Futbol Club Cincinnati

SWOT Analysis

Alex Belkin, Anthony Condy, Bria Million, Chris Fenter, Eric Michael, Jacob
Bakonyi, Josh Davidson, Logan Montgomery, Michael Ciesko, Nonso Okonji,
Sean Kamphaus, Tiernan Hull
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Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………2

Strengths………………………………………………………………………………………….3

Weaknesses……………………………………………………………………………………….6

Opportunities…………………………………………………………………………………….9

Threats…………………………………………………………………………………………..14

Recommendations………………………………………………………………………………18

Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………………..20

Melissa Newman, Lauren Mezher

MGMT 1051
November 29, 2017
Introduction
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FC (Futbol Club) Cincinnati is a United Soccer League team located in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Founded on August 12th, 2015, FCC is still a rather new, moderately sized company, having just

completed their second season. Despite the infancy of the company, their unusual success has

caught the soccer world by storm. The previously futbol-deprived city of Cincinnati has accepted

this new team with open arms, and attracted tremendous crowds. FC Cincinnati has had both

record-breaking USL attendance and an exponentially increasing fan base.

FC Cincinnati has made its purpose clear. They strive to deliver “a thrilling, yet

professional fan experience; an exciting way to unleash the area’s passion for soccer; and an

opportunity to unite the local community” as well as to “deliver an exciting and engaging fan

experience designed to foster a community of devoted fans.” In other words, FCC’s goal is to

bring not only soccer, but the entire soccer experience to Cincinnati, including a successful team,

die-hard fans, and an engaged community. They strive to be more than a soccer team; they aim

to be a statement of local change.

The following analysis will evaluate the various strengths, weakness, opportunities, and

threats to this new company. It will also provide some recommendations for the company.

Information has been obtained from various sources, including internet news articles, FC

Cincinnati’s website, an interview with Kevin Butler (FC Cincinnati’s chief branding officer),

and a group trip to an actual FCC game. Using these sources, we have investigated both the

internal capabilities and external environments of the company and how successful each one has

been these past couple years. In the end, we hope to have provided a thorough view of the

current condition of the company, as well as the primary strategic actions they should take in the

years to come.
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Strengths

In only two years of operation, FC Cincinnati has developed into a formidable competitor

in the soccer world with an array of numerous strengths. After completing our analysis, we have

come to the conclusion that the company excels in three areas: fanbase, location, and

performance.

One of FC Cincinnati’s key strengths lies in its loyal and expanding fanbase. Compared

to other soccer teams in Ohio, FC Cincinnati games consistently have a higher turnout than their

competition. In 2016 and 2017 the average crowd sizes were 17,834 and 21,212, respectively

(“2016”, “2017”), compared to Columbus Crew averages of 17,125 and 15,439 (“All-Time”),

and Louisville City FC averages of 7,218 and 9,281 (Spadden, “League”). Despite being founded

21 years after the Columbus Crew and one year after Louisville City FC, FC Cincinnati has

already begun surpassing its northern and southern counterparts, a positive sign of growth to

come. The following graph displays monthly averages of attendance for the team’s past two

seasons, and illustrates through average lines how 2017 has seen a higher rate of attendance

growth than 2016.

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FC Cincinnati fans have not only shown they are devoted to their team, but that they are

capable of consistently breaking USL attendance records as well. In April of 2016, during only

their second home game, FC Cincinnati set an attendance record of 20,947 in a game against

Louisville City FC (Staff). Another record was set in May of that same year, with the team

bringing in 23,375 fans against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds (LaFleur). This trend of shattering

records has not shown any signs of letting up; a record of 30,417 was achieved during the game

against the New York Red Bulls in September of 2017 (“FC”).

