KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Peter Vermes, Sporting Kansas City manager and technical director, isn’t the giddy type, so his reaction to having Patrick Mahomes as a boss was more muted than the average Kansas Citian’s probably would be.
Still, Vermes is happy to welcome Mahomes as part of the club’s ownership group, which SKC announced Tuesday.
“For sure, it helps,” Vermes said. “It’s an obvious one. It helps because of who he is and obviously the brand that he’s building and all that.”
Fútbol 💙 Football
Welcome @PatrickMahomes to the Sporting ownership family.#SportingKC | #OneSportingWay pic.twitter.com/zpQR2zmrZN
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) July 27, 2021
But it’s not merely Mahomes’ growing celebrity and name recognition that excites Vermes.
“Personally, I’m always more interested in the seriousness of the person,” Vermes said. “I know that he’s very serious about it — and was prior to and is — about being a part of the club.”
Vermes, who is in his 13th season as Sporting KC’s manager, is 164-124-96 in MLS games during his career. The club is 199-147-110 across all competitions during the Vermes era.
SKC has won an MLS Cup (2013) and three U.S. Open Cup titles (2012, 2015, 2017) under Vermes, who was inducted in the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2013.
The 2019 MLS Sporting Executive of the Year Award is a testament to Vermes’ seriousness on the field and managing the team behind the scenes — traits he also sees in Mahomes.
“I think he really appreciates the way the club goes about its business, both on the business side and the technical,” Vermes said, “and also that we’re a club that strives to win. I think that he wants to be a part of that, if he’s going to be an owner of a club. That’s an important aspect for him.”
This #WallpaperWednesday is dedicated to the newest member of the Sporting family 🤩#SportingKC 🤝 @PatrickMahomes pic.twitter.com/S24IEsRMiB
— Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) July 28, 2021
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