May 23, 2008 by Jeff Cooper 

As reported recently in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, I’ve formally resigned from my duties at SimmonsCooper law firm to devote 100 percent of my time to soccer and bringing Major League Soccer to our community.  On a personal level, this is a really exciting time in my career.  For years, growing soccer in St. Louis has been a hobby of sorts – something I pursued while also balancing my full-time job as a lawyer, not to mention my full-time job as a husband and dad. 

But we’re at a point in which securing the MLS franchise, propelling the WPS team into its inaugural season, and harvesting the youth system requires my undivided attention.  So now, rather than tell people I “practice law” for a living, should I tell them I “practice soccer?”  Hmm…I don’t think it has quite the same ring to it…  And it’s difficult to sum up in a couple of words everything that goes into pursuing and then launching a professional sports team.  Stadium financing, staffing, recruiting investors, exploring corporate sponsorships, marketing/branding – it’s definitely a full-time job.  A fun job, but a job nonetheless.
 
I am happy to report that it appears we’re closer than ever to bringing MLS soccer to the St. Louis area.  Our deal to build a state-of-the-art facility in Collinsville remains intact and we have some very serious candidates who we feel are genuinely interested in joining our efforts as investors, which is essentially the missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to getting the official okay from MLS.
 
Our near-term goal is to have some big announcements later this summer – stay tuned!