FC Cincinnati has amassed a following that teams of its age could only hope for, and one

that veteran teams are envious of as well. A following with that sort of commitment is a boon for

a fledgling team like FCC; residents of the Cincinnati area are utterly devoted to the team, and

their willingness to attend games only increases revenue from ticket and apparel sales.
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Another key strength demonstrated by FC Cincinnati is their location. The city of

Cincinnati has been without a soccer team for years, previously only depending on the Bengals

and Reds to satisfy the athletic needs of the huge area. Being one of the fastest growing sports in

the United States, the addition of soccer to a deprived city has brought tremendous momentum to

the potential fan base (Oregon State). Likewise, with Newport, Kentucky and many other local

suburbs also in desperate need of a soccer team, the location of the team kills two birds with one

stone. In addition to creating new fans to soccer, they are also catering to those experienced

soccer fans who previously had no local team to represent. No longer will these fans have to

travel two hours to the nearest Columbus Crew game; their trip is reduced to ten minutes.

In a less broad view, FC Cincinnati’s location on the University of Cincinnati’s campus

also has a few advantages. For one, FCC does not have to look far to find young fans to attract to

the game; they have 45,000 potential fans living there. Walking across campus, it is impossible

to not spot at least five students wearing the classic blue and orange jersey. If they had not

started the team amidst the everyday lives of the next generation, it is possible that their record-

breaking attendance would have never come to fruition.

The final strength of FC Cincinnati is its performance in comparison to other sports.

Though soccer is only the fifth most popular sport in the U.S.—after football, basketball,

baseball, and hockey—it is the fastest growing sport in the country in terms of popularity and fan

engagement (Oregon live). Amongst other factors, the growth of soccer in America relies on

youth participation. As of 2016, MLS is more popular than MLB among twelve to seventeen

year olds (Huffington Post). In 2013, approximately seven million kids, aged seven to seventeen

years old, participated in soccer. Comparatively, less than 5.4 million played baseball and only

4.9 million played tackle football (Wall Street Journal).

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Soccer also has shorter games on average than other sports. Baseball and football games

both average about three hours in length, while soccer is only one hour and thirty minutes. This

puts FC Cincinnati at an advantage over local teams. A shorter game is better at keeping the

attention and excitement of the crowd, and also fits better into the schedule of families—one of

the biggest sectors of FC Cincinnati’s fanbase.

Locally, FC Cincinnati outperforms other sports by far. This season the Reds,

Cincinnati’s baseball team, finished last place in the National League Central for the third year in

a row (Cincinnati Magazine). They also topped the 90-loss mark for the third straight year

(Official Cincinnati Reds website). So far in the 2017 season, the Bengals, Cincinnati’s football

team, is ranked 30th offensively and 28th defensively (National Football League). Sports fans in

Cincinnati are tired of sitting through long games only to see their team lose. They want their

loyalty to lie in a team with winning statistics. FC Cincinnati not only brings this, but also the

advantage of a shorter game and the excitement of having a new sport to watch.

Weaknesses

While FC Cincinnati demonstrates a firm grasp over its strengths, their weaknesses

cannot be ignored. The team faces many internal issues, including a lack of a soccer specific

stadium, which poses a major challenge with growing attendance. Even if this stadium bid

worked to the maximum benefit of the company, they would still face challenges related to the

popularity of soccer, the length of the soccer season, and the fickle nature of soccer’s target

demographic.

The most notable weakness of FC Cincinnati is its lack of a dedicated stadium, which

results in competition with other teams there for field time at Nippert Stadium. For example, if

the University of Cincinnati’s own soccer team needed to play a game at the same time as FCC,
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one of the two teams would have to either leave and play on a different field or reschedule for

another time and date to play. Considering the fact that UC owns Nippert Stadium, FCC would

probably be the team that needs to adjust the date of their game. With proper planning and

communication between teams that need to play at Nippert Stadium, however, such rescheduling

should not occur and only minor inconveniences would crop up if a team wanted to play at a

certain time.

In order to be promoted to the Major League Soccer, a team is required to have a soccer-

specific stadium to play on as their home field. A second disadvantage of using Nippert Stadium

is that it is not one that only is used for soccer. FCC cannot be promoted to MLS, which may not

be a terrible thing, considering their current growth, but there are inherent advantages in being

promoted to a higher league.

