CAROLYN KINDLE

Soccer

Occupation: Team Owner
Born: ; St. Louis, Missouri
Owns: St. Louis CitySC (2019-Present)

Portions of this story by Lindsay Schnell, USA TODAY

Carolyn Kindle is the first to admit that in 2019, she wouldn’t have described herself as a soccer fan, much less a soccer connoisseur. Kindle knows that’s an unusual origin story — especially considering that the 45-year-old business executive now owns a soccer team. Kindle is making history as the league’s first women-led ownership group.

“I’ll be honest, four years ago I knew nothing,” Kindle, the team’s CEO and president, told USA TODAY Sports with a laugh. “I’ve learned a lot about the sport since then. Now, I understand why it’s called the beautiful game.”

Clearly, the city was itching for a team. Shortly after St. Louis was awarded an expansion franchise in August 2019, more than 60,000 fans put down season ticket deposits.

Kindle admits she’s still somewhat uneasy describing herself as a “soccer person.” She’s learning the intricacies of the game: “Turns out there are a lot of cups to win in soccer,” she deadpanned. But investing in a soccer team and soccer league makes perfect sense because above all else, Kindle has a business pedigree.

She has also kept busy with other priorities — namely, continuing to help run the Enterprise Rent-A-Car empire that her family built over the last six-plus decades. (She is the granddaughter of late Enterprise founder Jack Taylor.) Kindle serves as the president of the Fortune 500 company’s foundation, overseeing various charitable requests, among other responsibilities. A lifelong St. Louisan, she’s always been passionate about giving back to and being active in her community.

Around 2018, Kindle realized sports weren’t just about winning or losing games. They were about bringing people together — and making money. She excelled at both of those. Maybe it was time to expand her portfolio. While she might not have spent free time playing MLS fantasy or studying free agency, Kindle knew a good investment when she saw one. To her, gathering other like-minded people to bring soccer to St. Louis was plain old common sense. “It’s OK that she’s not a soccer person,” Twellman said. “St. Louis has plenty of soccer people — what we need are forward-thinking business people who know how to connect people from all walks of life. Carolyn is going to use the vehicle of sport to do that.”

That the people she tapped to help her were (almost) all women was more of a happy accident than an intentional statement. “This has always been a family project and in my family, there’s only one man left — my uncle. Otherwise, it’s all females,” said Kindle, who is joined in the ownership group by six other women from the Taylor family. Andy Taylor (executive chairman of Enterprise Holdings) and Jim Kavanaugh (CEO of World Wide Technology) make up the rest of the ownership group.

“When we talk about majority female ownership, it wasn’t by design — it’s just how our family has been constructed.” Still, Kindle and others understand the magnitude of a women-led ownership group, especially in men’s professional sports, where women executives are rare.