Stadium Discussion

[FredMertz]

When you look at the size of our city and metro area, combined with the diversity we have, we really should be bringing in more fans. I really don't even know what it is besides the stadium issue. We lack a true home so when you tell people you're a fan of NYCFC and they ask where they play, and you tell them Yankee Stadium. I think many people just think we're like a minor league team renting the place.

I thought comparing the attendance to the attendance of other actual teams, rather than what your gut instinct says we should be drawing, made more sense.

I would not have though there were a lot of people in the NY area that don't know where the team plays or that MLS is the top-flight that would come if we weren't playing in Yankee Stadium.

LA, Houston and Dallas are pretty big, diverse cities with teams that we're outdrawing even though they have their own stadiums and aren't directly competing with another team in the area.

But if you think we should be drawing more, that's tough to refute.

 

[Jon]

I thought comparing the attendance to the attendance of other actual teams, rather than what your gut instinct says we should be drawing, made more sense.

I would not have though there were a lot of people in the NY area that don't know where the team plays or that MLS is the top-flight that would come if we weren't playing in Yankee Stadium.

LA, Houston and Dallas are pretty big, diverse cities with teams that we're outdrawing even though they have their own stadiums and aren't directly competing with another team in the area.

But if you think we should be drawing more, that's tough to refute.

What do you think is the biggest reason for 7k less per year? No Lampard? Newness wearing off?

I would think the fact that we're playing well should offset that.

 

[Ulrich]

What do you think is the biggest reason for 7k less per year? No Lampard? Newness wearing off?

I would think the fact that we're playing well should offset that.

Playing well this year is already too late to offset the loss of STH from last year. I have no idea what the answer is, but throw together in a bowl that we play at YS, have had shitty DPs, and blew up faster than july 4th fireworks last year in the playoffs, and maybe your answer is in that mixture.

Our first two years were pure shit followed by promise that stepped in shit. there's not a lot there for people on the edge to put faith in - if we go far this post season and don't get embarrassed, and follow that up with concrete stadium news and early player signings, then the STH count will likely go back up.

 

[ferrarinycfc]

I thought comparing the attendance to the attendance of other actual teams, rather than what your gut instinct says we should be drawing, made more sense.

I would not have though there were a lot of people in the NY area that don't know where the team plays or that MLS is the top-flight that would come if we weren't playing in Yankee Stadium.

LA, Houston and Dallas are pretty big, diverse cities with teams that we're outdrawing even though they have their own stadiums and aren't directly competing with another team in the area.

But if you think we should be drawing more, that's tough to refute.

LA are having a woeful season though.

Dallas and Houston both suffer from playing in high heat/humidity in the summer. They could use indoor stadiums to help, plus dallas plays way out in the sticks and the stadium is under renovation.

 

[ferrarinycfc]

These are the home averages after week 29.

1 Atlanta United FC 47,239

2 Seattle Sounders 43,400

3 Toronto FC 27,544

4 Orlando City SC 25,235

5 NYC FC 22,648

6 LA Galaxy 21,844

7 Vancouver Whitecaps 21,581

8 Portland Timbers 21,144

9 New York Red Bulls 20,929

10 Minnesota United 20,380

11 San Jose Earthquakes 20,330

12 Montreal Impact 20,273

13 Sporting KC 19,603

14 Real Salt Lake 18,761

15 NE Revolution 18,236

16 Houston Dynamo 17,626

17 Chicago Fire 17,180

18 Philadelphia Union 16,651

19 DC United 16,434

20 Colorado Rapids 15,356

21 Columbus Crew 15,320

22 FC Dallas 15,142



Every team below RSL is underperforming in my opinion. The fact that 7 out of those bottom 8 teams are in cities with large populations, makes it even more so.

Based on the season NYCFC are having, the attendance should be around the Toronto mark.

 

[Jon]

Playing well this year is already too late to offset the loss of STH from last year. I have no idea what the answer is, but throw together in a bowl that we play at YS, have had shitty DPs, and blew up faster than july 4th fireworks last year in the playoffs, and maybe your answer is in that mixture.

Our first two years were pure shit followed by promise that stepped in shit. there's not a lot there for people on the edge to put faith in - if we go far this post season and don't get embarrassed, and follow that up with concrete stadium news and early player signings, then the STH count will likely go back up.