Due to the fact that FC Cincinnati is a sports team, they operate mainly within the soccer

season. Even though the team’s season is very long, February to October, it still leaves out three

months of potential profitability. This can lead to a sharp decline in profits during the offseason,

due to less revenue coming in from ticket sales. In the offseason, the revenue generated will be

mostly made up of merchandise sales, which also will tend to decline. Excluding merchandise,

there really isn’t any profit being generated for the company during the offseason. This is a large

issue and should be addressed as soon as possible.

The offseason is also followed up with the two month long preseason. The attendance at

preseason games is obviously not going to be as high as the regular season games. This hurts

profitability and efficiency of the company. The preseason is a good start to becoming more

profitable, but it is still very long and not many games are played during the time frame. There

are a total of six games played in the close to two month long timespan. After all, the more
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games that are played the more money the company can bring in. Ticket sales are presumably the

largest generator of income for the company. This leaves the company with only merchandise

and other small portions of overall revenue to be made during the offseason.

The long season can also be another weakness due to other sports overlapping with

soccer. Over the past five years, only 28% of the American public watched the FIFA World Cup,

compared to 48% watching the World Series and 73% watching the Super Bowl. In short, during

FC Cincinnati’s season, there are more popular sports that can take fans away. The longer the

season, the more sports that will be overlapped. Given Cincinnati’s loyalty to established teams

such as the Reds, Cyclones, Bengals, and even other UC sports, FC Cincinnati must remain

successful and relevant to compete with these other sports. Overlap with other sports is bound to

happen, and it can be difficult to keep the fans focused on just one sport at a time especially

considering how new soccer is to the Cincinnati area.

FCC has grown exponentially fast over the last two years. This, however, has proven not

to be always beneficial to the company. For the FCC vs. Chicago Fire game, the website crashed

due to the influx of ticket purchases. This caused a very negative reaction from people because

fans wanted to buy the tickets but couldn’t access the website in time. Many people waited for

the tickets to be open and the website crashed, wasting a lot of time for the fans. Whether the

website crash was FCC’s fault or not, the company got all the heat and lost some fans.

Another major weakness for FCC is its casual fanbase. While the family oriented

atmosphere may draw large home crowds, it may make them more difficult to establish a loyal

following that can provide consistent revenue through ticket and merchandise sales. According

to a study done by the University of Tübingen, roughly 50% of Americans have a basic enough

understanding of soccer to be interested in following the sport. This percentage consists

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primarily of millennials and those in the younger generation, who are notorious for their

shortened attention spans and increasing interconnectedness. This poses a problem, since even

the most stalwart of fans in that demographic could content themselves week-to-week watching

the highlight reels of a game on their mobile device during the season.

Opportunities

FC Cincinnati, being a very new company, has many opportunities to expand and grow as

a team. In order to do this their company needs to build a stadium and expand into the MLS.

They must grow their fanbase outside of Cincinnati and acquire well-known players from around

the world. Above all they need to capitalize on their strengths by gaining more attendance and

breaking more records.

The best opportunity for FC Cincinnati to grow and thrive in its business is to join the

MLS. There are currently four openings for new teams to join the MLS from the USL. In order

to join the MLS, it is required that the team has a plan to have their own stadium. There are

multiple sites that FC Cincinnati is thinking about building a stadium. One site is Taft High

School’s stadium. Another site is in Oakley at the former Milacron plant site. The last site is the

Ovation mixed-use development site in Newport (Brennen and Williams). Currently, they have

narrowed it down to two potential sites that connect all parts of Cincinnati (Straus). Connecting

all of Cincinnati would be best for FCC because it would get the most viewers as possible.

There are some repercussions to joining the MLS. If FC Cincinnati were to join the MLS

it would potentially raise the prices of tickets. Since FCC tries to cater towards college students

and families, it would work against their main focus. Affordability is the best the way to draw in

a crowd of mostly families and college students. FC Cincinnati would also have to move away
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from Nippert Stadium; thus, resulting in less college students being close to the stadium and

giving them easy access to games.

