Few will argue that the ideals of democracy and professional sports exist on opposite ends of the spectrum. Rarely does the front office saunter down to the turnstiles on match day to poll the paying public on its overall happiness with the state of the club.

Instead, business decisions are made with relative anonymity in mahogany boardrooms that sit high above the field of play.

That is until now. An interesting social experiment is playing itself out on the Thames estuary to the east of London.

Ebbsfleet United, an English minor league club which plays four divisions below the Premier League, is owned by a 30,000-member fan base that pay an annual membership fee of 35 GBP to keep their stake in the club.

Included in that annual fee is a voice and the right to exercise it at any time. For example, when an unidentified club makes a 140,000 pound offer for a top 19-year-old striker, as is the case with Ebbsfleet United at the current, the 30,000-member board of directors must come to a unanimous decision to either 'yey' or 'nay' the move. The membership fee also gets each shareholder a say in the starting 11 each week.

Should TFC acquire forward Carlos Ruiz from Los Angeles?
Ebbsfleet United should be applauded for bringing the concept of sports ownership into the modern age. The backwater franchise embraced the undeniable truth that sports franchises exist entirely on interest from the paying public, and without that entity every field of play would be overrun with tumbleweed.

The concept is so simple, so novel, yet so impossible to ever exist outside the realm of a fourth division team. But at the same time it is easy to wonder just how the system would react in Toronto, where there is talk a revolving door may need to be installed at BMO to support the player movement which has defined the club's sophomore season.

The myriad of TFC supporters' groups have given the club its identity, and without the efforts of each, BMO Field would just be another place to be and be seen come Saturday afternoon. If given a decisive voice, like Ebbsfleet United, would Maurice Edu still be in a Reds uniform or would the reputation of Carlos Ruiz have prevented the dodgy goal scorer from trying to turn his career around as a member of TFC?

Should midfielder Maurice Edu be sold to Glasgow Rangers for $5 million?
Now I imagine 30,000 votes will not be registered on this humble blog, but in the spirit of investigating the hypothetical, exercise your democratic right and vote on the polls to the right of the page.

The knock on public ownership is that the concept is for clubs with no ambition and giants like Chelsea and Manchester United would scoff at the principles of democratic control. I for one, believe that if the example set by Ebbsfleet somehow arrived at TFC, a mid-level franchise, many of the players who dotted the landscape this season would never have made it through that revolving door at BMO. Oh, and in case you're wondering about the success the Ebbsfleet United? Three months after the ownership arrived in the hands of its supporters, Ebbsfleet United won the FA Trophy at Wembley.

NOTES: The Chivas USA match on Saturday night will be shown live in all Sportsnet regions ... The September 6 World Cup qualifier between Canada and Honduras will once again be streamed live on Sportsnet.ca.