Merritt Paulson Must Go

October 10, 2022
By: Dave Zirin and Jules Boykoff

It is past time for the soccer impresario to sell the Thorns and Timbers, and Portland would be the perfect city to install public ownership.

US Women’s National Team captain Becky Sauerbrunn turned heads last week when she said, “Every owner and executive and US Soccer official who has repeatedly failed the players…should be gone.” The words were especially powerful coming from a stalwart player for the National Women’s Soccer League’s Portland Thorns, since one person who “has repeatedly failed the players” is Thorns owner Merritt Paulson. (Yes, he’s the son of George W. Bush’s bank bailout secretary Hank Paulson. Yes, we find it amusing that this child of profound privilege is named “Merritt.”) US soccer megastar Megan Rapinoe spelled it out: “I don’t think that Merritt Paulson is fit to be the owner of that team, and I don’t think Arnim [Whisler] is fit to be the owner of Chicago. And we need to see those people gone.”

They are right. As we have said in this column space for many months, Merritt Paulson must go. It is time for him to sell the Thorns and Major League Soccer’s Timbers.

Sauerbrunn and Rapinoe were responding to an exhaustive report issued last week by Sally Yates, the former acting attorney general, which found after a yearlong investigation that multiple coaches in the National Women’s Soccer League had engaged in grave wrongdoing, including jaw-dropping allegations of sexual misconduct.

Yates’s report stated, “Our investigation has revealed a league in which abuse and misconduct—verbal and emotional abuse and sexual misconduct—had become systemic, spanning multiple teams, coaches, and victims.” It added, “Players described a pattern of sexually charged comments, unwanted sexual advances and sexual touching, and coercive sexual intercourse.”

The Portland Thorns, in particular, earned the investigator’s ire. The investigation revealed that the Thorns “interfered with our access to relevant witnesses and raised specious legal arguments in an attempt to impede our use of relevant documents.” The report zeroed in on three Thorns executives: club president Mike Golub, general manger Gavin Wilkinson, and owner Merritt Paulson. Feeling the heat, the club fired Golub and Wilkinson.

And for good reason. According to the Yates report, Golub asked then–Thorns coach—and current president of the United States Soccer Federation—Cindy Parlow Cone, “What’s on your bucket list besides sleeping with me?” An investigation by Oregonian reporter Ryan Clarke found a pattern of negative behavior—“disrespect and intimidation toward women and working mothers employed at the club over a span of 11 years”—that included Golub’s throwing soccer balls and other projectiles at his subordinates and knocking over an employee by standing on her toes and pushing her with his shoulder.

When the Oregonian investigation emerged, Paulson, owner of both the Thorns and the Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer, defended Golub, stating:

“Mike leaned into trying to improve himself. I’m pleased with that, and I’m pleased with the work he’s done. Mike is a good person who’s meant a tremendous amount to our organization and our city. His work away from the Timbers with a variety of nonprofits, with the arts and education has been outstanding. He’s somebody that a lot of people have a tremendous amount of affection for, and for good reason. That does not mean he’s perfect.”

Under pressure, Golub resigned from the boards of various groups, including Oregon Public Broadcasting, the Oregon Shakespeare Theater, and the University of Portland Board of Regents.

Meanwhile, the Yates investigation fingered Gavin Wilkinson for inappropriate behavior. One Thorns player told investigators that when she asked Wilkinson to create benefits for the team, he responded, apparently as a joke, “Why can’t you just stop being a bitch?” Another player recalled how Wilkinson suggested she silence herself about “off the field” matters after she had come out publicly as a member of the LGBTQ community. Wilkinson denies both charges. Amid the Yates investigation, Paulson renewed Wilkinson’s contract, according to a report from The Athletic.

Wilkinson also played a central role in the mishandling of serious sexual misconduct allegations against Thorns coach Paul Riley. When the club opted not to renew Riley’s contract, Wilkinson made no mention of the allegations, instead stating, “On behalf of Thorns FC, I would like to thank Paul for his services to the club these past two seasons.” Paulson also knew about Riley’s depraved behavior—and he even admitted that they factored into the decision not to renew his contract—but he nevertheless posted numerous tweets praising Riley’s work. Paulson later deleted the tweets.