FC Cincinnati has the opportunity to start a rivalry if they join the MLS. Since Columbus

and Cincinnati are so close in proximity, the Columbus Crew and FCC could develop a rivalry.

This would be beneficial for both of the teams because it would potentially bring in a large

crowd at each stadium. Large crowds are a great source of revenue that would help FC

Cincinnati grow indefinitely. There have also been rumors of the Columbus Crew moving to

Austin, Texas.

If the Columbus Crew were to move, FCC would benefit tremendously. Since Cincinnati

is a relatively small city, comparatively speaking, FC Cincinnati would have to draw in an

audience from outside Cincinnati to truly be successful. This provides the perfect opportunity to

gain the followers that the Columbus Crew loses by moving. Success of a team boils down to

the strength of its fanbase. A strong fanbase has to have passion, dedication, and numbers.

Passion and dedication are strong for FC Cincinnati, so the only way to grow is to gain more

followers. The only way to do that is become Ohio’s professional soccer team.

The popularity of soccer in the United States is growing. Since 2010, attendance to MLS games,

as a whole, have increased by 106%, which is more than doubled. Over that same interval, 5,438

more tickets were sold per game. That statistic has increased seven of the past eight years.

FC Cincinnati has the opportunity to increase its popularity and fan base by buying

players from different countries. By getting more foreign players that are well known, FC

Cincinnati will draw in bigger crowds, and in turn, earn more revenue per game. FC Cincinnati

currently has two foreign players. Djiby Fall is from Senegal and has played soccer in the

Kazakhstan Premier League and Belgian Jupiler League, and was a member of Senegal’s
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National team in 2009. He was also named Danish player of the year in 2007 and 2009 while

playing in the Danish Superliga. FC Cincinnati’s second foreign player is Justin Hoyte. Justin

Hoyte is from England and has played professional soccer for Arsenal from 2002 to 2008 in the

Barclays Premier League. With Hoyte’s help, Arsenal won the the English Premier League in

2002. He then played for the Trinidad and Tobago National Team from 2013 to 2016. Hoyte’s

second team was the Caribbean Cup runner-up in the 2014 season. These two players have been

successful in their careers and have been a great asset to FC Cincinnati thus far. If FCC wishes

to keep improving their team, they need to recruit more of these foreign players from other

countries.

There are multiple ways foreign players could help FC Cincinnati improve as a team and

a company. From a team perspective, each player from a different country would offer a

different playing style to the game. For example, a specific player may have a certain aptitude

for defending and he could share his insight on the tactics with the rest of the team. From a

company perspective, each foreign player would be a big name and draw in a bigger crowd.

Players that would help with attendance are older “legend” players. These players are the former

stars that are now on the decline due to age. For example, someone could be more apt to go to

the game if they were to hear the name Bastian Schweinsteiger, who is a great soccer player.

Bastian Schweinsteiger is currently signed with the Chicago Fire. He is a German soccer

player and has many awards and recognition. His most notable award was the German World

Cup winning team of 2014. Schweinsteiger has received 23 domestic and international cups

during his career,which is more than any previous player entering their first season in the MLS.

Having such a dominant player will draw in a very large crowd. In his first year, 2017, the
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Chicago Fire saw an increase in average attendance by almost 2,000 people compared to the

previous year.

The LA Galaxy saw a similar trend when they recruited big name players like David

Beckham and Landon Donovan. When Donovan joined the team, the LA Galaxy won the MLS

and saw an increase in average attendance. When Beckham joined the team, they saw another

increase in average attendance.

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Another example of how big name players can help attendance can be seen with the New

York City FC. The city of New York currently has two MLS teams, the New York Red Bulls

(NYRB) and the New York City FC (NYCFC). The NYRB are the older team, having been

founded in 1994. NYCFC was founded in 2013 and joined the MLS in 2015. NYCFC, even

though they are almost twenty years younger, signed three former foreign legends on their team:

David Villa, Frank Lampard, and Andrea Pirlo. These three players helped NYCFC boast the

fifth highest home game attendance, while the NYRB was only ranked eighth in attendance

standings. These spikes and trends in attendance are not just pure coincidence. If FC Cincinnati

wants to continue to be successful, they need to follow the strategies of the LA Galaxy, New

York City FC, and the Chicago Fire.

