You know what I find special about our fan base?

Wow. you see this is what I am saying. Here we are have a Boston fan from other sports/leagues but a NYCFC fan in MLS. This is crazy and the epitome of what I was saying originally in my post. great stuff!!!!

Well I'm a life long Connecticut person and here it's actually not that unusual to see someone mix and match between New York and Boston teams. Personally I leaned toward the Revs over the energy drinks prior to NYCFC though I'd never have called myself a hardcore.
 
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Our fan base is very unique in a great way.

Another thing that I have enjoyed about being an NYCFC fan is the camaraderie among strangers. If I have on my Eli Manning jersey while headed to a bar on a Sunday and see another Giants fan - it doesn't illicit any sort of belonging to another fan that you may pass by on the street. However, all winter while rocking my NYCFC beanie other fans have struck up conversation or expressed their love for the club as well.

My mom told me she saw a woman at work with an NYCFC shirt on and asked her if she was a supporter as well - turned out she got the shirt on sale at Modells, but the point is that when you see someone in our colors you are inclined to acknowledge them.
 
Another thing that I have enjoyed about being an NYCFC fan is the camaraderie among strangers. If I have on my Eli Manning jersey while headed to a bar on a Sunday and see another Giants fan - it doesn't illicit any sort of belonging to another fan that you may pass by on the street. However, all winter while rocking my NYCFC beanie other fans have struck up conversation or expressed their love for the club as well.

My mom told me she saw a woman at work with an NYCFC shirt on and asked her if she was a supporter as well - turned out she got the shirt on sale at Modells, but the point is that when you see someone in our colors you are inclined to acknowledge them.
I very much love the random fist-knocks and conversations with strangers wearing gear out and about in NYC. It happens all the time, and it's a lot of fun. Some of it, of course, is because the team is new and unique at this point. But the intensity of our passion also drives it as well.
 
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I did participate. Not as regular as I do here but I did participate. I don't want to mention names but lets just say the NJ soda drink fan base are a miserable bunch. I guess you can't blame them. The have a been a loser franchise since day 1.
A pathetically small supporters group of mice fell in a bucket of cream. All but one of the mice quickly gave up and drowned. The last mouse, wouldn't quit. He struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into butter and crawled out. S1ARK5 S1ARK5 , as of this moment, you are that last mouse.

Umm... we WANT you to mention names.... not that it isn't easy to pick them out, but always best to hear it from a former insider that saw the light:
 
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Leilanikali, would you attribute that to the club being new, or soccer fans in general?

I think (yes I know the question wasn't posed to me) that it has to do with the logo, team, colors etc not becoming ubiquitous like a yankee hat or giants jersey even though it is a local team. There is that secret sense of knowing something others don't know. Sort of like wearing that local band t-shirt and seeing someone else in it. You know you probably have more than just a band in common. At least that's what I think.
 
I very much love the random fist-knocks and conversations with strangers wearing gear out and about in NYC. It happens all the time, and it's a lot of fun. Some of it, of course, is because the team is new and unique at this point. But the intensity of our passion also drives it as well.

My wife routinely makes fun of me for only talking to random people (and for making friends) because I am wearing either NYCFC or Spurs clothing, but never in any other context. It is one of the benefits of following a sport that isn't quite as pervasive in this country as the big four.
 
I was born in Queens and left at the age of 8 thinking only about baseball and basketball to Medellin, Colombia. There i discovered a sport that was more like a religion or way of life. For the next 10 years until I came back to the states all i thought about was soccer and females lol.

I am 37 now and I did go to some metrostar games. I confess i enjoyed myself and rooted for them. I still do actually, i see no need to hate on them. That doesnt mean i dont want to beat them!! 3-0 would be ideal.

But what i experienced last year in the bronx brought tears and emotion like i never imagined i would ever experience in New York. I am very proud of this team and organization. Yes there have been questionable moves and not all is perfect, but what is??

I am super excited for this season where my goal is full stadium, everyone screaming, beautiful soccer and playoffs.

This is only the beginning.
 
And I'm not disagreeing. My point, and I might be wrong, is that non-resident interest is arguably proportional, and as a result below the threshold of notability in other cities. EG, let's assume non-resident interest in NYCFC is 10% and the same in Columbus. 10% of NYC's fanbase is big. 10% of Columbus not so much, as Columbus is already what, less than 10% of NYC's size. And the size creates network effects. An NYC fan in, say, Atlanta, can chime in here and ask if there are any other fans in the area and its plausible because of sheer numbers. A Crew fan in Atlanta might not even bother because it's unlikely, or he already found all of them in a local setting.
Or I could be completely wrong and my proportionality thesis is all wrong. It's Friday afternoon.
Maybe your theory is right but needs one more facet. Fan centers need the equivalent of escape velocity. If you have enough, you punch through. If you fall just short, you fizzle and die. NYC's 10% reaches escape velocity and so gels and expands all over the world. The 10% for Columbus currently living in Houston just doesn't have enough to reach escape velocity. Thus, a fizzle, a whimper, and gone.
 
I will admit that this forum is pretty impressive. It's obviously far smaller than a lot of forums I've seen but it already has the kind of geographical split of members that you'd expect from a far larger club. What's more, the presence of some people here - those who follow the team because they used to live in NYC but don't anymore - makes it feel like a diaspora, which is something you normally shouldn't see from a team anything younger than maybe 10 or 20.

