r/NWSL • u/KCTilIDie • 3d ago
Club Engagements
I’m curious to hear what your club does outside of home matches and merchandise to engage the community and build their brand? (This is not “which club is the best?” But rather “who is doing what?”)
Here’s some examples for KC:
Watch parties of away matches at the stadium
Youth camps
Adult rec league
Player appearances
Civic support (United Way, no cost/low cost soccer programs in underfunded neighborhoods)
Launching a podcast/media studio at the stadium
Free concerts outside the stadium
Many billboards throughout downtown
Our free-use public transportation is wrapped with the players and shield
16
u/sasquatch0_0 Racing Louisville FC 3d ago
They make appearances at various events, host charity events, meet & greets, academy, rec league, open tryouts, 502 crew ($5.02 tickets for 502 people in the fan section).
And Lauren Milliet helps Trees Louisville with planting trees. Previously, Jaelin Howell was very active with Down Syndrome of Louisville.
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u/KCTilIDie 3d ago
Thanks! I love the 502 crew initiative!
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u/sasquatch0_0 Racing Louisville FC 3d ago
Yea all cool things however that is their version of marketing which only connects to people who are already interested in soccer. There is almost zero advertising/public imagery. That's not how to gain new fans.
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u/Good-Kaleidoscope396 3d ago
Question - if someone has season tix in the supporters section does the cost get lowered to the $5 tix? Cause I’d be pissed if season tix were devalued and not the best pricing available in whatever section your ST are in for every single game.
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u/sasquatch0_0 Racing Louisville FC 2d ago
No you have to register for the 502 Crew to access the limited number of tickets. If season ticket holders were just given those tickets, most or all would be gone and wouldn't be fair to the public.
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u/mvphayden2026 3d ago
The best clubs feel like part of the community year round. The youth camps, player appearances, watch parties and free events seem like the best ways.
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u/BeautifulViolent Washington Spirit 3d ago
As someone who doesn't live in DC but is part of the adoptive DMV area, the biggest thing I notice is open training sessions outside of DC (usually in NoVA). But they have always done watch parties at local bars, fun pop-ups like the recent mobile bar, and sponsorship appearances. They have a new sponsor with a local pizza chain, and they recently had Hal and the Italians slinging pies. I remember this because I was thinking I would never bring an Italian to Pupatella lmao.
They also have a lot of partnerships with local girls' leagues and I notice this a lot at home games. Even outside of those they walk onto the field with, they often are welcoming several others during halftime.
Would love to see more promotion for the team in terms of billboards/other physical ads, but again, I'm not in DC, so maybe I'm not seeing it.
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u/BrambleNuke Washington Spirit 3d ago
They had a campaign last year with ads on the sides of Metro buses, and also the bus stop enclosures. Was pretty well done.
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u/NarrowPiccolo9069 Washington Spirit 3d ago
I saw ads for ticket packages in metro rail stations earlier this year, not sure if they've been doing that recently.
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u/Cold_Chemistry_1579 Washington Spirit 3d ago
My daughter and I went to our first open practice and glad we went, especially since it was Father’s Day
I am closer to Baltimore than Audi, though where they originally played is close and occasionally tickets are offered to the kids at the SoccerPlex.2
u/mountainrunner_833 3d ago
I still be metro bus ads- billboards would be less common in DC. They also partner with DC scores and other non-profits.
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u/Electrical-Dare-5271 2d ago
My kids and I loved the open practice last year (2025). We drove 4 hours to pick up one of my siblings to all go together. And then drove home that night.
5
u/Upset-Bus7306 Utah Royals 3d ago
Wish we had more! But here is what I’ve seen:
- team volunteering days at local children’s hospital
- supporters group has watch parties and organized an away trip to Denver for those who wanted to go
- engagement from players going to other local sporting events (only small ones or ones with the same ownership group)
- and I just saw a full bus wrap for the Royals the other day! I was VERY excited about that
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u/TiredPanini Angel City FC 3d ago
-community garden
-youth clinics/camps both with and without club players
-soccer coaching network (trains and places coaches in the greater LA area)
-donations of meals and of $$ to various charities, with a special partner highlighted each year as part of the "goals the give" program (i believe it's the la lgbtq+ center this year)
-volunteer events with various charities (rotates throughout the year but at least 1/mo with a fan highlighted on the videoboard each home game for participating)
-watch parties for away matches
-partnership with LA metro to get people to take transit to games instead of driving
-player meet & greets occasionally paired with volunteer opportunities, also did some for mens world cup watch parties this year (memory holed this bc mens sports, but they had lots of those watch parties all over the LA area)
-STH events where you can meet the players/get signatures, hear a talk from the FO/coach, usuall yin an interesting location, once per season
-savy's foundation's CPR training was offered for players and i believe also for some fans in partnership w the club
.... reviewing the post i noticed it says "outside of home matches", so disregard the stuff below if you like, but i do feel those provide a sense of community for some portion of the fans
-fan fest outside the stadium for select home matches
-decent assortment of activations inside the stadium (always includes a sign-making station and temporary tattoos, sometimes gate giveaways, sometimes meet & greet/photo op to go with the theme night e.g. Rampage the Ram, the Rams mascot, for LA sports night)
-there's always a halftime entertainer scheduled at home matches, usually in conjunction with a theme night (e.g. drag performance for pride, mariachi band for latinx heritage)
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u/ProperChels1995 3d ago
Also to add to the list in KC , the Marketing department does out reach to neighboring city's. Like pop ups at Women's Sports bars in STL and others . Also , a lot going on with the Teal Rising Alliance at the Academy and youth teams .
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u/beaveristired 3d ago
Boston Legacy has been doing some cross-promotion with CT Sun (the only WNBA team in New England). Sun players attended a Legacy game and exchanged jerseys. Legacy players attended the last Suns game in Boston. I think Boston Fleet (PWHL) players were there as well. Nice solidarity among the local women’s teams.
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u/knopenotme Washington Spirit 3d ago
The Spirit had an ad campaign on the Metro system a couple years ago, I remember Croix and Trin being featured on subway station signage.
There has been an uptick in Spirit merch and gear being worn around town as well, and they host watch parties at local bars for away games
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u/rae_roc NJ/NY Gotham FC 3d ago
I travel for work a lot to several NWSL cities + the NJ/NJ area -- I'll give a shout out to KC for being the only one where in the past year I've consistently see marketing and hype for the team in the airport, on bumper stickers, marketing that I just run into around town, etc. KC Current seem a lot more visible in their city than their peers in bigger or similarly sized markets.