In order for FC Cincinnati to achieve as much success as possible, they must not limit

themselves to earnings made only during the season. The new stadium must be used for more

than just soccer. FC Cincinnati has an opportunity to use their stadium for music festivals. The

potential crowds for music festivals is immense, with 32 million Americans going to at least one

music festival per year. Many stadiums are used to hold music festivals to earn revenue in the

off-season, including Paul Brown Stadium and Mapfre Stadium ( the Columbus Crew’s

stadium). Paul Brown Stadium currently is the site of the Cincinnati Music Festival, and only

half of the available seating is used. Mapfre Stadium is the site of the Breakaway Music

Festival. With Paul Brown Stadium being too big and the Columbus Crew potentially leaving

for Austin, FC Cincinnati has the chance to take over both music festivals and make a huge

amount of money per year without even playing a game of soccer.

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Threats

FC Cincinnati faces plenty of potential threats as they try to grow as such a new

company. The three major threats for FC Cincinnati are media, stadium, and team threats. Media

refers to how the club is portrayed to the public. Threats in this area include two media apps, lack

of social media presence, and increased spotlight on head/neck injuries. Stadium threats include

competing for time at UC, loss of attendance if the stadium is moved, and how the stadium is

going to be funded. The team threats are numerous and based on the sport of soccer itself or

other soccer teams

As humanity shifts towards a more technologically dependent society, the usage of apps

and social media is becoming more prevalent. One potential threat for the company is two news

apps: FC Cincinnati and FC Cincinnati Soccer. FC Cincinnati claims to be the official news app

for the club, but the FC Cincinnati Soccer app is more widely downloaded and has received

better ratings on the App Store. The issue with this is the creation of an unnecessary divide

between the fanbase. The news is not consolidated which could lead to some confusion amongst

the fanbase. This could very easily be solved by joining the two apps or dedicating all resources

to updating a single app.

Obviously, soccer is not very popular in the United States. Sports like the NFL, MLB,

NBA, and NHL get substantially more coverage than the MLS on both television and social

media. This is a threat because FC Cincinnati isn’t going to be able to get as much free publicity

and advertising on social media as the Bengals or Reds. FC Cincinnati games are not

broadcasted through social media and are rarely ever talked about on Facebook or Twitter.

However, this is an issue that will essentially fix itself over time as soccer continues to get more

popular in the United States.

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Perhaps the biggest threat of all is the increasing focus on head and neck injuries that can

occur from playing soccer. This issue has the potential to hinder the growth of soccer and ruin its

ratings throughout the country. The NFL has been going through a similar crisis earlier than

soccer has, and the effects have been huge and noticeable. Peewee football participation is very

low and the ratings in the NFL haven’t been this low since the 1980s. The MLS and soccer as a

whole can learn from how the NFL handled the situation to approach this issue in the best

possible way. This is an inescapable issue, so the best way to resolve it would be to address it

head on and show their stance as soon as possible.

One of FC Cincinnati’s greatest threats is sports itself. Not only does FC Cincinnati have

to fight against other UFL teams to get a MLS bid, they also have 2 major league teams, and a

couple of minor league teams in Cincinnati itself to contend with. Not only that, but there is also

another MLS team only 110 miles away, the Columbus Crew, that poses a huge threat to the

success of FC Cincinnati as a MLS team itself.

The teams in Cincinnati, such as the Bengals and the Reds, have been around much

longer and are more established than FC Cincinnati. People already own season tickets to each of

these franchises, and are less likely to go to an FCC game because of this. Why should they

spend more money to go watch a game that they know next to nothing about, when they already

have season tickets to another sport? They will not. This means even within the city FCC must

compete for every single attendee it gets.