You might be onto something with the late signings. They basically didn't sign anyone or announce a signing until like a week before the team came into camp. Didn't put a lot of faith in season ticket holders that the team was doing their job.

 

[Jon]

These are the home averages after week 29.

1 Atlanta United FC 47,239

2 Seattle Sounders 43,400

3 Toronto FC 27,544

4 Orlando City SC 25,235

5 NYC FC 22,648

6 LA Galaxy 21,844

7 Vancouver Whitecaps 21,581

8 Portland Timbers 21,144

9 New York Red Bulls 20,929

10 Minnesota United 20,380

11 San Jose Earthquakes 20,330

12 Montreal Impact 20,273

13 Sporting KC 19,603

14 Real Salt Lake 18,761

15 NE Revolution 18,236

16 Houston Dynamo 17,626

17 Chicago Fire 17,180

18 Philadelphia Union 16,651

19 DC United 16,434

20 Colorado Rapids 15,356

21 Columbus Crew 15,320

22 FC Dallas 15,142



Every team below RSL is underperforming in my opinion. The fact that 7 out of those bottom 8 teams are in cities with large populations, makes it even more so.

Based on the season NYCFC are having, the attendance should be around the Toronto mark.

Isn't Dallas' # artificially low because of the soccer hall of fame construction?

 

[Christopher Jee]

What do you think is the biggest reason for 7k less per year? No Lampard? Newness wearing off?

I would think the fact that we're playing well should offset that.

Could well be. Also, we shouldn't forget that "doing well in MLS" doesn't necessarily translate to being watchable. A lot of people would rather watch the top leagues on TV than come to Yankee Stadium to watch a relatively low standard of football in the flesh

 

[Kenny]

Assuming only a negligible number of people go to both NYCFC and NJRB games, that means the NYC metro area averages about 40k

 

[ferrarinycfc]

Isn't Dallas' # artificially low because of the soccer hall of fame construction?

yes, but they have never had great attendance.

 

[Jon]

Could well be. Also, we shouldn't forget that "doing well in MLS" doesn't necessarily translate to being watchable. A lot of people would rather watch the top leagues on TV than come to Yankee Stadium to watch a relatively low standard of football in the flesh

Assuming only a negligible number of people go to both NYCFC and NJRB games, that means the NYC metro area averages about 40k

Good point. It's disappointing because you look at this team and wish more people would show up to watch them.

 

[FredMertz]

What do you think is the biggest reason for 7k less per year? No Lampard? Newness wearing off?

I would think the fact that we're playing well should offset that.

Look at the home schedule vs last year. Here are the games we added:

NE, SJ, ATL, SEA, MIN, SKC, POR, HOU

vs the games we lost:

TOR, ORL, VAN, NJRB, RSL, COL, LA, FCD

That's 1 marquee game lost (SEA, as I don't think ATL was marquee at the time) and 5 marquee games lost (TOR, ORL, NJRB, LA, FCD).

I think those games + the Hartford game counting against our average gets you pretty close to the lost 4500 in attendance.

***** WARNING for Mr. Garbowski, I've written this before and I know you hate when I am repetitive or redundant or when I repeat myself*****

I believe the first season attendance was high because of the novelty and the second season didn't drop as much as the third because many people (myself included) that bought extras in the first season kept them for the second season because the resale market was good enough to almost always get at least face for good seats.

That didn't hold last year, so I think many folks with extras dropped them. I didn't drop, but downgraded and will do that again for next year to maintain my founders status.

 

[Seth]

What do you think is the biggest reason for 7k less per year? No Lampard? Newness wearing off?

I would think the fact that we're playing well should offset that.

What is that 7,000 number from? Not sure I've seen that before. And according to our official MLS attendance numbers all three seasons have been pretty much the same.

Each year is just barely lower than the year before but if you take out those early super high attendance matches it's pretty darn even. Here's a five game rolling average:

Note that I left off Hartford. That was 10,165. Not bad considering it was 120 miles away with very little notice. Didn't want it to pull down the averages though as it's not really a home game. Haven't decided how to deal with that one going forward, or if it happens again. And not counting Hartford we've had only two matches out of 50 so far that have been under 20,000. One was in March against Montreal when it was like 20° or something, the other was early September against Kansas City on a Tuesday night.

Anyway, point is is that there's been no significant drop off in attendance over our three years of existence.

