Charlotte FC gave us new season ticket numbers; is confident in breaking an MLS record
Charlotte FC hasn’t played a single Major League Soccer match, but the club is set on making a splash when it finally does. By its second game in existence, the franchise intends to break a league record by hosting a crowd of more than 74,000 fans at Bank of America Stadium.
The turnout would top the current attendance record of 73,019 fans set by Atlanta United for a 2018 playoff match at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Charlotte FC’s inaugural home game against the LA Galaxy on March 5 is a little more than seven weeks away, and the front office believes ticket sales are on pace to hit the mark.
“We’re very confident with the 74,000,” Charlotte FC president Nick Kelly told The Observer. “ ... Having the (SuperDraft) last night, and having more individual events where players are involved and fans don’t have to see front office staff and they can actually see players, is really crystallizing the fact that the season starts in (seven) weeks.”
Charlotte FC’s first match of the year is set for Feb. 26 against D.C. United in Washington, D.C. The expansion team will face the Galaxy at home the following week for its highly anticipated home debut. Kelly said that the club has sold nearly 50,000 tickets for the event, confirming what MLS Commissioner Don Garber mentioned in a letter to fans last week.
In May, Kelly outlined another key attendance goal for Charlotte FC: To consistently fill the lower bowl of Bank of America Stadium, which translates to averaging around 30,000 fans at home matches.
“Anything less than this would not be a successful first year in our eyes,” Kelly said at the time.
That means season ticket sales are also an important marker for the club. On Wednesday, Kelly provided an update on that number, saying that Charlotte FC has also sold more than 20,000 season tickets to date as the club prepares to release single-match tickets for the full season this week. Pre-sale for season ticket members begins at 10 a.m. on Thursday, noon Thursday for Carolina Panthers PSL holders and 2 p.m. Thursday for email subscribers. Single-game tickets for all home matches will go on sale to the general public Jan 14. at 10 a.m.
“Honestly, I don’t know where we’re going to net out,” Kelly said. “We’ll be above (20,000 season tickets), but these next two months are going to really dictate where we land.”
Atlanta United’s historical season ticket sales trajectory provides another point of reference for Charlotte FC, as the teams are Eastern Conference rivals playing in shared NFL and MLS stadiums in their respective cities. Charlotte FC is aiming to experience similarly strong turnout and early on-field success as a new franchise, like Atlanta in 2017.
But its season ticket sale pace is behind Atlanta, which sold more than 22,000 season tickets seven months prior to its first match. That was before the team hired a head coach and had just seven players on its roster. Charlotte FC announced its head coach, Miguel Ángel Ramírez, in July and following Tuesday’s MLS SuperDraft, in which Charlotte FC selected three collegiate players to add to its roster, the team is up to 23 players.
But the club expects sales to continue, especially as players begin training and become more visible. Pre-season training for Charlotte FC begins Monday and runs through Jan. 25 for its first stint at Clemson University. The team will then depart for IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. from Jan. 28-Feb. 8. It will close its last leg of training in South Carolina at a to-be-announced venue Feb. 10-19 before returning to Charlotte for a historic kickoff.
This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 6:07 PM.