Then there comes the fact that only 110 miles away lies the Columbus Crew. Rumor has

it that the Crew may be heading to Austin; however, that wouldn’t be for another couple of

years. While they remain in Columbus, it drastically narrows the area that FCC could draw fans

from if they gained an MLS bid. People would have to choose between the new Cincinnati MLS
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team, or the Columbus Crew. With a smaller fanbase, there are less people at games, which leads

to a lower revenue overall for FC Cincinnati as an MLS team.

Finally, we come to the fact that the fans actually enjoy the UFL rivalries and would

rather stay in the UFL than upgrade to MLS status. In the UFL, FC Cincinnati dominates and

rarely is defeated, as they are vastly superior to their opponents. This goes a long way for team

moral, and for the fans as well. However, if they were to upgrade to MLS, they would be up

against teams that are equally as good as FCC, if not better. This means FCC would not win as

many games, and the fans may become disheartened because of this. It is easier to cheer for a

team that wins more games than to be a fan of a team that loses the majority of its games.

In the immediate future there are two soccer teams that can draw attendees away from

FCC. The University of Cincinnati’s Men’s and Women’s Soccer teams can fulfill the desire of a

soccer fan to go out and see a game with friends. If they want to see a game during a week that is

convenient to them, but FCC does not have a home game that week, they may see a University of

Cincinnati game on a day that is more convenient to them. With their desire fulfilled, they will

not try to attend another soccer game for a small amount of time. If a FCC game falls in that time

period, FCC has lost the potential revenue.

Knowing that FCC is currently looking to build a new stadium, it will lose the benefits of

using UC’s stadium; namely its frequent attendees. Most of the attendees for FCC’s games are

Cincinnati students or recent graduates. This is because the proximity of the games to the non-

commuting students is within walking distance. This overcomes the obstacle of distance and time

for the students. When FCC moves away from UC, they will lose a considerable amount of the

attendees because the students will have to use more time to see an FCC game and travel a much

longer distance. Distance will be harder to overcome if the students do not a have a method to
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get themselves from the college area to the new stadium.

Building a new stadium in Cincinnati will be difficult because of the taxpayers’ backlash.

Currently, a new stadium would be unappealing to the people of Cincinnati because they are still

paying for the Bengals’ stadium. It would also be preferable to stay in Cincinnati because

Cincinnati is the namesake of the company, which leads to more recognition.

Recommendations

FC Cincinnati can do many different things in order to increase their number of fans,

sales, and overall experience of games. Firstly, they should purchase land for a new stadium.

This will increase the likelihood of getting a spot in Major League Soccer. Although the team is

already setting records for attendance of their games, a jump to the MLS will attract even more

attention and fans. Revenue will also increase with the team’s introduction to a global market..

Secondly, FC Cincinnati should invest in more foreign players. It is proven through past

trends, such as with the LA Galaxy and Chicago Fire, that acquiring more foreign stars increases

average game attendance and therefore sales. Currently, they only have Djiby Fall and Justin

Hoyte. Major foreign stars like the Chicago Fire’s Bastian Schweinsteiger and the LA Galaxy’s

David Beckham and Landon Donovan can draw even more crowds. This recommendation also

cooperates with the MLS recommendation. FC Cincinnati is more likely to get these major stars

if they enter Major League Soccer and continue to be a competitive team.

Third, the new stadium should be used for hosting concerts and festivals. The stadium

should be used for much more than FCC soccer games. The soccer season is not a year-round

affair, and the stadium need not sit empty for too long of period. The concerts and festivals can

draw in extra wealth from the area and give people a chance to see the brand new FC Cincinnati

stadium. Concerts such as the Cincinnati Music Festival and Breakaway Festival can give people
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who would not usually be interested in soccer a chance to tour the stadium while still having fun

at these festivals.

Fourth, FC Cincinnati should strive to expand the fanbase outside of Cincinnati. It is

critical for the team to draw in more fans should they expand to the MLS. Cincinnati is a very

large city, but more opportunities exist beyond the city limits. Dayton is an excellent chance for

FCC to reach out and ensnare more people that wouldn’t otherwise have gone down to

Cincinnati. The company could do outreach programs in Dayton, for example, to interest the

people of Dayton in the team. Advertising could also get more attention to the team. A “Meet the

Team” event could further deepen fans’ interest after FCC has already established itself in the

area.

