in January. With the flexibility that we have, that should be possible. It is going to take a lot of work and we need to be as precise on our decisions as we possibly can. And that is gonna be my focus.
On hiring a head coach at NYCFC recently...
It definitely helps, for sure. I was really proud of the process we went through that I led 12 months ago to bring Pascal (Jansen) into New York. I think we've seen the positive results that he's been able to bring and so to be able to replicate some of that -- now, we may not have access to the same data and information that we had to help make that hire -- but we will use every resource that we can and we will consult in where we need to to enable us to get the information that we need. I was really proud of the process. But that doesn't mean the process can't improve. And so I've already got my list of things that, if I was doing it again, I would add these steps into the process and that's what I'll be bringing to this decision over the next weeks.
On principles of play for the club...
I believe in having principles of how we're going to play. One of the principles will be we want to be a possession-focused team. We want to be a team that dominates possession. We want to be a team that creates a lot of chances. We want to be a fun team for fans to come and watch. We want to be a team that tries to win the ball back quickly, defensively. Those are really broad terms that coaches can interpret slightly differently. I don't believe in having a formation. I don't believe in having this is how we must play outside of the principles. I will hold the head coach accountable to meeting the principles. But within that, you give them a framework where they can bring their genius. Head coaches, when you hire the right ones, they are absolute geniuses. And how they work with the players is so inspirational. It's a job that I could never dream of doing, because it is so difficult. And you want to give that space in order for them to bring their own ideas within the framework that we set as a club. That's how I believe is the most effective way of building a club. Part of that is the head coach's job. We have had more head coaches in New York in our 10-year history than this club has had in their entire lifespan. We have been able to maintain a level of consistent success -- playoff qualification and points/records overall in the league -- partly because we have consistent principles, but all of the head coaches that we've hired have had slight interpretations of how they want their wingers to play slightly more inside or more outside. And so then it's my job to adapt the roster to meet those slight tweaks based on a head coach coming in. But it shouldn't then mean that you're needing to replace entire rosters because you're only making tweaks based on a head coaching hire.
On his vision for developing players...
It should be part of our ambition as a club to participate in the global transfer market. There's a number of reasons for that and there is one that comes back to winning. If you transfer players, you can take extra allocation money. Extra allocation money comes into the team that helps you build a stronger team. It is the most effective way to build allocation money and allocation money is critically important to be able to have the strongest roster you can. And so developing players that have a value on the transfer market is something that I believe is essential. I think we're very fortunate to have some very talented young players already in the team. I'm excited to go to Swope and check out the Academy and spend some time with them tomorrow to see the next pipeline of players coming through as well as use international markets to try to support that with other players that we think can develop and have value. I think it is important. Ultimately, we want to win. Player development can be seen as against winning and I don't believe those two things have to be opposite ends of the spectrum. They can coexist. There is natural tension that exists when you try and develop players and you want to win. But it is my job to hold that tension for Mike and the wider ownership group and try to build a roster where there are players that are developing, players that are capable to play right now and help us win, and players that we believe can be future assets for our club. I have to try and manage all of that and that comes down to roster building and pathway analysis to make sure that when we think those young players are ready to take on a bigger role, they're not blocked from having that opportunity in the first team.
On learnings from his coaching hires...
I think the process was excellent. I just think there is never going to be a perfect process and so, for me, I think there are always things to learn. Whenever we make a decision, we should have a process where we are reflecting on that process and determining some things to add. I think there's a possibility to do some slightly more psychological profiling of head coaches of how they are as a leader to ask some of those questions that came through naturally through my interviews. I think there is some scope to add that into the process. I'm now in a different organization with a different ownership group, different demands and different people. I think having the opportunity to bring people here to make sure that they understand who and what Kansas City is, and Sporting Kansas City is, is going to be critical to that process as well.
On the evolution of MLS...
I think the growth of the league over the 15 years that I've been part of it is truly exceptional. It is truly exceptional when you see where this league is from when I first worked at Red Bulls with the types of players that you were signing and the money you had to sign them. We are talking a totally different prospect that you have now. I believe the league can grow quicker and grow far more potentially than it already has done. There is no doubt that the league has the potential to be one of the best leagues in the world. I think it is fair to say we are not that right now. There are leagues in Europe that are ahead of us. That is why players want to go to those leagues. That is okay. I think we obviously have an enormous opportunity with the World Cup coming to this country that you only get once in potentially a lifetime, maybe twice in a lifetime if you're really lucky. I want to see the league push and grow to enable us to continue to sign even better players and to get better quality in front of our fans. That's something that I would like to see the league do and potentially do a little quicker than we have done so far.