 

[413Blue]

Watching the Revs-ATL match.....that stadium is just so unappealing. Yankee Stadium looks better on TV than a crappy empty stadium with football lines.

 

[mgarbowski]

Look at the home schedule vs last year. Here are the games we added:

NE, SJ, ATL, SEA, MIN, SKC, POR, HOU

vs the games we lost:

TOR, ORL, VAN, NJRB, RSL, COL, LA, FCD

That's 1 marquee game lost (SEA, as I don't think ATL was marquee at the time) and 5 marquee games lost (TOR, ORL, NJRB, LA, FCD).

I think those games + the Hartford game counting against our average gets you pretty close to the lost 4500 in attendance.

***** WARNING for Mr. Garbowski, I've written this before and I know you hate when I am repetitive or redundant or when I repeat myself*****

I believe the first season attendance was high because of the novelty and the second season didn't drop as much as the third because many people (myself included) that bought extras in the first season kept them for the second season because the resale market was good enough to almost always get at least face for good seats.

That didn't hold last year, so I think many folks with extras dropped them. I didn't drop, but downgraded and will do that again for next year to maintain my founders status.

I think you misinterpret what sets me off, but that's OK. I like this.

 

[NYCFC_JD]

These are the home averages after week 29.
14 Real Salt Lake 18,761
15 NE Revolution 18,236
16 Houston Dynamo 17,626
17 Chicago Fire 17,180
18 Philadelphia Union 16,651
19 DC United 16,434
20 Colorado Rapids 15,356
21 Columbus Crew 15,320
22 FC Dallas 15,142
Every team below RSL is underperforming in my opinion. The fact that 7 out of those bottom 8 teams are in cities with large populations, makes it even more so.
Based on the season NYCFC are having, the attendance should be around the Toronto mark.

That's really interesting to see listed out. I think this is also a huge indicator of how critical it is to have a downtown/easily accessible stadium. Out of these basement dwellers, I believe only Columbus and Houston have "downtown" stadiums. It'll be interesting to see where LA Galaxy are next year in this list after LAFC open up shop downtown.

List also shows why the league is wanting to expand so rapidly. Expansion fan bases have been wildly more energetic and successful than the original clubs. I'd argue that's because the new ownership groups are wealthier and care more, but I'm sure there are a lot of reasons. Could easily see teams like Cinci, Nashville and others raise the average attendance of the league quite a bit.

 

[FredMertz]

I think you misinterpret what sets me off, but that's OK. I like this.

I just felt like gratuitously working you in to a post.

 

[NickFromAstoria]

We have 2 related but different discussions.
1. Why has attendance dropped (unless it didn't even drop per Seth); and
2. Why is NYC not killing it in attendance compared to other cities.

I find the second more interesting. NYCFC is 5th, which is fine, but we're also larger than everyone else ahead of us by a factor of roughly 2 or more.

I think the following factors explain why:

• NY is not unified. We are fractured. Diversity is not an asset in this instance. And I'm not specifically talking ethnic diversity. It also includes having 5 distinct boroughs, with multiple unconnected neighborhoods in each, and loyalties that go to your school, or neighborhood, or country of origin, or class, or religion, or race, or your particular interest in art, literature, TV, music, politicians, a hobby, or collection, or whatever.
• This is worse than in other cities because NYC is so huge that every tiny sub-group has a critical mass of people who can cluster together instead of getting engaged through momentum into any possible city-wide civic culture.
• Have you ever been in another city when one of their sports teams makes it to even a conference final? The entire city is covered in team colors and everyone takes part in it, including people who silently think sports is stupid. Here, even when the biggest teams like the Giants, Yankees or (it's been a while but still) Knicks win a championship, you not only have fans of competing local teams rooting against them, but everyone who thinks sports is boring sits it out because there are hundreds of thousands of people who feel the same and there is no pressure, negative or positive, to go along. In other cities they would be would be a bandwagon boosters and might even attend games on occasion.
• Many New Yorkers feel disdain for much of American culture, and admiration for foreign. That many foreign soccer leagues are better than MLS reinforces this but it would be an issue and will be an issue as MLS improves. So many NYers root for big foreign teams instead of the local MLS team. Obviously there is substantial evidence just in this forum of fans who do both, but it's a distinct subset. This is why attendance boosts more for visits by Schweinsteiger or a washed up Gerrard than for USMNT legend Clint Dempsey and Seattle. Getting excited for a game against Columbus, Houston or Salt Lake will never happen for these people.
• NYCFC is affiliated with the wrong foreign team. Man City is nouveau riche who became good the wrong way and too recently. Teams like Chelsea did the same thing more or less but did so just earlier enough to seem more traditional. Even Tottenham probably has more cachet among these fans than Man City.
• Portland, which has a large similar culture group to the people I am discussing in NYC, overcame this with a team that is distinctly Portland. The name. The colors. Everything about that teams says Portland. It think also helps that that Portland is smaller so the connection between the team and this subculture could coalesce more easily.
• In contrast, NYCFC's identity has nothing to do with New York City. Instead, we have generic "City" branding. Forget Man City, let's take a look at our sibling down under.