Finally, FC Cincinnati should consolidate to one news app and put a live news feed on

the internet. Currently, two news apps splits the fan base in two. The nature of the apps prevents

the company from having full control of the content that reaches fans. The addition of a live feed

of the games would increase participation amongst fans even when they can’t attend the games.

With these changes in mind, FC Cincinnati should be able to continue the positive trend of

progress it has demonstrated in its first two years.

Overall, FC Cincinnati is an excellent company and sports team. Even though their

founding was only a short time ago, FCC has dominated many MLS teams and drawn record-

breaking crowds. Their few weaknesses and threats are vastly outweighed by their more

outstanding strengths and opportunities. The company has much room to expand and grow in the

next couple years. Building a new stadium and upgrading to Major League Soccer will provide

the biggest boost in fans and revenue. FC Cincinnati is a stellar competitor to a Cincinnati’s

numerous sports teams.

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but Do Its Fans Feel the Same?” WCPO, 28 June 2017,

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do-its-fans-feel-the-same?page=2.

“Cincinnati Considers Offering Bengals’ Stadium as Home for MLS Team, Seeing How

That Flies.” Field of Schemes,

www.fieldofschemes.com/2017/10/12/13028/cincinnati-considers-offering-bengals-

stadium-as-home-for-mls-team-see-how-that-flies/.

Williáams, Jason, and Patrick Brennan. “Here's Where FC Cincinnati Is Looking to Build

New Stadium.” Cincinnati.com, Cincinnati Enquirer, 24 May 2017,

www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/2017/05/24/heres-where-fc-cincinnati-looking-

build-new-stadium/343095001/.

Press, Associated, and Grant Wahl. “MLS Expansion City Profile: Cincinnati.” SI.com,

www.si.com/planet-futbol/2017/02/01/cincinnati-mls-expansion-city-usl-lindner-

harkes-berry.

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“League, LouCity Post Attendance Increases This Season.” Louisville City FC, 28 Sept.

2016, www.louisvillecityfc.com/news_article/show/703057?referrer_id=2626380.
 20

Mitchell, Megan. “FC Cincinnati Fans Crash Website; U.S. Open Cup Semifinal Game

Sold Out.” WLWT, WLWT, 11 Oct. 2017,

www.wlwt.com/article/fc-cincinnati-fans-crash-website- us-open-cup-semifinal-game-

sold-out/11659875.

2017 Schedule, www.fccincinnati.com/2017-schedule.

Monk, Bob Driehaus Dan. “Why Not Nippert? FC Cincinnati GM Calls UC Football

Stadium an 'Implausible' Option for MLS.” WCPO, 1 July 2017,

www.wcpo.com/sports/fc-cincinnati/why-not-nippert-fc-cincinnati-gm-calls-uc-

football -stadium-an-implausible-option-for-mls.

McCauley, Kevin. “FC Cincinnati Shows There Is No Limit to What American Soccer Can

Become.” SBNation.com, SBNation.com, 29 June 2017,

www.sbnation.com/soccer/2017/6/29/15891714/fc-cincinnati-chicago-fire-2017-us-

open-cup.

Bizjournals.com, www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/08/09/fc-cincinnatis-u-s-

open-cup-semifinal-match-at.html.

www.oregonlive.com/timbers/index.ssf/2016/08/mls_soccer_is_growing.htm+L.

“Soccer in the United States.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Oct. 2017,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_in_the_United_States.
 21

“All-Time Attendance.” Columbus Crew SC, 2 Oct. 2017,

www.columbuscrewsc.com/media/all-time-attendance.

“2017 FC Cincinnati Season.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Oct. 2017,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_FC_Cincinnati_season.

“2016 FC Cincinnati Season.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Oct. 2017,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_FC_Cincinnati_season.

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