Sporting Kansas City and its employees earned multiple honors on Thursday during Major League Soccer’s 2016 Club Executive Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles, held at the LA Live Conga Room in conjunction with the 2017 MLS SuperDraft.
The year-end awards recognize individuals and clubs for outstanding contributions off the field. The following members of Sporting Kansas City were recognized for their success during the 2016 Major League Soccer season:
Club Retailer of the Year – Sporting Kansas City, accepted by John Moncke (Vice President of Stadium and Brand Revenue)
Ticket Sales Executive of the Year – Gregg Allen, Vice President of Ticket Sales and Service
Additionally, five Sporting Kansas City associates received Excellence in Service Awards, including Premium Services Executive Devan Dignan and Client Services Manager Zach Mayer.
"Winning the Club Retailer of the Year is a great honor for our club and shows that even after many years of being considered a top MLS retailer, we are always striving to push boundaries and get better," Sporting KC President Jake Reid said.
"When you consider that we have had 87 straight MLS sellouts at Children's Mercy Park, I’m very proud of Gregg and his team," Reid added. "They continue to push the league through innovation and have helped us create a fantastic stadium experience."
Sporting Kansas City advanced to the MLS Cup Playoffs for a club-record sixth straight year in 2016, defeating MLS Cup finalists Seattle Sounders FC and Toronto FC in the process. Manager Peter Vermes guided his side to a sixth straight 13-win regular season, becoming just the third MLS coach to manage the feat.
Children's Mercy Park sold out all 17 MLS matches in 2016, stretching the world-class venue's sellout streak to 87 league games since 2012. Forward Dom Dwyer was the club's team MVP with 16 goals, while Benny Feilhaber landed Offensive MVP accolades with eight goals and 14 assists.
Away from the field, Sporting Kansas City and Children’s Mercy enjoyed the first year of a long-term youth health and pediatric sports medicine initiative. In a related initiative, the state-of-the-art National Training and Coaching Development Center broke ground in Wyandotte County -- the definitive beginning of another exciting chapter in Kansas CIty's blossoming soccer history. Sporting Kansas City and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, also celebrated more openings of new futsal courts across the metro.
Sporting Kansas City enters its 22nd season in 2017 and will begin regular season action on March 4 at D.C. United, the first match to be televised on FOX Sports Kansas City. Visit SportingKC.com/schedule for the club’s full, 34-game regular season schedule.
