Gotham FC & NYCFC Partner with NYC Footy

This week marks one of the biggest moments not only for NYC Footy, but for soccer in NYC (maybe even in the United States).

NYC Footy is now partnered with two of New York’s major soccer teams, NYCFC and Gotham FC.

The partnerships spell a lots of integrating potential for our players. From standing ticket discounts, NYCFC’s Captain of the Match program (now powered by NYC Footy), Footy Days at their respective stadiums, in-stadium advertising, Footy tournament activations and so much more.

But beyond the tangible benefits, there is something unique and new within this partnership, the likes of which have not been seen here in NYC or, more broadly, the US.

Let’s meet our partners:

Gotham FC

Gotham FC was founded in 2006, under a different name, the Jersey Sky Blue, which would go on to become one of the founding members of the National Women’s Soccer League in 2013.

In their inaugural year in the first division of the league (they had spent 2006-2008 playing in the second division), the Sky Blue won the inaugural Women’s Professional Soccer Championship in what can only be described as one of the greatest all-time underdog stories in sports.

Over the next decade the Sky Blue battled in and out of the playoffs until 2021, when they changed their name to Gotham FC, landing on the new name, logo, and colors after extensive fan involvement.

The change has catapulted the team forward, allowing them to do a bit of restructuring post-Covid. Not only have they taken on new head coach Juan Carlos Amoros, who took Tottenham to the Women’s Super League in 2018, they’ve also grown their ownership team to include some really big names, like Sue Bird, Kevin Durant, and Eli Manning.

While primed for success in the 2023 season, Gotham FC represents more than just what they are able to accomplish on the field.

Through programs like Gotham FC Heroes, Gotham Kids, as well as their youth community clinics and community partners, Gotham FC is a team that enriches the lives of those around them. They understand what it means to belong to a community and how give back in a way that makes those around them thrive.

It’s for this reason, more than anything, that we’re proud to have them as a part of our community, and to be a part of theirs.

We can’t wait to see what we can achieve together!

NYCFC

NYCFC is New York’s biggest and best MLS program. A fact even more remarkable because the program is less than ten years old.

The inaugural season for the boys in blue was 2015, which technically makes their supporter group, The Third Rail, older than the team as the group was created the same day the club was announced!

Despite their age, NYCFC is one of the biggest names in the league, drawing thousands of fans for each home game, as well as the likes of superstars Andres Pirlo and David Villa to play on their roster.

The team has also enjoyed no small amount of success on the pitch, consistently breaking into the playoffs, going deep in the Eastern Conference Championships, and winning the MLS Cup in 2021!

Not bad for the new kid on the block.

Over the short amount of time NYCFC has been in the city, they have ingratiated themselves to the city of New York in ways that make me proud to be a fan.

They understand what it means to be a part of the sports culture of the greatest city on earth, and the expectations that come with that.

They have plans to build their own stadium in Queens, which is New York’s most populous and underserved sports borough, strangely enough as Queens has some of, if not the, most avid fans in the whole city.

Beyond their plans to build a stadium, NYCFC has also created programs, like the Healthy Hat Trick, Saturday Night Lights, and Soccer Bloc, that give back to New Yorkers off the field by supporting after school programs, violence prevention, and addressing the lack of free community programming in parks for the youth of New York City.

Our partnership with NYCFC means a lot of things. Beyond just the fun and excitement of getting our players to the games, and seeing NYCFC at our events and tournaments, it signals the opportunity to be a part of something greater, granting our players an opportunity to be a part of an instrument of positive change here in the city.

We’re proud to see what we can accomplish with NYCFC at our backs. Or more specifically on our chest.

NYC Footy

Founded in 2010, NYC Footy is a collection of thousands of creative humans from all walks of life, coming together on and off the pitch to enjoy the beautiful game, who over the years have turned Footy into the largest and most visible recreational soccer league in NYC and one of the largest leagues in the country.

It is not accident. There is something special, something even beyond soccer, about Footy. It is a place where people come to find not only fun, but family.

It’s something you have to experience for yourself, but I have simply lost count of how many people I know who have joined Footy to try to get a bit more exercise or just want to have fun, but wound up finding a second home and a group of friends that stick with them for the rest of their lives.

All of our leagues are mixed gender, a fact that we’ve prided ourselves on from the start, but are not content to rest on.

Through existing partnerships with organizations like Women In Soccer, our new partnership with Gotham FC, and how we build our programming (we’ve recently introduced ‘flip’ gender leagues, where instead of the traditional two-female-minimum, we’re placing a two-male-maximum on the pitch), we are striving to make soccer a more equitable place for women, and players from all walks of life.

So if you’ve never played, or you played in college, and anything in-between, come see what the fuss is all about.

We’ve got leagues year-round, indoor and out, as well as two incredible tournaments: Gov Cup, a two-day soccer palooza on Governor’s Island, and Footy Fest, a more relaxed, autumn jaunt in the Catskills.

What the Partnership Represents:

In the last decade, soccer in the US has been on an exponential climb.

The sport has moved into the mainstream over that time, with larger and larger portions of people in the United States tuning in.

Not only the biggest events the sport has to offer (The World Cup, The Euros, The Champions League), but to the MLS and its more established geographical cousins in Europe (The Premier League, La Liga, and so on) have all found a steady foothold here in the United States after decades of wondering whether or not soccer would ever stick in the one place on earth it never seemed to.

During that time, Footy has continued to grow on its own, organic, intrinsic to the identity of soccer in New York City, and parallel to the growth we’ve seen in the sport around the country, becoming a microcosm of that growth we’ve seen on a national level.

A steady climb of interest and attention within a small, dedicated, wonderful community of soccer fans and players, that has erupted in the last few years.

This feeling of a gigantic swing forward was in no small part because of Covid.

The foggy and ominous peril of Covid as a virus, which sparked a wave of dislocation and isolation the likes of which the world, let alone NYC, had never seen, illustrated a few things.

First, when the world buckled, on the inside its own doorstep and unable to leave without some trepidation no less, it became clear how precious community is, and how invaluable doing things with people we care for can be.

That feels like such a blunted, obvious thing to say, but there were not only moments, but months, where for many that felt like it was not an option.

Second, we all realized how important it was to move and play.

Moving not to just shuffle from the fridge, back to the kitchen table 15 times before sunset, but the type of play that can take us out of our heads and grant us those moments of quiet freedom only unvarnished enthusiasm can provide us.

The type of unvarnished enthusiasm that soccer has garnered globally for many decades.

Footy was, for so many people, a perfect solution to the woes that Covid had brought upon them.

It gave them a chance to be a part of a community, be active, and be involved in something that took them out of themselves.

NYCFC and Gotham FC play the same role for so many more in NYC and around the country, providing the space for community, friendship, and enthusiastic participation, things that were taken away from everyone during the pandemic.

Beyond a shared solution to the personal blows dealt to everyone by the pandemic, Footy’s partnership with NYCFC and Gotham FC represents something fascinating and unique in the landscape of soccer in the US.

The tethering of two ends of the soccer spectrum, the professional and the recreational. It is the type of partnership that sets the groundwork to fill in the gaps of our national soccer programs and interest, gaps that has held us back for so long and which are finally beginning to fill in thanks to programs like Gotham FC, NYCFC, and NYC Footy.

These partnerships aim to build upon that growth and it’s our sincere and shared belief that it is one more step towards bringing soccer to more people, both on the pitch and in the stands, and ultimately reshaping the landscape of the sport in this city, and around the world.

-James Berry