View attachment 7553
View attachment 7554 View attachment 7555

• City to the Core, This Is Our City, This Week In Our City, Meeting The City. Every damn one of those could be transplanted to any random city where CFG sets up shop including right here in NYC and fit right in, and be just as bland, generic and meaningless. There's nothing NYC about NYCFC's marketing, name, or branding, except for the letters NYC. Every team in every city uses the that locality's name name so that's not exactly anything. Subway posters based on the "City" brand do nothing to connect this team to This City. Even all the "City" jerseys are 80% or more identical.
• View attachment 7556
• Oh, we have some orange, and the badge looks a bit like a subway token. That's how NYCFC represents NYC. I think this is one reason why people are so unrelenting on demanding a stadium in the boroughs, and so unforgiving of Belmont, even with the sliver of it inside the city. And yes, transportation is a major issue, but even if that were solved, and Belmont were absolutely convenient, I think the fans we do have would reject that site because if the team is not actually 100% inside NYC then there is nothing NYC about it at all. It's just "City"
• Beyond Portland, contrast us also with Seattle or Vancouver. Everything about those teams evokes their location: the name, the colors, the badge. It all fits together. I don't see anything particularly "Atlanta" about Atlanta United, but the locals do. Maybe it is the colors, or the owner, who is a beloved local personality, plus a bandwagon effect in a small/big town (or maybe Atlanta is big/small). They have obviously gotten hardcore soccer fans, plus Atlanta boosters, plus general sports fans, plus soccer mom/dads/kids, plus hipsters, to embrace this team. In contrast to those teams, we are the generic"City."

View attachment 7557

The core fanbase of this team is people who really like soccer, without reservation, and want a local team to root for. But I think this team does a poor job of wooing

• people who like soccer but mostly root for foreign teams
• people who like other sports and could be convinced to embrace soccer with a bit of momentum and actual NYC branding.

Part of that is the greater barriers and obstacles that NYC presents as I discussed, but it is also just poorly done.

Excellent post. I'd only add that I think that we've done a decent job in making the "City" more New York City-centric - but that work was predominantly done by us the fans specifically, and there have been times where it's seemed like CFG has come along somewhat grudgingly.

 

[Ulrich]

We have 2 related but different discussions.
1. Why has attendance dropped (unless it didn't even drop per Seth); and
2. Why is NYC not killing it in attendance compared to other cities.

I find the second more interesting. NYCFC is 5th, which is fine, but we're also larger than everyone else ahead of us by a factor of roughly 2 or more.

I think the following factors explain why:

