5 Takeaways from My First Season Ticket Experience (Charlotte FC)
It’s every sport-loving child’s dream to grow up and attend every possible game for their favorite sports team. Unfortunately, my dream of flying across the big pond to London, England and becoming a Chelsea F.C. superfan still eludes me. I’ve since curved my expectations and decided on living in my favorite city in the U.S. instead. Charlotte, North Carolina.
After moving to the Charlotte area in 2020 amidst the height of COVID-19, I learned that the Queen City would be host to its very own MLS expansion team. The powers that be announced it would be aptly named “Charlotte Football Club”. I was already a fan of one “CFC”, and now the stage was set for me to make it my second.
2022 finally came and it was time for the club’s debut season. By this point I’d promptly signed on to be a season ticket member. And as we near the end of 2022, here are my 5 takeaways from my first season ticket member experience:
1. The Management
Charlotte F.C. is owned and operated by the wealthiest NFL (and now wealthiest MLS) owner in the world, David Tepper. His current net worth is an estimated $18.5 BILLION, and without this level of financial backing it’s hard to imagine a scenario where anyone else would’ve gotten CLT FC off the ground so quickly.
Featured left: David Tepper at a press conference in 2021 ahead of inaugural season - Photo Credits: mlssoccer.com and Tom Bogert
Despite his massive purchasing power and influence, there seems to be a low standing in his popularity with his sports fans.
Earlier in June 2022, Tepper and others in positions of power signed off on firing of head coach Miguel Ángel Ramírez just shy of halfway through (14 of 34) their inaugural season. I’m of the opinion that, while the MLS is a competitive world and you obviously want your team to win, you should really give your flagship team and its staff more time to settle in. Surely he wasn’t thinking they’d win the league on their debut season?
Given the recent form of his NFL team (1-3), you can’t help but wonder if Panther’s fans aren’t suspecting that they aren’t far away from a change in their head coach, too.
2. Team Branding / Social Media
One thing you can count on under Tepper’s ownership, is that there definitely isn’t a lack of branding, advertising, and supporter incentives that are second to none in the MLS world.
For starters, members who signed up for season tickets were sent one-of-a-kind supporter’s boxes. Inside was a freshly minted limited series Charlotte coin that aligns with the “Mint City” history. It also included scarves, pennants, koozies, and more.
The team and its designers have pumped out a brand new scarf each and every month. If you’re not familiar with scarves and their place in soccer, just understand that it has a long history dating back to the 1900s. These things are downright talismanic for die hard fans like myself.
Accompanying the scarves, almost every home game throughout the season has incentivized fans with “arrive early and be rewarded” type merchandise. Something I know that a lot of other well-established MLS clubs regularly fail to do to show fan appreciation.
Moreover, their proprietary mobile app allows fans to access and consume all of this content to stay up to date with the latest news, pre-game information, and store access. It even allows us season ticket members to manage all of our game tickets from a single hub.
3. The Viewing Experience
Despite the MLS’s efforts to make it as frustrating as possible to watch your favorite team from home, Charlotte has managed to offset this by quite a large margin.
Normally, to watch any MLS game would require you to have a TV subscription or ESPN+...or both. However the ESPN+ app enacts “blackout” areas for local games. So for those of us in Charlotte, you can’t watch the game on the ESPN+ app. Insert massive eye-roll here. The good news is, the Charlotte mobile app and their online website allow you to stream EVERY Charlotte game for FREE without any sign up required. Again, something else not a lot of other MLS teams do.
One redeeming quality for the 2023 season is that all of the games are moving to Apple TV+. So while you still would need to pay for a subscription, it will come without all of the blackout restrictions that ESPN+ had.
But when you aren’t viewing from home and decide to make your way to Bank of America Stadium, I’ll be the first to tell you that the atmosphere there and the fans are electric. The inaugural game saw Charlotte top the MLS attendance record and the Queen City averaged the second highest home attendance year round.
The pre-game and home traditions are almost all but solidified moving forward to future seasons. From the national anthem being sung by the fans (originating from an equipment malfunction during the opening game) to doing our own version of “The Poznan” (seen here), it’s truly an experience that never gets old and is not easily forgotten.
Bank of America Stadium - Charlotte, NC - Photo Credits to Charlotte Football Club
4. Standouts and Team Performance
Charlotte F.C. is brimming with talent and several big names in the footballing world. Headlining the squad has been Christian Fuchs, an Austrian international at 36 years old with plenty of footballing experience coming from the Premier League. His most notable achievement being on the squad for Leicester during the 2015-16 season where they made the remarkable run to win the league. While it has been refreshing watching his EPL experience in the MLS, you could tell throughout the season that his age and his pace were showing signs of slowing down. I’m hoping to keep him on for one more season to help steer the club to green pastures.
Other standouts amongst the squad include the likes of Karol Swiderski, Ben Bender, and Kamil Jozwiak.
Bender, age 21, is arguably one the most promising American youth talents inside the MLS. Straight out of University of Maryland, Ben was the number one pick in the MLS SuperDraft. With only one season away game remaining, he has a total of 3 goals and 6 assists for the season. He currently leads the club in assists, and with a combined total of 9 goal contributions he’s solidified himself as regular starter. Given it’s only his first season of professional level soccer, he’s bound to only get better and better with time.
This brings me to two of our three Polish internationals in the squad, Karol Swiderski and Kamil Jozwiak. On paper, Kamil hasn’t been quite as impressive as Bender. Normally playing a wide attacking role, his specialty lies in his relentless work rate and impressive skill on the ball. Despite not having scored a goal, he’s still one of my favorite players this season because you can tell he leaves his heart on the field and fights for every inch of grass each time he goes out.
-Featured right: Swiderski after scoring for Poland vs. Wales - Photo credits to Charlotte Football Club
As for Swiderski, this man is a rare and special talent. This generation of Polish players surely seem as if they were born a different breed. He’s easily the most technically gifted player on the team. While the season went as a bit of a roller coaster for Karol, he rounded out the year brilliantly. Having scored 2 goals in his last 3 MLS matches, he also impressed on international duty for his country by scoring the winning goal against Wales in the UEFA Nations League. He’s Charlotte’s leading scorer and you can tell he’s absolutely a must watch going into the World Cup in Qatar next month. He’s in the form of his life, and I hope he can carry that same form and exciting gameplay for many Charlotte seasons to come.
Rounding out the end of the season, our Queen City boys saw our inaugural playoff dreams come to an end during a hard fought home game against Columbus. The game ended in a 2-2 draw and put Charlotte just out of touching distance from a playoff spot with one away game left to play. Our last game takes us to a grudge match against the NY Red Bulls after they knocked Charlotte out of the US Open Cup.
5. Looking Ahead to the Future
The more you revisit this blog, the more you’ll understand about my undying love and passion that I have for this sport. The same goes for clubs I support. Charlotte has given me the unique opportunity to be a supporter for a club from ground zero; day one in its history. It has that home-town feel in a city that I already loved. Now, I get to regularly share the match day experiences with my family and kids.
Creating these memories and sharing these special moments with family, friends, and other fans is priceless. From our seats, you get the most beautiful backdrop of the city skyline mixed with the lively atmosphere of the stadium. It’s a perfect combination, and why I’ll be keeping my season tickets there for as long as I can.
So next time you find yourself out at a Charlotte home game, you can find me there in Mint City. Section 101, Row 16. Cheering and singing at the top of my lungs behind the goal…loving life.
