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Closing Shot: Celebrating in Cincy

A raucous crowd welcomed FC Cincinnati at the club’s MLS home opener, providing a boisterous atmosphere for the league’s newest franchise and showing the world that Cincy is here to play.

FC Cincinnati players celebrate a goal in their 3-0 win over the Portland Timbers at Nippert Stadium.getty images

It was less than four years ago that top-level professional soccer to Cincinnati was only an idea in Jeff Berding’s head.

As tens of thousands of fans clad in blue and orange marched to Nippert Stadium for FC Cincinnati’s first MLS home match on March 17, that idea not only came to life but spread across the globe on viral images and via an MLS broadcast that reached more than 170 countries.

“It’s always been part of our mantra to help promote our city through the global sport of soccer, and to really show the collective passion for the sport that Cincinnati and our fans have,” said Berding, FC Cincinnati president and general manager, and who with owner Carl Lindner III helped the city land an MLS expansion spot.

“Here we are now with a sold-out crowd of 32,250 people on an international broadcast — this is an image of a rising Cincinnati.”

Berding grew up in the Westwood neighborhood of Cincinnati and has spent the vast majority of his professional career in the city, serving as an executive for the Bengals for more than 19 years before leaving to start the soccer club in 2015. He also served on the city council for six years. He credits the city and the residents with the team’s success, both in the USL and now out of the gate in MLS.

“We quickly hit that tipping point where civic pride and ownership of our club took hold,” he said.

FC Cincinnati has sold nearly 21,000 season tickets and the club expects average attendance to easily surpass last year’s 25,717 mark, the club’s final year in the USL.

Berding noted Cincinnati’s deep-rooted sports history. In 2019, the Reds will celebrate 150 years of baseball in the city, which dates back to the founding of the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings. The Bengals celebrated their 50th anniversary during the 2017-18 NFL season.

“With FC Cincinnati, you’re not only experiencing history, you’re making history,” he said. “Our supporters bought into that very early on — they are the ones that have created this environment and opportunity.”

The day after the match, Berding woke to nearly 200 text messages sharing congratulations for the success seen across the globe. He responded to each of them that he and the staff were back at the office that next day, a statement he closed with the hammer emoji.

“There have been a lot of big moments in this club’s short history, and every single time we came back the next day and kept hammering away,” he said. “We’re still building this club, and that will always be the mindset.”

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