Charlotte FC is launching a reality TV series and the winner can get a roster spot
Charlotte FC will be featured in a major reality television series during its inaugural season in Major League Soccer in 2022. The premise of the series, in development with MGM Television and MLS, is for players to compete for a roster spot.
The venture is a radical spin on recruitment in MLS, and the team sees it as an opportunity to highlight the club in its first season while giving unfiltered access to its first team and prospective players. A source familiar with the production plans emphasized the “awareness and branding” the deal gives the expansion club and assured that players will compete for a contracted spot.
Charlotte FC Sporting Director Zoran Krneta will help scout and select competing players, who will come from various soccer backgrounds and train with the team in a trial environment. Krneta will also be part of a panel of judges alongside team president Nick Kelly, and a “rotating panel of soccer legends and celebrity fans, who will evaluate the footballers throughout the series,” according to the team’s description of the show, which is using the working title “Welcome to the Team.”
“At Charlotte FC, we’re very invested in providing soccer players across the world the opportunity to be part of a great organization where they can grow and develop as professionals,” Charlotte FC owner David Tepper said in a statement. “By partnering with MGM Television and Major League Soccer to be the first MLS club featured in this new and groundbreaking series, we’re bringing soccer fans in the United States closer to ‘the beautiful game’ that we’re playing in the Carolinas, with different and exclusive content delivered in a way that has never been done before.”
Players will be eliminated from consideration at the end of episodes, and a group of finalists will reach the season finale in which one player will be awarded a spot to play for Charlotte FC, per the show description.
Television executives Mark Burnett and Barry Poznick will lead the project. Burnett produced popular reality programs such as “Survivor,” “The Voice,” “Shark Tank” and “The Apprentice.”
Details on the production and release schedule for “Welcome to the Team” have not been determined, but the plan is to film the show over the course of the 2022 season.
Charlotte FC named its head coach, Miguel Ángel Ramírez, and has signed seven players so far leading up to completion of a 30-player roster in time for Year 1.
Tepper, owner of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and recently named the fifth wealthiest sports team owner in Forbes, was awarded an expansion MLS franchise in Charlotte in the winter of 2019. The pandemic delayed the team’s MLS start by a year, but the club has announced ambitious attendance goals and has already strayed from tradition in its launch.
For example, Charlotte FC was the first MLS club to announce a PSL, or personal seat license, model for season ticket holders, which ensures long-term ownership of purchased seats. On Tuesday, the club named a Chief Fan Officer, Shawn McIntosh, to serve in a full-time role paid by the club to act as a liaison between Charlotte FC and its supporters. The position is believed to be the first of its kind in MLS.
Burnett, in a statement, called the new Charlotte FC show “the definitive sports competition series.”
The latest news about Charlotte FC teaming up with Hollywood might not come as a complete surprise given its early inclination to break tradition, but whether the production partnerships launch with other MLS teams remains to be seen, and could largely be based on the results of Charlotte FC’s television trial.
This story was originally published October 6, 2021 at 3:04 PM.
