Mark Sanchez: A new soccer team to be known as Athletic Club Grand Rapids, which I thought was kind of an interesting take. Instead of Football Club, they go with Athletic Club. It's an athletic club, AC Grand Rapids. And they unveiled a logo that's kind of a look to that logo and scheme that kind of fits with what you see with a lot of the football clubs here in the U.S. and Europe with the initials of Grand Rapids and the Shield. So, it's one more step toward this professional soccer franchise coming to life here in Grand Rapids.
Now, late last year it was announced that Grand Rapids had been awarded a team, a franchise. We see the stadium going up there over on the west side of downtown just across the highway and river. It's really coming to life. With all this now, we await what's the mascot for the team? That announcement will be coming up sometime in the weeks and months ahead. And what they said back there over the weekend when they unveiled the name of the team, and the franchise is this team will begin playing in 2027. So, it's one more element, one more amenity here in Grand Rapids as the community just keeps going and further grows and develops.
Patrick Center: This is radio, let us paint a picture. The color scheme is Navy blue, gold and black, and the logo itself, it's a shield, and within the shield, you see the letters G.R. and straight down the middle is blue and that represents the Grand River. And underneath it, there's a scroll and the letters AC and Grand Rapids. So, this was thought out. I believe the theme has to do with kind of that Lumber Baron era of Grand Rapids and furniture making.
Mark Sanchez: Yeah, it does kind of have some of that look, doesn't it? You know, similar look to what you see with some of the other football clubs and their styles they use and the logos they use, but also it has a few of those unique elements from Grand Rapids.
Patrick Center: So, there's the branding and I would imagine they want to start selling souvenirs and apparel and everything else. I believe there is a team shop, an online team shop that should be operational soon.
Mark Sanchez: Should be operational soon. I believe Dave Van Andel said, in the announcement over the weekend that yes, the team, the franchise, indeed intend to open a temporary location to start buying the swag. The sweaters, the hats, t-shirts. If you're a soccer fan or football fan for the devotees, you'll be able to start buying some of the merchandise here, hopefully not in the too distant future. Again, it's just kind of building up here over the next couple of years as this franchise begins play, begins match play in 2027.
Patrick Center: We're talking with Crain's Grand Rapids Business staff writer, Mark Sanchez. Sleeping Giant Capital is launching a $100 million fund to back West Michigan firms.
Mark Sanchez: This is a big deal. This was an organization that came together a few years ago, Sleeping Giant Capital. It's out of Kalamazoo, started by a couple of Western Michigan University business professors, Doug Lepisto and Derrick McIver. And their idea was twofold. First, have capital for businesses, for people buying businesses. But first, if you participate with them, you will go through a program, kind of an entrepreneurial training program. You will learn how to run a business. You will learn and become an entrepreneur. And then once you go through that, and they also have an entrepreneur and residence program, you go through that training, and then they'll stake you. Then they will work with you to find the right business for you to buy, and they'll provide the capital to invest in that business alongside you. So, it's a really unique model that they've developed and cultivated over the last couple of years.
And last week over in Portland at one of the companies they acquired a couple of years ago, Portland Products, they announced a new fund. Their first fund was $34.5 million. That's pretty much fully deployed across six companies. And now they've launched, they have a $100 million commitment from a few investors to create a fund too. So, keep that name on your mind, Sleeping Giant Capital. It's growing, it's taken on a bigger presence here. And in really doing this as over the last decade, two decades, we've seen much more private equity and venture capital available here in Michigan and accessible.
So, these folks, they're again, a whole generation of boomers out there that are at retirement age and they're men and women who own businesses have for a while, they're looking to exit. Who are they going to sell to? Well, what Sleeping Giant Capital is doing is basically preparing and training and mentoring that next generation of entrepreneur, that next generation of business owner to come in and buy these businesses, keep them local, keep and retain local ownership. And then the important part is they're providing that financing and that capital to buy that business.
Patrick Center: You've also written a story this week on non-competes. The FTC is signaling they're taking a closer look at non-competes after ending a nationwide ban. What does this all mean?
Mark Sanchez: Yeah, bottom line, if you use a non-compete agreement, whether you have signed one as an employee or a contract worker, or if your company uses non-competes, basically, they prohibit you from leaving an employer and going directly to work for a competitor. That's the basic gist of it. Some are more complex than that. A couple of years ago, under the Biden administration, the Federal Trade Commission proposed and then later put a rule into effect, basically banning non-compete agreements in the U.S., most of them anyway.
Now, under the Trump administration, the FTC has decided to no longer challenge or support that ban, which was set aside by some federal courts and some litigation. The FTC will no longer appeal those rulings from 2024, which essentially makes that ban no longer in existence. But that doesn't mean the FTC is done with non-competes.
It's basically, when putting out that announcement earlier this month, it said it will still examine non-compete agreements that it considers unfair or anti-competitive in that it believes can suppress wages, limit the labor market competition and the ability of employees to move around. And that's some of the arguments for abandoning non-competes or at least putting some limits and regulations around them, which is it limits the ability of people to move around, their employment mobility, or if they want to leave and start their own business based on that trade or skill they have, that limits entrepreneurism.
Yes, the arguments are also on the other side that says there are some very legitimate reasons for non-compete agreements to basically protect intellectual property, to protect trade secrets, to protect a business's interests. If they hire somebody, they make an investment in them to train them, to prepare them, to build and develop that individual. Then one day they suddenly take off to go to a competitor. Well, where's the right of that business, that employer, to protect their interests? So, there are really some arguments on both sides of this.
But right now, the FTC is no longer pursuing that complete ban on non-competes but will take a good hard look at non-competes that come to its attention that could be considered unfair and anti-competitive. And folks can go to the crainsgrandrapids.com website and find the story. The FTC did open up a public comment period that runs through November 3rd. It launched an inquiry to better understand the scope, prevalence, and the effects of non-compete agreements. and just simply to gather information for future enforcement action. So you can go to the FTC site or you can go to the story on our website and there's a link to the inquiry and you can offer your own public comment about what you think of non-competes or if you've worked under one, what's your experiences or if you're an employer that uses non-competes, offer your perspective. And that public comment period runs through November 3rd.
And just to put this into good perspective is, the FTC, when it issued the ban last year, estimated there's about 30 million people in the U.S. right now that are working under some form of non-compete agreement. And the story we did last week here at Crain’s Grand Rapids, we talked to some legal counsels, labor attorneys, that work in this field and work with them. They said, basically, if you're an employer that uses them, take a good look at them, review them, make sure they don't go too far, make sure they're not too stringent. Make sure they're complying with your state and federal regulations and laws and just be sure that they don't go over the top. That could cause you some liability and risk.
Patrick Center: Crain's Grand Rapids Business staff writer, Mark Sanchez. Thank you so much.
Mark Sanchez: Thank you, Patrick.