Obviously I rely on you guys to tell me what this support is like compared to other MLS teams, but it really does feel like we are the foundations of something impressive. I do occasionally find myself fast-forwarding in my head to a decade or more into the team's future and wonder just what the fanbase will look like once we've had some time to really build and win some silverware. And of course, those of us here right now will all be able to cast a knowing smile at each other as we watch all the kids who weren't even born when we played our first game or the Johnny Come Latelys, knowing that we were the ones here from the start.
 
Maybe your theory is right but needs one more facet. Fan centers need the equivalent of escape velocity. If you have enough, you punch through. If you fall just short, you fizzle and die. NYC's 10% reaches escape velocity and so gels and expands all over the world. The 10% for Columbus currently living in Houston just doesn't have enough to reach escape velocity. Thus, a fizzle, a whimper, and gone.
You applied to NASA this week, didn't you?
 
I attended the inaugural match in 96 as a kid. They lost to NE on an own goal. Sealed their fate.
I'm surprised you're not scarred from that experience. I watched the game on TV and the moment ol Nicola C. scored the own goal I knew the club was cursed. That and I couldn't stand watching fat Tony in net.
 
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I'm surprised you're not scarred from that experience. I watched the game on TV and the moment ol Nicola C. scored the own goal I knew the club was cursed. That and I could stand watching fat Tony in net.
I had season tickets with my dad that inaugural season. 50 yard line 10th row. Went to only like 3 games and never looked back. We just couldn't get those feels we were hoping for. The vibe felt off. We were used to what we experienced with our years of tickets to the original Cosmos. It's hard to go from Pele to Fat Tony.
 
A pathetically small supporters group of mice fell in a bucket of cream. All but one of the mice quickly gave up and drowned. The last mouse, wouldn't quit. He struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into butter and crawled out. S1ARK5 S1ARK5 , as of this moment, you are that last mouse.

Umm... we WANT you to mention names.... not that it isn't easy to pick them out, but always best to hear it from a former insider that saw the light:
Ulrich that was brilliant. Very true indeed lol. Let's just say that I was part of a respected metrostars site. I still think that the guy who runs that site is well respected and I respect him. However there are a handful of true scumbags on there that belittle and outright attack anyone that disagrees with their thought. For example the last 2 years of Henry and the last year of Cahill with the redbulls, I was told by someone who in the know that Henry was pretty much checked out the last 12-16 months of his contract and same with Cahill. And that when both look back at their time with redbulls they will both tell the media overseas their time was a major success because they brought the redbulls their first big trophy (supporters shield). When we all in fact know the SS is a mirage it really brings you nothing except a spot in the CCL.

So I started to tell my then redbull fans that both Henry and Cahill have checked out and don't really care anymore and I was blasted by them. At that point I returned the favor and had some choice words as well for them. Well it turns out as we got close to Cahills last season and Henry too, Brian Lewis reported that Henry and Cahill are done etc etc. at that point I went back and said see I told you they had a foot out he door for many many months. I also know the reason as we'll but that's for another topic. So from there it began to go downhill between me and those loser fans. At that point I was sick of the team, I was sick of the organization and when NYCFC was announced , it was perfect timing after many many years caring about the redbulls aka metrostars to now hating them with a passion.
 
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.......We just couldn't get those feels we were hoping for. The vibe felt off. We were used to what we experienced with our years of tickets to the original Cosmos. It's hard to go from Pele to Fat Tony.
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On the nosie! I've often said somewhat the same myself.

I'm not sure if even after all those years it was still a Cosmos hangover or not, but for whatever reason I could never warm up to the Metro Stars.

Wonder if things would have been different if either Donadoni and/or Matthaus weren't such colossal busts?
 
Well I'm a life long Connecticut person and here it's actually not that unusual to see someone mix and match between New York and Boston teams. Personally I leaned toward the Revs over the energy drinks prior to NYCFC though I'd never have called myself a hardcore.
Fascinating to me. A hardcore NYCFC fan but likes Boston teams in other sports.
 
I'm in East Lansing, MI (where MSU is) and grew up a big Yankees fan because of Jeter, obviously we don't have a MLS team here (the closest is Chicago or Columbus depending on traffic) and never really got into professional soccer until the 09 Confederations Cup, where Villa pretty quickly became my favorite player. When they announced a team in Yankee Stadium, then signed Villa, then signed Mix (my favorite US player), I knew I was sold on the team. I'd love to get out to see the team in NYC someday, but I went last year to Columbus and am probably going next weekend to Chicago, and I guess the magic of the internet era is that while I'll never be as close to the team as people who live in the city, or are in the supporters section, I can still watch every game (thanks MLS Live.)
 
I will admit that this forum is pretty impressive. It's obviously far smaller than a lot of forums I've seen but it already has the kind of geographical split of members that you'd expect from a far larger club. What's more, the presence of some people here - those who follow the team because they used to live in NYC but don't anymore - makes it feel like a diaspora, which is something you normally shouldn't see from a team anything younger than maybe 10 or 20.

Obviously I rely on you guys to tell me what this support is like compared to other MLS teams, but it really does feel like we are the foundations of something impressive. I do occasionally find myself fast-forwarding in my head to a decade or more into the team's future and wonder just what the fanbase will look like once we've had some time to really build and win some silverware. And of course, those of us here right now will all be able to cast a knowing smile at each other as we watch all the kids who weren't even born when we played our first game or the Johnny Come Latelys, knowing that we were the ones here from the start.
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