Charlotte FC’s new president has top goal: Make MLS team’s traditions unique to city
Nick Kelly is no stranger to Charlotte, but he’ll soon be back after years of change — personally and professionally — and after growth in the city that will be home to a Major League Soccer team in 2022. Kelly will oversee the club as its president, Charlotte FC announced Tuesday, after spending six years climbing the ranks of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s sports marketing department.
“I’m not naive to the fact that in the last six or seven years (Charlotte’s) continued to grow and blossom, so it’s even that much better than when I was here years ago,” Kelly told the Observer. “For me, there was always a desire to get back to Charlotte.”
Kelly spent most of his years with AB InBev based in New York City, but he said he fell in love with Charlotte during his time working on communications for NASCAR from 2011 to 2014. His wife, Kristen, has two sisters in the city. His parents live in Greenville, South Carolina, and he said his Carolina ties were part of the excitement behind making the transition.
That regional connection has also partially allowed Kelly to see the promise in developing the city’s MLS fan base, which he said he wants to be “unique” to the team.
“The visibility I’ve had over the course of my career to see what works and doesn’t work across all sports, not just soccer,” Kelly said. “I think that the one mistake MLS teams do is (saying), ‘We have to do what other soccer teams do,’ and that’s not necessarily the case. You’re creating a venue and experience that is uniquely your own.”
Kelly’s professional experience includes creating marketing strategies and brand-activation campaigns for AB InBev in partnership with MLS, as well as other professional sports leagues such as the NFL, MLB and NBA. In additional to MLS campaigns, he has worked on World Cup campaigns with Bud and Bud Light, as well as activated the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams and the Mexican National Team for the brand.
“We spent a lot of time on in (NWSL activation) last year,” Kelly said. “Making sure we can help elevate that league and those players. On the MLS side, I’ve had the opportunity fortunately to create campaigns with about 13 teams across the country.”
Those teams include D.C. United, the Houston Dynamo and the Chicago Fire, which Kelly said highlighted the need to engage local fans and allow them to build their own traditions with a new club.
“It’s made me a little more aware of the nuances that a local market can bring to creating its own type of culture,” Kelly said. “And more importantly, it made me fall in love more and more with MLS.”
“I want to make sure the people and the supporters from Day 1 feel like they have a seat at the table in creating some of these traditions,” Kelly said. “Everything from the march to the stadium to the chants within the stadium.”
Tepper Sports and Entertainment president Tom Glick said the leadership group selected Kelly from about a dozen final candidates for the role, but not necessarily for his soccer knowledge.
“(He) understands how fans think,” Glick said, “and is a great complement to the people we already have in our organization.”
Kelly will lead the club’s daily business operations at a time when the sports world is struggling to generate revenue without stadiums full of fans. MLS commissioner Don Garber said last week that league-wide revenue was down close to $1 billion compared to last year.
Kelly acknowledged that his job and his goal of immediately engaging the Charlotte community and Charlotte FC supporters groups in person will be hindered by the pandemic. Still, team leadership intends to go out of its way to make those meetings happen, Kelly said.
“It’s just an added challenge that if we can continue to open up season ticket sales and open up partnership sales, and really just dive into the community,” Kelly said. “... As the pandemic hopefully starts to go away and the vaccine becomes more prevalent in June, July, that’s perfect timing for us to really get back in the community.”
Glick also provided an updated on season ticket deposits Tuesday. He said the club currently has more than 10,000 deposits placed for around 31,000 seats at Bank of America Stadium.
“I would consider that a milestone rather than a final result,” Glick said. “As we begin our seat-selection process in January, it’s my expectation that number is going to grow.”
There has been a “steady climb” in deposits, he said, especially around the club’s name and brand reveal in the summer. The club will aim to turn those ticket commitments into full season sales, relying on Kelly’s expertise. The new president begins his role Feb. 1 and said he’s ready to bring his perspectives and experiences back to the city.
“There is no expectation that we’re going to figure it out,” Kelly said. “There is no five-year plan to eventually become a top-tier MLS team. Our expectation is, by January of next year, the business is in place and then when the season kicks off in March that we’re ready to go.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 1:37 PM.
