The club did not wait for the 2026 World Cup final to start building connections. During the tournament, it hosted watch events around the city, opened its 13 public mini-pitches and offered free tickets to first-time fans.
A friendly against Burnley FC at TQL Stadium on July 10 also drew an unprecedented volume of first-time ticket buyers, club president Jeff Berding said. At a youth event later that month, community chief Kate Solomon noticed a visible shift: where children had worn Bengals gear in 2019, more were now in the club’s orange and blue.
That is meaningful progress, but local loyalty is a crowded field. FC Cincinnati is seeking a place alongside the Reds and Bengals, not asking fans to replace them. European clubs also have a long head start with some families.
Access matters as much as outreach. MLS games are carried on Apple TV, which costs $12.99 a month, though the service is included for season-ticket holders. That fee can be a hurdle for families deciding whether to follow the league week after week. Some fans also have to overcome familiar assumptions about soccer’s physicality.
Noonan’s point is that community work cannot carry the whole effort. FC Cincinnati finished among the regular-season top five in each of the three previous years, but its next test is keeping performances compelling as the tournament excitement fades. The coming stretch of MLS fixtures will show whether new faces become regulars.