Opinion: USL should force Independence owner to sell team

An ongoing history of bigoted posts from majority owner Dan DiMicco necessitates a response from the league

Racism and bigotry have no place in sports or sports ownership, let’s just start there. It should go without saying, but as with many seemingly obvious things, it unfortunately needs repeating every so often.

Many leagues have learned this lesson and follow it. Owners have been forced to sell teams in the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL due to bigotry, personal conduct and other controversies. Probably one of the most notable examples revolving around bigotry and racism came on April 29, 2014, as NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned former LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling from the league for life, with the league ultimately terminating his ownership and forcing a sale of the team.

Unfortunately, it appears to be time for another reminder of this incredibly obvious lesson, this time in the realm of soccer in the USL Championship. Daniel Ralph DiMicco bought majority ownership of the Charlotte Independence in January 2018. His arrival was heralded by current president Jim McPhilliamy at the time of the sale as “a great addition to our investor group” in a call to the Charlotte Observer.

“He invested in the team last year and has become very passionate about the team from both a competitive and business perspective. He’s furthered his involvement to help us move our vision for the team forward. Plus, he’s a really good guy,” McPhilliamy said in that 2018 interview.

Fast-forward to two years later in mid-2020, at a time when many ugly facets of society — steeped in a long history of racism and bigotry — are coming more into the light of day and are being rightfully challenged. DiMicco still owns a controlling interest in the Independence, but fans of the club are making it known that DiMicco’s very public-facing statements on platforms such as Twitter are completely unacceptable.

A quick perusal of DiMicco’s feed — rife with far-right political conspiracies, anti-Chinese sentiment and perpetuating claims that racism doesn’t exist today — does not take long to reveal multiple problematic messages, clearly indicative of DiMicco’s personal views and politics.

A quick example of four of these recent posts and retweets is enough to put DiMicco in Donald Sterling territory:

In just the past few days, DiMicco has claimed racism doesn’t exist and it’s only pretended to continue to exist to control Black people. He has parroted President Trump’s racially-charged “Chinese Virus” name for the coronavirus pandemic. He has even compared the Chinese government to Nazi Germany, calling the pandemic a crime committed by “CCP China.” Diving back further in his timeline reveals that these types of posts have been going on for a long, long time.

These sentiments ought to have no place in U.S. sports ownership. No league should tolerate one of the representatives of their organization vocalizing such vile, disgusting, bigoted ideals. The very fact that these exist begs the question: Why has the USL not stepped in and addressed these problematic comments from the owner of one of its clubs? Why does the league do business and collect franchise fees from someone like this? How has DiMicco not been forced to sell this team? Independence fans have noticed the comments and have been vocal in their criticisms of DiMicco and of the team and league’s silence:

The fact is that each of these comments individually takes DiMicco to the level of a Donald Sterling situation. Together, they represent a pattern of bigoted thinking that DiMicco is completely unafraid to vocalize publicly. Tweets such as the ones displayed here are put out by DiMicco hourly, his timeline densely populated by exactly this kind of attitude.

This isn’t one single mistaken tweet that can be apologized for. The views expressed by DiMicco have no place in modern society and must be addressed by the organization responsible for doing business with him. The USL must take action on this incredibly problematic individual or it will be complicit in allowing him to profit off of their structure while they remain silent.

The league has a chance to be better, just as Adam Silver showed the NBA to be when he took one of the harshest actions against an owner in one of the most powerful sports leagues worldwide. Even if they don’t, with so many Independence fans refusing to support DiMicco and the oncoming presence of an MLS club in the city, DiMicco’s views — if they’re allowed to remain — could very well be the final nail in the coffin for the club’s long-term future.

Follow Colton on Twitter: @cjcoreschi.

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