• NY is not unified. We are fractured. Diversity is not an asset in this instance. And I'm not specifically talking ethnic diversity. It also includes having 5 distinct boroughs, with multiple unconnected neighborhoods in each, and loyalties that go to your school, or neighborhood, or country of origin, or class, or religion, or race, or your particular interest in art, literature, TV, music, politicians, a hobby, or collection, or whatever.
• This is worse than in other cities because NYC is so huge that every tiny sub-group has a critical mass of people who can cluster together instead of getting engaged through momentum into any possible city-wide civic culture.
• Have you ever been in another city when one of their sports teams makes it to even a conference final? The entire city is covered in team colors and everyone takes part in it, including people who silently think sports is stupid. Here, even when the biggest teams like the Giants, Yankees or (it's been a while but still) Knicks win a championship, you not only have fans of competing local teams rooting against them, but everyone who thinks sports is boring sits it out because there are hundreds of thousands of people who feel the same and there is no pressure, negative or positive, to go along. In other cities they would be would be a bandwagon boosters and might even attend games on occasion.
• Many New Yorkers feel disdain for much of American culture, and admiration for foreign. That many foreign soccer leagues are better than MLS reinforces this but it would be an issue and will be an issue as MLS improves. So many NYers root for big foreign teams instead of the local MLS team. Obviously there is substantial evidence just in this forum of fans who do both, but it's a distinct subset. This is why attendance boosts more for visits by Schweinsteiger or a washed up Gerrard than for USMNT legend Clint Dempsey and Seattle. Getting excited for a game against Columbus, Houston or Salt Lake will never happen for these people.
• NYCFC is affiliated with the wrong foreign team. Man City is nouveau riche who became good the wrong way and too recently. Teams like Chelsea did the same thing more or less but did so just earlier enough to seem more traditional. Even Tottenham probably has more cachet among these fans than Man City.
• Portland, which has a large similar culture group to the people I am discussing in NYC, overcame this with a team that is distinctly Portland. The name. The colors. Everything about that teams says Portland. It think also helps that that Portland is smaller so the connection between the team and this subculture could coalesce more easily.
• In contrast, NYCFC's identity has nothing to do with New York City. Instead, we have generic "City" branding. Forget Man City, let's take a look at our sibling down under.

View attachment 7553
View attachment 7554 View attachment 7555

• City to the Core, This Is Our City, This Week In Our City, Meeting The City. Every damn one of those could be transplanted to any random city where CFG sets up shop including right here in NYC and fit right in, and be just as bland, generic and meaningless. There's nothing NYC about NYCFC's marketing, name, or branding, except for the letters NYC. Every team in every city uses the that locality's name name so that's not exactly anything. Subway posters based on the "City" brand do nothing to connect this team to This City. Even all the "City" jerseys are 80% or more identical.
• View attachment 7556
• Oh, we have some orange, and the badge looks a bit like a subway token. That's how NYCFC represents NYC. I think this is one reason why people are so unrelenting on demanding a stadium in the boroughs, and so unforgiving of Belmont, even with the sliver of it inside the city. And yes, transportation is a major issue, but even if that were solved, and Belmont were absolutely convenient, I think the fans we do have would reject that site because if the team is not actually 100% inside NYC then there is nothing NYC about it at all. It's just "City"
• Beyond Portland, contrast us also with Seattle or Vancouver. Everything about those teams evokes their location: the name, the colors, the badge. It all fits together. I don't see anything particularly "Atlanta" about Atlanta United, but the locals do. Maybe it is the colors, or the owner, who is a beloved local personality, plus a bandwagon effect in a small/big town (or maybe Atlanta is big/small). They have obviously gotten hardcore soccer fans, plus Atlanta boosters, plus general sports fans, plus soccer mom/dads/kids, plus hipsters, to embrace this team. In contrast to those teams, we are the generic"City."

View attachment 7557

The core fanbase of this team is people who really like soccer, without reservation, and want a local team to root for. But I think this team does a poor job of wooing

• people who like soccer but mostly root for foreign teams
• people who like other sports and could be convinced to embrace soccer with a bit of momentum and actual NYC branding.

Part of that is the greater barriers and obstacles that NYC presents as I discussed, but it is also just poorly done.

Fully agree!

Until CFG starts building a stadium, I have not seen one thing about the organization that makes them any better than a singular owner that’s motivated. We’ve been hurt as much as helped by their player decisions, but hopefully we’re now on the upswing with recent signings (although I bet we lose Hererra-types after a year or two).

I love our club, but...... I hate our branding, I hate our Man City colors, I hate our sponsor, I hate that the mother ship has any control to usurp FO decisions, and I hate that there isn’t one thing about the club that is NY-centric. I think CFG over-estimated their self-worth by wanting a uniform synergy throughout their org - I think NYers that follow another euro team would be more open to taking a dive with the club if they didn’t associate it with being a CFG/MCFC clone. I’m onboard because I want a hometown team to support, but my support stops at the city limits - I couldn’t care one bit about any other CFG org and every Saturday I root against MCFC and take joy whenever they lose.

 

[LionNYC]

We have 2 related but different discussions.
1. Why has attendance dropped (unless it didn't even drop per Seth); and
2. Why is NYC not killing it in attendance compared to other cities.

I find the second more interesting. NYCFC is 5th, which is fine, but we're also larger than everyone else ahead of us by a factor of roughly 2 or more.

