MLS Anyone?

[Boone]

Any Major League Soccer fans among us?

My brother lives in downtown Charlotte and 2 years ago bought season tickets for Charlotte Football Club. Our seats are at the end of the last row in the lower bowl right at mid-field. They are awesome seats with concessions and bathrooms a couple hundred feet away. Charlotte has a great fanbase - it is not uncommon for them to have 50-60,000 fans in attendance for openers and big matchups. Last season, they hosted and won their first home playoff game in the franchises 3 year history. They brought in a really good coach last year, whose name ironically is Dean Smith. He's much more aggressive than our previous coach and is also bringing in better talent. The most recent example is the addition of Wilfried Zaha, a super talented striker who scored Saturday in his very first match in Charlotte.

CLTFC plays in Bank of America Stadium (the Panthers stadium) and the atmosphere is incredible. They have already established a number of fan traditions and are at the top of MLS in terms of attendance. It's really cool to be a fan from the outset of a franchise's beginnings.

Anyone else have an allegiance to an MLS team?

 

[iheartskins]

My younger son does youth programming with Red Bulls and NYCFC. So I guess we're fans of those (rival) teams....! MLS has gotten much, much better in recent years. Not quite like watching EPL but it's gaining ground quickly IMHO.

 

[Boone]

My Charlotte FC team played a stinker yesterday. Playing in Miami, with Messi injured, held them scoreless in the first half and Miami played 3/4ths of the game a man down due to a red card. Gave up a goal in the 1st minute of the 2nd half and couldn't muster a legit shot on goal in the 2nd half. Real missed opportunity.

 

[Boone]

It's been a really weird 2025 season so far for Charlotte FC. We started the season on fire, with tons of goals and wins putting us at the top of the Eastern Conference standings. Then we hit a recent stretch where we cannot put the ball in the net to save our lives and lose 5 straight. Last night, they came out super aggressive at home against the Columbus Crew (a very capable squad) and pulled out an incredibly needed 3-2 win.
Of course, this is the match my brother and I decided to watch from home. But it was still fun to watch. They will now spend over a month on the road - a weird thing MLS does that I will never understand. We have traditionally been a better 2nd half of the season team, so I am hoping this last match is a better indicator of what we'll see as the season goes forward.