Charlotte FC is about to have its ‘Harry Potter’ moment. Only one thing left to wait for
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Soccer finally comes to Charlotte
Charlotte FC has the fans and sponsors, and Bank of America Stadium is outfitted for soccer, but can the expansion MLS team deliver on the pitch? Here’s what to know as the inaugural season comes up.
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When Harry Potter got his first wand, he felt warmth in his fingers as he held an unusual combination of holly wood and phoenix feather. The moment was significant because it marked the beginning of his wizarding world adventures, which unfolded over seven books and eight movies, plus two spin-offs, that have generated more than $9 billion at the global box office.
It’s unlikely that Charlotte FC, the city’s new Major League Soccer team, will reach Harry Potter-level global acclaim. But for one fan, that was the scene that came to mind when reflecting on the new team.
“I think when you see this team on the field, it’s gonna be magic,” Alexander Orantes, 30, said. “It’s gonna be like — do you remember when Harry Potter got his first wand? It’s gonna be that kind of magic.”
Orantes was one of the estimated 300-plus supporters who traveled last Saturday for Charlotte FC’s first-ever match against D.C. United, which ended in a 3-0 loss in Washington, D.C.
Despite the scoreline, there were moments during the match that reflected the non-wizarding “magic” Orantes mentioned. For example, midfielder Titi Ortíz nearly scored Charlotte FC’s first goal, heading in a feed from midfielder Alan Franco. He ran to the corner of the pitch and looked up at the elated fans in the stands, swarmed by his teammates, as more fans cheered behind their screens at home. The goal didn’t stand — it was overturned minutes later when Ortíz was called offside by the Video Assistant Referee, but the play was one throughout the evening that showed the promise of the young squad.
“It’s important to learn about the competition and what we need as a team, as players, as a coach,” said head coach Miguel Ángel Ramírez, who was hired last July to lead the inaugural squad. “(I’m) excited and happy to be on the pitch again, be with spectators again. After 15, 20 minutes (at D.C.), I was enjoying it a lot and I was very happy to be back.”
An official first goal is yet to come for Charlotte FC, and it could happen this Saturday in front of an expected 73,500 fans at Bank of America Stadium. Charlotte will play its first home match against the LA Galaxy then, and will break the league attendance record with the turnout. The stadium, which recently rolled out its $50 million enhancement project, seats 74,867.
Southeast rival Atlanta United, which similarly plays at a stadium shared with their NFL franchise, currently holds the regular season single-match attendance record with 72,548 fans in 2019, as well as the MLS Cup and postseason attendance record with 73,019 fans in 2018 — more fans than attended the Super Bowl in that same building two months later. Charlotte has sold enough tickets to top both figures, having played just one losing match in the league.
But for many fans, the magic won’t come from early results as much as it will derive from the atmosphere and hype around having an MLS team, finally, playing in the city. The team’s home debut comes around two years after Charlotte was awarded the expansion bid in December 2019, when team owner David Tepper paid a record entry fee of reportedly between $300 and $325 million.
“This club, it was so many years in the making, and Charlotte is such a great soccer city and the region is so supportive of the sport,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said. “So I believe that this team will be wildly successful.”
“And, yes,” he continued. “I’m sure that everybody wants the club to be successful on the field, but expansion teams always take time to get the formula right, and I have a lot of faith in ownership, their technical (staff), their coach, their management and leadership. This team’s gonna be great.”
Despite the yearlong delay for the pandemic, a rollout of high season ticket prices that turned off some fans and a recent shakeup in front-office leadership, Charlotte FC arrives at its home opener with much to look forward to. It scouted young, promising, international talent, developed a rabid fan base, and put together a corporate sponsorship lineup of heavy-hitters. The only thing missing for the new club, especially early in the season, will likely be the wins.
It was only a few weeks ago that Ramírez memorably commented in Spanish, “Right now, we’re (screwed),” referencing the string of contracts for attacking players that failed to pan out for Charlotte FC; Venezuelan winger Darwin Machís (legal issue), Polish winger Kamil Jóźwiak (injury) and former D.C. United winger Paul Arriola (trade to FC Dallas) were all players that the club was targeting to help fortify its attack, but those deals were never finalized.
The club will instead rely on Polish national team striker Karol Świderski as the main goal-scorer, along with the recent addition of Daniel Ríos, a striker formerly with Nashville SC. Brazilian striker Vinicius Mello is expected to continue to recover from a foot injury into the spring. The club is now eyeing the summer transfer window for its next major international signing, meaning late May or early June.
For that reason, and the inevitable need to develop more team chemistry, many soccer writers, including at MLS.com, ranked Charlotte last in the 14-team Eastern Conference in their preseason polling. Early expectations from the club, while optimistic, have also sounded more subdued.
“We want to hit our stride in the summertime so we can compete,” Tepper Sports & Entertainment chief executive officer Nick Kelly said. “But for now, we just need to look like we’re communicating. We need to look like everybody’s actually learning the system.”
The long-term expectations, however, are still high. Charlotte FC is aiming to not just make the playoffs in its first season, but to host a playoff match, meaning it will need to finish among the top four teams in its conference this regular season to ensure hosting duties, following an example set by LAFC in 2018 or Atlanta in 2017. To fans, or Orantes at least, those preseason polls don’t give him cause for concern. He dismissed a bottom-of-the-league finish as “negative.”
“The only reason they have us there is because they’ve never seen us,” he said. “We’re new. We have top-class players. The only difference is that nobody knows them yet.”
That’s why, he said, he’s not letting go of hope for more magic moments, from Charlotte FC’s first match, followed by an expected attendance record-setting home opener, and maybe witnessing even more history this year.
This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