I think the following factors explain why:

• NY is not unified. We are fractured. Diversity is not an asset in this instance. And I'm not specifically talking ethnic diversity. It also includes having 5 distinct boroughs, with multiple unconnected neighborhoods in each, and loyalties that go to your school, or neighborhood, or country of origin, or class, or religion, or race, or your particular interest in art, literature, TV, music, politicians, a hobby, or collection, or whatever.
• This is worse than in other cities because NYC is so huge that every tiny sub-group has a critical mass of people who can cluster together instead of getting engaged through momentum into any possible city-wide civic culture.
• Have you ever been in another city when one of their sports teams makes it to even a conference final? The entire city is covered in team colors and everyone takes part in it, including people who silently think sports is stupid. Here, even when the biggest teams like the Giants, Yankees or (it's been a while but still) Knicks win a championship, you not only have fans of competing local teams rooting against them, but everyone who thinks sports is boring sits it out because there are hundreds of thousands of people who feel the same and there is no pressure, negative or positive, to go along. In other cities they would be would be a bandwagon boosters and might even attend games on occasion.
• Many New Yorkers feel disdain for much of American culture, and admiration for foreign. That many foreign soccer leagues are better than MLS reinforces this but it would be an issue and will be an issue as MLS improves. So many NYers root for big foreign teams instead of the local MLS team. Obviously there is substantial evidence just in this forum of fans who do both, but it's a distinct subset. This is why attendance boosts more for visits by Schweinsteiger or a washed up Gerrard than for USMNT legend Clint Dempsey and Seattle. Getting excited for a game against Columbus, Houston or Salt Lake will never happen for these people.
• NYCFC is affiliated with the wrong foreign team. Man City is nouveau riche who became good the wrong way and too recently. Teams like Chelsea did the same thing more or less but did so just earlier enough to seem more traditional. Even Tottenham probably has more cachet among these fans than Man City.
• Portland, which has a large similar culture group to the people I am discussing in NYC, overcame this with a team that is distinctly Portland. The name. The colors. Everything about that teams says Portland. It think also helps that that Portland is smaller so the connection between the team and this subculture could coalesce more easily.
• In contrast, NYCFC's identity has nothing to do with New York City. Instead, we have generic "City" branding. Forget Man City, let's take a look at our sibling down under.

View attachment 7553
View attachment 7554 View attachment 7555

• City to the Core, This Is Our City, This Week In Our City, Meeting The City. Every damn one of those could be transplanted to any random city where CFG sets up shop including right here in NYC and fit right in, and be just as bland, generic and meaningless. There's nothing NYC about NYCFC's marketing, name, or branding, except for the letters NYC. Every team in every city uses the that locality's name name so that's not exactly anything. Subway posters based on the "City" brand do nothing to connect this team to This City. Even all the "City" jerseys are 80% or more identical.
• View attachment 7556
• Oh, we have some orange, and the badge looks a bit like a subway token. That's how NYCFC represents NYC. I think this is one reason why people are so unrelenting on demanding a stadium in the boroughs, and so unforgiving of Belmont, even with the sliver of it inside the city. And yes, transportation is a major issue, but even if that were solved, and Belmont were absolutely convenient, I think the fans we do have would reject that site because if the team is not actually 100% inside NYC then there is nothing NYC about it at all. It's just "City"
• Beyond Portland, contrast us also with Seattle or Vancouver. Everything about those teams evokes their location: the name, the colors, the badge. It all fits together. I don't see anything particularly "Atlanta" about Atlanta United, but the locals do. Maybe it is the colors, or the owner, who is a beloved local personality, plus a bandwagon effect in a small/big town (or maybe Atlanta is big/small). They have obviously gotten hardcore soccer fans, plus Atlanta boosters, plus general sports fans, plus soccer mom/dads/kids, plus hipsters, to embrace this team. In contrast to those teams, we are the generic"City."

View attachment 7557

The core fanbase of this team is people who really like soccer, without reservation, and want a local team to root for. But I think this team does a poor job of wooing

• people who like soccer but mostly root for foreign teams
• people who like other sports and could be convinced to embrace soccer with a bit of momentum and actual NYC branding.

Part of that is the greater barriers and obstacles that NYC presents as I discussed, but it is also just poorly done.

Nominee for Post of the Year