On how markets like KC fit within MLS...
I've never looked at this as a small market team or a small market opportunity. This is an enormous club with an incredible fan base that has a history far more than some of the bigger cities in terms of success. It is going to be a change. I haven't tried to pitch a player on coming to Kansas City yet. I have done that regularly for New York. So I need to learn about how and what we offer to a player based on who they are, their age, their family situation, the pathway, all of those pieces. I've been here for two days. I cannot imagine a player coming here and seeing what they have to work in that is light years ahead of almost everything else I've ever seen in MLS. It is truly remarkable and that is an enormous selling point I think for players to come and continue and develop their careers. I am sure there will be challenges that I don't yet know and I'm not sure what they are, but all I see is opportunity and positivity that I believe I can go and sit in front of any player. I'm two days in and I believe I could sit in front of any player and try to convince them that this is the right place for their career. One of the reasons we were able to sign successful young players in New York was we demonstrated an ability to move them. And once you do that, the next one becomes easier and the next one becomes easier. So that's going to be something that we need to have in our toolkit to be able to go and do that and that will come in time.
On the timeline for roster decisions...
I think we've got a huge amount of knowledge in the building with Kerry, with Mike Burns, with all the support staff that have been around. I've only been able to do analysis from afar for the last couple of months but now I'm in a position where I get to experience it every single day. We won't wait for the player contract decisions to be made. We'll look to make those as quickly as we can post-season.
On the importance of the coaching hire...
Hiring a head coach is absolutely critical. It's the most important hire that I will make and I probably have quite a lot of hires to do, but that is the most important hire we will make. It deserves all the diligence and effort that Mike and everybody went through for this hire. I'm going to need to do the same in a very short period of time to make sure we try and get the head coach because there is no CSO, General Manager or President of Soccer that can do this on their own. The coach is out there with the players every single day. It is the most critical hire. I believe we will have a process that will find us the very best candidate. If we hire somebody and we figure out that it isn't the right fit for whatever reason two years or three years down the line -- or we hire a fantastic head coach and that coach gets attracted by another opportunity; that we had happen multiple times in New York -- okay, that's part of the game. That's part of life and we move on and then we replace that coach. I will build an organization that can withstand some of those things happening. The structure is what will enable us to continue to be competitive year over year as best as we can in an MLS competitive balance environment that we know is difficult.
On what the club needs to contend...
I think we need to improve the roster. I think we need to improve the roster and we need to hire the right head coach. I don't think any team in MLS should consider themselves far away from being competitive every single year. The rules and the structure create competitive balance every single year. I showed a slide to the staff today. In the last four years. at least seven out of the 18 teams in the playoffs were new every single year. This year, it's currently five. It could be seven. So that's nearly 50% of the playoff pool that wasn't in the playoffs the year before. There are six or seven teams every year that increase their points total by 12 plus points, which is probably likely what we're going to need to do to get ourselves back into playoff contention. That happens. It happens regularly. We need to be one of those teams that make it happen. Even if you look back at the last three MLS Cup winners. They were not in the playoffs the direct year before they won MLS Cup. No team in MLS should feel like they're that far away from competing. Of course there is a lot of work to do to make sure we are one of those teams that has that type of season. But that's the work now and that's what I'm excited for.
On the infrastructure at NYCFC vs. SKC...
Being part of the City Football Group was a privilege, especially getting to see that group grow from when New York City FC was acquired in 2013 originally -- I joined in 2014 -- and we were the second team as part of that group. Undoubtedly, there are benefits to being part of City Football Group. But I think there are benefits to being part of an ownership group and a team where you are only focused on one team. We can make decisions that are only best for Sporting Kansas City. That's something I'm actually really excited for. It was one of the drivers for me to want to take this opportunity, because I got the opportunity to take maybe a step outside of CFG. I've had almost 12 incredible years there and now I get the opportunity to apply some of those learnings and some of the things that I've been able to do there and bring them to this organization,. Having a little bit of a blank slate on an analytics department, for example. I've seen what a global organization is able to do when they invest in analytics. And now I'm really excited to be able to think about how we can do that on a really local level, where the benefit of any investment we make into analytics is designed to improve how Sporting Kansas City works.
